Applied Linguistics - recent issues

Applied Linguistics Redux: A Derridean Exploration of Alzheimer Lifehistories

Ramanathan, V. — 2008-02-29

Advocating a position of self-critique, whereby we revisit our old research sites to dis-assemble our prior thinking in relation to our current cognitions, this paper offers, among other things, a critical revisitation and Derridean interpretation of one of my previous long-term, ethnographic endeavours: my extended work with the memories and lifehistories of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Gathered over the span of three and a half years, this body of research was devoted to countering several psycholinguistic strains characterizing Alzheimer speech. Revisiting that work given my current cognitions raises, among other things, Derridean questions about ‘originals’. If it seemed that the scholarship first produced was the ‘original’, is the (present) paper produced as a result of critical re-visitation an original of a different, receding (or progressing) kind? Uncovering ways in which I, in retrospect, interpret Alzheimer's discourse from a Derridean perspective raises critical issues relating to our evolving cognitions and knowledge-making practices. In other words, what is the status of claims we make in the course of our research and how do these impact disciplinary ideologies? The paper also raises quasi-philosophical questions about the nature of ‘texts’, ‘originals’ and ‘presences’, and ‘truths’.

Assessed Levels of Second Language Speaking Proficiency: How Distinct?

Iwashita, N., Brown, A., McNamara, T., O'Hagan, S. — 2008-02-29

The study reported in this paper is an investigation of the nature of speaking proficiency in English as a second language in the context of a larger project to develop a rating scale for a new international test of English for Academic Purposes, TOEFL iBT (Brown et al. 2005). We report on a large-scale study of the relationship between detailed features of the spoken language produced by test-takers and holistic scores awarded by raters to these performances. Spoken test performances representing five different tasks and five different proficiency levels (200 performances in all) were analyzed using a range of measures of grammatical accuracy and complexity, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency. The results showed that features from each category helped distinguish overall levels of performance, with particular features of vocabulary and fluency having the strongest impact. Overall, the study contributes important insights into the nature of spoken proficiency as it develops and can be measured in rating scales for speaking, and has implications for methodological issues of the appropriateness of the use in language testing research contexts of measures developed in research on second language acquisition.

Analyzing Genre Exemplars in Preparation for Writing: The Case of an L2 Graduate Student in the ESP Genre-based Instructional Framework of Academic Literacy

Cheng, A. — 2008-02-29

Some researchers believe that the ESP genre-based framework of writing instruction is effective in teaching discipline-specific English EAP writing to L2 learners, especially to advanced L2 graduate students. However, studies examining students’ genre-based learning in such a framework are still underrepresented in current ESP genre-based literature. This study focused on a Chinese-speaking graduate student in electrical engineering who analyzed genre exemplars in preparation for writing. My analysis of the data reveals this student's two prominent and interrelated ways of analyzing the discourse-level generic features in discipline-specific genre exemplars. They are (a) rhetorical, as evidenced in his consistent attention not only to the generic features, but also to the underlying rhetorical parameters, such as reader, writer, and purpose and (b) evaluative, as shown in his increasingly sophisticated evaluation of the discourse-level generic features in the genre exemplars. The student's rhetorical and evaluative reading of the genre exemplars highlights the potential power of genre as an explicit, supportive tool for building academic literacy.

Formulaic Sequences: Are They Processed More Quickly than Nonformulaic Language by Native and Nonnative Speakers?

Conklin, K., Schmitt, N. — 2008-02-29

It is generally accepted that formulaic sequences like take the bull by the horns serve an important function in discourse and are widespread in language. It is also generally believed that these sequences are processed more efficiently because single memorized units, even though they are composed of a sequence of individual words, can be processed more quickly and easily than the same sequences of words which are generated creatively (Pawley and Syder 1983). We investigated the hypothesized processing advantage for formulaic sequences by comparing reading times for formulaic sequences versus matched nonformulaic phrases for native and nonnative speakers. It was found that the formulaic sequences were read more quickly than the nonformulaic phrases by both groups of participants. This result supports the assertion that formulaic sequences have a processing advantage over creatively generated language. Interestingly, this processing advantage was in place regardless of whether the formulaic sequences were used idiomatically or literally (e.g. take the bull by the horns = ‘attack a problem’ vs. ‘wrestle an animal’). The fact that the results also held for nonnatives indicates that it is possible for learners to enjoy the same type of processing advantage as natives.

Raising the Achievement of Young-beginner Readers of French through Strategy Instruction

Macaro, E., Erler, L. — 2008-02-29

This article reports on an intervention study of reading comprehension among young-beginner learners of French as a foreign language (L2) in England. A number of factors are currently contributing to low achievement in reading among this population of learners. Although research into reading strategies is extensive, and there is some evidence of success in reading strategy instruction, very few studies have focused on beginner readers and there are no examples of longitudinal interventions such as this one. A sample of 62, 11–12 year olds underwent a programme of reading strategy instruction lasting 14 months. Measures were taken of French reading comprehension, reading strategy use and attitudes towards French before and after the intervention and findings compared with a group of 54 students not receiving the intervention. Results suggest that strategy instruction improved comprehension of both simple and more elaborate texts, brought about changes in strategy use, and improved attitudes towards reading.

Microgenesis, Method and Object: A Study of Collaborative Activity in a Spanish as a Foreign Language Classroom

Ganem Gutierrez, A. — 2008-02-29

This paper draws on the Vygotskian methodological construct of microgenesis to study collaborative activity in an intermediate Spanish as a foreign language classroom. In this study, the construct of microgenesis is drawn upon to refer to both, the methodological tool to investigate language learning instances as observed in short periods of time (i.e. minutes), and also to refer to those observed language learning instances as the object of study. The Sociocultural approach to Second Language Learning (SLL) (Lantolf and Appel 1994; Donato 2000; Lantolf 2000; Lantolf and Thorne 2006) underpinning this investigation sees interaction as the enabling process that becomes essential for the individual to achieve learning and development. I refer to learning as the process through which participants are able to change, transform (i.e. develop) their use and/or understanding (see Wells 1999: 111) of the target language. Pairs/trios of students were audio-recorded while collaborating to complete three language tasks in the classroom during an academic semester in a UK university. Microgenetic analysis of the data (transcribed protocols) allowed us to gain further understanding of collaborative activity and of the importance of language as a mediational tool to co-construct meaning and learning opportunities. The results show that although each instance of microgenesis is unique, there are certain characteristics and patterns shared by the various instances identified in the data set. The investigation also highlights the importance of studying discourse markers to help us identify the learners’ level of regulation. Finally, we focus on a specific aspect of microgenesis that appears to be crucial for driving the learner's second language (L2) forward, and which following van Lier (2000: 252), I refer to as microgenesis affordance.

Learners' Production of Passives during Syntactic Priming Activities

Kim, Y., McDonough, K. — 2008-02-29

Previous research has shown that during syntactic priming activities, L1 speakers produce more target structures when they are prompted by a lexical item that occurred in their interlocutor's previous utterance. This preliminary study investigated whether L2 speakers are similarly influenced by lexical items during syntactic priming activities. Korean EFL learners from three proficiency levels carried out a picture description activity with a researcher whose interactional contributions were scripted with passive sentences. The results indicated that the learners produced more passives when they were prompted by verbs that had occurred in the researcher's passives. Directions for future research to investigate the relationships among syntactic priming, lexical items, and L2 development are suggested.

Janet Maybin: Children's Voices: Talk, Knowledge and Identity.

Richards, K. — 2008-02-29

S. Kurhila: Second Language Interaction.

Seedhouse, P. — 2008-02-29

P. Skandera: Phraseology and Culture in English

Wood, D. — 2008-02-29

K. Richards: Language and Professional Identity: Aspects of Collaborative Interaction.

Maybin, J. — 2008-02-29

Notes on Contributors

2008-02-29

Introduction: Language Creativity in Everyday Contexts

Swann, J., Maybin, J. — 2007-12-03

Everyday Creativity in Language: Textuality, Contextuality, and Critique

Maybin, J., Swann, J. — 2007-12-03

This paper starts by examining recent work by applied linguists who argue that creativity is not only a property of especially skilled and gifted language users, but is pervasive in routine everyday practice. Also variously addressing literariness, language play and humour, this apparent democratization of creativity contributes to a more general refocusing within applied linguistics on language users as creative designers of meaning. Alongside the textual analysis of poetic form, there has been an increasing interest in the interactional functions of creativity, suggesting the need for a more dynamic model which can address the dialogical nature of everyday creativity, its sociohistorical dimensions and processes of contextualization. In order to suggest how such a model could be developed, the authors draw on Russian sociohistorical conceptions of the evaluative function of language as social sign and bring together the applied linguistic research with work from linguistic anthropology on contextualization, framing, and reflexivity within performance. While linguistic anthropologists have focused mainly on traditional oral art, the authors argue that the framing and critical potential of performance is also keyed by more fleeting uses of poetic language in everyday interaction. In relation to four contrasting examples of data, they suggest how an integrated analytical framework might be developed which addresses textual, contextual, and critical dimensions of creativity.

Making Humour Work: Creativity on the Job

Holmes, J. — 2007-12-03

There is a long research tradition associating humour with creativity, although relatively little research which focuses on the use of humour among professionals in particular workplaces. Addressing this gap, this paper analyses ordinary everyday workplace interaction in a range of New Zealand white collar organizations in order to examine claims about the beneficial effects of workplace humour, including claims that humour is associated with creativity at work. The analysis provides evidence that humour not only contributes to the construction of effective workplace relationships (the creative use of relational humour), but may also stimulate intellectual activity of direct relevance to the achievement of workplace objectives (the use of humour to foster workplace creativity). The analysis suggests that the first category is pervasive and examples abound throughout our data set, whilst humour associated with workplace creativity is less frequent and tends to characterize some communities of practice more than others. Interestingly, the effective use of workplace humour to generate new ideas and stimulate intellectual progress is strongly associated with what has been labelled ‘transformational’ leadership.

'The Voices, the Voices': Creativity in Online Conversation

North, S. — 2007-12-03

This paper examines the type of creativity involved in the humorous exchanges that pervade an online discussion board where all interaction and relationships between participants are textually co-constructed. Taking a view of creativity as context-dependent, it considers how participants exploit the particular features of an online environment in which different discussion threads compete for attention, choreographing their contributions to be appropriate both to the evolving context and to the social practices of the group. It argues that wordplay in this environment contributes to a dense textual cohesion that helps to keep topics ‘in play’. This textual cohesion, like the humour, is jointly constructed, and both reflects and helps to constitute the social cohesion of the group.

Learning to Play, Playing to Learn: FL Learners as Multicompetent Language Users

Pomerantz, A., Bell, N. D. — 2007-12-03

In line with recent critiques of communicative language teaching (Byrnes and Maxim 2004; Byrnes 2006), this paper considers how instances of spontaneous, creative language play can afford access to a range of linguistic practices that are often devalued or ignored in classrooms. To this end, it examines how university students in an advanced Spanish conversation course jointly manipulate linguistic forms, semantic units, and discursive elements for the amusement of themselves and others. The analysis suggests that these humorous moments provide opportunities for new and more varied forms of participation and language use, contributing to the expansion of learners’ overall communicative repertoires. That is, it illustrates how co-constructed episodes of unscripted language play can destabilize institutionally-sanctioned assumptions about what counts as a meaningful or legitimate act of language use, momentarily reconfiguring the definition of linguistic expertise and broadening the possibilities for acceptable language use. Following Hall et al. (2006), the authors advocate a view of learners as multicompetent language users (V. Cook 1991, 1992, 1999), whose language knowledge is grounded in the actual linguistic practices in which they engage.

'The Rotation Gets Thick. The Constraints Get Thin': Creativity, Recontextualization, and Difference

Pennycook, A. — 2007-12-03

This paper explores the implications of looking at creativity in terms of repeated sameness rather than observable difference. Drawing on insights from hip-hop culture that focus on sampling as creativity, and looking in particular at philosophies of difference that make iterability and performativity central, this paper opens up a discussion of repetition, reenactment, and recontextualization as forms of creativity. A common approach to language and creativity draws on a very particular cultural and intellectual history that posits a core of human, cultural, or linguistic similarity, with creativity as marked divergence from the core. The alternative, or at least complementary, understanding discussed in this paper takes flow and difference as the norm, pointing to the need to account for how the previous expression of others is recontextualized, and suggesting that contemporary acts of digital sampling can be seen in relation to a parallel philosophy of creativity. An understanding of this flip-side of creativity, where difference is taken as a given and sameness needs to account for itself, has major implications for some of the ways we think about writing, learning, and language variation in applied linguistics.

Response to Special Issue of Applied Linguistics devoted to Language Creativity in Everyday Contexts

Carter, R. — 2007-12-03

This paper serves as a response to the articles published in this Special Issue while at the same time looking forward to future developments in this field. Three main areas are identified as of especial significance: the need for more empirical, participant-based research into processes and contexts of everyday language use within a broader social and contextual frame of aesthetics; the need for further exploration of different ‘critical’ and salient moments in discourse when creativity (including artfulness, humour, and language play) is a key component in social interaction; and, finally, the need for creativity research to extend the boundaries of second and foreign language teaching research by producing stronger links between ‘language’ and ‘literature’ teaching. At the same time the paper argues consistently for a view of creativity that recognizes its dynamic, emergent and historically-changing character.

Sometimes They Use It, Sometimes They Don't: An Epistemological Discussion of L2 Morphological Production and Its Use as a Competence Measurement

Rothman, J. — 2007-12-03

The main goal of all approaches to adult second language acquisition (SLA) is to accurately describe and explain the overall acquisition process. To accomplish this, SLA researchers must come to agree on some key issues. In this commentary, I defend the necessity of the competence/performance distinction and how this relates to why an examination of morphological production presents challenges for SLA research. I suggest that such a methodology is meaningful only when it is dovetailed with procedures that test for related syntactic/semantic knowledge.

Has Language Learning Strategy Research Come to an End? A response to Tseng et al. (2006)

Gao, X. — 2007-12-03

Tseng et al. (2006) critically examine language learning strategy (LLS) research and propose to assess language learners’ strategic learning in terms of their self-regulatory capacity. In this response, I discuss whether the proposed advance of self-regulation means the marginalization of LLS research. While recognizing the merits of the proposal, I argue that the proposal needs to consider other competing constructs with similar connotations in research on learners’ strategic language learning. The response also reports on recent developments in LLS research, contending that such developments could complement the advance of a broad perspective on learners’ strategic learning in research.

Caroline Coffin: HISTORICAL DISCOURSE: THE LANGUAGE OF TIME, CAUSE, AND EVALUATION.

McCabe, A. — 2007-12-03

Douglas Biber: UNIVERSITY LANGUAGE: A CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF SPOKEN AND WRITTEN REGISTERS.

Deroey, K. — 2007-12-03

C. Munoz (ed.): AGE AND THE RATE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING.

Cenoz, J. — 2007-12-03

Kay L. O'Halloran: MATHEMATICAL DISCOURSE LANGUAGE, SYMBOLISM AND VISUAL IMAGES.

Leung, C. — 2007-12-03

Notes on Contributors

2007-12-03

Index to Volume 28

2007-12-03

Co-construction of Nonnative Speaker Identity in Cross-cultural Interaction

Park, J.-E. — 2007-09-05

Informed by Conversation Analysis, this paper examines discursive practices through which nonnative speaker (NNS) identity is constituted in relation to native speaker (NS) identity in naturally occurring English conversations. Drawing on studies of social interaction that view identity as intrinsically a social, dialogic, negotiable entity, I propose that NS/NNS identities are social categories that are made procedurally relevant to the ongoing interaction and that consequently invoke an asymmetrical alignment of the participants. Two sets of videotaped English conversations were analyzed to delineate the sequential organization of the participant framework whereby participants negotiate their NS/NNS identities by aligning and realigning vis-à-vis each other. The analysis shows that participants invoke NS/NNS identities by incidentally undertaking requestor–requestee identities in the midst of a word search and further sustain them by assuming assessor–assessed identities within the situated activity of evaluating self or other's linguistic performance. Invoked NS/NNS identities often undergo renegotiation, which instantly revokes an asymmetry that has arisen between the participants within their NS/NNS identities. The findings indicate that a local asymmetry between an NS and an NNS is not merely an external constraint on participants’ discursive conduct but also provides resources for moving the interaction ahead.

An Operational Definition of the Emergence Criterion

Pallotti, G. — 2007-09-05

Although acquisition criteria are a fundamental issue for SLA research, they have not always been adequately defined or elaborated in the literature. This article critically scrutinizes one such criterion, the emergence criterion, proposing an explicit, operational definition. After discussing emergence as a theoretical construct, the article addresses several points involved in its operationalization. These points concern all stages of a research project, from data collection to data organization and analysis. A concrete example is provided, leading to the formulation of an emergence criterion for the acquisition of two grammatical structures of Italian as a second language. Issues of reliability and validity are also discussed, providing indications for future research.

Judging the Frequency of English Words

Alderson, J. C. — 2007-09-05

Given the lack of empirical corpus-based frequency counts in many languages, it would be useful and of theoretical interest if judgements of relative frequency of words in a language by proficient speakers of that language could substitute objective frequency counts for the purposes of devising language teaching materials, tests, and research instruments. The present paper reports on three investigations of frequency judgements. Using different methodologies and with varying sizes of word samples, it is shown that judgements by professional linguists do not correlate highly with corpus-based frequency counts. There are considerable individual variations in judgements of frequency, and the most reliable results are likely to be achieved by aggregating and averaging judgements. However, even averaged judgements do not predict frequency counts particularly well. This research does not inspire confidence in word frequency judgements as surrogates for objective frequency measures. It is suggested either that judgements of word frequency, even by highly educated native speakers of a language, may not be very accurate estimates of the frequency of words in their language, or that even large modern corpora are inadequate indicators of word frequency as experienced by individuals and groups of individuals. Further research is needed into the nature of intuitions about word frequency.

Discourse Markers and Spoken English: Native and Learner Use in Pedagogic Settings

Fung, L., Carter, R. — 2007-09-05

This study examines and compares the production of discourse markers by native speakers and learners of English based on a pedagogic sub-corpus from CANCODE, a corpus of spoken British English, and a corpus of interactive classroom discourse of secondary pupils in Hong Kong. The results indicate that in both groups discourse markers serve as useful interactional manoeuvres to structure and organize speech on interpersonal, referential, structural, and cognitive levels. The Hong Kong learners are found to display a liberal use of referentially functional discourse markers (and, but, because, OK, so, etc.) but a relatively restricted use of other markers (yeah, really, say, sort of, I see, you see, well, right, actually, cos, you know, etc.). Native speakers are found to use discourse markers for a wider variety of pragmatic functions and the study therefore also discusses some possible pedagogical implications involved in preparing learners to become more interactionally competent speakers.

Language Re-use among Chinese Apprentice Scientists Writing for Publication

Flowerdew, J., Li, Y. — 2007-09-05

Plagiarism has been a topic of considerable discussion in Applied Linguistics. In the literature on plagiarism a distinction can be found between the taking of the ideas of others and the taking of others’ words. In this paper the focus is on the latter, which is referred to as ‘language re-use’. Specifically, the study focuses on the practices and beliefs of a group of doctoral science students at a major university in China regarding language re-use in writing for publication in English. Examples are presented illustrating the students’ strategies of language re-use in each section of the prototypical IMRD (Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion) structure of the genre of scientific research articles, along with the writers’ justifications for such writing practices. It can be seen that the students’ language re-use goes well beyond formulaic expressions and technical terminology which are characteristics of the scientific research article, yet the students believe that their textual practices do not constitute plagiarism, which, to them, primarily means the stealing of others’ work. For English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instruction targeted at novice scientists, the paper calls for a pedagogy that acknowledges and exploits the formulaicity of scientific writing as well as discusses the relationship between ‘form’ (language) and ‘content’ (the work reported) in natural sciences.

The Interpretation of Japanese Word Order Patterns by Adult English-speaking Learners of Japanese as a Second Language

Ito, A. — 2007-09-05

This paper reports on the results of an experiment on the interpretation of Japanese word order patterns by adult English-speaking learners of Japanese as a second language. The results of a comprehension experiment conducted with twenty adult learners point toward a preference for isomorphic sentence patterns over non-isomorphic sentence patterns, providing additional support for the isomorphic mapping hypothesis (IMH) (O’Grady et al. 2005) in second language acquisition (SLA).

Uso-Juan, Esther and Alicia Martinez-Flor: Current Trends in the Development and Teaching of the Four Language Skills. Mouton de Gruyter, 2006.

Valle, A. B. — 2007-09-05

J. P. Lantolf and S. L. Thorne: Sociocultural Theory and The Genesis of Second Language Development. Oxford University Press, 2006.

De Costa, P. I. — 2007-09-05

Jan Blommaert: Discourse. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Thorborrow, J. — 2007-09-05

Michael H. Long: Problems in SLA. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2007.

Bowles, M. — 2007-09-05

Notes on Contributors

2007-09-05