The effects of theatre-based vocal empowerment on young Egyptian women’s vocal and language characteristics

This study investigates the impact of a theatre-based vocal empowerment program on the vocal and language characteristics and the self-perceptions of young bilingual Egyptian women. The program used applied theatre, a dramatic practice that promotes civic action by utilizing improvisational techniques to engage participants in exploring solutions to self-identified community concerns. These techniques supported participants’ pursuit of vocal empowerment: the ability to comfortably express their intended content with a clear audible voice, accompanied by the belief that what they had to say was worthwhile. The program was implemented in Alexandria and Aswan, two Egyptian cities in different regions of the country, with distinct socio-economic profiles. Thirty-six young women from Aswan and nineteen from Alexandria participated. The program was facilitated in Arabic, for 90 minutes per day over twelve consecutive days in 2018. Participants in both groups spoke Arabic as a home language and studied English in school settings but differed in their educational experiences and English proficiency. The vocal and language characteristics of each participant were tested in Arabic and English pre- and post- program using a spontaneous speech task and a reading aloud task. Their self-perceptions were evaluated through a vocal self-perception survey. Results indicated that participants responded differently in each city. In Alexandria, participants showed significant improvement in language skills (e.g., mean length of utterance). In contrast, participants in Aswan showed a significant change in fundamental frequency. Overall, the self-surveys indicated that all participants experienced an increased sense of confidence, a stronger belief in self-authorship, and an increased desire to voice their opinions clearly in public; however, there were subtle differences between the groups. In analyzing these results, we conclude that to design effective vocal empowerment outreach programs internationally, it is necessary to consider participants’ cultural backgrounds, language diversity, and socio-economic status.

Language Diversity in Syair Nasihat: An Alternative Effort to Strengthen National Identity through Literature Learning

Syair Nasihat (hereinafter abbreviated as SN) is an old literary work written in Arabic letters and utilizing the diversity of languages that exist in the archipelago. Therefore, a study of the SN manuscript needs to be carried out comprehensively and holistically so that the diversity of languages used to instill the values of local wisdom can be used as a source of inspiration for literary learning in the future. The method used in this study is the text editing method, namely the critical edition method. The use of this method is expected to provide good and correct SN text edits. The text study method used is a literary research method, especially semiotic studies. Thus, the use of language and its symbols contained in the SN text can be fully disclosed so that the results of the study can be useful for the world of education in welcoming the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Society 5.0. AbstrakSyair Nasihat (selanjutnya disingkat SN) merupakan karya sastra lama yang ditulis dengan huruf Arab dan memanfaatkan keragaman bahasa yang ada di Nusantara. Oleh karena itu, kajian terhadap naskah SN perlu dilakukan secara komprehensif dan holistik sehingga keragaman bahasa yang dimanfaatkan untuk menanamkan nilai-nilai kearifan lokal tersebut dapat dijadikan sumber inspirasi bagi pembelajaran sastra di masa yang akan datang. Adapun metode yang digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah metode penyuntingan teks, yaitu metode edisi kritis. Penggunaan metode ini diharapkan dapat menghadirkan suntingan teks SN yang baik dan benar. Adapun metode pengkajian teks yang digunakan adalah metode penelitian sastra, khususnya kajian semiotik. Dengan demikian, penggunaan bahasa beserta simbol-simbolnya yang terdapat dalam teks SN dapat diungkap secara tuntas sehingga hasil kajiannya dapat bermanfaat bagi dunia pendidikan dalam menyambut Revolusi Industri 4.0 dan Society 5.0.

Expansion by migration and diffusion by contact is a source to the global diversity of linguistic nominal categorization systems

Languages of diverse structures and different families tend to share common patterns if they are spoken in geographic proximity. This convergence is often explained by horizontal diffusibility, which is typically ascribed to language contact. In such a scenario, speakers of two or more languages interact and influence each other’s languages, and in this interaction, more grammaticalized features tend to be more resistant to diffusion compared to features of more lexical content. An alternative explanation is vertical heritability: languages in proximity often share genealogical descent. Here, we suggest that the geographic distribution of features globally can be explained by two major pathways, which are generally not distinguished within quantitative typological models: feature diffusion and language expansion. The first pathway corresponds to the contact scenario described above, while the second occurs when speakers of genetically related languages migrate. We take the worldwide distribution of nominal classification systems (grammatical gender, noun class, and classifier) as a case study to show that more grammaticalized systems, such as gender, and less grammaticalized systems, such as classifiers, are almost equally widespread, but the former spread more by language expansion historically, whereas the latter spread more by feature diffusion. Our results indicate that quantitative models measuring the areal diffusibility and stability of linguistic features are likely to be affected by language expansion that occurs by historical coincidence. We anticipate that our findings will support studies of language diversity in a more sophisticated way, with relevance to other parts of language, such as phonology.

Multilingual education in an Italian public preschool: teachers and families among mobility processes and inclusive practices

This paper focuses on the integration of translanguaging practices in a public preschool situated in a small village in North-West of Italy. Mobility processes and local Italian families’ school choices have led to the raise of the number of students with an immigrant background enrolled at the studied preschool up to 85%. After a brief overview regarding mobility and translanguaging in education, particularly in relation to preschool domain, I describe the macro and micro contexts of this ethnographic case study. I then focus on the analysis of the main learning activities designed by teachers to engage children’s multilingual repertoires. Later, applying qualitative content analysis, I outline the main patterns and categories emerging from interviews and focus groups conducted with teachers and parents to investigate how they experienced the marginalization of immigrant minority children in their preschool and how they received the introduction of multilingual education approach. The results shows that the adoption of a translanguaging lens contributed to the educational legitimation of language diversity and to the acknowledgment of immigrant families. Finally, I discuss the results in terms of democratic language education and social justice, underlining their implications and relevance for preschools teachers’ professional development and agency.

Migrant Pronunciation: What do Employers find Acceptable?

<p>Many migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds need to look for unskilled and low-skilled work in a range of industries in New Zealand. A number of barriers to employment have been identified, amongst which are numerous reports of migrants’ difficulties with English language. As many of these migrants speak languages which are very different from English they often have accents which native speakers find unfamiliar or hard to understand. The aim of this thesis was to identify which features of migrant pronunciation are more or less acceptable to employers, so that ESOL professionals can assist migrants more effectively when learning English. In my literature review, I begin by placing the need for pronunciation teaching in the context of New Zealand’s rapidly increasing ethnic and language diversity, and the barriers to migrant employment. I then describe how proficiency in pronunciation is measured, and how acceptability fits in to these measurements. In the following chapter I discuss what predictions can be made about the features which are likely to cause pronunciation difficulties for current groups of learners. Finally, I review research on the main levels of pronunciation (segmental, prosody and fluency) and how these can be expected to predict Acceptability. My research questions were: 1. Does pronunciation affect employers’ assessments of the acceptability of migrants for employment? 2. If so, which pronunciation features are the strongest predictors of the assessment? 3. Are there other employer or speaker factors which affect employer ratings of accept-ability? To address these questions, I obtained speech samples from 40 male and female migrants from a range of L1s. These were rated through an online survey by employers or human resource managers (n=95) from industries employing low-skilled workers in the main centres around New Zealand. In addition, ratings of the speakers’ pronunciation features were obtained from Experienced Raters to use as a baseline for analysis. The data from the online survey was then analysed to determine which features predicted the employers’ acceptability ratings. Three factors comprising a wide range of pronunciation features, segmental and suprasegmental (the latter divided into prosodic and fluency), were found to be highly significant in the employers’ ratings of acceptability, while most other factors were not. However, parts of the survey found that acceptability was significantly influenced by the employers’ assessment of whether the speaker was a hard worker, and by employers’ judgements about some of the speakers’ pronunciation features. In addition, judgements of acceptability differed from those of the other global measures of intelligibility, comprehensibility and accentedness, leading to a re-evaluation of what the ultimate goal of pronunciation teaching should be. While the Intelligibility Principle has been emphasised recently, it does not acknowledge the contextual nature of communication. This thesis concludes that Acceptability is a more useful goal for language learners, and that this can be achieved by including all levels of pronunciation including fluency. This thesis proposes that ESOL pronunciation programmes, which typically focus on developing intelligibility through segmental and some prosodic features, also need to meet acceptability standards by including fluency features from the earliest stages, such as appropriate use of Pausing, Variety, and Smoothness.</p>

Migrant Pronunciation: What do Employers find Acceptable?

<p>Many migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds need to look for unskilled and low-skilled work in a range of industries in New Zealand. A number of barriers to employment have been identified, amongst which are numerous reports of migrants’ difficulties with English language. As many of these migrants speak languages which are very different from English they often have accents which native speakers find unfamiliar or hard to understand. The aim of this thesis was to identify which features of migrant pronunciation are more or less acceptable to employers, so that ESOL professionals can assist migrants more effectively when learning English. In my literature review, I begin by placing the need for pronunciation teaching in the context of New Zealand’s rapidly increasing ethnic and language diversity, and the barriers to migrant employment. I then describe how proficiency in pronunciation is measured, and how acceptability fits in to these measurements. In the following chapter I discuss what predictions can be made about the features which are likely to cause pronunciation difficulties for current groups of learners. Finally, I review research on the main levels of pronunciation (segmental, prosody and fluency) and how these can be expected to predict Acceptability. My research questions were: 1. Does pronunciation affect employers’ assessments of the acceptability of migrants for employment? 2. If so, which pronunciation features are the strongest predictors of the assessment? 3. Are there other employer or speaker factors which affect employer ratings of accept-ability? To address these questions, I obtained speech samples from 40 male and female migrants from a range of L1s. These were rated through an online survey by employers or human resource managers (n=95) from industries employing low-skilled workers in the main centres around New Zealand. In addition, ratings of the speakers’ pronunciation features were obtained from Experienced Raters to use as a baseline for analysis. The data from the online survey was then analysed to determine which features predicted the employers’ acceptability ratings. Three factors comprising a wide range of pronunciation features, segmental and suprasegmental (the latter divided into prosodic and fluency), were found to be highly significant in the employers’ ratings of acceptability, while most other factors were not. However, parts of the survey found that acceptability was significantly influenced by the employers’ assessment of whether the speaker was a hard worker, and by employers’ judgements about some of the speakers’ pronunciation features. In addition, judgements of acceptability differed from those of the other global measures of intelligibility, comprehensibility and accentedness, leading to a re-evaluation of what the ultimate goal of pronunciation teaching should be. While the Intelligibility Principle has been emphasised recently, it does not acknowledge the contextual nature of communication. This thesis concludes that Acceptability is a more useful goal for language learners, and that this can be achieved by including all levels of pronunciation including fluency. This thesis proposes that ESOL pronunciation programmes, which typically focus on developing intelligibility through segmental and some prosodic features, also need to meet acceptability standards by including fluency features from the earliest stages, such as appropriate use of Pausing, Variety, and Smoothness.</p>

Epistemology of Monolingual Bias

How did monolingual bias emerge and why does it persist? What exactly is language? Why and howdo language and languages develop? What do the terms ‘monolingual’, ‘bilingual’, and ‘multilingual’mean? What does “typical” language development entail? What constitutes “atypical” languagedevelopment? To answer these questions, this paper builds on the premise that language is a humancognitive skill for communication and that Western notions of language diversity, monolingualism,bilingualism, and multilingualism disseminate monolingual bias. Monolingual bias is then linked toconceptual issues on “typical” and “atypical” language development, as evidenced by extant researchand clinical practices. Ultimately, this paper explains why the notion of bilingualism in the Westernresearch literature is less relevant for some, if not most, of the world’s multilingual contexts,especially in the Philippines.

BUSINESS ENGLISH AS THE LINGUA FRANCA IN THE MACEDONIAN COMPANIES – A STRATEGY FOR THE FUTURE

The progress of society, in all areas, largely depends on the quality and the advancement of the companies in one country. Since the economy of a country is the primary drive for progress, the corporate world must evolve and advance in order to keep up with the trends and the constant changes in the business environment and thus continue the progress of societies. This paper aims to provide an understanding of the importance of business English as a lingua franca in advancing Macedonian businesses. Although the primary purpose for developing business English has been business interaction among English-speaking and non-English speaking companies, with time, the companies have dragged in native languages turning business English into a lingua franca in the corporate world. Therefore, not only has business English progressed into the backbone of international trade, which is crucial for the economic development of the countries, but it also became essential for the companies' internal communication, which is vital for their operation and performance. That being said, the main implication of this paper is to enlighten Macedonian society on the significance of introducing business English as the lingua franca in Macedonian companies. By discussing and analysing specific areas on how business English can improve the competitiveness of the Macedonian companies and workforce, the researcher proposes a strategy for the future based on; introduction of a Business English course in the Macedonian educational system, training of employees, employment of staff conversant with English, use of simple vocabulary and repetition of statements, and embracing language diversity.