Defining English Medium Instruction: Striving for comparative equivalence

English Medium Instruction (EMI) has been defined as ‘the use of the English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the first language (L1) of the majority of the population is not English’ (Macaro, 2018, p. 19). This definition has proved to be controversial but has underpinned the work of our research group, from whose collective perspective this article is written. Debates have centred on the role that English language development plays in EMI contexts, and whether this current definitional scope is too narrow in its exclusion of English medium educational practices in Anglophone settings. Pecorari and Malmström (2018), for example, observe that some members of the EMI research community interpret EMI more broadly to include ‘contexts in which English is a dominant language and in which English language development is supported and actively worked for’ (p. 507). Similarly, Baker and Hüttner (2016, p. 502) state that excluding Anglophone contexts from EMI is ‘unhelpful’ by failing to include the experiences of multilingual students in Anglophone universities who learn through their second language (L2). A focus on multilingualism is also one of the driving forces behind the emergence of new terminology that seeks to shift focus towards the contexts of education, rather than instruction and pedagogy. Dafouz and Smit (2016), for example, prefer the term English-Medium Education in Multilingual University Settings (EMEMUS), because the ‘label is semantically wider, as it does not specify any particular pedagogical approach or research agenda’ (p. 399).

Adding Flesh to the Bones: Dignity Frames for English Learner Education

In this essay, Luis E. Poza argues that educational dignity can help practices and reforms targeting students classified as English learners move beyond a narrow focus on programmatic and material factors related to English language development and instead toward more holistic consideration of these students and their schooling ecologies. In aligning the philosophical and legal operationalizations of dignity with landmark judicial victories for racially and linguistically minoritized students, he argues that dignity frameworks are relevant and actionable for more effectively imagining and designing education as an empowering, emancipatory endeavor.

SPECIFICS OF OLD ENGLISH SYNTAX AS THE BASIS FOR GRAMMATICALIZATION OF FOCUSING ADVERBS

The article deals with the preconditions of focusing adverbs grammaticalization in Old English, which function as one of the markers of sentence information structure in Modern English. With major strategies of highlighting the components of information structure in the language of VII-XI cen. being analyzed, the study found that the order of arranging the elements in the sentence was, namely, most sensitive to old/new information allotment, as well as, sentence topic and focus marking, which explains the word order variations in the clause. Adverbs as a class in this period were represented by temporal, VP- and sentential ones. All these types have relevance for the current study given that they may serve as one of the sources of grammaticalization for focusing adverbs in further periods of the English language development. The other source for the highlighted adverbs formation were adverbial suffixes -ly or -e added to adjectives, nouns and verbs. It was proved that the major adverbial discourse markers in Old English are temporal adverbs þa/thonne, her and nu. Therefore, this class presumably served the basis for the formation of new focusing adverbs at further stages of the language evolution.

Do English Language Development Curriculum Materials Matter for Students’ English Proficiency?

Castañeda v. Pickard mandated that educational programs for emergent bilinguals be tested for program efficacy. As English language development (ELD) curricular materials are one part of an instructional program, we assess this mandate by examining the effectiveness of ELD materials in Texas, a large, diverse U.S. state with large numbers of emergent bilingual (EB) students. Using local linear matching, we find robust evidence that schools that do not purchase any ELD curricula have significantly lower English language proficiency scores relative to schools that purchase state-adopted ELD materials. In contrast, there is no significant difference between schools that adopt the two most popular ELD curricula in the state. This study suggests that curriculum materials matter for EBs’ English proficiency and implies that states should take a more active role in ensuring students have access to these materials.

LEXICAL-SEMANTIC SUBSYSTEM OF SENSORY VERBS IN THE MODERN ENGLISH VERB SYSTEM

The article focuses on the study of the lexical-semantic subsystem of sensory verbs in the Modern English verb system. The objectives of the study are to analyse sensory verbs’ semantic features, establish macro- and micro integral connections between them, and to determine their groups and synonymic sets by differential trait and denotative sema. Definitional, componential, comparative, proportional and quantitative analysis, English explanatory dictionaries and thesauri were used in the study. Sensory verbs of five lexical-semantic fields have approximately the same proportion of lexemes that form the core, main part and periphery of each corresponding lexical-semantic field, with a slightly larger number of verbs in the main part. Old English sensory verbs make up a third of the modern perception process subsystem, almost a half of the borrowed lexemes from French and Latin, a tenth of sensory verbs borrowed from the West Germanic group and a small percentage is formed by borrowings from other languages, unknown or imitative origin. The study analysed the share of sensory verbs according to the periods of English language development. Sensory verbs of the Middle English and New English periods make up more than a half of the sensory vocabulary of the modern perception process subsystem. It is established that sensory verbs are combined into groups and synonymic sets by seven differential traits. The results of the study of connections between sensory verbs show that they are not isolated in their lexical-semantic fields and in general in the sensory subsystem of the sensory perception process, i.e. they migrate between sensory lexical-semantic fields. All the lexemes of the sensory subsystem are hierarchical, belong to the hierarchy of lexical-semantic formations and implicitly have all the features of the higher levels of the hierarchy. Thus, lexical-semantic fields of sensory verbs are open systems.