Communicating Across Cultures and Languages in the Health Care Setting. Claire Penn & Jennifer Watermeyer. Palgrave Macmillan, UK. 368 Pp. ISBN 978-1-137-58100-6

The book under review presents the challenging and creative research endeavours concerning some peculiar characteristics of multicultural and multilingual communication in South African healthcare settings. The authors of this work – Claire Penn, a professor and director of the Health Communication Research Unit, and Jennifer Watermeyer, an associate professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, – focus on bridging the gap between the voices of the lifeworld and the voices of medicine via communication characterized by the complexities and pitfalls within culturally and linguistically diverse health care contexts. The research under review is aimed at analyzing the cognitive space of professional medical communication in healthcare settings for applying the results in practice. Research of the cross-language interactions in healthcare facilities (using the evidence from South African medical settings) certainly contributes a lot to establishing an adequate cultural brokers’ role in the professional communication and to describing methods aimed at modifying interactions between a healthcare professional and a patient, which taken together lead to the improvement of medical communication in general. This book is a reasonably valuable source of essential knowledge for both healthcare professionals, linguists, discourse analysis researchers, medical educators and practitioners, and for those people who are interested in the specificities of communication research projects in terms of professional medical discourse on the global scale.

English in the Pandemic: Changes and Challenges

The article sheds light on some of the new developments in English under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic: namely, various types of neologisms, which have appeared over the past year and a half. The paper offers an overview of these new formations, supplemented by discourse analysis. The study is based on the material gleaned from online editions of The Economist newspaper, with the examples selected using the method of continuous sampling. Research results indicate that the majority of neologisms are portmanteau words; however, abbreviations, compounds and new coinages referring to people’s work arrangement are also encountered. In addition, some data on the increase in dictionary searches for words connected with the pandemic are adduced. COVID-19 has boosted the capacity of the English language for expanding its vocabulary, and the changes brought about by this process should be thoroughly studied and understood.

Translanguaging Knowledge Remotely: the Analysis of an Academic Webinar

This paper explores how academic webinars are translanguaged by drawing on the sort of linguistic strategies and techniques implicated in these webinars. The research, therefore, poses two key questions relevant to how knowledge is communicated and what strategies are used in this communication. The main hypothesis of the research maintains that academic webinars communicate knowledge from a single professional presenter to many knowledge-receiving attendees, based on a presupposed view that presenters and moderators in webinars adhere to certain linguistic and conversational moves. To explore how academic webinars proceed and what they imply, a single academic webinar is randomly sampled for analysis. First, academic webinars are analyzed, key terms defined, and some previous literature on the topic overviewed. Then, the sampled webinar is administered for analysis (gathering, transcription, analysis), and a discourse-conversational model of analysis is applied. The author concludes that webinars are knowledge-specific and highly professional in their character, and they manifest certain linguistic and discourse strategies. The research also reveals that webinars feature such strategies as reformulation, mono-versation, on-screen sharing, speaker invisibility, indirect engagement, inactive moderation, and graphic interaction. Further recommendations suggest a more linguistic investigation into online learning, whether in webinars, online workshops, massive open online courses, or in any virtual learning practices.

Metaphor Variation in Economic Discourse

This integrated cognitive-discourse study looks at the role of context in the variation of conceptual metaphor in economic discourse, which abounds in metaphors. The study is motivated by a general current interest in situational aspects of metaphorical conceptualisation in different professional discourses. The first research question is to test the relevance of metaphor variation for economic discourse and to investigate conceptual evolution of biological, mechanical and path/journey metaphors in this discourse type. Another research question is to determine particular types of context and contextual factors inducing metaphor variation in economic texts. The theoretical framework of the study is formed by the seminal theories of conceptual metaphor, conceptual evolution, knowledge framing and recent abundant research sharing an integrated cognitive-discourse approach to studying metaphor. The investigation revealed the salience of metaphor variation for economic discourse in a broad social context of its production: scientific, technological, career development, and discrimination at work contexts. The study adds to the understanding of the role contextual factors play in metaphorical meaning making and processing discourse. It can also have implications for further metaphor investigation in different professional discourses. Awareness of metaphor variation mechanisms in meaning making can also be instrumental in English for Specific Purposes pedagogy.

Innovative Trends in the System of Language Education in the XXIst Century

The article analyzes the problem associated with the quality improvement of professional training of foreign language teachers in the conditions of digitalization of Language Education. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to train competitive specialists in the field of intercultural contacts who are fluent in their profession at the level of international standards. The quality and level of foreign language training in higher education are determined by the teaching staff, who are the carriers of the ideology of updating language education. Today, the digitalization of language education has brought the foreign language training of students to a qualitatively new level, which allows not only to raise the culture of teaching foreign languages, but also to ensure the development and social adaptation of the student, and contributes to the formation of an appropriate environment for social and personal development. The quality improvement of foreign language training in higher education presupposes both the widespread use of digital teaching technologies and the mandatory consideration of the general patterns of the personality formation and individual characteristics of students, as well as the development of each student’s abilities and interests. The formation of creative thinking, flexibility, initiative and versatility, the ability to quickly respond to changes, as well as creative search in solving professional problems are especially relevant in the education and training of foreign language teachers. The article examines significant innovative trends in the system of higher education, which make it possible to train a competitive specialist who becomes the main indicator of the quality of university education.

The Phenomenon of Regional Euphemisms and the Work of City Managers (the Analysis of Euphemisms in the Internet-Based Discourse)

This article discusses the issue of the relationship between euphemisms and regional phenomena. The author dwells on the definition of euphemisms and the indication of their main features, emphasizing that the main aspect in understanding euphemisms is replacing a rude or undesirable word with a softer and more appropriate one. According to the author, understanding euphemisms that are found in the speech of residents of a certain geographical area is very important for heads of administrations at various levels, employees of departments, working with the local residents, i.e. for managers who ensure the well-being of city dwellers. The notion of euphemisms is closely related to culture and social attitudes that are developed in society. It is the link between euphemisms and culture, certain stereotypes, traditions of society, systems of values, etc. that makes the existence of regional euphemisms possible. In this study, a hypothesis is put forward about the presence of euphemistic substitutions, characteristic of a certain region. As part of the research, an attempt was made to identify euphemisms characteristic of the Tula region (Russia). Examples of direct discussion of Russian-language publications made in the “Overheard in Tula” community of the VKontakte social network serve as the empirical material for the study. As a result of the analysis, it was proved that in most cases, participants in communication use euphemisms when discussing the shortcomings and problems of their region. Understanding such use of euphemisms can help city managers in their work. The research reveals which regional events most often induce the residents of the Tula region to use euphemistic substitutions. Based on the comparison of selected discourse samples and data from lexicographic sources, it is determined whether the used substitutions can be considered euphemisms. The authors come to the conclusion that it is possible to speak about the existence of the very phenomenon of regional euphemisms and that its further study is much needed as it can improve the efficiency of city managers.

On Continuity and Readiness for Education: Methodology Principles of Quality-Based System Management After Helen N. Solovova

This paper is devoted to the analysis of the most crucial problems related to innovative trends in modern education, i.e. increasing competitiveness. The aim of this paper is twofold: a) to consider the phenomenon of current methodology of professional education in terms of international principles ISO depicted in the research works of the outstanding methodologist and educator, Professor Helen N. Solovova; b) to reveal the versatility of the scientist’s activities in the frameworks of current academic scholarship. The main methodological concept considers the global strategic processes, and the value orientations of educational activity which become especially significant for those who have to work with a personality; the latter has to understand the realia of continuing transformations of the society, qualitative and quantitative changes in the educational environment of the country and the regions, and rather ambiguous social, informational, and educational aspects of the information spaces. As a result of this study, we state that current challenges are of prior importance for the personality development as individuality. As a priority this concerns a constantly changing status of education as a whole, and the image of the university and college trainers, school educators and tutors at In-Service institutions; as is the case, these phenomena reflected in both Russian and International Scientific Scholarship help to understand the progressive methodology principles which cover Knowledge Content, Technology, and Pedagogy/Language Didactics. In conclusion, a special role, for sure, belongs to the methodology of teaching foreign languages (H.Solovova’s concept of prior significance), which performs a humanizing and cultural mission; language pedagogy and didactics are in search of novel principles and approaches to the philosophy of training and learning foreign languages as a valuable intellectual component of Russian culture and education as a whole.

Using Grammarly to Enhance Students’ Academic Writing Skills

The paper aims to present the results of the experiment in applying the online writing assistant Grammarly.com to evaluate ESP students’ essay writing skills. One hundred master students’ papers were processed by the application to identify persisting errors at a master’s level. Quantitative and qualitative methods enabled the researchers to analyze the essays by setting five parameters: audience, formality, domain, tone, and intent. At the other end, the application broke down the outcome by five measurable factors: correctness, clarity, delivery, engagement, and style issues. The representative number of the essays fed into Grammarly.com provided a vivid and reliable picture of which lexis, grammar, structure, or style issues still need addressing. The most common mistakes detected by Grammarly.com were punctuation, wordy sentences, redundancy, and the abundance of personal pronouns in a formal style. They show that the gaps in students’ academic writing need a remedial course. Another objective of the research was to explore the potential of the online writing tool for students’ self-study. Grammarly.com cannot do work for students: it cannot think for them, neither can it write for them, but it can help learners identify the reoccurring writing problems, eliminate them, and monitor the progress. The application could be particularly useful for advanced students. The functionality of the Grammarly premium version allows for a choice of styles, type of addressee, tone of writing, and many other nuances, which could be beneficial not only for studies but in future professional life. Nonetheless, despite Grammarly’s advanced features, it only suggests a better variant, sometimes it errs, and in no way is it a substitute for a teacher.

Leading the Leaders: a Book Review on Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins

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Codification of Terminology: a Case Study of English Legal Terms

The present paper is devoted to the phenomenon of codification and the main inconsistencies between the theoretical requirements for a term and actual terminological units found in terminological dictionaries of law. The paper presents the analysis of terms used in the legal sphere. The objective of the research is to identify and classify the inconsistencies that have a direct impact on codification as the last stage of the creation of a terminological dictionary. Particular attention is paid to the study of the content plane of legal terms listed in English terminological dictionaries as well as their expression plane. The authors conclude that at both levels (those of the content plane and the expression plane) and at the level of functioning the inconsist- encies raise important issues concerning further development of both terminography as a field of science and the dictionary-making process taking place today.