Grammar and variation in the classroom

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vít Dovalil ◽  
Adriana Hanulíková
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Teacher Interviews ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Successful Communication ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Grammar Knowledge ◽  
Model Texts

Abstract Grammar is the structural foundation of successful communication, language use, and literacy development. Grammar is therefore sometimes viewed as the heart of language with an important place in language teaching. In a classroom setting, regulation of grammar knowledge through teachers is strongly influenced by teachers’ linguistic competence and beliefs. In this paper, we will first show the diversity in this knowledge by means of teacher interviews and speeded grammatical-acceptability data from pupils and students. We will then sketch a socio- and psycholinguistic perspective on several selected morphosyntactic variables in German. These will be discussed with reference to social forces that determine what is standard in a language (language norm authorities, language experts, model texts, and codifiers). Finally, we will draw a roadmap for teachers, language practitioners and editors looking for a qualified solution to grammatical cases of doubt in contemporary German and provide practical examples by drawing upon the German reference corpus.

Linguistic Competence in Aphasia

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-92
Author(s):  
Leonard L. LaPointe
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Feral Children ◽  
Performance Factors ◽  
Performance Loss ◽  
Linguistic Rules ◽  
Communication Goals ◽  
Aphasia Treatment ◽  
And Performance

Abstract Loss of implicit linguistic competence assumes a loss of linguistic rules, necessary linguistic computations, or representations. In aphasia, the inherent neurological damage is frequently assumed by some to be a loss of implicit linguistic competence that has damaged or wiped out neural centers or pathways that are necessary for maintenance of the language rules and representations needed to communicate. Not everyone agrees with this view of language use in aphasia. The measurement of implicit language competence, although apparently necessary and satisfying for theoretic linguistics, is complexly interwoven with performance factors. Transience, stimulability, and variability in aphasia language use provide evidence for an access deficit model that supports performance loss. Advances in understanding linguistic competence and performance may be informed by careful study of bilingual language acquisition and loss, the language of savants, the language of feral children, and advances in neuroimaging. Social models of aphasia treatment, coupled with an access deficit view of aphasia, can salve our restless minds and allow pursuit of maximum interactive communication goals even without a comfortable explanation of implicit linguistic competence in aphasia.

Code-switching and the optimal grammar of bilingual language use

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAKESH M. BHATT ◽  
AGNES BOLONYAI
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Cognitive Constraints ◽  
Local Functions ◽  
Global Principles

In this article, we provide a framework of bilingual grammar that offers a theoretical understanding of the socio-cognitive bases of code-switching in terms of five general principles that, individually or through interaction with each other, explain how and why specific instances of code-switching arise. We provide cross-linguistic empirical evidence to claim that these general sociolinguistic principles, stated as socio-cognitive constraints on code-switching, characterize multi-linguistic competence in so far as they are able to show how “local” functions of code-switching arise as specific instantiations of these “global” principles, or (products of) their interactions.

scholarly journals INDONESIAN EFL TEACHERS’ CONCEPTUALIZATION OF CULTURE IN THE 21ST CENTURY EFL CLASSROOM (Konseptualisasi yang Dimiliki Guru Bahasa Inggris Indonesia Terkait dengan Kultur dalam Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris sebagai Bahasa Asing pada Abad XXI)

SUAR BETANG ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruly Morganna ◽  
Sakut Anshori
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Knowledge Construction ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Learning Culture ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Teaching Principles ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Way ◽  
Efl Learning

In dealing with the 21st century EFL pedagogy where interculturality and multiculturality are promoted to be the crucial aspects of EFL learning, this study is oriented towards investigating Indonesian EFL teachers’ conceptualization of culture in EFL classroom. The conceptualization in this sense is emphasized on their knowledge construction underlying their teaching principles. This study was conducted qualitatively by engaging three Indonesian EFL teachers selected purposively. The data of this study were garnered from open-ended questionnaires and interview. Regarding the teachers’ conceptualization, this study revealed that culture referred to the way of living becoming the framework of language use since language per se referred to a social semiotic, and the framework of learning going on inter and intra-individually. In EFL learning, culture was viewed from its interculturality. Interculturality was supported although two teachers stayed in native-speakerism specifically for linguistic competence. This study is meaningful since it serves a set of contributive knowledge vis-a-vis culture in EFL learning for EFL teachers and curriculum developers. However, this study is still delimited on cultural conception. Further studies are expected to work on the practice of cultural conception to deal with the 21st century EFL learning in Indonesia.

scholarly journals Extracting Significant Words in Engineering Texts for Specialised Language Descriptions

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 5862-5868
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Multivariate Technique ◽  
Technical Vocabulary ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Language Needs ◽  
British National Corpus ◽  
Potential Tool ◽  
National Corpus

The academic discourse of a specialised language is characterised by specialised and technical vocabulary, and lexicogrammar. Studies on language description suggest the need to explore and determine the specific characteristics of the academic discourse of each specialised language, to serve the language needs of the learners. This study demonstrates an exploration of this discipline specificity by looking at the nouns used in a specialised language - an Engineering English. It attempts to integrate a multivariate technique, i.e. the Correspondence Analysis (CA), as a tool to extract significant nouns in a specialised language for any further language use scrutiny. CA allows visual representations of the word interrelationships across different genres in a specialised language. To exemplify this, an Engineering English Corpus (E2C) was created. E2C is composed of two sub-corpora (genres): Engineering reference books (RBC) and online journals articles (EJC). The British National Corpus (BNC) was used as the reference corpus. 30 key-key-nouns were identified from the E2C, and the frequency lists of the words were retrieved from all the corpora to run the CA. The CA maps of the nouns display how these corpora are different from each other, as well as, which words characterise not only E2C from a general corpus (BNC), but also the different genres in E2C. Thus, CA proves to be a potential tool to display words which characterise not only a specialised corpus from a general corpus, but also the different genres in that specialised corpus. This study promises more informed descriptions of a specialised language can be made with the identification of specific and significant vocabulary for any academic discourse investigations.

scholarly journals An Exploratory Study of Language Use and Preferences among Nursing Lecturers and Students at Mzuzu University in Malawi

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 178-198
Author(s):  
Agness C C Hara
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
The Other ◽  
Nursing Profession ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
The One

This article reports on the insights gained from multilingual nursing lecturers and students at Mzuzu University in Malawi on the languages they use and prefer in a classroom setting. Research (Setati, Chitera and Essien, 2009; Chowdhury 2012) has found that both lecturers and students in multilingual and multicultural settings favour code-switching practices in the classroom setting. Code-switching is, therefore, an important phenomenon, which researchers should continue exploring because of the several distinctive attributes associated with it. The study adheres to qualitative and quantitative designs through the use of a questionnaire and follow-up interviews as methods of data collection. The results reveal that both lecturers and students favour code-switching from English to Chichewa during lectures. From both lecturers’ and students’ perspectives, code-switching helps to translate and clarify difficult concepts. It also helps to prepare students for the nursing profession. The study has some practical and pedagogical implications. On the one hand, it contributes some meaningful insights for language planners and policy-makers; on the other hand, the study sheds important light on the need to include the workplace dimension during language in education and language planning conversations. This study is also important because it addresses the issue of how code-switching might effectively be exploited as a communicative and pedagogical resource in instruction.

TEACHER'S BILINGUAL LANGUAGE USE IN AN EFL CLASSROOM: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Navruz Azimov
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Study Design ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
Language Use ◽  
First Language ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Case Study Design ◽  
Language Classroom

Using first language in a second language classroom can be beneficial. This study aims at investigating students’ perception about the use of L1 in an EFL classroom setting. The study is framed under case study design in which interview was used as the data collection way. The participants of the study are 10 students from private junior high school in Tajikistan. The results show that the perception of the students is positive. The study suggests that teachers can try different ways of bilingual use in their classrooms based on the purposes the teachers want to achieve.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Source Language in Spanish Translations: A Survey on English Counterfactuals ‘Should have’

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-159
Author(s):  
Isabel Repiso
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Past Participle ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
The Past ◽  
Semantic Domain ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Word Translation ◽  
The Impact

The present article shows that the most frequent way of translating Should have + Past participle in Spanish is the word-by-word translation Debería haber. This preference is not coherent with the language use of natives at three levels: (i) the marginal role of modal verbs to express the speaker’s subjectivity in Spanish; (ii) the preferred use of modal verbs in the past participle position (e.g., No hubiese debido tener libros); and (iii) the predominant use of the pluperfect subjunctive as a prompting tense for counterfactual readings. Our survey is based on 1.7  million-word Social Sciences corpus covering 8 essays, 4 political biographies and 2 dystopian novels. In all, 9  sentences containing should have + past participle were analyzed. The translations were crossed with a reference corpus in Spanish containing 154 million words (CREA). The translators’ preference by Debería haber has an effect in the output texts’ readability since it implies a reversal in the frequencies of the Spanish constructions pertaining to the irrealis semantic domain. Our results provide empirical cues to prevent the word-by-word translation Debería haber, such as avoiding infinitive periphrastic constructions or favoring subjunctive mood’s tenses.

scholarly journals Phraseografie und Korpusanalyse

2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-131
Author(s):  
Sören Stumpf
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Reference Corpus ◽  
Analytical Point ◽  
Weak Points ◽  
Analysis System

The following article gives an overview of the weak points in the lexicographical coverage of phrasemes. The main problem with previous phraseography is that the dictionary entries are not based on comprehensive corpus analyses of actual language use. Hence I make a case for a “corpus-based phraseography” (Steyer 2010) and in using selected examples, I demonstrate how a pragmatic approach that is focused on actual language use can help to improve the lemmatization of formulaic expressions. This also shows which consequences and changes may occur from a corpus-analytical point of view as compared to the traditional phraseographical approach. For this purpose, I use the German reference corpus/Deutsches Referenzkorpus and the analysis system COSMAS II. Central to my analysis are the phenomena that have scarcely received any attention: the differentiation of modifications and phrase schemata, the valence spectrum of phrasemes as well as formulaic expressions with unique components.

scholarly journals Reframing less conventional speech to disrupt conventions of "compulsory fluency": A conversation analysis approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Duque ◽  
Bonnie Lashewicz
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
North American ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Expressive Language ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Communication Competence ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Relational Autonomy ◽  
Critical Disability Studies ◽  
Individual Ability

Our purpose is to illuminate compliances with, and resistances to, what we are calling "compulsory fluency" which we define as conventions for what constitutes competent speech. We achieve our purpose through a study of day-to-day communication between a woman with less conventional speech and her support providing family members and friends. Drawing from McRuer's (2006) compulsory ablebodiedness and Kafer's (2013) compulsory able-mindedness, we use "compulsory fluency" to refer to a form of articulation that is standardized and idealized and imposed on all speakers including those whose speech is less conventional. We see compulsory fluency as central to North American conceptions of personhood which are tied to individual ability to speak for one's self (Brueggemann, 2005). In this paper, we trace some North American principles for linguistic competence to outline widely held ideals of receptive and expressive language use, namely, conventions for how language should be understood and expressed. Using Critical Disability Studies (Goodley, 2013; McRuer, 2006) together with a feminist framework of relational autonomy (Nedelsky, 1989), our goal is to focus on experiences of people with less conventional speech and draw attention to power in communication as it flows in idiosyncratic and intersubjective fashion (Mackenzie & Stoljar, 2000; Westlund, 2009). In other words, we use a critical disability and feminist framing to call attention to less conventional forms of communication competence and, in this process, we challenge assumptions about what constitutes competent speech. As part of a larger qualitative study, we conduct a conversation analysis informed by Rapley and Antaki (1996) to examine day-to-day verbal, vocal and non-verbal communications of a young woman who self identifies as "having autism" - pseudonym Addison - in interaction with her support-providing family members and friends. We illustrate a multitude of Addison's compliances with, and resistances to, compulsory fluency to bring awareness to competence inherent in less conventional speech and we argue this illumination as a call for listening with greater care and more open expectations in efforts to understand, and participate in the expression of, meanings embedded in less conventional speech.

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