Applied Linguistics - recent issues

Textual Appropriation and Citing Behaviors of University Undergraduates

Shi, L. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

This article explores the citing behaviors of 16 undergraduates in a North American university. After completing a research paper for their disciplinary courses, each participating student was interviewed to identify in his/her writing words and ideas borrowed from source texts and to explain why and how the relevant texts were appropriated with or without citations. Analysis of students’ writing and comments illustrates how they relied on source texts for various aspects of their essays, some of which they believed required citations while some of which did not. Results showed that they tried to strike a balance between the need to cite published authors to gain credit for the scholarly quality of their writing and the desire to establish their own voice by limiting the extent to which they cited other texts. Some students also reported how they chose between quoting and paraphrasing (though the latter sometimes contained direct copying) on the basis of their ability to rephrase other's words and their understanding of the different roles played by the two. The study indicates the degree to which citational acts are discursive markings of learning and knowledge construction.

Practices of Other-Initiated Repair in the Classrooms of Children with Specific Speech and Language Difficulties

Radford, J. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

Repair practices used by teachers who work with children with specific speech and language difficulties (SSLDs) have hitherto remained largely unexplored. Such classrooms therefore offer a new context for researching repairs and considering how they compare with non-SSLD interactions. Repair trajectories are of interest because they are dialogic sites where the child's meaning is being negotiated and, therefore, where adults might create opportunities for language learning. The interactions take place during activities, such as story writing, where teachers elicit children's ideas and orient to their lack of clarity. From a data set of 78 cases, four significant patterns of teacher repair initiation emerged. First, non-specific repair initiators (RIs), such as ‘say that again’, target any aspect of the prior turn and reveal the adult's lack of grasp of its content. Next, specific RIs (‘she has’) that are constructed with minimal components of the child's turn, pinpoint the location of the trouble but provide no new lexical information. In contrast, specific RIs that are constructed as ‘wh’ questions (‘down where’), target the nature of the trouble and elicit further information. Finally, offers of candidates (‘do you mean X’) do provide new models of lexis but do not elicit repetition from the child.

Style Shifts among Japanese Learners before and after Study Abroad in Japan: Becoming Active Social Agents in Japanese

Iwasaki, N. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

Previous studies on L2 Japanese sojourners often reported that learners overuse the plain style or haphazardly mix the plain and polite styles upon return. These styles, which are often associated with formal or informal contexts, also index complex social and situational meanings, and native speakers are reported to shift their styles to create desired contexts. In order to better understand L2 development of the use of the plain and polite styles during study abroad, the current study examined the use of the polite/plain styles and style shifts among five English-speaking male students who studied in Japan for one academic year by comparing their performances both quantitatively and qualitatively in oral proficiency interviews before and after they studied abroad. Upon return, three predominantly used the polite style talking to the interviewer (their former teacher), while two primarily used the plain style. Though the quantitative analysis may lead one to conclude that these two students regressed in their pragmatic competence, the qualitative analysis revealed that all five learners gained some understanding of social meanings of the plain and polite styles and became more active social agents who make decisions to shift the styles.

The Relationship between Applied Linguistic Research and Language Policy for Bilingual Education

Johnson, D. C. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

Currently, restrictive-language policies seem to threaten bilingual education throughout the USA. Anti-bilingual education initiatives have passed easily in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts, while one was closely defeated in Colorado, and federal education policy has re-invigorated the focus on English education for English language learners, while concomitantly obfuscating the possibility of native language maintenance and developmental bilingual education. This is the educational landscape within which bilingual education researchers, educators, and students must face the formidable challenge of preserving educational choice and bilingual education. Thus, substantive research is needed on how bilingual educators navigate this challenging ideological and policy landscape. Based on an ethnographic study of bilingual education language policy, this article takes up this challenge by focusing on how beliefs about Applied Linguistics research influence the interpretation and appropriation of federal language policy in one US school district. The results have implications for the relationship between the Applied Linguistic research community and language policy processes.

Seizure, Fit or Attack? The Use of Diagnostic Labels by Patients with Epileptic or Non-epileptic Seizures

Plug, L., Sharrack, B., Reuber, M. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

We present an analysis of the use of diagnostic labels such as seizure, attack, fit, and blackout by patients who experience seizures. While previous research on patients’ preferences for diagnostic terminology has relied on questionnaires, we assess patients’ own preferences and their responses to a doctor's use of different labels through the qualitative and quantitative analysis of doctor–patient interactions in a realistic clinical setting. We also examine whether two sub-groups of patients—those with epileptic seizures and those with (psychogenic) non-epileptic seizures—show different behaviours in this respect. Our findings suggest first that patients make fine lexical distinctions between the various diagnostic labels they use to describe their seizure experiences; secondly, that patients play an active role in the development and application of labels for their medical complaint; and thirdly, that attention to patients’ lexical choices and interactive use or avoidance of labels can be relevant for the differential diagnosis of seizures.

English in Advertising: Generic Intertextuality in a Globalizing Media Environment

Kuppens, A. H. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

Across the globe, the use of English is a popular advertising technique. The ever expanding body of studies on this topic has revealed a number of explanations for the use of English in the advertising. It can be related to the larger marketing strategy of a campaign, to the cultural connotations English carries, or English can be used for creative-linguistic reasons. The current article, however, will present an analysis of four examples of advertisements in which English is used for reasons that have not been discussed in the scholarly literature so far. More specifically, in these advertisements, which intertextually refer to a range of British and American media genres, specific registers of English are used to mark the generic intertextuality of the ads. The analysis, I believe, sheds new light on the use of English in the media, and more particularly on issues such as viewers’ agency and linguistic superiority.

A Subject-Object Asymmetry in the Comprehension of wh-Questions by Korean Learners of English

Lee, J.-H. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

Previous studies on English as a second language (L2) argue for the relative ease of object wh-questions based on the finding that L2 learners are more accurate and faster in judging the grammaticality of object wh-questions than that of subject wh-questions in English. This article re-examines this claim by investigating L2 learners’ comprehension of long-distance wh-questions at different stages of English acquisition. A total of 113 Korean-speaking learners of English with different years of English instruction participated in a picture-based comprehension task. Contrary to previous studies, the results of the present study point toward a strong preference for subject wh-questions to object wh-questions. The learners were more accurate and improved faster in subject wh-questions than in object wh-questions. In addition, they showed a strong tendency to interpret object wh-questions as subject wh-questions. These results are in line with distance-based accounts of processing complexity. Subject wh-questions are easier to process because the distance between the wh-word and the gap is shorter and therefore poses less burden on working memory in subject wh-questions than in object wh-questions.

F. Christie and J. Martin (eds): Language, Knowledge and Pedagogy: Functional Linguistic and Sociological Perspectives.

Barwell, R. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

S. Makoni and A. Pennycook (eds): Disinventing and Reconstituting Languages.

May, S. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

Alison Wray: Formulaic Language: Pushing the Boundaries.

Durrant, P. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

Ruth Wodak, Rudolf de Cillia, Martin Reisigl and Karin Liebhart: The Discursive Construction of National Identity. Second Edition. Transl. by Angelika Hirsch, Richard Mitten and J. W. Unger.

Galasinska, A. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

Notes on Contributors

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:02 PST

Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency in Second Language Acquisition

Housen, A., Kuiken, F. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

The Differential Effects of Three Types of Task Planning on the Fluency, Complexity, and Accuracy in L2 Oral Production

Ellis, R. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

The main purpose of this article is to review studies that have investigated the effects of three types of planning (rehearsal, pre-task planning, and within-task planning) on the fluency, complexity, and accuracy of L2 performance. All three types of planning have been shown to have a beneficial effect on fluency but the results for complexity and accuracy are more mixed, reflecting both the type of planning and also the mediating role of various factors, including task design and implementation variables and individual difference factors. A secondary purpose is to outline a theory that can account for the role that planning plays in L2 performance. The article concludes with a list of limitations in the research to date.

Modelling Second Language Performance: Integrating Complexity, Accuracy, Fluency, and Lexis

Skehan, P. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

Complexity, accuracy, and fluency have proved useful measures of second language performance. The present article will re-examine these measures themselves, arguing that fluency needs to be rethought if it is to be measured effectively, and that the three general measures need to be supplemented by measures of lexical use. Building upon this discussion, generalizations are reviewed which focus on inter-relationships between the measures, especially between accuracy and complexity, since positive correlations between these two areas have been less common in the literature. Some examples of accuracy–complexity correlations are reviewed. The central issue here is how to account for these correlations, and so the discussion explores rival claims from the Cognition and Trade-off Hypotheses. It is argued that such joint raised performance between accuracy and complexity is not a function of task difficulty, as the Cognition Hypothesis would predict, but that instead it reflects the joint operation of separate task and task condition factors. Extending the theoretical discussion, connection is made with the Levelt model of first language speaking, and it is proposed that the results obtained in the task-based performance literature can be linked to this model, modified to take account of differences between first and second language processing, particularly as these stem from differences in the underlying mental lexicons.

Time and Motion: Measuring the Effects of the Conceptual Demands of Tasks on Second Language Speech Production

Robinson, P., Cadierno, T., Shirai, Y. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

The Cognition Hypothesis (Robinson 2005) claims that pedagogic tasks should be sequenced for learners in an order of increasing cognitive complexity, and that along resource-directing dimensions of task demands increasing effort at conceptualization promotes more complex and grammaticized second language (L2) speech production. This article summarizes results of two studies that measured the effects of increasing the complexity of task demands in conceptual domains using specific measures of the accuracy and complexity of speech. These measures are motivated by research into the development of tense–aspect morphology when referring to time (Shirai 2002), and by typological, cross-linguistic research into using lexicalization patterns when referring to motion (Cadierno 2008). Results show there is more developmentally advanced use of tense–aspect morphology on conceptually demanding tasks compared with less demanding tasks, and a trend to more target-like-use of lexicalization patterns for referring to motion on complex tasks.

Towards an Organic Approach to Investigating CAF in Instructed SLA: The Case of Complexity

Norris, J. M., Ortega, L. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

In this article, we examine current practices in the measurement of syntactic complexity to illustrate the need for more organic and sustainable practices in the measurement of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in second language production. Through in-depth review of examples drawn from research on instructed second language acquisition, we identify and discuss challenges to the evidentiary logic that underlies current approaches. We also illuminate critical mismatches between the interpretations that researchers want to make and the complexity measures that they use to make them. Building from the case of complexity, we point to related concerns with impoverished operationalizations of multidimensional CAF constructs and the lack of attention to CAF as a dynamic and interrelated set of constantly changing subsystems. In conclusion, we offer suggestions for addressing these challenges, and we call for much closer articulation between theory and measurement as well as more central roles for multidimensionality and dynamicity in future CAF research.

Adjusting Expectations: The Study of Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency in Second Language Acquisition

Larsen-Freeman, D. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

It is a good practice to try to understand matters at hand by first stepping back and adopting an historical perspective, which I will begin this review by doing. Next, I will take up the challenges that each of the authors in the articles in this volume has presented for the study of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in second language acquisition. Finally, I will conclude by issuing a few challenges of my own, along with proposing a broader frame in which to situate the study of CAF.

CAF: Defining, Refining and Differentiating Constructs

Pallotti, G. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

This article critically scrutinizes a number of issues involved in the definition and operationalization of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) constructs. It argues for maintaining clearer distinctions between CAF, on the one hand, and notions such as linguistic development and communicative adequacy, on the other. Adequacy, in particular, should be considered both as a separate performance dimension and as a way of interpreting CAF measures.

'To mediate relevantly': a response to James Simpson

Waters, A. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

In Waters (2009), it was contended that, because of its ideological orientation, a good deal of applied linguistics for language teaching (ALLT) fails to ‘mediate relevantly’ between academic and practitioner perspectives. James Simpson’s rejoinder to my article (Simpson 2009) attempts to refute its claims. However, in my view, it fails to do so, and, in the process, provides a further illustration of the problem. This occurs because a language teaching approach developed in one type of English Language Teaching (ELT) situation is presented as if of relevance to the field as a whole, and a number of its major limitations are not acknowledged. How this is the case is explained and the implications for ALLT in general are also considered.

Miyako Inoue: Vicarious Language: Gender and Linguistic Modernity in Japan.

Saft, S. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

Michele Koven: Selves in Two Languages: Bilinguals' Verbal Enactments of Identity in French and Portuguese.

Eilola, T. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

Frances Rock: Communicating Rights. The Language of Arrest and Detention.

Johnson, A. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

Andrew D. Cohen and Ernesto Macaro: Language Learner Strategies: Thirty Years of Research and Practice.

Zhang, L. J. — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

Notes on Contributors

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:33:55 PST

Topic Negotiation in Peer Group Oral Assessment Situations: A Conversation Analytic Approach

Gan, Z., Davison, C., Hamp-Lyons, L. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

This study examines the production of topical talk in peer collaborative negotiation in an interactive assessment innovation context. The ability to stay on topic, to move from topic to topic and to introduce new topics appropriately is at the core of communicative competence. Applying conversation analysis (CA), we describe and analyze how one group of secondary ESL students orient to and construct what they take to be relevant to the assessment task as interaction proceeds. We found that in the context of group oral discussion described in our study, in the course of turn-by-turn interaction which was characterized by intensive engagement and active participation between peer participants, this group of students were able to pursue, develop, and shift topics to, on the one hand, ensure the successful completion of the assigned task, and on the other, to display individual contributions. Topical transitions appeared to be the result of participants constantly monitoring the content of talk for relevance to the assessment task agenda. Such negotiation of topical talk among the participants indicates that peer group discussion as an oral assessment format has the potential to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate ‘real-life’ interactional abilities to relate to each other in spoken interaction.

Constructing another Language--Usage-Based Linguistics in Second Language Acquisition

Eskildsen, S. W. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

The general aim of this article is to discuss the application of Usage-Based Linguistics (UBL) to an investigation of developmental issues in second language acquisition (SLA). Particularly, the aim is to discuss the relevance for SLA of the UBL suggestion that language learning is item-based, going from formulas via low-scope patterns to fully abstract constructions. This paper examines how well this suggested path of acquisition serves ‘as a default in guiding the investigation of the ways in which exemplars and their type and token frequencies determine the second language acquisition of structure’ (N. Ellis 2002: 170). As such, it builds on and further discusses the findings in Bardovi-Harlig (2002) and Eskildsen and Cadierno (2007). The empirical point of departure is longitudinal oral second language classroom interaction and the focal point is the use of can by one student in the class in question. The data reveal the formulas, here operationalized as recurring multiword expressions, to be situated in recurring usage events, suggesting the need for a fine-tuning of the UBL theory for the purposes of SLA research towards a more locally contextualized theory of language acquisition and use. The data also suggest that semi-fixed linguistic patterns, here operationalized as utterance schemas, deserve a prominent place in L2 developmental research.

English Language Teachers' Conceptions of Research

Borg, S. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

This article examines the conceptions of research held by 505 teachers of English from 13 countries around the world. Questionnaire responses supplemented by follow-up written and interview data were analyzed to understand teachers’ views on what research is and how often they read and do it (and why or why not in each case). An understanding of these issues is central to the development of informed policies for promoting teacher research engagement, but relevant systematic evidence is lacking in the field of English language teaching (ELT). The study shows that the teachers held conceptions of research aligned with conventional scientific notions of inquiry. The teachers also reported moderate to low levels of reading and doing research, with a lack of time, knowledge, and access to material emerging as key factors which teachers felt limited their ability to be research-engaged. Teachers engaged in research reported being driven largely by practical and professional concerns rather than external drivers such as employers or promotion. Overall, the findings of this study point to a number of attitudinal, conceptual, procedural, and institutional barriers to teacher research engagement. Understanding these, it is argued here, is an essential part of the broader process of trying to address them and hence to make teacher research engagement a more feasible activity in ELT.

The Three Circles Redux: A Market-Theoretic Perspective on World Englishes

Park, J. S.-Y., Wee, L. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

While Kachru's Three Circles model of World Englishes (Kachru 1985, 1986; Kachru and Nelson 1996) has been highly influential in highlighting the changing distribution and functions of English, it has also been criticized for its inability to account for the heterogeneity and dynamics of English-using communities, and for perpetuating the very inequalities and dichotomies that it aims to combat. By combining Bourdieu's (1984, 1986, 1990) notion of linguistic markets with the insights of the model's critics, this article deconstructs the Three Circles model by reinterpreting it as a model for the system of ideological forces that delimit local creativity and utility of English in the world. Such a reinterpretation can be a useful way of explicating the performativity of English in different sociolinguistic communities around the world, foregrounding dominant assumptions about the prevailing structure of the global linguistic market.

The Lexical Coverage of Movies

Webb, S., Rodgers, M. P. H. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

The scripts of 318 movies were analyzed in this study to determine the vocabulary size necessary to understand 95% and 98% of the words in movies. The movies consisted of 2,841,887 running words and had a total running time of 601 hours and 33 minutes. The movies were classified as either American or British, and then put into the following genres: action, animation, comedy, suspense/crime, drama, horror, romance, science fiction, war, western, and classic. The results showed that knowledge of the most frequent 3,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words provided 95.76% coverage, and knowledge of the most frequent 6,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words provided 98.15% coverage of movies. Both American and British movies reached 95% coverage at the 3,000 word level. However, American movies reached 98% coverage at the 6,000 word level while British movies reached 98% coverage at the 7,000 word level. The vocabulary size necessary to reach 95% coverage of the different genres ranged from 3,000 to 4,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words, and 5,000 to 10,000 word families plus proper nouns and marginal words to reach 98% coverage. The implications for teaching and learning with movies are discussed in detail.

A Critical Stance in Language Education: A Reply to Alan Waters

Simpson, J. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

In his recent Forum article on ideology in applied linguistics, Alan Waters (2009) takes up arms against what he perceives as a damaging critical tendency. Ideas about language teaching, he claims, are promoted (e.g. learner centredness) or proscribed (e.g. artificial texts) ‘on the basis of ideological belief rather than pedagogical value’. By making this distinction, Waters fails to recognize that the relationship between ideology and pedagogy is inextricable: ideologies are constructed, reproduced, and made manifest in social practices, such as language teaching. Furthermore, in certain language learning and teaching situations, an uncritical stance—one which views language teaching as a neutral and value-free activity—is incompatible with students’ language learning and broader life concerns. In this response article, I maintain that in such contexts, the field of applied linguistics has an obligation to mediate in a way that is both critical and pedagogically relevant.

A G-Theory Analysis of Rater Effect in ESL Speaking Assessment

Kim, Y.-H. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

The current status of English as an international language has come with challenges to the native speaker norms and raised the relevance of localized varieties in language assessment. This preliminary study investigates whether native English-speaking (NS) and non-native English-speaking (NNS) raters differ in their effect on score reliability in ESL speaking assessment. A generalizability theory analysis indicated that, although NS and NNS raters exhibited similar severity patterns across all students, they interacted with the students in different ways. This article also discusses the implications for assessment practice and directions for future research.

Mike Levy and Glenn Stockwell: Call Dimensions: Options and Issues in Computer-Assisted Language Learning. * Philip Hubbard and Mike Levy (eds): Teacher Education in Call.

Murray, D. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

P. Li, L. Tan, E. Bates and P. Tzeng (eds): The Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics: Volume 1: Chinese.

Mishra, R. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

Geoff Thompson and Susan Hunston (eds): System and Corpus: Exploring Connections.

Gardner, S. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini, Catherine Nickerson, and Brigitte Planken: Business Discourse. * Belinda Crawford Camiciottoli: The Language of Business Studies Lectures: A Corpus-Assisted Analysis.

Jacobs, G. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT

Notes on Contributors

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:31:26 PDT