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"Indo-European languages Discourse analysis."
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Challenging the Myth of Monolingual Corpora
Challenging the Myth of Monolingual Corpora brings new insights into the monolingual ideal that has permeated most branches of linguistics, also corpus linguistics, for a long time. The volume brings together scholars in the many fields of English corpus linguistics from World Englishes, learner corpora and English as a Lingua Franca to the history of English. The approaches include perspectives of corpus compilation, annotation and use.
eBook
The lure of internationalization: paradoxical discourses of transnational student mobility, linguistic diversity and cross-cultural exchange
This paper scrutinizes a set of paradoxes arising from a mismatch between contemporary discourses that praise and promote mobility in and internationalization of higher education, and the everyday effects of mobility and internationalization on university teaching and learning practice. We begin with a general characterization of the discourse of mobility and internationalization in a European context and then turn to Denmark as a specific case in which we unfold and discuss three paradoxes in turn: internationalization and linguistic pluralism, internationalization and intercultural understanding and, finally, internationalization and competitiveness. We then link our deconstruction of the three paradoxes to a critique of the concept of \"parallel language policy,\" widely promoted in the Nordic context, and show how it potentially undermines the ideals of internationalization. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).
Journal Article
Does a Speaking Task Affect Second Language Comprehensibility?
The current study investigated task effects on listener perception of second language (L2) comprehensibility (ease of understanding). Sixty university-level adult speakers of English from 4 first language (L1) backgrounds (Chinese, Romance, Hindi, Farsi), with 15 speakers per group, were recorded performing 2 tasks (IELTS long-turn speaking task and TOEFL iBT integrated listening/reading and speaking task). The speakers' audio recordings were evaluated using continuous sliding scales by 10 native English listeners for comprehensibility as well as for 10 linguistic variables drawn from the domains of pronunciation, fluency, lexis, grammar, and discourse. In the IELTS task, comprehensibility was associated solely with pronunciation and fluency categories (specifically, segmentals, word stress, rhythm, and speech rate), with the Farsi group being the only exception. However, in the cognitively more demanding TOEFL iBT integrated task, in addition to pronunciation and fluency variables, comprehensibility was also linked to several categories at the level of grammar, lexicon, and discourse for all groups. In both tasks, the relative strength of obtained associations also varied as a function of the speakers' L1. Results overall suggest that both task and speakers' L1 play important roles in determining ease of understanding for the listener, with implications for pronunciation teaching in mixed L1 classrooms and for operationalizing the construct of comprehensibility in assessments. (Verlag).
Journal Article
Discourses of foreign language development in study abroad: Social networks and other intervening factors
Many scholars have highlighted the great variability of second language acquisition outcomes and, thus, the inconsistencies and inconclusiveness in the study abroad literature. These have called for longitudinal, case‐based research that focuses on the students’ processes (rather than outcomes) and that showcases the heterogeneity of experiences in two ways: by pointing at students’ socialization abroad as a key aspect affecting outcome and by accounting for other interlinking factors that may affect the students’ different trajectories. From a discourse‐analytic approach, this article presents a longitudinal, qualitative multiple‐case study of the Erasmus experience of nine Catalan‐Spanish undergraduate students in Italy, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. The focus will be on the reported linguistic impact of their sojourn abroad; how this is related to the social networks formed abroad; and the factors that shaped the participants’ socialization patterns and ultimately their second language learning and use trajectories.
Journal Article
Advanced learners’ comprehension of discourse connectives
Discourse connectives are important indicators of textual coherence, and mastering them is an essential part of acquiring a language. In this article, we compare advanced learners’ sensitivity to the meaning conveyed by connectives in an off-line grammaticality judgment task and an on-line reading experiment using eye-tracking. We also assess the influence of first language (L1) transfer by comparing learners’ comprehension of two non-native-like semantic uses of connectives in English, often produced by learners due to transfer from French and Dutch. Our results indicate that in an off-line task transfer is an important factor accounting for French- and Dutch-speaking learners’ non-native-like comprehension of connectives. During on-line processing, however, learners are as sensitive as native speakers to the meaning conveyed by connectives. These results raise intriguing questions regarding explicit vs. implicit knowledge in language learners.
Journal Article
The acquisition of object movement in Dutch
This article investigates near-native grammars at the syntax–discourse interface by examining the second language (L2) acquisition of two different domains of object movement in Dutch, which exhibit syntax–discourse or syntax–semantics level properties. English and German near-native speakers of Dutch, where German but not English allows the same mapping strategies as Dutch in the phenomena under investigation, are tested on two felicity judgment tasks and a truth value judgment task. The results from the English participants show sensitivity to discourse information on the acceptability of non-canonical word orders, but only when the relevant discourse cues are sufficiently salient in the input. The acquisition of semantic effects on object movement was native-like for a large subset of the participants. The German group performed on target in all experiments. The results are partially in line with previous studies reporting L2 convergence at the syntax–discourse interface, but suggest that input effects should also be taken into account. Furthermore, the differences between the first language (L1) English and the L1 German group suggests that non-target performance at the syntax–discourse interface is not caused by general bilingual difficulties in integrating discourse information into syntax. The article elaborates on factors that contribute to (in)complete acquisition at the syntax–discourse interface.
Journal Article
Multilingual Language Practices in Education in Pakistan: The Conflict Between Policy and Practice
This study examines the language practices in educational settings in Pakistan, taking the multilingual groupings in society into account. In Pakistan, each province is linked to the single or multiple identities of its people and the languages spoken by the majority. The national language Urdu is limited to educational settings and its function as a lingua franca. English serves people in authority, in offices, and in educational settings. Through discourse-ethnographic analysis, this study examines the individual and joint actions of policymakers and teachers to understand the role of language in educational policy and its practice in educational settings. The interview data identified issues regarding the relationship between language, identity, nation, region, religion, power, and personal attainment in regional, national, and international settings. Moreover, the power of national education policy to produce adequate results is limited by the regional discourses that policymakers ignore. This study concludes by arguing that policy practices for language-in-education in multilingual societies require thoughtful planning which should be informed by local conditions and requirements for its better implementation.
Journal Article
Language, Identity, and Social Divides: Medium of Instruction Debates in Bangladeshi Print Media
This article critically examines the role of language as medium of instruction (MOI) in shaping students’ self-perceptions, worldviews, and identities in a globalizing world. We draw on identity and social positioning theories and on Bourdieu’s concepts of capital and symbolic struggle to frame our investigation. Using an analytical framework comprising critical discourse analysis and qualitative content analysis, we analyze letters written by Bangla- and English-medium writers to the editor of a Bangladeshi English newspaper to illustrate how discursive identity construction for “self” and “other” engaged the two groups in identity battles. We argue that (a) discursive identity politics may not be characterized in essentialist or nonessentialist terms exclusively but may actually draw on both depending on whether the representation is of self or other; and (b) although MOI is inextricably linked to social divides, the roots of the divides may lie in the social rather than in the discursive space.
Journal Article
Learners’ reading between the signs in the English second language classroom
BackgroundIn South Africa, developing criticality among learners is essential for their careers in school and outside school. However, knowledge and understanding of critical literacy within the schooling context is unclear, with only patchy guidance available for teachers.ObjectivesAn intervention project was set up to discover how community signs could be used as a pedagogical tool for teaching learners to be critical readers. The focus of the study was teaching English second language learners to use language as an instrument for creative and critical thinking.MethodIn this ‘study within a study’, the learners’ role has been elevated to that of researchers. As ‘researchers’, the learners collected community signs from around their township and conducted interviews with community members. They analysed the signs and interview transcripts using Fairclough’s method of critical discourse analysis. The social semantic theory was used to anchor this study.ResultsThe first attempt at being critical readers was the categorisation of data. Three categories that formed broad themes were observed. The learners’ responses gave insight into their own ‘processes’ of reception and processes of production of the signs. The results suggest learners developing an ability to read signs as instantiations of township discourses.ConclusionTeaching critical literacy awareness can be achieved when teachers use texts drawn from familiar contexts. The study contributes to knowledge on how unconventional texts can be used in the classroom to develop criticality among learners.
Journal Article