This paper discusses multilingualism in three publications aimed at bilingual communities in Britain: speakers of Russian, Greek and Tagalog. Despite the fact that the editorial content in such publications is almost completely monolingual, they are sites rich in multilingual written practices. The focus here is on display advertisements, which make up a large part of these publications. The paper looks at what language mixing practices are present, and what insights they may give into the nature of bilingualism in the community of intended readers. I identify two types of language alternation: in-line alternation involves integrating words from two different languages within one textual unit. Compositional alternation involves juxtaposing units in two (or more) different languages within a more complex visually delimited text, such as a display advertisement. While the advertisements themselves are good examples of multilingual writing, the mixing of languages itself is unremarkable and unremarked. Content in one language is rarely translated into another, while at the same time ‘seamless’ switches from one language to another are common. The advertisements in these publications seem to reflect the language competences and literacies of their intended readerships, where the ability to read more than one language (though to different extents) is taken as given.
{"title":"Bilingual newspapers as sites of multilingual practice","authors":"Mark Sebba","doi":"10.1075/WLL.00044.SEB","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/WLL.00044.SEB","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper discusses multilingualism in three publications aimed at bilingual communities in Britain: speakers of Russian, Greek and Tagalog. Despite the fact that the editorial content in such publications is almost completely monolingual, they are sites rich in multilingual written practices. The focus here is on display advertisements, which make up a large part of these publications. The paper looks at what language mixing practices are present, and what insights they may give into the nature of bilingualism in the community of intended readers. I identify two types of language alternation: in-line alternation involves integrating words from two different languages within one textual unit. Compositional alternation involves juxtaposing units in two (or more) different languages within a more complex visually delimited text, such as a display advertisement. While the advertisements themselves are good examples of multilingual writing, the mixing of languages itself is unremarkable and unremarked. Content in one language is rarely translated into another, while at the same time ‘seamless’ switches from one language to another are common. The advertisements in these publications seem to reflect the language competences and literacies of their intended readerships, where the ability to read more than one language (though to different extents) is taken as given.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73144545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This essay explores the relationship between writing and an emblematic notion of our age, identity. It describes the symbolic functions of writing for three planes on which it is instrumentalized as a marker of identity, religion, nation and language. The discussion revolves around scriptures as a means of codifying religion, the practical and symbolic functions of writing for modern nation states, and the question of how writing affects linguistic systems, with regard to individual speakers, communities of speakers, and languages themselves. It thus appraises writing as a culture technique without which god, nation, and self wouldn’t be what nowadays we think they are.
{"title":"Writing and identity","authors":"F. Coulmas","doi":"10.1075/WLL.00039.COU","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/WLL.00039.COU","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This essay explores the relationship between writing and an emblematic notion of our age, identity. It describes the symbolic functions of writing for three planes on which it is instrumentalized as a marker of identity, religion, nation and language. The discussion revolves around scriptures as a means of codifying religion, the practical and symbolic functions of writing for modern nation states, and the question of how writing affects linguistic systems, with regard to individual speakers, communities of speakers, and languages themselves. It thus appraises writing as a culture technique without which god, nation, and self wouldn’t be what nowadays we think they are.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89164457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper investigates the resources writers activate when they spell Wolof, a West African language they usually use more in spoken than in written communication. I apply the notion of orthographic repertoire to examine three young women’s spelling of Wolof as socially embedded practices. The analysis covers three different sets of interactional data: (1) texting by Senegalese university students, (2) discussion forum posts, and (3) transnational digital family interaction. The spelling practices are examined with reference to the colonial history of spelling in Senegal, other contemporary informal literacies in West Africa, and the sociolinguistic context of the writers. The paper shows that the different spelling resources related to the multilingual and mediated nature of their writing are drawn upon as the three young women engage in digital literacy practices including Wolof.
{"title":"Literacies in contact when writing Wolof – orthographic repertoires in digital communication","authors":"Kristin Vold Lexander","doi":"10.1075/WLL.00040.LEX","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/WLL.00040.LEX","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper investigates the resources writers activate when they spell Wolof, a West African language they usually use\u0000 more in spoken than in written communication. I apply the notion of orthographic repertoire to examine three young women’s spelling of Wolof\u0000 as socially embedded practices. The analysis covers three different sets of interactional data: (1) texting by Senegalese university\u0000 students, (2) discussion forum posts, and (3) transnational digital family interaction. The spelling practices are examined with reference\u0000 to the colonial history of spelling in Senegal, other contemporary informal literacies in West Africa, and the sociolinguistic context of\u0000 the writers. The paper shows that the different spelling resources related to the multilingual and mediated nature of their writing are\u0000 drawn upon as the three young women engage in digital literacy practices including Wolof.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80187530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The present study compared the relationship between Dutch phonological awareness (rhyme awareness, initial phoneme isolation), Dutch speech decoding and Dutch receptive vocabulary in two groups in different linguistic environments: 30 Mandarin Chinese-Dutch bilingual children and 24 monolingual Dutch peers. Chinese vocabulary and phonological awareness were taken into account in the bilingual group. Bilingual children scored below their Dutch monolingual counterparts on all Dutch tasks. In the bilingual group, Dutch rhyme awareness was predicted by Dutch speech decoding, both directly, and indirectly via Dutch receptive vocabulary. When adding Chinese proficiency to the model, Chinese rhyme awareness was found to mediate the relationship between Dutch speech decoding and Dutch rhyme awareness. It can thus be concluded that second language (L2) phonological awareness in Chinese-Dutch kindergartners is affected by their L2 speech and vocabulary level, on the one hand, and their level of phonological awareness in the first language (L1).
{"title":"Factors affecting L2 phonological awareness in Chinese-Dutch preschoolers","authors":"Han Yuan, E. Segers, L. Verhoeven","doi":"10.1075/wll.00035.yua","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00035.yua","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present study compared the relationship between Dutch phonological awareness (rhyme awareness, initial phoneme isolation), Dutch speech decoding and Dutch receptive vocabulary in two groups in different linguistic environments: 30 Mandarin Chinese-Dutch bilingual children and 24 monolingual Dutch peers. Chinese vocabulary and phonological awareness were taken into account in the bilingual group. Bilingual children scored below their Dutch monolingual counterparts on all Dutch tasks. In the bilingual group, Dutch rhyme awareness was predicted by Dutch speech decoding, both directly, and indirectly via Dutch receptive vocabulary. When adding Chinese proficiency to the model, Chinese rhyme awareness was found to mediate the relationship between Dutch speech decoding and Dutch rhyme awareness. It can thus be concluded that second language (L2) phonological awareness in Chinese-Dutch kindergartners is affected by their L2 speech and vocabulary level, on the one hand, and their level of phonological awareness in the first language (L1).","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74532363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Starting from a usage-based perspective of language acquisition, the present study investigates the occurrence of connectives in BasiLex, an 11.5 million word corpus of texts Dutch children encounter during the primary school years (grades 1–6). Specifically, we investigate how connective frequencies change across grades, how these changes reflect the theorized orders of connective acquisition in the work of Bloom et al. (1980) and Evers-Vermeul & Sanders (2009), and we make a comparison with the frequencies of connectives in the adult written language corpus Celex. Briefly summarized, our findings show that the numbers of connectives increase sharply after grade 1 and then more steadily across grades 2 to 6; we see some reflection of the connective acquisition theory of Evers-Vermeul & Sanders in the connective frequencies in texts offered to children; and we see some remarkable similarities between connective frequencies in the adult corpus Celex as compared to connective frequencies in grade 1 and grade 6 texts in BasiLex. Our findings suggest that the written input offered to children harmonizes with theoretical approaches that emphasize the incremental growth of word knowledge in children as a function of exposure.
{"title":"Connective frequencies in child-directed texts","authors":"A. Tellings, Bart Penning de Vries","doi":"10.1075/wll.00033.tel","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00033.tel","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Starting from a usage-based perspective of language acquisition, the present study investigates the occurrence of\u0000 connectives in BasiLex, an 11.5 million word corpus of texts Dutch children encounter during the primary school years (grades 1–6).\u0000 Specifically, we investigate how connective frequencies change across grades, how these changes reflect the theorized orders of connective\u0000 acquisition in the work of Bloom et al. (1980) and Evers-Vermeul & Sanders (2009), and we make a comparison with the frequencies of connectives in the adult written language\u0000 corpus Celex. Briefly summarized, our findings show that the numbers of connectives increase sharply after grade 1 and then more steadily\u0000 across grades 2 to 6; we see some reflection of the connective acquisition theory of Evers-Vermeul & Sanders in the connective\u0000 frequencies in texts offered to children; and we see some remarkable similarities between connective frequencies in the adult corpus Celex\u0000 as compared to connective frequencies in grade 1 and grade 6 texts in BasiLex. Our findings suggest that the written input offered to\u0000 children harmonizes with theoretical approaches that emphasize the incremental growth of word knowledge in children as a function of\u0000 exposure.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90272413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper argues for pragmatism rather than linguistic purity in orthography design for endangered Indigenous languages such as Blackfoot, emphasizing the need to see orthography standardization as a dynamic process rather than a static result. It explores the ongoing lack of community agreement about the best way to write the Blackfoot language and lack of widespread proficiency in the use of its standard orthography, and then describes ways in which this is mitigated in the Blackfoot Language Resources and Digital Dictionary project, a suite of web resources created to support language maintenance and revitalization work. The website uses a combination of relaxed searches, alternative spelling fields, and multimedia content to increase accessibility of the resources for users lacking proficiency in the standard orthography.
{"title":"“It’s written niisto but it sounds like knee stew.”","authors":"I. Genee","doi":"10.1075/wll.00031.gen","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00031.gen","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper argues for pragmatism rather than linguistic purity in orthography design for endangered Indigenous languages such as Blackfoot, emphasizing the need to see orthography standardization as a dynamic process rather than a static result. It explores the ongoing lack of community agreement about the best way to write the Blackfoot language and lack of widespread proficiency in the use of its standard orthography, and then describes ways in which this is mitigated in the Blackfoot Language Resources and Digital Dictionary project, a suite of web resources created to support language maintenance and revitalization work. The website uses a combination of relaxed searches, alternative spelling fields, and multimedia content to increase accessibility of the resources for users lacking proficiency in the standard orthography.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73415727","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article reviews How Writing Works. From the Invention of the Alphabet to the Rise of Social Media
这篇文章回顾了写作的原理。从字母表的发明到社交媒体的兴起
{"title":"Dominic Wyse (2017). How Writing Works. From the Invention of the Alphabet to the Rise of Social Media","authors":"S. Borgwaldt","doi":"10.1075/wll.00036.bor","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00036.bor","url":null,"abstract":"This article reviews How Writing Works. From the Invention of the Alphabet to the Rise of Social Media","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85243823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Previous research has demonstrated that negated text is a particularly difficult text construction, and often leads to readers having difficulty understanding and remembering what they have read. To date, attempts at identifying a strategy that would aid in readers’ comprehension of negation have not been successful. However, in studies focused on affirmative text, readers practicing retrieving information from a text showed improvements in comprehension and more accurate metacomprehension judgments. The present study aimed to determine whether this strategy also benefits readers of passages in which a critical concept has been negated. Interestingly, results demonstrated that while readers judged their comprehension to be better when practicing retrieval, their comprehension was not actually better. These results suggest that simply practicing retrieval information is not necessarily enough to enhance comprehension or metacomprehension of this text construction.
{"title":"Comprehension and metacomprehension of negated text","authors":"Sara J. Margolin, Timothy Brackins","doi":"10.1075/wll.00034.mar","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00034.mar","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Previous research has demonstrated that negated text is a particularly difficult text construction, and often leads to readers having difficulty understanding and remembering what they have read. To date, attempts at identifying a strategy that would aid in readers’ comprehension of negation have not been successful. However, in studies focused on affirmative text, readers practicing retrieving information from a text showed improvements in comprehension and more accurate metacomprehension judgments. The present study aimed to determine whether this strategy also benefits readers of passages in which a critical concept has been negated. Interestingly, results demonstrated that while readers judged their comprehension to be better when practicing retrieval, their comprehension was not actually better. These results suggest that simply practicing retrieval information is not necessarily enough to enhance comprehension or metacomprehension of this text construction.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86394762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Previous research on teaching summarizing skill has focused on summarizing strategies that are appropriate for expository texts rather than narrative text. Findings of these studies showed an advantage for older over younger students but did not control for text difficulty, so age effects may have been confounded by text difficulty. The present study tested an intervention designed to improve summarizing of narrative texts, taking into account the factor of text difficulty. Thirty fourth-grade participants (mean age = 9.7 years) were pretested for reading and summarizing skill. Participants receiving the summarizing treatment (N = 15) were taught to write summaries of narrative texts based on story grammar components. Participants receiving the writing control treatment (N = 15) were taught to write about connections between their lives and the text. Results showed that the story grammar intervention improved the quality of narrative summaries and that better summaries came from easier text than harder text. The present study reveals a shortcoming of previous summarizing studies that attributed superior performance to age without considering text difficulty. Findings show the effectiveness of teaching fourth graders to apply story grammar components to improve their skill in summarizing narrative text.
{"title":"The impact of story grammar instruction and text difficulty on students’ skill in summarizing narratives","authors":"Esther Hellmann, L. Ehri","doi":"10.1075/wll.00032.hel","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00032.hel","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Previous research on teaching summarizing skill has focused on summarizing strategies that are appropriate for expository texts rather than narrative text. Findings of these studies showed an advantage for older over younger students but did not control for text difficulty, so age effects may have been confounded by text difficulty. The present study tested an intervention designed to improve summarizing of narrative texts, taking into account the factor of text difficulty. Thirty fourth-grade participants (mean age = 9.7 years) were pretested for reading and summarizing skill. Participants receiving the summarizing treatment (N = 15) were taught to write summaries of narrative texts based on story grammar components. Participants receiving the writing control treatment (N = 15) were taught to write about connections between their lives and the text. Results showed that the story grammar intervention improved the quality of narrative summaries and that better summaries came from easier text than harder text. The present study reveals a shortcoming of previous summarizing studies that attributed superior performance to age without considering text difficulty. Findings show the effectiveness of teaching fourth graders to apply story grammar components to improve their skill in summarizing narrative text.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73167442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-07-15DOI: 10.20360/langandlit29457
Sandra Jack-Malik, J. Kuhnke
Using narrative inquiry as a relational methodology and as andragogy, the research puzzle was to deepen understanding of the experiences of women, living with limited literacies and as they engaged in tutoring. This work animates the temporal, curriculum and life making experiences of a tutee and tutor within the context of adult literacy with a focus on learning to write. As the study progressed and as trust developed, tension filled stories were experienced, shared and reimagined. Thinking through the lens of Dewey’s continuity of experience we demonstrate the links between literacies, curriculum making, and efforts to shift identities. Field texts provided textured and nuanced descriptions of narrative inquiry as andragogy, while supporting the tutee to expand her literate identity and the tutor to become more relational. This work invites readers to reimagine the ways in which educators practice alongside adults who are described as struggling readers and writers.
{"title":"Narrative Inquiry as Relational Research Methodology and Andragogy: Adult Literacy, Identities and Identity Shifting","authors":"Sandra Jack-Malik, J. Kuhnke","doi":"10.20360/langandlit29457","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.20360/langandlit29457","url":null,"abstract":"Using narrative inquiry as a relational methodology and as andragogy, the research puzzle was to deepen understanding of the experiences of women, living with limited literacies and as they engaged in tutoring. This work animates the temporal, curriculum and life making experiences of a tutee and tutor within the context of adult literacy with a focus on learning to write. As the study progressed and as trust developed, tension filled stories were experienced, shared and reimagined. Thinking through the lens of Dewey’s continuity of experience we demonstrate the links between literacies, curriculum making, and efforts to shift identities. Field texts provided textured and nuanced descriptions of narrative inquiry as andragogy, while supporting the tutee to expand her literate identity and the tutor to become more relational. This work invites readers to reimagine the ways in which educators practice alongside adults who are described as struggling readers and writers.","PeriodicalId":43360,"journal":{"name":"Written Language and Literacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88328645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}