Language norms in L2 education for adult migrants – translanguaging pedagogy in the age of mobility

International mobility has caused a need for language education where adults can learn the language(s) used in their new country. In Sweden, the language programme SFI (Swedish for immigrants) provides basic second language education for adult immigrants. For those learners who are not yet functionally literate, basic literacy education is included. This article aims to explore the concept translanguaging pedagogy in relation to the articulated and embodied language norms of one SFI teacher. The empirical data, produced by ethnographic methodology, consists of classroom observations and semi-structural interviews. The method of analysis comprises a set of sociolinguistic questions, three categories of language norms (double monolingualism, integrated bilingualism and polylingualism) and discourse analysis, centering on deictics, indexical signs and reported speech. Findings show that although the teacher does engage in translanguaging practices, her teaching practices cannot be referred to as translanguaging pedagogy because she has made no deliberate decision to include the students’ full linguistic repertoires and there are contradictions both within and between her articulated and embodied language norms. It is concluded that it is crucial for educational development in contexts characterised by mobility that teachers in linguistically heterogeneous classrooms increase their awareness of their language norms and the students’ linguistic resources.

Musical Interaction Reveals Music as Embodied Language

Life and social sciences often focus on the social nature of music (and language alike). In biology, for example, the three main evolutionary hypotheses about music (i.e., sexual selection, parent-infant bond, and group cohesion) stress its intrinsically social character (Honing et al., 2015). Neurobiology thereby has investigated the neuronal and hormonal underpinnings of musicality for more than two decades (Chanda and Levitin, 2013; Salimpoor et al., 2015; Mehr et al., 2019). In line with these approaches, the present paper aims to suggest that the proper way to capture the social interactive nature of music (and, before it, musicality), is to conceive of it as an embodied language, rooted in culturally adapted brain structures (Clarke et al., 2015; D’Ausilio et al., 2015). This proposal heeds Ian Cross’ call for an investigation of music as an “interactive communicative process” rather than “a manifestation of patterns in sound” (Cross, 2014), with an emphasis on its embodied and predictive (coding) aspects (Clark, 2016; Leman, 2016; Koelsch et al., 2019). In the present paper our goal is: (i) to propose a framework of music as embodied language based on a review of the major concepts that define joint musical action, with a particular emphasis on embodied music cognition and predictive processing, along with some relevant neural underpinnings; (ii) to summarize three experiments conducted in our laboratories (and recently published), which provide evidence for, and can be interpreted according to, the new conceptual framework. In doing so, we draw on both cognitive musicology and neuroscience to outline a comprehensive framework of musical interaction, exploring several aspects of making music in dyads, from a very basic proto-musical action, like tapping, to more sophisticated contexts, like playing a jazz standard and singing a hocket melody. Our framework combines embodied and predictive features, revolving around the concept of joint agency (Pacherie, 2012; Keller et al., 2016; Bolt and Loehr, 2017). If social interaction is the “default mode” by which human brains communicate with their environment (Hari et al., 2015), music and musicality conceived of as an embodied language may arguably provide a route toward its navigation.

Language of Gestures: Mudrā, Mirror, and Meaning in Śākta Philosophy

By contextualizing the ways gestures are used and interpreted in tantric practice and philosophy, this paper explores the cultural and cognitive domains of corporeal expression. Initiating the conversation with descriptions of basic dance gestures and widely understood emotional expressions, the paper proceeds to address the generative nature of corporeal language as it contextualizes varied forms of esoteric experience. Confronting simplistic readings of gestural language, the core argument here is that tantric gestures introduce a distinctive form of embodied language that relies on a propositional attitude for deciphering their meanings. This process becomes a ritual in its own right. Even when we accept that gestures represent meaning, tantric gestures are understood to mirror the innate experience, prior to being shaped by language and culture, and in this sense they reflect the absolute. As a consequence, language becomes physical in time and space, and even when language transcends itself, it remains embodied. In sum, tantric gestures can be deciphered to unravel the deeper layers inherent to the sign system, and this is possible only when we are open to critically engaging folk theories.

Investigation of Embodied Language Processing on Command-Swallow Performance in Healthy Participants

Purpose During videofluoroscopic examination of swallowing, patients commonly are instructed to hold a bolus in their mouth until they hear a verbal instruction to swallow, which usually consists of the word swallow and is commonly referred to as the command swallow condition. The language-induced motor facilitation theory suggests that linguistic processes associated with the verbal command to swallow should facilitate the voluntary component of swallowing. As such, the purpose of the study was to examine the linguistic influences of the verbal command on swallowing. Method Twenty healthy young adult participants held a 5-ml liquid bolus in their mouth and swallowed the bolus after hearing one of five acoustic stimuli presented randomly: congruent action word ( swallow ), incongruent action word ( cough ), congruent pseudoword ( spallow ), incongruent pseudoword ( pough ), and nonverbal stimulus (1000-Hz pure tone). Suprahyoid muscle activity during swallowing was measured via surface electromyography (sEMG). Results The onset and peak sEMG latencies following the congruent action word swallow were shorter than latencies following the pure tone and pseudowords but were not different from the incongruent action word. The lack of difference between swallow and cough did not negate the positive impact of real words on timing. In contrast to expectations, sEMG activity duration and rise time were longer following the word swallow than the pure tone and pseudowords but were not different from cough . No differences were observed for peak suprahyoid muscle activity amplitude and fall times. Conclusions Language facilitation was observed in swallowing. The clinical utility of the information obtained in the study may depend on the purposes for using the command swallow and the type of patient being assessed. However, linguistic processing under the command swallow condition may alter swallow behaviors and suggests that linguistic inducement could be useful as a compensatory technique for patients with difficulty initiating oropharyngeal swallows.