Linguistics and Applied Linguistics

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10315/28605

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 25

Open Access
The Revaluation of the National Language in a Post-National Era: Language Policy and the Governance of Migration and Citizenship
(2015-01-26) Millar, Jeffrey Darren; Haque, Eve
This dissertation examines the influence of neo-liberal discourses and strategies of governance on a revaluation of the national language, in the form of formalized requirements and testing of language proficiency, within immigration, integration, naturalization, and citizenship policy in Canada and the United Kingdom. Employing an interdiscursive language policy analysis (da Silva & Heller, 2009), the dissertation combines textual analysis of policy documents, informed by the principles of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), with an ethnographic understanding of the policy process gathered through interviews with policy actors. It applies the key CDA analytical categories of emergence, selection, operationalization, and materialization of discourses within domains of social action, and recontextualization of discourses across domains (Fairclough, 2009; Wodak & Fairclough, 2010) to a comparative case study of the policy processes surrounding language, immigration, and citizenship in Canada and the UK. The analysis of the cases reveals how neo-liberal discourses of the knowledge-based economy and communitarian discourses of cohesion and active citizenship have been recontextualized within the domains of immigration and citizenship policy, ultimately constituting a similar hegemonic discourse on the importance of language skills in a common, national language for immigrant integration. Further, the operationalization and materialization of this discourse is interpreted, drawing on the field of governmentality studies, as instantiating an advanced liberal political rationality (Rose, 1996, 1999), with formal language requirements and tests serving as political technologies for the subjectivation of prospective citizens. It is also revealed, however, that contestation over, and contradictions within this neo-liberal strategy of governance have shaped the particular policies regarding language, immigration, and citizenship in each case. The dissertation contributes to the literature on language testing practices for immigration and citizenship by identifying the motivation for such practices in the political economy of contemporary globalization and neo-liberal state strategies for the governance of immigration, integration, and citizenship. It also contributes to the field of Language Policy and Planning (LPP) by suggesting a theoretical and methodological framework for the study of state language policies in a neo-liberal, post-national era.
Open Access
The Linguistic Expression of Gender Identity: Albania's 'Sworn Virgins'
(2015-12-16) Dickerson, Carly Elizabeth; Walker, James
This paper studies the linguistic tools employed in the construction of masculine identities by burrneshat (‘sworn virgins’) in northern Albania: biological females who have become ‘social men’. Unlike other documented ‘third genders’ (Kulick 1999), burrneshat are not motivated by considerations of personal identity or sexual desire, but rather by the need to fulfill patriarchal roles within a traditional social code that views women as property. Burrneshat are thus seen as honourable and self-sacrificing, are accepted as men in their community, and are treated accordingly, except that they do not marry or engage in sexual relationships. Given these unique circumstances, how do the burrneshat construct and express their identity linguistically, and how do others within the community engage with this identity? Analysis of the choices of grammatical gender in the speech of burrneshat and others in their communities indicates both inter- and intra-speaker variation that is linked to gendered ideologies.
Open Access
A Qualitative Study of Anti-Feminist Discursive Strategies in Online Comment Sections
(2015-12-16) LaFortune, Gabrielle Louise; Ehrlich, Susan L.
This thesis uses multiple analytic categories drawn from the literature to identify discursive strategies used in online comment sections that function to undermine feminism. The work has two purposes: to provide a qualitative, critical discourse analysis of anti-feminist discourse in asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC), and to describe the ways in which the frameworks drawn from the literature complement one another in the analysis. This is done by analyzing comments from several North American websites, and describing occurrences of anti-feminist discursive strategies in terms of individual occurrences, and as they intersect with one another. Previous research has shown that the ability to identify anti-feminist discursive strategies allows feminists to resist silencing. Thus, in addition to adding to the literature on anti-feminist discursive strategies and asynchronous CMC, it is my hope that this work may be useful in denaturalizing and demystifying these strategies.
Open Access
Relative Use of Phonaesthemes in the Constitution and Development of Genres
(2016-09-20) Harbeck, James Christopher; Walker, James
My research question is Does the presence of phonaesthemes in words play a role in the constitution and evolution of genres? A phonaestheme is a phonemic grouping that correlates well above chance with a particular semantic quality in etymologically unrelated words; phonaesthematic words are generally seen as vivid, expressive, and involved. I explore the nature of phonaesthemes and genres and the role of features such as phonaesthemes in the constitution of genres. I select a set of phonaesthemes to evaluate and choose a representative set of lemmas and matching non-phonaesthematic lemmas. I survey these in six genres over three time periods in the US and the UK. I analyze the results and their implications for phonaesthemes and for genre constitution, finding, among other things, that phonaesthemes are important in the social positioning of genres. The summary answer to my research question is thus found to be Yes, it does.
Open Access
Aspect and Case in Interlanguage Grammars: The Case of English Learners of Russian
(2016-09-20) Lenchuk, Iryna Vasylivna; Alboiu, Gabriela
This dissertation presents the results of an empirical study on the acquisition of aspect and case by English speaking adult second language learners (L2) of Russian. Richardson (2007) argues that in Russian, structural Accusative case is aspectually relevant and that it is linked to the compositional event structure of the base form of a verb. The base form of a verb is compositionally determined when addition of a lexical or telic prefix changes the grammatical aspect of a verb from imperfective to perfective and lexical aspect from atelic to telic. I refer to these verbs as Condition 1 verbs. Alternatively, the base form of a verb is not compositionally determined when it merges with a superlexical prefix that changes the grammatical aspect of a verb from imperfective to perfective but does not change the telicity of an inherently atelic verb. I refer to these verbs as Condition 2 verbs. Direct objects of Condition 1 verbs are marked with structural Accusative case, whereas direct objects of inherently atelic Condition 2 verbs are assigned lexical case. The question that is investigated in the study is whether the knowledge of Condition 1 and Condition 2 verbs is part of the interlanguage (IL) grammars of L2 learners of Russian. Specifically, whether L2 English learners understand that in Russian, perfectivity is not always equated with telicity, and a base form of verbs whose event structure is (not) compositionally determined has different case assigning mechanisms. Six native speakers of Russian and 29 L1-English L2 learners of Russian performed the following experimental tasks: a Logical Entailment task, a Grammaticality Judgement task, and an Elicited Production task. Each task included sentences with Condition 1 and Condition 2 verbs. A repeated measures ANOVA, where Condition 1 verbs or Condition 2 verbs were used as a within subject factor and the proficiency group as a between subject factor, showed a significant effect for Condition 1 or Condition 2 verbs with the participants performing better on Condition 1 verbs across the three tasks. The superior performance on Condition 1 verbs is explained by the accessibility of the universal semantic feature [telic], the less marked cluster of features [+telic, +perfective] and the availability of structural Accusative case in English. A decline in performance on Condition 2 verbs is explained by the difficulties in acquiring a more marked cluster of features [-telic, +perfective], and the idiosyncrasy of lexical case.
Open Access
Grammatical Variation and Change in Spoken Ontario French: The Subjunctive Mood and the Expression of Future Temporal Reference
(2016-09-20) Grimm, David Ricky Leigh; King, Ruth E.
This dissertation examines grammatical variation and change in spoken Ontario French, a minority language in a largely English-speaking province of Canada. The data are drawn from two sociolinguistic corpora for French spoken in four francophone communities Hawkesbury, Cornwall, North Bay and Pembroke. The first corpus was constructed in 1978 and the second in 2005; both comprise interviews with speakers residing in the same four communities. The 28-year period separating the corpora provides an opportunity to trace the trajectory of variation and change. The empirical chapters provide a detailed investigation of two aspects of French grammar: the variable use of the subjunctive mood and the expression of future temporal reference. The analyses of both morphosyntactic variables are carried out within the variationist sociolinguistic framework introduced by William Labov. In terms of conditioning factors, particular emphasis is placed on the influence that varying degrees of restriction in the use of French has on variable usage. The findings for mood choice show that as language restriction intensifies, use of the subjunctive mood decreases. This is in large part due to a gradual reduction in use of the verb falloir, the most important conditioning context for the subjunctive, to the benefit of devoir, a more formal semantic equivalent. The rise of the latter at the expense of the former suggests a change in certain communities. A second variable showing evidence of change concerns the expression of future temporal reference. Use of the inflected future decreases over time, but only for speakers exhibiting mid to high levels of language restriction. Loss of this variant results from a rise in use of the periphrastic future in negative contexts, the privileged domain of the inflected variant in many spoken French varieties. For both variables examined here, reduction in verbal morphology can be ascribed to the progressive loss of or breakdown in the conditioning contexts most favourable to its maintenance. The present study contributes not only to our understanding of grammatical variation and change in Canadian varieties of French, but also to the growth of research on language variation and change in minority languages.
Open Access
Case in Standard Arabic: A Dependent Case Approach
(2016-11-25) Ahmed, Amer M. Th.; Alboiu, Gabriela
This dissertation is concerned with how structural and non-structural cases are assigned in the variety of Arabic known in the literature as Standard Arabic (SA). Taking a Minimalist perspective, this dissertation shows that the available generative accounts of case in SA are problematic either theoretically or empirically. It is argued that these problems can be overcome using the hybrid dependent case theory of Baker (2015). This theory makes a distinction between two types of phases. The first is the hard phase, which disallows the materials inside from being accessed by higher phases. The second is the soft phase, which allows the materials inside it to be accessed by higher phases. The results of this dissertation indicate that in SA (a) the CP is a hard phase in that noun phrases inside this phase are inaccessible to higher phases for the purpose of case assignment. In contrast, vP is argued to be a soft phase in that the noun phrases inside this phase are still accessible to higher phases for the purposes of case assignment (b) the DP, and the PP are also argued to be hard phases in SA, (c) case assignment in SA follows a hierarchy such that lexical case applies before the dependent case, the dependent case applies before the Agree-based case assignment, the Agree-based case assignment applies before the unmarked/default case assignment, (d) case assignment in SA is determined by a parameter, which allows the dependent case assignment to apply to a noun phrase if it is c-commanded by another noun phrase in the same Spell-Out domain (TP or VP), (e) the rules of dependent case assignment require that the NPs involved have distinct referential indices. The major conclusion of the dissertation is that the functional head v in SA is a soft phase head, due to its deficient -specification. That is why it is incapable of establishing an Agree relation with the object and assigning the structural accusative case to it. The structural accusative case on the object is, therefore, always the result of the dependent case mechanism.
Open Access
Identity and Pragmatic Transfer: The Role of Omani EFL Learners' Identities in Their Pragmatics Choices in English
(2016-11-25) Rubai'ey, Fatema Sulaiman Al; Barkaoui, Khaled
Several researchers contend that learners identities influence their understanding and use of L2 pragmatics (e.g., Blum-Kulka, 1991; Kasper & Schmidt, 1996). They observe that L2 learners might be aware of L2 sociopragmatic variables (i.e., cultural and social rules that govern the use of L2 speech acts) and might possess the pragmalinguistic ability to realize a certain speech act as NSs would, yet learners choose to respond in a way consistent with their L1, which reflects their identity. However, the role of learner identity in L2 pragmatic use has received little attention in current research on L2 pragmatics. This study aims to address this gap by examining the oral production of refusals in English by EFL learners and the role of learner identity in their pragmatic choices and transfer. Each of 10 Omani EFL learners responded to 12 Oral DCT scenarios, four in Omani Arabic and eight in English, and then responded to interviews about why they made certain pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic choices when responding to the scenarios in English. The findings revealed that the participants pragmatic choices when refusing in English were influenced by their perceptions of various sociopragmatic and contextual variables. Furthermore, their perceptions of these variables were greatly influenced by the way they see themselves as EFL learners and as Omanis. Therefore, this study argues that the participants' pragmatic transfer seems to be an enactment of their identity. The focus on the influence of learner identity in this study is unique and responds to recent calls in SLA to redefine language learning as a social rather than a purely cognitive process (e.g., Firth & Wagner, 2007). By combining cognitive and sociocultural approaches to studying L2 pragmatics, this study reveals a complex interaction between pragmatic behavior and identity. One of the main implications of the study is a call for re-conceptualizing pragmatic transfer in SLA to better reflect L2 learners sociolinguistic reality. In addition, L2 teachers should be made aware that L2 learners pragmatic transfer is influenced by learners identity, and, as a result, should not be treated simply as a pragmatic error or failure to be corrected and criticized.
Open Access
Intersections Between the Life Stories of Internationally-Trained Immigrant Women and Institutional Narratives of Immigrant Success in Ontario
(2017-07-27) King, Jessica Sarah; Haque, Eve
The following dissertation compares the life stories (Linde, 1993) of six internationally trained immigrant women, successful in finding employment in their fields of post-secondary teaching, with video success stories available on a government webpage for bridge training in Ontario and with national and provincial immigration and integration policy. Using Lindes (2009) institutional narrative to conceptualize how these video stories of successful bridge training graduates can serve as templates and tools of socialization for skilled immigrants who are seeking to re-enter their fields in Ontario, the analysis focusses on the representations of the integration process, the role of language learning and teaching in these narratives, and the ways that the six participants life stories (Linde, 1993) may take up the same discourses circulated in the institutional narrative. In order to understand the impact these institutional narratives of integration have on the life stories of individual immigrant women, the analysis makes use of Foucaults (1991; 1994) theoretical frameworks of technology of the self and governmentality. Seen through this lens, narrative becomes a tool for the construction of a self that is both in line with dominant discourses of self-responsibility and a self that is morally acceptable to the individual. The analysis finds that both the video success stories and the life stories of the six participants incorporate neoliberal discourses of self-sufficiency and lifelong learning that emphasize economic over social integration and allow for acceptance of the need for further training, in this case bridge training. Both the participants and the video success story protagonists accept the need to learn higher level professional communication skills and behaviour that places the burden for successful communication solely on the immigrant. In addition, both institutional and personal narratives make use of discourses of diversity and multiculturalism, accomplishing an alignment with established Canadian values on one hand, but also a separation of immigrant groups from the dominant white settler class (Bannerji, 2000; Thobani, 2007), relegating them to a peripheral position long after they have attained citizenship. Recommendations are made to include critical multicultural education (Kubota 2004a, 2004b) into the bridge training classroom.
Open Access
The Effect of Direct and Indirect Written Corrective Feedback on the Acquisition of Rule-Based and Item-Based Linguistic Features
(2017-07-27) Alkhawajah, Fatimah Idris; Valeo, Antonella
One of the most important tasks for second language (L2) writing teachers is providing their students with corrective feedback (CF) on their writing (Hyland & Hyland, 2001). Teachers and students agree that written CF is both desirable and helpful (Goldstein, 2004). Recent research suggests that written CF has a positive effect on the acquisition of certain linguistic features. However, many questions related to written CF remain in need of further investigation including questions related to the impact of CF types on linguistic features. The current study investigated whether there exists a differential effect of direct and indirect CF on the acquisition of rule-based features (simple present) and item-based features (prepositions). It also examined one of the possible factors impacting the effectiveness of written CF, which is students preferences for CF types. Fifty students enrolled in an EFL writing class were divided into four groups. Each group received one of the following treatments: direct CF on simple present, indirect CF on simple present, direct CF on prepositions, or indirect CF on prepositions over three sessions. In this pretest/immediate posttest/delayed posttest design, students received written CF, revised writing tasks, and completed new tasks and tests. They also responded to a questionnaire exploring their preferences for different CF practices. Students accuracy scores in the writing tests were subjected to three-way mixed ANOVA to investigate whether there was a differential effect between direct and indirect CF on the target features. The questionnaire data were analyzed to examine the impact of students preferences on accuracy in writing. Results showed that simple present, a type of rule-based feature, responded better to indirect CF while prepositions, a type of item-based feature, responded better to direct CF. The analysis of the questionnaire data revealed that the students had different preferences in terms of how CF should be implemented, but no relationship was found between students preferences of direct and indirect CF and their performance in writing. The findings suggest that teachers should consider addressing different types of linguistic features through different types of CF and that teachers engage their students in discussion about the effectiveness of different CF types.
Open Access
Cognition and Rhetoric in English Language Learners' Writing: A Developmental Study
(2017-07-27) Hadidi, Ali; Steinman, Linda C.
The present study examined the effectiveness of an instructional method in English language writing. The instruction concerned a cognitive process, i.e., Bereiter and Scardamalias (1987) knowledge-transforming, and a discourse genre, i.e., the Toulmin (1958/2003) model of argument. The instruction in the process is significant since generating discourse content was identified as a problem for novice writers. The instruction in the Toulmin model is significant since lack of attention to genre was identified as a problem in cognitive approaches to writing. To teach and research knowledge-transforming composing and the Toulmin model, the tenets of cognitive strategy instruction in writing and sociocultural theory of mind were adopted. Instruction was adopted after Scardamalia, Bereiter, and Steinbach (1984) and had three components: explicit strategy instruction in the Toulmin model, mediation of the writing process through artefacts, and two types of verbalization: (focused) freewriting and languaging. The study had a mixed-methods design with a quasi-experimental quantitative component and a qualitative component consisting of textual analysis, dynamic assessment (DA), semi-structured interviews, and surveys. The results indicated statistically significant gains for two of the categories of the Toulmin model, i.e., rebuttal and response to rebuttal, in the texts generated by the experimental group (EG) (n = 13) when compared with those of the comparison group (n = 13). Specifically, the gains suggested the rise above conflict criterion (Scardamalia et al., 1984) in knowledge-transforming, indicating the effectiveness of instruction. When four participants texts in EG group were analyzed developmentally, they also demonstrated knowledge-transforming and improved rhetorical structure. In particular, some discourse features which were absent in the posttest essays were indeed present in those texts. Also, the text analysis indicated the participants were able to use the mediational artefacts to generate discourse content. The DA results indicated that, with varying degrees of mediation, the participants were able to name, generate, and/or revise the discourse features, some of which were absent in the participants posttest essays. The interviews and surveys indicated the participants positive perceptions of instruction and its effect on cognitive change and rhetorical structure of argumentative texts. The study has implications for L2 academic writing instruction, assessment, and research.
Open Access
Higher Education Policy, English Language Learning and Language Policy: An Ethnography of Brazilian Stem Scholarship Students in Canada
(2018-03-01) Luke, Jonathan Ronald; Haque, Eve
This ethnographic case study explores the language learning experiences of several student members of one cohort of Brazils Cincia sem Fronteiras scholarship mobility programme in Canada, in order to gain a deeper understanding of language policy processes in higher education and the subjectivities that they (aim to) produce. It draws on a wide selection of empirical materials including: national and institutional policy documents; media reports and social media commentary; regularly scheduled and impromptu interviews and observations in the language classroom of the focal group of participants; and also interviews with several language instructors and other key stakeholders and administrators. Using Foucaults concepts of governmentality and technologies of the self (1988, 2007), this study considers not only the ways in which these participants were conducted by the language policies embedded within a larger higher education policy assemblage, but also the ways in which these students conducted themselves. A key finding reveals pervasive instrumentalist perspectives and views of language as a conduit for other knowledge playing a dominant role in the programme design and implementation for this particular cohort. However, while these students appeared to be largely sympathetic to skills-based and market-oriented discourses of English language learning, some rejected an exclusively instrumentalist approach and also cultivated more personal or social and/or intercultural perspectives on the relevance of their language learning and flourishing bilingualism, forging their own paths and coming to value the programme on their own terms, within the scant wiggle room permitted by the larger transnational education policy assemblage and its gatekeeping measures.
Open Access
Going Beyond the Text: The Inferencing Processes of Skilled Readers in L1 and L2 Across Reading Tasks
(2018-03-01) Meyer Sterzik, Angela Jean; Barkaoui, Khaled
This small exploratory study investigated the inferencing processes of skilled first language (L1) and second language (L2) readers for two academic tasks. The goal was to examine possible effects of language and task, or reading purpose, on the frequency and distribution of inferences. Participants (n = 10) were native speakers of German enrolled at a large university in Hessen, Germany in a B.Ed. program. Participants read two expository texts (one written in German and the other written in English) in two task conditions: summary and position-paper. Think-aloud protocols while reading and stimulated recall immediately after reading were recorded, transcribed, coded, and the results were compared quantitatively and qualitatively across tasks and languages. The statistical analyses indicated that there were task effects on inferencing processes, and that they were stronger in L2. When reading for a summary purpose, inferencing processes differed across languages which was not the case for the position-paper task. Readers inferencing processes differed significantly across tasks in L2, but not in L1. The results suggest that skilled readers strategically inference based on academic task demands, but that transfer of strategic inferencing skills from L1 to L2 is not complete even with advanced L2 readers. Findings raise questions about the explicit instruction of strategic inferencing for academic tasks in L2 reading classrooms.
Open Access
Native English-Speaking Teachers Using Korean to Teach EFL in South Korea: A Sociocultural Analysis of Teachers' Beliefs and Practices
(2018-08-27) McGaughey, John Edward; Morgan, Brian David
The use of learners first languages (L1) in second and foreign language teaching is a practice that is empirically supported and its inclusion is increasingly recommended by researchers (e.g. Cook, 2001; Corcoran, 2015; Cummins, 2007; Garca & Lin, 2017a; Turnbull & Dailey-OCain, 2009). Yet, native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) who deploy their learners first languages in their classes tend to be overlooked in the research, and the Korean context is no exception. Framed through the lens of Vygotkys sociocultural theory (1978, 1986) and Engestrms conceptualization of activity theory (1987, 1999, 2001), this study investigates how three NESTs use Korean to teach EFL to university students in South Korea. The study uncovers how the participants practices shape and are shaped by their beliefs toward the use of Korean, their past language learning and teaching experiences, English-only medium of instruction (MOI) policies and associated ideologies at the societal (macro) and institutional (micro) levels. The data for this study were obtained through 34 hours of classroom observations as well as background, stimulated recall and follow-up interviews. The analysis reveals that the participants used Korean as a mediating tool serving three broad functions based on Ferguson (2003), namely, to ensure that their students learned the course content, to manage the classroom and to improve the affective climate of the classroom. Additionally, two of the participants used the negotiation of their emergent bilingual identities (Garcia, 2017) as a pedagogical tool (Morgan, 2004). However, the analysis also revealed that the use of Korean is a potential source of tension. Two of the participants perceived an English-only MOI policy. The de facto policy served to create tensions and feelings of guilt and wrongdoing. Additionally, one of the instructors feared making linguistic errors and potentially confusing her students. These fears conflicted with her expert NEST identity and led to her rarely speaking Korean in class. Yet, the tensions surrounding the use of Korean and the de facto MOI also served as the genesis for agentive actions that enabled the participants to use Korean in a modality and manner that minimized or even negated these tensions.
Open Access
'She Chose to Get Rid of Him by Murder, Not by Leaving Him': Discursive Constructions of a Battered Woman Who Killed in R v Craig
(2019-03-05) Slinkard, Sibley Eden; Ehrlich, Susan L.
This dissertation uses linguistic/discourse analysis to critically examine a Canadian murder trial in which a battered woman who killed her husband was unsuccessful in securing a self-defence finding—R v Teresa Craig, (2011 ONCA 142). The defendants self-defence plea relied upon testimony on Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) and theory of coercive control in order to highlight the ways in which her actions (in killing her husband) were reasonable reactions to the abuse she and her son experienced. Feminist legal scholars argue that securing self-defence findings for battered women who kill is made difficult by the androcentric nature of the legal system, including the standards by which courts determine the legitimacy of self-defence claims, and the general lack of knowledge about intimate partner violence exhibited by many legal actors. This project attempts to locate these barriers to self-defence for these women in the language/discourse of R v Craig. Because the defendant was unsuccessful in securing an acquittal or a conditional sentence, particular attention is devoted to the various ways participants within the case (and the news media) used discursive means to construct the defendants identity as a woman undeserving of either a self-defence plea or leniency in sentencing. The data for this study comes from two separate sources—institutionally produced transcripts from the case file and a corpus of newspaper reports of the trial. The study utilizes feminist critical discourse analysis, incorporating tools from discourse, conversation, and intertextual analysis. The findings indicate that discriminatory ideologies about battered women informed the way in which the defendant was represented in both the legal system and the media. The study considers the consequences of such representations for not only this trial, but also for how society comes to define battered women and those who kill. Although studies of battered women who kill occupy a significant position within feminist jurisprudence, analysis of these kinds of cases has as of yet been unexplored in linguistic scholarship. Through critical examination of the linguistic details of this case, my work provides empirical support for claims that battered women who kill may be unduly disadvantaged in the legal system.
Open Access
Examining the Potential of Technology-Enhanced Language Learning and Teaching in English for Academic Purposes: Learner Voices
(2019-07-02) Ahmed, Farhana; Lawrence, Geoffrey
The growth of post-secondary English for Academic purposes (EAP) programs along with researchers awareness and interest in leveraging technological tools in support of student-centered learning (Prensky, 2012) fueled this research. This study examines learners beliefs towards technology use in a Canadian EAP university program. Using a multi-phased, grounded-theoretical exploratory case study approach, the research uses complementary data sources including two online surveys conducted at the beginning and at the end of the program, class observations, individual students digital diaries, stimulated recall interviews, and focus group interviews. The study examines 16 student participants beliefs toward technology use and the factors that influence and constrain students use of technology. The research was informed by a constructivist view of language learning and explores EAP students interactions with technological tools to gauge their beliefs towards tech use in learning English. Furthermore, Bensons (2011) learner autonomy framework was used to investigate the development of learner autonomy. This framework is believed to provide an additional research lens in understanding EAP students interaction with technology, impacting their evolved belief systems. Comparisons between the surveys show that overall students beliefs toward technology use became more positive from the beginning to the end of the course when students became more competent with increased technology exposure and use. Students realized the benefits of using technological tools and adopted some 21st century skills in learning English (Dede, 2010). A heightened critical awareness among students towards tech use and some emerging individual language learning behaviors were reported in their digital diary posts and stimulated recall interviews. This specific finding transpired as one of the pedagogical factors- participating in the research study. Data from embedded case studies revealed contextual and pedagogical factors that influenced students attitudes towards and subsequent use of technology in EAP. Factors constraining students technology use included students previous experience with educational technologies, characterized by limited support, poor infrastructure, and inadequate digital literacies. Recommendations for teacher education in tech-enhanced pedagogy and teacher-intervention in educating students about the rationale for tech use are made. Implications for leveraging students digital resources and ongoing critical and reflective teaching practices are also suggested.
Open Access
EFL Teachers' Beliefs and Practices about Classroom Assessment: A Multiple Case Study in the Context of Kuwait
(2019-11-22) Dashti, Shaima Mahmood; Barkaoui, Khaled
Classroom language assessment is a recent topic of interest in education research. Yet, few studies have examined teachers beliefs concerning language classroom assessment or the relationship between teachers assessment practices and their beliefs. In addition, little research has situated classroom assessment in a specific theoretical approach, especially in the postsecondary English as a foreign language (EFL) context. In this study I investigated the beliefs and practices of EFL teachers regarding classroom assessment, using a social constructivist approach to examine the way contextual factors influence those teachers assessment beliefs and practices (Shepard, 2000). I also investigated how teachers assessment practices and beliefs differ between general English (GE) and English-for-specific-purposes (ESP) courses. This study adopted a multiple-case design using qualitative methods conducted in three data collection stages: I started by exploring teachers assessment beliefs and practices through initial interviews. I then investigated teachers assessment practices through classroom observations and document collection. Finally, I conducted post-observation interviews about the teachers assessment beliefs and practices. Participants included seven EFL teachers teaching GE and ESP courses at a post-secondary institution in Kuwait. I analyzed the data using an inductive approach by analyzing each case individually as well as identifying themes emerging from the analyses. Results showed that although teachers believed in the effectiveness of classroom assessment and implemented a variety of assessments in the classroom, they only considered summative assessment as a valid means for student evaluation. Most teachers did not identify their practices as formative assessments but considered them part of their teaching practices. The findings also revealed that various contextual factors influence teachers assessment beliefs and practices. Those factors include the teachers educational background and teaching experience, their beliefs about students L2 proficiency level, the local culture, the classroom physical setting, and the assessment policies. Results also showed that teachers assessment practices did not appear to differ greatly between GE and ESP courses. This study has implications for teachers and policy makers on how to improve assessment practices by encouraging teachers to join, and policy makers to offer, professional development programs that focus on classroom assessment. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.
Open Access
Living Language Policy Through Stratified Space: A Linguistic Ethnography in the United Arab Emirates
(2020-08-11) Cook, William Robert Amilan; Haque, Eve
This project explores the lived language policy experiences of a group of foreign residents (noncitizens with fixed-term visas) who live in Ras Al Khaimah, a small city in the United Arab Emirates. The primary set of participants are staff and students recruited from a private language school in the city but the project expands well beyond the school premises, following these individuals as they make their way through the complex policies and interactions that shape their everyday lives. As a critical ethnographic project, it draws on a range of empirical data including: monthly interviews with primary informants; single interviews with other residents of the city; observations of city spaces discussed in these interviews; national and institutional policy documents; physical documents for city spaces; and media reports and commentary. It also uses a broad set of theoretical tools to analyse this data, such as: Foucaults (1988; 2007; 2008) discussions of neoliberalism, governmentality and technologies of the self; sociospatial conceptualizations of scale; and conviviality. This analysis focuses on how subjectivities are produced or claimed within language policy apparatuses as well as how city space is constructed in ethnolinguistic terms. The project offers a discussion of language policy and practice from the perspectives of the under-researched foreign resident population of the UAE. These perspectives allowed for a rich picture of the ethnolinguistic and socioeconomic boundaries that define everyday interactions in Ras Al Khaimah and the country as a whole. The project also demonstrates the importance of sites of such as Ras Al Khaimah for language policy research. In this space of both high mobility and structured immobility, individuals from all over the world find themselves in regular contact with one another while at the same time often being spatially segregated along lines of race, class and/or gender. This is a city in which the flows of global capitalism are made visible and their implications for language policy can be explored.
Open Access
Conceptualizing Gestural Representations in ESL Classrooms: Alternative Theoretical Approaches
(2020-11-13) Banerjee, Sadia Nasrin; Morgan, Brian David
This study adopts a transdisciplinary approach (The Douglas Fir Group, 2016) to gesture research to understand how meanings of teachers and students gestures are influenced by broader sociocultural influences and power relations and how the meanings produced in the classroom interact with second language (L2) pedagogies. I incorporate multiple theoretical concepts such as the sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978), multimodality in communication and learning (Jewitt, 2009; Kress, 2010), embodied actions as shaped by discursive knowledge (Foucault, 1979; Kubota, 1999; Luke, 1992; Ramanathan, 2010; Saavedra & Marx, 2016; Toohey, 2000) and performativity (Butler, 1999; Miller, 2012; Pennycook, 2004) as complementary to each other. Each theoretical perspective provides specific meanings to the gestural practices. The teachers and students, for example, used their gestures to scaffold each others learning processes (McCafferty, 2004; Smotrova, 2017) while the gestural signs were made and negotiated in the teaching-learning processes (Jewitt & Kress, 2003; Kress, 2010; Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001). Furthermore, students gestures were subject to disciplinary regulation (Foucault, 1979) that aimed at normalizing students specific academic behavior (Toohey, 2000) while the teachers gestures both conformed to and challenged normative practices as well as created collaborative power relations (Cummins, 2004). Finally, following the concept of performativity, the ESL (English as a Second Language) pedagogies displayed in each classroom were viewed as emergent products [or outcomes] of the teachers and students repeated transmodal acts of identity (Butler, 1999; Pennycook, 2004). Drawing on the above findings, in the final chapter of this dissertation, I discuss how gesture research may inform classroom pedagogy, research and teacher education in English Language Teaching.
Open Access
Language Ecology and Shift at Baawating, 1600-1971
(2021-11-15) Meades, Sean Brookfield; Martin, Ian
Research focused on the macro-trends in Canadian language policy (LP) has largely focused on two broad trajectories: (a) the processes of accommodation of Anglophone and Francophone communities (including the limitations of Canada's policy of bilingualism for French-speaking or official-language minority communities) (Martel & Pquet, 2010; Morris, 2010; Cardinal, 2015); and (b) the ongoing exclusion of The Other (i.e. "immigrant" and Indigenous communities) within Canadas existing LP framework (Haque, 2012; Haque & Patrick, 2015; Patrick, 2018). This research turns its focus to the place of language in the state formation processes of Canada that preceded its "Bilingualism within a multicultural framework," and its place in settler/Indigenous relations and processes of colonization. Building on the paradigm of the Anishinaabe Seven Fires prophecies and a framework that emphasizes the interplay of language practices, beliefs and management in a social ecology, this work offers a case study of the specific experiences of Indigenous peoples in the communities surrounding Baawating (at the junction of Lake Superior and Lake Huron) to exemplify: (a) how Indigenous individuals adjusted their language choices in response to institutional language policy? (b) How Canadian Indian Policy more generally affected those language choices? (c) How these choices impacted relations between Indigenous and settler peoples? And (d) how local language practice, belief, and management processes have been impacted by the surrounding socio-economic, physical, political, and cultural environments? The study uses a mixed-methods approach that combines content analysis of language policy documents, historical records, demographic data and interviews of local Indigenous residents on their experiences of language choice and use to triangulate the interplay between macro-level LP, ideologies of language, and language shift. The research demonstrates the interconnection of LP with social, economic, political and technological domains and their corresponding influence on the linguistic choices available to Indigenous peoples, which precipitated large-scale language shift. Furthermore, it illuminates how language has been used to stand-in for race in the construction of idealized national subjects within a liberal order since at least the early twentieth century in Canada.