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"Written communication CRoss-cultural studies."
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Reading and Spelling Development Across Languages Varying in Orthographic Consistency: Do Their Paths Cross?
We examined the cross‐lagged relations between reading and spelling in five alphabetic orthographies varying in consistency (English, French, Dutch, German, and Greek). Nine hundred and forty‐one children were followed from Grade 1 to Grade 2 and were tested on word and pseudoword reading fluency and on spelling to dictation. Results indicated that the relations across languages were unidirectional: Earlier reading predicted subsequent spelling. However, we also found significant differences between languages in the strength of the effects of earlier reading on subsequent spelling. These findings suggest that, once children master decoding, the observed differences between languages are not related to the direction of the effects but to the strength of the effects from reading to spelling. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Journal Article
The Strategies of Ideological Education in Chinese English Textbooks: An Integrated Study of Intercultural Communication and Multimodal Discourse Analysis
This paper integrates studies from Intercultural Communication and Multimodal Discourse Analysis, aiming to reveal how Chinese English textbooks conduct ideological education. By adopting studies of cultural products and practices, along with the system of interactive meanings, it develops a new approach to evaluating the cultural representations at macro level and their image interaction with learners at micro level. Furthermore, analysis of 253 multimodal texts from a series of Chinese English textbooks shows that the distribution of cultural products and practices echoes the curriculum’s requirements of building cultural self-confidence. The occurrences of cultural practices reflect the shift from brief expressions to the manipulation of cultural products. Moreover, images interacting with learners tend to offer more cultural information, guide them to keep a suitable social distance and create equality for them. The framework and findings can be used to uncover the strategies of ideological education and contributes to foreign language textbook compilation.
Plain Language Summary
The Secrets of Transmitting Ideology by Chinese English Textbooks Based on the Theories of Intercultural Communication and Multimodal Discourse Analysis
This paper aims to reveal how Chinese English textbooks conduct ideological education through multimodal texts that consist of written language and pictures. It focuses on the distribution of cultural products and practices to represent cultural content as well as the strategies of using images to interact with language learners. The findings show that (1) the instances of cultural products on Chinese side are more than those in foreign contexts, which echoes the requirements from official curriculum to build cultural self-confidence; (2) the occurrences of cultural practices have a similar distribution and reflect the shift from brief expressions (e.g., greetings) to manipulation of cultural products (e.g., how to participate in the cultural practices); (3) the images being used to interact with learners tend to offer information, guide learners to keep a suitable social distance and maitain the equality between cultural content and those who view the images. The study contributes to the textbook compilation and ideological education in a foreign language.
Journal Article
The intercultural experiences of Vietnamese students in Taiwan
This study explores the intercultural experiences of four Vietnamese students in a Taiwanese intercultural communication course over 15 weeks of self-reflective writing. Guided by Mezirow’s transformative learning theory, this analysis examines how these students navigate cultural differences, make sense of stereotypes, and reconstruct their identities. Qualitative analysis reveals disorienting dilemmas, critical reflection, and shifts in perspective that deepen cultural awareness and empathy. Self-reflective writing has emerged as a crucial tool for expressing and connecting classroom discussions with personal experiences. The findings highlight the importance of experiential learning and reflection in promoting intercultural sensitivity, offering valuable insights for curriculum design in global education settings.
Journal Article
On the role of orthography in L2 vowel production: The case of Polish learners of German
This study investigates the role of orthography in German vowel production by Polish native speakers (L1) with German as a second language (L2). Eighteen intermediate to advanced Polish L2 German learners and 20 German native speakers were recorded during a picture-naming task in which half of the experimental items were explicitly marked in their orthographic representation for their vowel length (short or long). Duration measurements revealed that explicit orthographic marking helped the Polish L2 German learners produce the short-long contrast more native-like. Regarding vowel quality, group differences were interpreted to have been caused by (in)congruencies between L1 and L2 grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences. These findings have important implications for models of L2 speech learning and pronunciation training.
Journal Article
Learning English From a Critical, Intercultural Perspective: The Journey of Preservice Language Teachers
Critical language teaching education has become an inescapable endeavor for language teacher education programs. To contribute to this effort, this paper outlines the implementation of an English course from a critical, intercultural perspective, during the first semester of a language teacher education program in Colombia. It also reports the ways preservice teachers responded to this implementation as evidenced in data stemming from their oral and written outcomes and from course evaluations. Results indicate that this approach to language teaching allowed preservice teachers to affirm their multiple identities as they developed and strengthened their language skills in English. Data also indicate that looking at the world from a more critical perspective entailed contradictions and challenges for preservice teachers and the teacher educator.
Journal Article
How leaders communicate their vulnerability: implications for trust building
Purpose
The notion of vulnerability underlies relationships of trust. Trust between leaders and staff is needed to solve concerns that hinder equity and excellence in teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how leaders show vulnerability by disclosing own possible contributions to concerns they try to resolve.
Design/methodology/approach
Data included transcripts of conversations held by 27 educational leaders about a concern with another staff and a questionnaire about the nature, causes and history of the concern. Questionnaire analysis identified if and how leaders described their own possible contribution prior to the conversation. Transcript analysis identified instances of leaders’ contribution disclosure.
Findings
Results indicate that while two-thirds of leaders identified an own contribution, when prompted prior to the conversation, one-third saw no own contribution. Leaders indicated contributing by not acting on the concern, by acting in ways inappropriate or insufficient to resolve the concern, or by not clearly communicating their concern in the past. Eight of the 27 leaders publicly disclosed their contribution in the actual conversation. In some conversations this disclosure prompted reciprocal disclosure of information about the concern and its causes by the other person, aiding a more effective concern resolution.
Originality/value
Through examining leaders’ interpersonal behavior in difficult conversations, the importance of leaders’ acknowledgments of own mistakes and communication of their own vulnerability is highlighted. A positive view of vulnerability is argued for, epistemic vulnerability, which manifests itself in the willingness to be honest and open to learning by accepting one’s own fallibility.
Journal Article
Using electronic-collaborative mentoring in higher education-bettering elt student teaching practice processes
This study aims to improve English Language Teaching (ELT) student teachers' teaching practice process with comprehensive and diverse feedback from four different mentors (two national and two international) and to help them better prepare lesson plans and micro-teaching considering intercultural perspectives. Non-parametric tests were used to analyze quantitative data gathered from the scores of five lesson plans and micro-teachings. Qualitative data were obtained from the written feedback to lesson plans, oral feedback to micro teachings and interviews, and analyzed by content analysis. Results showed that mentees' lesson plan and micro teaching scores increased significantly over the semester and this was especially notable in mentees' first three lesson plans and micro teaching. All participants favoured the study activities and suggested that e-co mentoring should be implemented together with face-to-face mentoring in some periods.
Journal Article
Gender-based Study of Interactive Metadiscourse Markers in EFL Academic Writing
This study aimed at exploring the gender differences in the usage of interactive metadiscourse markers in a sample of EFL academic essays written by male and female EFL majors joining the College of Languages and Translation, Al-Imam Mohammad bin Saud Islamic University. Further, it aimed at supporting the results with justifications in light of the cultural difference and discursive psychology approaches. To achieve this aim, thirty academic essays written by EFL male students and thirty essays written by EFL female students were analyzed based on the metadiscourse framework proposed by Hyland (2005). In order to achieve an acceptable degree of reliability, the essays were first analyzed electronically using a concordance software program. Then, all the interactive metadiscourse markers were examined qualitatively in context to determine their actual functions. The findings of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between male and female students in using some interactive markers namely transitions, frame markers, and code glosses, in which the female students surpassed male students. The qualitative analysis, on the other hand, indicated that the student's psychological and cultural variations might be a source of gender differences regarding the employment of metadiscourse markers. The study also provided some implications for researchers, writing teachers, and textbook publishers in terms of enhancement of metadiscoursal proficiency in EFL writing classrooms.
Journal Article
Original Language Subtitles: Their Effects on the Native and Foreign Viewer
This study investigates the impact of same-language subtitles on the immersion into audiovisual narratives as a function of the viewer's language (native or foreigner). Students from two universities in Australia and one in Spain were assigned randomly to one of two experimental groups, in which they saw a drama with the original English soundtrack either with same-language English subtitles (n = 81) or without subtitles (n = 92). The sample included an English native control group, and Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Spanish groups with English as a foreign language. Participants used post-hoc Likert scales to self-report their presence, transportation to the narrative world, perceived realism, identification with the characters, and enjoyment. The main results showed that subtitles did not significantly reduce these measures of immersion. However, subtitles produced higher transportation, identification with the characters, and perceived realism scores, where the first language of viewers and their viewing habits accounted for most of this variance. Moreover, presence and enjoyment were unaffected by either condition or language. Finally, the main results also revealed that transportation to the narrative world appears to be the most revealing measure of immersion in that it shows the strongest and most consistent correlations, and is a significant predictor of enjoyment.
Journal Article