Volume 9 (2018) Issue 2 (PDF)

Table of Contents 

Foreword to the Issue

I. Articles

Gerald Delahunty (Fort Collins (Co), USA):

Language,Ideology, and Participant Positioning in Amnesty International Appeal Letters

Abstract

It is well known (Bell 1984) that individual texts may serve different purposes, each for a dif­ferent audience. The current research reveals how one instrument, the "appeal letter," in Am­nesty International's (AI) activism in support of human rights simultaneously linguistically en­acts at least two roles - of attempting to persuade powerful government functionaries to act in accord with human rights and to persuade AI's members / volunteers of the righteousness of their causes, to act for those causes, and to donate in their support. The letters are written by AI staffers and distributed to AI members / volunteers embedded in emails that provide in­formation on the case and exhort the volunteers to send the appeals. This paper demon­strates how a particular characterization of ideology (Eagleton 2007, Verschueren 2012) provides the means to identify how linguistic choices index these various purposes and their respective audiences. One major device for engaging volunteers is the construction of the let­ters as direct first-to-second-person appeals, i.e., from an I to a you, thereby positioning the AI volunteers as principals "whose position is established by the words that are spoken, ... whose beliefs have been told, . . . who [are] committed to what the words say" (Goffman 1981:144-145). This paper demonstrates how this and other linguistic devices, most espe­cially presupposition, ideologically construct the letter senders, by rationalizing, universalizing, and naturalizing - and thus legitimizing - their human rights commitments, thereby unifying them as a social group and motivating their actions in support of those commitments. 

Georgios Neokleous & Anna Krulatz (both Trondheim, Norway):

An Investigation into Norwegian Teachers’ Perspectives on the Use ofStudents' Mother Tongue in the EFL Classroom

Abstract (English)

This paper reports the results of a questionnaire-based study that examined Norwegian EFL teachers’ views on the use of students' mother tongue (MT) in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). It focuses on the teachers’ attitudes towards the use of MT and their aspirations to create an English-only or a bilingual environment in the EFL classroom. Twenty-four in-service EFL teachers enrolled in an EFL endorsement course at a university in Mid-Norway completed the questionnaire. The responses suggest that while the majority of the participating teachers used Norwegian when teaching English, they also would like to minimize their reliance on students' MT and increase the use of the target language. Future research directions and baseline implications for language teacher education are discussed.

Abstract (Norwegian)

Denne artikkelen rapporterer resultatene av en spørreundersøkelse som var en del av en studie som undersøkte norske EFL læreres syn på bruk av elevens morsmål (MT) i undervisning av engelsk som fremmedspråk (EFL). Studien fokuserer på lærernes holdninger til bruk av MT og egne ambisjoner om å skape et ett- eller tospråklig miljø i EFL klasserommet. Tjuefire EFL lærere som deltok på et EFL kurs ved et universitet i Midt-Norge besvarte spørreskjemaet. Svarene tyder på at mens flertallet av de deltakende lærerne bruker norsk i engelskundervisningen, ønsker de også å redusere egen avhengighet av elevens MT og øke bruken av engelsk. Retninger for fremtidig forskning og grunnleggende implikasjoner for språklærerutdanningen blir diskutert.

Ghania Ouahmiche (Oran, Algeria) & Khalid Ziad (Mila, Algeria):

An Investigation on Free Voluntary Reading of a Group of EFL Studentsand their Beliefs about its Impact on their Writing Performance

Abstract

Research on the benefits of free voluntary reading in EFL settings has been in the ascendant following the numerous reports documenting the power of reading voluntarily in helping students reach satisfactory levels of target language proficiency, especially writing skills which are widely considered as a source of trouble for many EFL students. From this perspective, our study examines the FVR habits of a group of EFL university students as well as their beliefs concerning the efficiency of reading voluntarily to enhance their writing development. The main results of the study reveal that despite students’ inconstant Free Voluntary Reading habits, they hold positive beliefs about its efficiency in enhancing writing development specifically in terms of content enrichment rather than form correctness.

C. Cecilia Tocaimaza-Hatch (Omaha (NE), USA) & Ashwini Ganeshan (Athens (GA), USA):

Praxis:How Service-Learning Promotes Understanding and Control Of VerbalAspect in Spanish L2 Learners 

Abstract (English)

Service-learning (SL) provides learners with opportunities for genuine language negotiation (Caldwell 2007, Abbott & Lear 2010, Barreneche 2011, Uehara & Raatior 2016, Zapata 2011, Askildson, Kelly & Mick 2013, Tocaimaza-Hatch & Walls 2016). This investigation explores how SL improves learners’ conceptual development and use of verbal aspect in oral narrations. For the pre-test and post-test, learners narrated Mercer Mayer’s book Frog Goes to Dinner providing spontaneous performance data. Immediately after, learners were prompted to discuss their aspectual choices. Finally, after the post-test, learners answered open-ended questions on whether and how their ability to narrate improved over time. While findings show no evidence of improvement in use and control of verbal aspect, there is improvement in SL learners’ conceptual understanding of verbal aspect. The open-ended questions suggest learners perceived SL helped in improving their narration skills, and they recognized SL as a setting where theory and practice, i.e., praxis, come together. Overall, learners’ reflections on the SL experience demonstrated increased confidence in language abilities. SL, in this investigation, provided learners with opportunities to simultaneously develop affective and cognitive processes and in this way, SL proved to be a beneficial and enriching experience for language learning.

Abstract (Español)

El aprendizaje a través de servicio (AS) brinda a los estudiantes oportunidades reales de negociación lingüística (Caldwell 2007, Abbott & Lear 2010, Barreneche 2011, Uehara & Raatior 2016, Zapata 2011, Askildson, Kelly, & Mick 2013, Tocaimaza-Hatch & Walls 2016). Esta investigación estudia cómo AS mejora en los estudiantes la comprensión conceptual y el uso del aspecto verbal en las narraciones orales. Para las pruebas anterior y posterior, los estudiantes narraron el libro de Mercer Mayer, Frog Goes to Dinner, así proporcionando datos espontáneos. Inmediatamente después, se les pidió que reflexionaran y explicaran sus elecciones aspectuales. Finalmente, después de la prueba post, los estudiantes respondieron a preguntas abiertas sobre mejorías en su habilidad de narrar. Si bien los resultados no muestran evidencia de mejoría en el uso y control del aspecto verbal, indican un desarrollo en la comprensión conceptual del aspecto verbal en los estudiantes. Las preguntas abiertas sugieren que los estudiantes percibieron que AS les ayudó a mejorar sus habilidades de narración, y reconocieron AS como un entorno donde la teoría y la práctica, es decir, la praxis, se unen. En general, en las reflexiones sobre la experiencia AS, los estudiantes demostraron una mayor confianza en sus habilidades con el idioma. AS, en esta investigación, proporcionó a los estudiantes oportunidades para desarrollar simultáneamente procesos afectivos y cognitivos, y de esta manera, AS fue una experiencia beneficiosa y enriquecedora para el aprendizaje de idiomas.

Karl-Heinz Eggensperger (Potsdam, République fédérale d'Allemagne):

L'enseignementdu français intégré aux programmes de double diplôme

Abstract (English)

This article deals with French language courses for specific purposes for students enrolled in dual degree programs. The language skills students need can obviously not be acquired in general language courses. Currently, training programs at universities in France are intended for heterogeneous student profiles. The article outlines another type of language training for students enrolled in law, political science, economics and management. These foreign language courses aim to develop a language proficiency allowing students to understand lectures in their discipline, take notes and pass written and oral exams. The article describes interdisciplinary research divided into legal, linguistic and methodological areas. Its objective is to identify disciplinary knowledge, linguistic knowledge and language skills by the analysis of a homogeneous corpus of law lectures. Suggestions for teaching materials illustrate the theoretical concept.

Abstract (Deutsch)

Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrags stehen curriculare Elemente für fachbezogene Französischkurse in integrierten Studiengängen mit Doppelabschluss. Die dafür erforderlichen sprachlichen Voraussetzungen können nicht in allgemeinsprachlichen Kursen erworben werden. Eine Grundlage für die Bewältigung hochschulspezifischer Aufgaben in der Fremdsprache bilden der handlungstheoretische Ansatz des Gemeinsamen Europäischen Referenzrahmens und UNIcert®. Sprachkompetenz wird als interagierendes Gefüge von Teilkompetenzen zur Bewältigung kommunikativer Aufgaben beschrieben. Die Vielschichtigkeit der notwendigen Kompetenzen lässt sich durch ein Modell sichtbar machen. Anschließend werden studienfachbezogene Grundkenntnisse zusammengestellt. Am Beispiel des französischen Staatsorganisationsrechts zeigen sich wesentliche Unterschiede zwischen Fachcurriculum und fachbezogenem Fremdsprachencurriculum. Vorschläge zu Unterrichtsmaterialien für fachbezogene Lexik, Notationstechniken für Vorlesungen und zur Redaktion von Präsentationsvorlagen sollen das theoretische Konzept veranschaulichen.

II. Book Review

Thomas Tinnefeld (Saarbrücken, Germany):
KenHyland: The Essential Hyland. Studies in Applied Linguistics. Londonet al.: Bloomsbury 2018. 

Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching
Volume 9 (2018) Issue 2
pp. 147-148

Foreword to the Issue

The present issue, which completes JLLT's ninth yearly volume, comprises five articles which cover the field of pragmatics in the realm of linguistics, and those of language use in the English language classroom, reading research, grammar teaching, and the teaching of French legal language in the domain of methodology. Four of the subsequent articles are in English, one is in French.

In a linguistic, or, more precisely, pragmatic approach, Gerald Delahunty (Fort Collins (CO, USA) analyses international appeal letter by Amnesty International in terms of the tenor used, the ideology expressed and the participants' positioning embodied in them. The central speech act here is persuading, and it addresses government officials who are thereby incited to act in conformity with human rights, and also the general public, i.e. AI members and people who aim to act in favour of those ideals and to financially contribute to them. In the article, the wording and style of such appeal letters are analysed, with the direct form of addressing the target group using the second person you, representing one of the most important linguistic device here. Another relevant speech act used in these let­ters is presupposition. The ultimate effect attributable to this type of letters consists in forming a strong identity for addressees wiklling to belong to a well-defined social group. This article thus represents an enlightening read for those who are (professionally) inter­ested in pragmatics and also for those who have come to recognise the ultimate impor­tance of this field of linguistics.

The first article covering methodological issues is the one by Georgios Neokleous & Anna Krulatz (both Trondheim, Norway), who detail the results of an empirical study whose purpose it was to analyse the opinions of Norwegian EFL teachers in view of their students using their own mother tongue in class and the efforts these teachers make to predominantly implement the foreign language in the classroom. The results found and discussed here are of interest in the context of the multilingual classroom, which presently has recently become more and more en vogue in modern language methodology.

The importance of leisure time reading performed by learners of English is the topic of the contribution by Ghania Ouahmiche (Oran, Algeria) & Khalid Ziad (Mila, Algeria). The authors investigate the potential benefits of this type of read­ing, in particular with regards to writing, which is not primarily performed in the classroom, but represents part of students private activities. The findings show that reading performed outside the classroom and on learners' own accord is viewed positively by students, especially as far as its beneficial effects on the content of their written texts is concerned. The findings of this study also show that even more importance should be attached to motivating students of whatever foreign language to integrate it into their every-day lives and to use it in whatever context they might find appropriate, with extensive reading being just one of them.

The mastery of a grammatical phenomenon, i.e. that of the Spanish verbal as­pect, acquired in the context of service-learning is investigated by C. Cecilia Tocaimaza-Hatch (Omaha (NE), USA) & Ashwini Ganeshan (Athens (GA), USA). The empirical study performed in this context referred to oral narration and was based on a classical research scheme. It comprised a certain amount of awareness-raising because students were requested to discuss their choice of aspect after having re-narrated the underlying fictional story employed. In addition, students were asked to evaluate their own use of Spanish verbal aspect. The findings show some improvement in students' narration capacity and point to the importance of service-learning as an environment in which theory and practice can easily be combined, allowing learners to develop their affective and cognitive skills. The article shows that the learning of foreign languages while doing community service can enhance students' personality building.

Another approach to teaching is focused on by Karl-Heinz Eggensperger (Potsdam, Germany), who describes the teaching of legal French within the framework of a double-degree programme between a German and a French uni­versity. In his article, written in French, the author analyses a special type of lan­guage course which is based on the assumption that linguistic competence represents a combination of skills that are necessary for mastering well-defined com­municative tasks. The diversity of these skills is shown in a specific model, and the differences that exist between the legal curriculum and the curriculum of teaching legal French are exemplified, whereby concrete suggestions are made with regards to teaching materials in view of LSP lexis, of note-taking skills to be applied during lectures, and to the written preparation of student presentations. The author's reflections point to the very necessity to teach languages for specific purposes in a way which is distinctly different from those ways in which foreign languages are generally taught.

The presented issue is completed by a book review of The Essential Hyland by Thomas Tinnefeld (Saarbrücken, Germany), which represents a collection of articles by Ken Hyland on academic writing, reprinted and commented on by prominent scholars.

As usual, I would like to thank the aforementioned authors for their contributions to this issue of JLLT, look forward to further contributions of theirs in the future, and wish all our readers a pleasant and instructive read.

Thomas Tinnefeld

JLLT

Editor