Analysing Canadian third language media policy

Abstract The teaching of Japanese language as third language to foreign students has its own issues and challenges. It does not merely involve only teaching the four language skills. Japanese language has its own unique values. These unique values also tend to differentiate the teaching of Japanese language as a third language from other third language acquisitions. The teaching of Japanese language as third language to foreign students also involves the teaching of its writing system. This makes the teaching of Japanese language rather complicated because Japanese language has three forms of writings, namely: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. Students are required to fully understand the Hiragana system of writing first before proceeding to learn the other two forms of writings. The main challenge in the teaching of Japanese writing systems is the time allocated that can be considered as very limited as other language aspects need to be taught too. This, which relates directly to students’ factor very much contribute to the challenges foreseen. Students are likely to face problems in understanding and using the writings as they simultaneously need to adhere to the findings teaching and learning schedules. This article discusses on the analysis conducted in terms of the learning of the Hiragana and Katagana systems of writing among foreign students. The discussion in this article is based on the teaching of Japanese language to students of Universiti Teknologi MARA(UiTM), Shah Alam. Keywords: Third language, Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji

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The Perception of Cantonese Vowel Length Contrast by Mandarin Speakers

Language and Speech ◽

10.1177/0023830919879471 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

pp. 635-659

Author(s):

Jingxin Luo ◽

Vivian Guo Li ◽

Peggy Pik Ki Mok

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Discrimination Task ◽

Early Stage ◽

Vowel Quality ◽

Speech Acquisition ◽

Vowel Length ◽

Third Language ◽

Phonological Knowledge ◽

Mandarin Speakers

The study investigates the perception of vowel length contrasts in Cantonese by native Mandarin speakers with varying degrees of experience in Cantonese: naïve listeners (no exposure), inexperienced learners (~1 year), and experienced learners (~5 years). While vowel length contrasts do not exist in Mandarin, they are, to some extent, exploited in English, the second language (L2) of all the participants. Using an AXB discrimination task, we investigate how native and L2 phonological knowledge affects the acquisition of vowel length contrasts in a third language (L3). The results revealed that all participant groups could discriminate three contrastive vowel pairs (/aː/–/ɐ/, /ɛː/–/e/, /ɔː/–/o/), but their performance was influenced by the degree of Cantonese exposure, particularly for learners in the early stage of acquisition. In addition to vowel quality differences, durational differences were proposed to explain the perceptual patterns. Furthermore, L2 English perception of the participants was found to modulate the perception of L3 Cantonese vowel length contrasts. Our findings demonstrate the bi-directional interaction between languages acquired at different stages, and provide concrete data to evaluate some speech acquisition models.

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Cultural Diversity in Canadian Television: The Case of CBC’s Kim’s Convenience

Television & New Media ◽

10.1177/15274764211020085 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 152747642110200

Author(s):

Sherry S. Yu

Keyword(s):

Cultural Diversity ◽

Thematic Analysis ◽

Special Focus ◽

Immigrant Family ◽

Social Categories ◽

Television Industry ◽

Third Language ◽

National Characteristics ◽

Unique Model ◽

Critical Site

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Kim’s Convenience is the first Asian-led sitcom in Canadian broadcasting. This popular sitcom, lauded by both audiences and the television industry, joins the wave of minority-led production which started only recently in Canada, despite Canada’s pride in multiculturalism as one of its national characteristics. Emerging within Canada’s unique model of “multiculturalism within a bilingual framework,” Kim’s Convenience, with a story about a third-language Korean Canadian immigrant family, offers a critical site to understand how cultural diversity is communicated in Canadian television today. This study conducts a thematic analysis of Seasons One and Two with a special focus on interactions across cultures characterized by social categories such as ethnicity/race, gender, class, language, and sexuality.

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Book review: Public service media policy in Europe

Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies ◽

10.1177/1354856514536107 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 369-370

Author(s):

John Nathan Anderson

Keyword(s):

Public Service ◽

Media Policy

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Commitment in L3 relationships: Sacred vows or polyamory?

Second language Research ◽

10.1177/0267658320988045 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026765832098804

Author(s):

David Stringer

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

First Language ◽

Acquisition Process ◽

Third Language ◽

L3 Acquisition ◽

Acquisition Device ◽

Crosslinguistic Influence ◽

The Mind ◽

N Acquisition ◽

Full Copy

Westergaard (2019) presents an updated account of the Linguistic Proximity Model and the micro-cue approach to the parser as an acquisition device. The property-by-property view of transfer inherent in this approach contrasts with other influential models that assume that third language (L3) acquisition involves the creation of a full copy of only one previously existing language in the mind. In this commentary, I review Westergaard’s proposal that first language (L1), second language (L2), and L3 acquisition proceed on the basis of incremental, conservative learning and her view of the parser as the engine of the acquisition process. I then provide several arguments in support of her position that crosslinguistic influence in L n acquisition may flow from any previously acquired language.

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