Linguistics and Education最新文献

Ecolinguistics, as an emerging paradigm in linguistic studies, provides an approach for analysing ecological constructions in texts. However, different contexts feature quite different ecological philosophical traditions. English textbooks, often including imported materials, raise consideration for its ecological suitability for different social contexts. This study examines the ecological evaluations of College English textbooks used in China to elucidate the underlying evaluations and assess them according to Chinese harmonious ecosophy. Adopting Martin and White's (2005) attitude system, this study analyses the selected textbooks from the aspects of affect, judgment and appreciation with the UAM Corpus Tool to annotate instantiations of natural resources. Semantic analyses suggest that the authorial construction of nature in textbooks propagate some inharmonious ecological worldviews. The study not only improves our understanding of stance of textbooks towards the natural world but also helps to explore the role textbooks play in ecological education.

This scoping review aims to examine the literature regarding cultural representation in foreign language textbooks. This review identifies eight research foci by systematically mapping and synthesizing 62 studies spanning from 2012 to 2022. In addition, it reviews theoretical/conceptual frameworks, methodologies, and implications for stakeholders involved in cultural representation studies in foreign language textbooks. This study reveals a tendency for some cultures to be either overlooked or misinterpreted. It observes that textbooks often represent culture implicitly rather than explicitly, and notes changes in research foci and methodologies over time. The review highlights the need for two principal enhancements in the realm of textbook research: firstly, to better bridge the nexus between research and practices; secondly, to address the somewhat fragmented nature of research endeavours in this field by taking steps towards interdisciplinary, intersectional, interactive, and intersubjective approaches. Implications for future research are also provided.

In this article we develop translanguaging as a theoretical perspective in education by drawing together ideas of process and symbolic power. We first outline critiques of translanguaging, most particularly the issue of deconstructivism and concerns about transformative limitations. We then focus on the potential of translanguaging as a conceptual frame for how language mediates learning in the context of social inequity (schools). We primarily draw on Bakhtin's (1981) theorisation of language and Bourdieu's (1991) understanding of the relationship between language and symbolic power to suggest that taking sociohistorical context as central to translanguaging can help us to move beyond ‘internal’ structuralist debates and open up productive lines of inquiry at the intersection of language and learning.

There is limited research that examines African American students’ language learning experiences in Spanish-English dual-language program settings, which exacerbates the narrative that African American students are not the “ideal” demographic for bilingual programs. To address these concerns, we highlight the experiences of two African American multilingual children to examine how they form their translanguaging repertoires. Specifically, we focus on three types of enactments in which they embodied these repertoires, which revealed how they engaged language learning in dynamic and varied ways. These examples further challenge traditional norms engendered in bilingual programming writ large that exhibit narrow viewpoints of language speakers and language speaking.

This study investigates how language requirements for residency and citizenship influence the professional identities and sense of agency of introduction program language teachers throughout Scandinavia. While Denmark introduced formal language requirements two decades ago, language requirements were effectuated in Norway starting in 2017. In Sweden, requirements have been proposed, but not introduced. The data comprises narrative interviews with 24 experienced language and literacy teachers. Drawing on street-level bureaucracy theory and narrative positioning analysis, the study shows that the introduction of formal requirements represents a turning point in teachers’ professional narratives that are recognized as a gradual reduction of agency and a narrowing of the space where professional identities can be negotiated. Whereas the Swedish teachers largely identify as students’ agents, Norwegian and Danish language teachers to a larger extent, yet partly unwillingly, negotiate their professional roles at the intersection between policy and professional standards and in dialog with the policy demands.

In today's globalized world, language learners gain inspiration for who they want to be and the community to which they want to belong through unconventional ways. This study investigates the unconventional language aspirations of a male Japanese adult sojourner who studied English in the Philippines and Canada and projected his imagined self as aligning with the Asian migrants he met in Japan. Data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire, two semi-structured interviews, and follow-up emails. In employing a critical event narrative inquiry approach, the study findings focus on two critical events that largely shaped this individual's imagined community and the desires shaping his English learning—the socialization with the migrants in Japan and his instructors in the Philippines. This study illuminates a nascent language desire that emerged in an internationalizing society and urges further exploration of unconventional aspirations that are situated beyond the dominant ideologies and transcend existing dichotomous boundaries.

This study explores student-led literary book-group discussions in a linguistically diverse upper-secondary language classroom. It employs linguistic ethnography and focuses on minoritized migrant students’ fictive and factive readings of a novel; the participation roles they assumed; and how they reflected on different book-group formations over time. A stance analysis based on chronotopic concepts in relation to contact zone classrooms and safe houses demonstrates how students positioned themselves as knowledgeable discussants of literary texts and life. It also shows how the students were able to create a circle of trust in the safe house and aspire to contact zone contexts beyond the language classroom. Furthermore, the findings are indicative of students’ increased sense of social belonging and linguistic participation as a result of flexible grouping strategies and student autonomy in terms of how to engage with literary texts.

Although some of the scholarship in applied linguistics and teacher education illustrates an understanding of the complicated domination of English—and particularly White Mainstream English (WME)—in the education of multilingual students who are learning English as an additional language, the issue remains that the teaching and learning of English is often positioned as a neutral, value-free endeavor in much of the curriculum and practice used in US K-12 classrooms, and around the world. Therefore, an important question centers around how teachers might use linguistically sustaining, humanizing language practices in their classrooms, despite working in contexts that generally privilege WME. To illustrate the important role that teachers can play in supporting humanizing, linguistically vibrant classrooms, we highlight the practices of Catherine, an African American teacher of multilingual students, and explore how she leveraged her own multilingualism to affirm a variety of language practices in her classroom.

The extent to which university students read, write, speak, and listen in a range of registers is not completely understood, but such descriptions could lead to better designed curriculum for English learners. The purpose of this study is to estimate the proportions of time American university students spend reading, writing, speaking, and listening in various registers. The present study combines diary and survey techniques to describe the language use behavior for 53 university students. The results indicated that nearly half of university student language use time is spent listening (49.5 %), followed by reading (20.7 %), writing (18.2 %), and speaking (11.6 %). Students also engaged in 37 distinct registers, with face-to-face conversations (12.32 %), homework problems (10.70 %), and lyrical music listening (10.46 %) being the most frequent. This description of university student language use could be useful for ESL curriculum design and shows that proportional descriptions of language use are more feasible than previously asserted.

Little research explored how frequently and for what functions translanguaging occurs during second language (L2) writing processes. To fill this research gap, the study analysed translanguaging occurrences in 53 undergraduates’ L2 writing processes. Translanguaging data were collected through think-aloud protocols, computer screen recordings, stimulated recall, and written drafts. Data analyses yielded four main findings: (1) on average, learners of varied L2 proficiency levels translanguaged frequently during their L2 writing processes; (2) reasoning was the least frequently performed translanguaging function, while repetition was the most frequently performed translanguaging function; (3) the lower-level L2 students performed translanguaging significantly more often than did their higher-level counterparts; (4) the higher-level L2 students translanguaged for monitoring significantly less often than did their lower-level counterparts. This study can contribute to the literature on translanguaging by exploring cognitively mediational roles of translanguaging and examining potential influences of L2 proficiency on the frequencies and functions of translanguaging.