scholarly journals Enacting alternatives to nationalist essentialising in language learning: Students’ voices

2021 ◽  
pp. 001458582098650
Author(s):  
Gloria De Vincenti ◽  
Angela Giovanangeli
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Alternative Approaches

Researchers examining nationalistic conceptions of language learning argue that nationalist essentialism often shapes the way languages are taught by educators and understood by learners. While numerous studies focus on how frameworks informed by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and intercultural education offer alternative approaches to national stereotyping, these studies tend to focus on theoretical approaches, teacher perspectives or innovative teaching and learning resources. The literature to date, however, does not provide case studies on student responses to activities designed by the teacher to open up the classroom with opportunities that move beyond essentialist representations. This article responds to the need for such scholarship and presents a case study involving a focus group with tertiary students in an Italian language and culture subject. It reveals some of the ways in which students enacted and reflected upon alternatives to nationalist essentialising as a result of language learning activities that had been informed by the discursive processes of CDA. The findings suggest that students demonstrated skills and attitudes such as curiosity, subjectivities and connections with broader social contexts. Some of the data also indicates student engagement in critical inquiry and their potential for social agency.

scholarly journals Colombia’s nationwide EFL policy and the construction of equity in policy documents

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 57-74
Author(s):  
Daniel Villegas
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Social Efficiency ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
The Government

The Colombia Bilingüe (Colombia Bilingual)1 program was introduced by the Ministry of Education (MEN) in 2004 with aims of increasing the teaching and learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at primary, secondary and tertiary education level. However, this program has failed to reach its set language goals and has come under strong criticism. Scholars suggest that Colombia Bilingual has not only been unsuccessful in improving English skills but has resulted in unequal practices by favoring language instrumentation, marketization of language services and stratification of people. This paper offers a Critical Discourse Analysis of seven policy papers set forward by the government that have introduced and given continuation to this program. I will argue that the construction of equity in Colombia’s EFL policy is framed within a limited interpretation that has mainly given priority to improving Colombia’s international competitiveness while overlooking other important elements of equity such as autonomy, identity, and equality. I will conclude that the presence of social efficiency messages in the policy documents substantiates previous studies’ criticism and highlights the importance of policy documents towards reaching more equitable language learning practices.

scholarly journals Indoctrination and Islamization in Higher Secondary Curriculum in Pakistan: A Case Study of Sindh Textbook Board of Pakistan

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Razia Kazim ◽  
Shabana Sartaj ◽  
Sadia Memon
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Active Agent ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Language Textbooks

Language is a social phenomenon. It helps us to interact with the world around us. The prevailing content explores and emphasizes the idea of language as a significantly active agent which indoctrinates learners and excludes people from minorities through English Language textbook of Class 9 published by Sindh Textbook Board of Sindh, Pakistan. The study used Fair Clough’s model of CDA 1995 (Critical Discourse Analysis) as a tool to reveal the hidden ideologies behind the language used in the textbook. English, in Pakistan, is used as a language-learning subject in the context of L2. However, the language used in textbooks imposes certain ideological connotations in not only an implicit but also explicit manner. Rahman (2002).The language textbooks indoctrinate learners by propagating hidden agendas such as excessive promotion of Islamization and glorification of war and war heroes to name just a few. The study recommends language textbooks to focus on developing language skills and enlarging the lingual capabilities of the learners instead of selling indoctrination and constricting the critical abilities of the learners. In order to meet the needs of a modern world, balance curriculum contents should be designed for the learners. It is highly suggested to the designers and policy makers, to focus on language learning items and content, instead of content-oriented textbooks. The research will be beneficial in the domain of education and for fellow researchers as they would be able to discern in clear terms why indoctrination should be discouraged in the process of education; language should only be taught without distortion.

scholarly journals Developing Translingual and Transcultural Competence through Pedagogic Subtitling

Linguaculture ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-88
Author(s):  
Sara Laviosa
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
The University ◽  
Development Course ◽  
Academic Year

Abstract This paper expounds a language pedagogy that is framed within the ecological perspective on language learning elaborated by Leo van Lier (2000 Leo van Lier (2004) and Claire Kramsch (2009 and Claire Kramsch (2010) and adopts Maria Tymoczko’s (2007) holistic approach to cultural translation. Next, I report on a case study where the proposed methodology was integrated in the syllabus design of a 3-credit module I taught as part of a professional development course attended by secondary school EFL teachers at the University of Bari during the 2013-2014 academic year. Students analysed and translated salient scenes from the bilingual drama La stella che non c’è/The Missing Star (directed by Gianni Amelio, 2006). In so doing, they unveiled the connectedness between language and culture and how they both are “discursively constructed” in social contexts(van Lier, The Ecology 184).

scholarly journals Re-defining gender as a heinous crime: A case study from the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies

2020 ◽  
pp. 095792652097721
Author(s):  
Janaina Negreiros Persson
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Public Hearing ◽  
Rhetorical Invention ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core

In this article, we explore how the discourses around gender are evolving at the core of Brazilian politics. Our focus lies on the discourses at the public hearing on the bill 3.492/19, which aimed at including “gender ideology” on the list of heinous crimes. We aim to identify the deputies’ linguistic representation of social actors as pertaining to in- and outgroups. In addition, the article analyzes through Critical Discourse Analysis how the terminology gender is represented in this particular hearing. The analysis shows how some of the conservative parliamentarians give a clearly negative meaning to the term gender, by labeling it “gender ideology” and additionally connecting it with heinous crimes. We propose that the re-signification of “gender ideology,” from rhetorical invention to heinous crime, is not only an attempt to undermine scientific gender studies but also a way for conservative deputies to gain more political power.

scholarly journals Inverse translation and the language student: A case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-193
Author(s):  
Lucía Pintado Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Inverse Translation ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article explores the agency of the student in translation in language teaching and learning (or TILT). The purpose of the case study discussed here is to gain an overview of students’ perceptions of translation into the foreign language (FL) (also known as “inverse translation”) following a module on language and translation, and to analyse whether there is any correlation between students’ attitude to translation, its impact on their language learning through effort invested, and the improvement of language skills. The results of the case study reveal translation to be a potentially exciting skill that can be central to FL learning and the analysis gives indications of how and why language teachers may optimise the implementation of translation in the classroom. The outcome of the study suggests that further research is needed on the impact of translation in the language classroom focussing on both teachers’ expectations and students’ achievements.

scholarly journals An Analysis of an EFL Teachers' Guide: A Case Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Nazari
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
Teaching Objectives ◽  
Efl Teachers

This paper is an attempt to analyse one of the documents which may affect the classroom activities of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, namely teachers' guides. It also explores the context at which the document is aimed and critiques how EFL teachers are advised to teach as well as how EFL is taught. As such, the paper stands where critical discourse analysis and language policy come together in the study of language policies in education. The teachers' guide chosen and the analysis carried out here are not necessarily concerned with their representativeness and typicality but with the opportunity they provide to the researchers and teachers to learn about such language policy documents and how language and language teaching objectives are represented in them. The issues raised in this paper will have relevance to the EFL teachers' guides and EFL education in other contexts, as these issues are likely to be true of other EFL milieux.

scholarly journals Rethink about Heritage Language Learning: A Case Study of Children’s Mandarin Chinese learning at a Community Language School in Ontario, Canada

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxiao Du
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Knowledge Mobilization ◽  
Heritage Language Learning ◽  
Children's Literacy ◽  
And Migration

On-going knowledge mobilization and migration take place on a daily basis in the globalized world. Canada is a multilingual and multicultural country with a large number of visitors and immigrants. One in five Canadian speaks a foreign language other than English and French (Postmedia News, 2012). This case study examined six-year-old Chinese children’s heritage language learning in a community school from multiliteracies perspective using observations, interviews, and artefacts to understand children’s literacy learning. The findings indicated that Chinese children’s literacy learning was not in the traditional repetitive way but involved multimodal communication at school. Useful implications are made for heritage language educators regarding ways to support meaningful heritage language teaching and learning.  

One step up and two steps back? The Italian debate on secularization, heteronormativity and LGBTQ citizenship

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 591-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Bellè ◽  
Caterina Peroni ◽  
Elisa Rapetti
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The Family ◽  
One Step ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Shed Light

The aim of this article is to furnish insights of the Italian public debate on the recognition of LGBTQ rights, which can be understood as an interesting case study of the complex relationship between (multi)secularisation processes and re/definition of citizenship models. More specifically, the article analyses two political events related to this debate that took place in Rome in June 2015. The first is the Family Day demonstration, promoted by conservative Catholic groups; the second is the LGBTQ Pride parade, promoted by various gay, lesbian and transsexual/gender associations. We analyse the official statements issued by the two organising committees of the demonstrations, adopting the framework and methods of the Critical Discourse Analysis. Above and beyond an evident political conflict between the two discourses, we try to shed light on their mutual construction on the basis of what we call ‘naturalization’ and ‘universalization’ processes.

scholarly journals Case Study of the Commercially Published ELT materials in Foundation of English Course Books 1 & 2

IIUC Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
Md Yousuf Uddin Khaled Chowdhury
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Language Classrooms ◽  
The Right

Brumfit (1979) has suggested that many commercially published ELT materials are little more than ‘masses of rubbish, skilfully marketed’. He perhaps rejects most of the published materials. However, in reality, it is observed that these ELT resources are the only available alternatives in the contexts where infra-structural limitations of language classrooms and the inefficiency of the language-teachers make the goal of language learning and teaching unreachable or unattainable for many of the learners. This paper, through a case study, aims at justifying the use of commercially published ELT coursebooks that are designed and used, considering the limitations and problems of the personally produced materials by untrained teachers. Nevertheless, these materials must consider the local market rather than the global markets so that they meet the needs of the local language learners and instructors. The case study implies that it is the selection or adaptation of the right materials for the specific learners that makes them effective or ineffective. It also suggests that the personally designed or locally produced materials too may make teaching and learning difficult and impossible sometimes.IIUC Studies Vol.10 & 11 December 2014: 173-182

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