scholarly journals Translanguaging in Self-Access Language Advising: Informing Language Policy

2012 ◽  
pp. 59-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Adamson ◽  
Naoki Fujimoto-Adamson
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Japanese University ◽  
English Only ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Code Choice ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Viable Approach ◽  
Coping Tactics

This study investigates language advising in a self-access center (SAC) with the purpose of informing language policy. This center is located in a new Japanese university and has shifted from an initially teacher-imposed ‘English-only’ language policy into one which encourages “translanguaging” (Blackledge & Creese, 2010, p. 105) between the students’ and center advisors’ (termed as mentors in this center) L1 (Japanese) and their L2 (English). Data from audio-recordings of interaction with advisors and students and between students themselves, interviews with mentors, and student questionnaires all reveal how translanguaging occurs in practice and how it helps to create a learning space in which the “local, pragmatic coping tactics” (Lin, 2005, p. 46) of code-switching offer a more viable approach for learning than under its initial monolingual policy. Mentor interviews and student questionnaires indicate generally positive attitudes towards translanguaging; however, some students still favor an ‘English-only’ policy. Conclusions reveal that a looser language policy in the center is emerging in which mentors now guide students towards their own individualized language policies. It is argued in this paper that this “code choice” (Levine, 2011) in language use is therefore aligned more closely to the principles of student-direction in self-access use.

Code choice in Hong Kong

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 18.1-18.17
Author(s):  
Judy Woon Yee Ho
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Code Choice ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
British Colony ◽  
Verbal Exchanges

China resumed its sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. Since then drastic changes in this former British colony have occurred. One of these changes is a shift in language policy, from bilingualism (Cantonese and English) to trilingualism (Cantonese, English and Putonghua). The present study is aimed at investigating tertiary students’ use of Cantonese, English and Putonghua on a daily basis, analysing the roles and functions of each language and discussing how these may impact on language policy and language education.Research instruments included 52 students’ language diaries and written analyses, 51 hours of audio-recordings of verbal exchanges, and focus group semi-structured interviews. Results show that the students’ speech repertoire mainly consists of two languages: Cantonese and English and their various mixes. Cantonese is used to ensure understanding, consolidate solidarity and maintain social cohesion. The English-Cantonese mix has become a more powerful identity marker for educated people in Hong Kong than pure Cantonese. English and its supplement with Cantonese are often used in the domain of education. The majority of students seldom use Putonghua in everyday life, but there is a strong instrumental motivation to learn it. Measures are suggested to facilitate a more successful move from bilingualism to trilingualism.

Code choice in Hong Kong

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 18.1-18.17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Woon Yee Ho
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Code Choice ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
British Colony ◽  
Verbal Exchanges

China resumed its sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. Since then drastic changes in this former British colony have occurred. One of these changes is a shift in language policy, from bilingualism (Cantonese and English) to trilingualism (Cantonese, English and Putonghua). The present study is aimed at investigating tertiary students’ use of Cantonese, English and Putonghua on a daily basis, analysing the roles and functions of each language and discussing how these may impact on language policy and language education. Research instruments included 52 students’ language diaries and written analyses, 51 hours of audio-recordings of verbal exchanges, and focus group semi-structured interviews. Results show that the students’ speech repertoire mainly consists of two languages: Cantonese and English and their various mixes. Cantonese is used to ensure understanding, consolidate solidarity and maintain social cohesion. The English-Cantonese mix has become a more powerful identity marker for educated people in Hong Kong than pure Cantonese. English and its supplement with Cantonese are often used in the domain of education. The majority of students seldom use Putonghua in everyday life, but there is a strong instrumental motivation to learn it. Measures are suggested to facilitate a more successful move from bilingualism to trilingualism.

Educational Language Policy in Massachusetts: Discourses of the LOOK Act

2020 ◽  
pp. 089590482097440
Author(s):  
Jesse Rubio
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Language Use ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Educational Language Policy ◽  
English Only ◽  
The Look

Within the United States, equity for English learners, while essential, has remained elusive. As such, language policy in education is a central issue. When An Act Relative to Language Opportunity for Our Kids (LOOK Act) was passed in 2017 in Massachusetts, it was celebrated as a victory for bilingual education after a 15-year period of mandated English-only education. This study thus aims to analyze the language and intertextual discourses of the LOOK Act to inform its interpretation and appropriation by agents at various levels and investigate how language, language use, and language users are positioned in the Act.

Reflection on Learner-Led Study Abroad Events in a SAC from Three Perspectives: A Learner, an Administrative Staff Member, and an Advisor

Relay Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
Mizuki Shibata ◽  
Chihiro Hayashi ◽  
Yuri Imamura
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Support System ◽  
Staff Member ◽  
Administrative Staff ◽  
Multiple Reflections ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Japanese University ◽  
Staff Members

This paper reports on a case study of learner-led study-abroad events in the language learning space at a Japanese University. We present multiple reflections on the events from different perspectives: the event organizer (student), an administrative staff member, and a learning advisor working at the center. We also introduce the support system that a group of administrative staff members and learning advisors are in charge of helping learners to hold their events. Moreover, throughout our reflections, several factors that made the learner-led study-abroad events sustainable and successful are demonstrated.

Language Use and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Policy-Makers and Educators in Northeast Vietnamese Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-130
Author(s):  
Ha Ngan Ngo ◽  
Maya Khemlani David
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The Status ◽  
Wedding Songs

Vietnam represents a country with 54 ethnic groups; however, the majority (88%) of the population are of Vietnamese heritage. Some of the other ethnic groups such as Tay, Thai, Muong, Hoa, Khmer, and Nung have a population of around 1 million each, while the Brau, Roman, and Odu consist only of a hundred people each. Living in northern Vietnam, close to the Chinese border (see Figure 1), the Tay people speak a language of the    Central    Tai language group called Though, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di. Tay remains one of 10 ethnic languages used by 1 million speakers (Buoi, 2003). The Tày ethnic group has a rich culture of wedding songs, poems, dance, and music and celebrate various festivals. Wet rice cultivation, canal digging and grain threshing on wooden racks are part of the Tày traditions. Their villages situated near the foothills often bear the names of nearby mountains, rivers, or fields. This study discusses the status and role of the Tày language in Northeast Vietnam. It discusses factors, which have affected the habitual use of the Tay language, the connection between language shift and development and provides a model for the sustainability and promotion of minority languages. It remains fundamentally imperative to strengthen and to foster positive attitudes of the community towards the Tày language. Tày’s young people must be enlightened to the reality their Tày non-usage could render their mother tongue defunct, which means their history stands to be lost.

Tolerance and Control. Developing a language policy for an EMI university in Uzbekistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-237
Author(s):  
Andrew Linn ◽  
Anastasiya Bezborodova ◽  
Saida Radjabzade
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Language Ecology ◽  
English Only ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
The One ◽  
And Control

AbstractThis article presents a practical project to develop a language policy for an English-Medium-Instruction university in Uzbekistan. Although the university is de facto English-only, it presents a complex language ecology, which in turn has led to confusion and disagreement about language use on campus. The project team investigated the experience, views and attitudes of over a thousand people, including faculty, students, administrative and maintenance staff, in order to arrive at a proposed policy which would serve the whole community, based on the principle of tolerance and pragmatism. After outlining the relevant language and educational context and setting out the methods and approach of the underpinning research project, the article goes on to present the key findings. One of the striking findings was an appetite for control and regulation of language behaviours. Language policies in Higher Education invariably fall down at the implementation stage because of a lack of will to follow through on their principles and their specific guidelines. Language policy in international business on the other hand is characterised by a control stage invariably lacking in language planning in education. Uzbekistan is a polity used to control measures following from policy implementation. The article concludes by suggesting that Higher Education in Central Asia may stand a better chance of seeing through language policies around English-Medium Instruction than, for example, in northern Europe, based on the tension between tolerance on the one hand and control on the other.

Impacts and implications of English as the corporate official language policy: A case in Japan

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-129
Author(s):  
Saeko Ozawa Ujiie
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Foreign Market ◽  
Official Language ◽  
English Only ◽  
Common Solution ◽  
Corporate Official ◽  
Multilingual Learning ◽  
Japanese Employees ◽  
Japanese Speaker ◽  
Corporate Language

AbstractIncreasing numbers of corporations are now operating across national borders as a result of globalization. The “language barrier” is the first and foremost challenge they encounter when starting a business in a foreign market, and many companies are trying to solve the problem by adopting a common corporate language. Using English as an official corporate language is the most common solution for those corporations. The present study explored the impacts of English as a corporate official language policy implemented at a company, a rapidly developed high profile IT Company with 20,000 employees, in Japan, a country often perceived to be relatively monolingual and monocultural. When I started studying the company, I first found that the company’s motive to use English as the official corporate language was different from other instances of corporate language policy making I had come across. In previous studies (e.g., Feely & Harzing 2003; Marschan-Piekkari, Welch, & Welch 1999), the companies implemented common corporate language to solve problems caused by language barriers between employees with diverse linguistic backgrounds. However, the company in this study implemented the corporate language policy to prepare for globalization and recruit talents globally. When the company introduced the English-only language policy, most of the employees of the company were Japanese. Therefore, at the time of implementing the language policy, there was no compelling reason for them to use English. The language policy did not work effectively except for a few departments with non-Japanese employees who spoke different first languages. English functioned as a lingua franca in those departments with multinational employees. The findings indicate that for NNESs (non-native English speakers) to communicate with each other in English, the environment has to be more multilingual, less dominated by a single first language. Although almost all Japanese citizens are required to take intensive English courses in compulsory schoolings, the average level of English proficiency is considered to be relatively low in the advanced economies. The present study indicates that it is not for linguistic competence but a lack of interaction with other ELF speakers. Therefore, for learners of ELF in an intensely monolingual society such as Japan to become competent communicators in ELF, providing multilingual learning environments would be more effective than the prevailing teaching practices of classroom learning in L1 Japanese speaker only environments.

scholarly journals Linguistic identity among new speakers of Basque

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (231) ◽  
pp. 85-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ane Ortega ◽  
Jacqueline Urla ◽  
Estibaliz Amorrortu ◽  
Jone Goirigolzarri ◽  
Belen Uranga
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
The Future ◽  
New Speakers ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Family Transmission

Abstract The increase in Basque speakers in the last 30 years has been due in large part to ‘new speakers’ or euskaldunberri, a term that will be used here to refer to those who have learned the language by means other than family transmission. While very significant in numbers, to date this group has not been the object of much study. Little is known about their attitudes and motivations, how they perceive themselves as Basque speakers, or their language use and transmission patterns. Acquiring answers to these questions is of strategic importance for developing an effective evidence-based language policy for the future. This article presents the results of a qualitative study of new speakers. Drawing on data from focus groups and interviews, the central goal of the article is to examine how new speakers of differing profiles perceive and locate themselves with respect to the popularly used labels for “new” and “native” Basque speakers and the ideologies of authenticity and legitimacy that seem to shape these perceptions. The analysis shows that learning the language alone, even to a high degree of competence, does not guarantee a view of themselves as true and genuine speakers of Basque.

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