abstracts - cambridge university press · of the language and content curriculum. in such policy,...

Abstracts

Language teaching

doi:10.1017/S0261444806213855

06–622 AL-ISSA, ALI (College of Sharia and Law,Sultanate of Oman), The role of English language

culture in the Omani language education

system: An ideological perspective. Language,Culture and Curriculum (Multilingual Matters) 18.3(2005), 258–270.

One of the powerful ideologies that govern Englishlanguage learning and teaching in the Sultanate ofOman is the ‘colonialist/culturalist’ ideology and thevarious paradigms embodied within it. This ideology ispresent in the various statements made by the differentagents involved in ELT in Oman, in particular ThePhilosophy and Guidelines for the Omani English LanguageSchool Curriculum (Nunan et al. 1987), referred to inthe paper as the National English Language Plan/Policy(NELP). However, many of these statements seem toconflict with the content of the materials producedlocally (Our World Through English (OWTE), Ministryof Education 1997–8a, b) and with the suggestedmeans of implementing the programme. The papercritically examines and discusses this state of ideologicalconflict using data from semi-structured interviewsconducted with various key agents in ELT in Oman,pertinent literature and policy texts, and considers theimplications for second language material design.

http://www.multilingual-matters.net

06–623 ALINE, DAVID (Kanagawa U, Japan) & YURI

HOSODA, Team teaching participation patterns of

homeroom teachers in English activities classes

in Japanese public elementary schools. JALTJournal (Japan Association for Language Teaching)28.1 (2006), 5–21.

Since Monbukagakusho (Ministry of Education, Culture,Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)) introducedits new course of study guidelines, most publicelementary schools now offer English Activities classes,mostly classes team-taught by the homeroom teacher(HRT) and an assistant language teacher (ALT).Although team teaching has received a lot of attentionin Japan, there are few studies on team teaching atelementary schools. This observational study examinesthe interaction among HRT, ALT, and students,with a focus on HRTs’ participation patterns in theinteraction. The data comes from six team-teachingEnglish Activities classes in five randomly selectedpublic elementary schools. The data revealed fourobservable ways HRTs participated: by being (a) a‘bystander’, (b) a ‘translator’, (c) a ‘co-learner’ ofEnglish, or (d) a ‘co-teacher’. The various participationpatterns exhibited by the HRTs affected the classroom

interaction in distinct ways. Teaching implications forboth experienced and novice teachers are discussed.http://www.jalt.org

06–624 ARKOUDIS, SOPHIE (U Melbourne,Australia; [email protected]), Fusing

pedagogic horizons: Language and content

teaching in the mainstream. Linguistics andEducation (Elsevier) 16.2 (2005), 173–187.doi:10.1016/j.linged.2006.01.006

One of the central concerns of English as a SecondLanguage (ESL) education within many English-speaking countries has been the relationship betweencontent and language teaching. In Victoria, a stateof Australia, the educational policy of mainstreamingESL is presented as a means of catering to thelanguage learning needs of ESL students withinmainstream subject contexts through the integrationof the language and content curriculum. In suchpolicy, the relationship between language and contentis constructed as unproblematic and uncontested. Thispaper analyses, using appraisal theory and positioningtheory, the planning conversations of an ESL teacherand a science teacher planning curriculum for a year-10 science class. The analysis highlights the factorsthat influence the extent to which the teacherscan balance language and content, including powerrelations between teachers, the curriculum topic underdiscussion and the dichotomy that is constructed by theteachers between language and content. Implicationsfor language and content research will be highlighted inlight of the conclusions drawn from this study.http://www.elsevier.com

06–625 ATAY, DERIN (Marmara U, Turkey),Reflections on the cultural dimension of

language teaching. Language and InternationalCommunication (Multilingual Matters) 5.3&4(2005), 222–236.

Both the objectives of the global approach and the factthat Turkey is facing European integration call for theimplementation of concepts like ‘intercultural learning’and ‘intercultural understanding’ in English languageteaching. Although the cultural dimension of languageis as important as its linguistic dimension, language edu-cation in Turkey mainly focuses on the latter. This studydiscusses the ideas and reflections of Turkish prospectiveteachers of English on the cultural dimension of langu-age teaching.


06–626 BADA, ERDOGAN (U Cukurova, Turkey;[email protected]), Pausing, preceding and

following ‘that’ in English. ELT Journal (Oxford

Lang. Teach. 39, 265–320. Printed in the United Kingdom c© 2006 Cambridge University Press 265

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Language teaching ■University Press) 60.2 (2006), 125–132.doi:10.1093/elt/cci099

While reading or speaking, individuals break upsentences into ‘meaningful chunks’. This is true of anyindividual with any language background. Failure todo so, in an L2 context, leads to idiosyncrasies, andmay possibly create some comprehensibility problems.In this study, native and non-native speakers of Englishread an authentic text into a tape recorder; individualrecordings were analysed in terms of intrasententialpauses where ‘that’ clauses began. The places andduration of stops preceding and following ‘that’ wereidentified and measured. Findings suggest that whilepauses preceding ‘that’ are much longer than following‘that’ in the production of native speakers, the pauses ofTurkish speakers of English were found to be just theopposite. The findings of this research can be utilizedin speaking and reading classes of English.

http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org

06–627 BARKHUIZEN, GARY & ANNE FERYOK

(U Auckland, New Zealand), Pre-service teachers’

perceptions of a short-term international

experience programme. Asia-Pacific Journal ofTeacher Education (Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 34.1(2006), 115–134.doi:10.1080/13598660500479904

Short-term international experiences (STIE) arebecoming a regular, sometimes required, feature of pre-service language teacher education programmes. Ofteninappropriately termed ‘immersion programmes’, theyaim to give teachers the opportunity to improvetheir language proficiency in the language they willteach, to develop their pedagogical knowledge and toengage with an international sociocultural environmentwith which they are not familiar. In this articlewe report on a study which investigated pre-serviceEnglish second language teachers’ perceptions of asix-week international experience in Auckland, NewZealand. The student teachers, who were enrolled ina postgraduate diploma in teaching at a Hong Konguniversity, participated in an academic programme aswell as a series of social events and school visits.They were encouraged to reflect on their expectationsand experiences and to write about these in apre-programme questionnaire, reflective journals anda summative programme evaluation. The teachers’articulations reveal that their expectations and exper-iences interrelate in complex, sometimes unexpected,ways. The findings have important implications for thecoordinators of the programme at the host institutionand also for those further afield who are involved inplanning and managing similar STIE programmes.

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

06–628 BARWELL, RICHARD (U Bristol, UK;[email protected]), Integrating language

and content: Issues from the mathematics

classroom. Linguistics and Education (Elsevier)16.2 (2005), 205–218.doi:10.1016/j.linged.2006.01.002

Research into the teaching and learning of languageand content in mainstream classrooms research tendsto treat content as a fixed body of knowledge tobe (re)constructed by learners. There is little researchwhich seeks to understand how language and thecurriculum are constructed and related in interactionby learners. This paper reports analysis of data from arecent study into the participation of students learningEnglish as an additional language (EAL) in mainstreammathematics classrooms in the United Kingdom. Aspart of the study, pairs of students were asked to writeand solve mathematical word problems together, anactivity taken from their mathematics lessons. Analysisof students’ interaction based on ideas from discursivepsychology reveals how students’ learning encompassesboth mathematics and language learning, in the context,however, of significant identity and relationship work.Further analysis explores how these discursive practicesrelate to the kind of mathematics and language thestudents learn. Based on this analysis, the author arguesthat there is a need for a more explicitly reflexivemodel of the relationship between content, languageand learning.

http://www.elsevier.com

06–629 CHAVEZ, MONICA (U Wisconsin-Madison,USA; [email protected]), Classroom-language

use in teacher-led instruction and teachers’

self-perceived roles. International Review ofApplied Linguistics in Language Teaching(Walter de Gruyter) 44.1 (2006), 49–102.doi:10.1515/IRAL.2006.003

Many learners, especially those in a foreign-languagesetting, draw on the classroom as their primary forumfor using and experiencing the target language, stillfor the most part during teacher-led instruction.Nevertheless, communicative language teaching doesnot provide a decisive definition of ‘good languageuse’. Teachers usually take an eclectic approach and, asa result, are likely to vary from each other in classroom-language use practices. This study uses quantitativeand qualitative data gathered in a semester-long videoproject as well as supporting documentation, such asteacher interviews, students’ final course grades, andend-of-course evaluations to describe (1) how three(two female, one male) experienced non-native-speakerteachers of German in an intermediate-level multi-section college course differ from each other in theamount of teacher/student talk; L1/L2 use; class pace;turn-taking; and the basic structure and focus of a class(2) how these differences correspond with the teachers’self-perceived roles; and (3) how students perceive theirparticular classroom experiences.

http://www.degruyter.de/rs/384_392_DEU_h.htm

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■ Language teaching

06–630 CHUJO, KIYOMI (Nihon U, Japan;[email protected]) & SHUJI HASEGAWA, An

investigation into the star-rated words in

English–Japanese learner’s dictionaries.International Journal of Lexicography (OxfordUniversity Press) 19.2 (2006), 175–195.doi:10.1093/ijl/ecl008

Most English-Japanese learner’s dictionaries indicatethe importance and vocabulary level of specificentries by attaching one, two, or three stars toeach word. Using one monolingual (COBUILD) andfour bilingual (Genius, Lexis, Wisdom and Progressive)learner’s dictionaries, the researchers compared the star-rated words with (a) junior/senior high school (JSH)vocabulary to determine denotation validity, (b) highfrequency words in the British National Corpus to assesssimilarity to present-day English, and (c) other materialssuch as university exams, TOEIC tests, magazines andnews broadcasts. Findings show minimal consistency inthe selection of star-rated words between the examineddictionaries, and although generally very useful, a largepercentage of the JSH level vocabulary found in thedictionaries might not be taught in junior and seniorhigh school textbooks in Japan.

http://ijl.oxfordjournals.org

06–631 CLIFTON, JONATHAN (Antwerp U, Belgium;[email protected]), Facilitator talk.ELT Journal (Oxford University Press) 60.2(2006), 142–150.doi:10.1093/elt/cci101

Facilitation is often proposed as an alternative to theteacher-fronted classroom. However, whilst teachertalk has been linked to the use of the IRF pattern,interactional patterns for facilitator talk have proved tobe more elusive. Through the use of naturally-occurringclassroom data this paper attempts to define facilitatortalk. But, since the facilitative classroom requires thatthe instructor gives more responsibility to the learner,this implies a freer pattern of interaction in whichwho says what to whom and when is less constrained.Consequently, facilitator talk cannot be tied down toany one single pattern of interaction. Yet despite thisconstraint, the paper highlights certain interactionaldevices which could be described as facilitative.


06–632 CREESE, ANGELA (U Birmingham, UK;[email protected]), Is this content-based

language teaching? Linguistics and Education(Elsevier) 16.2 (2005), 188–204.doi:10.1016/j.linged.2006.01.007

Much of the content-based language teaching (CBLT)literature describes the benefits to be gained byintegrating content with language teaching aims andrejects the formal separation between ‘content’ and

‘language’ as a pedagogic necessity for languagelearning. This paper looks at interactions in classroomsin English schools where educational policy indirectlyadopts a CBLT approach. Through a focus on thediscourses of collaborating teachers in secondary schoolclassrooms, the paper analyses teachers’ and students’interactions within their wider socio-political context.It finds that language work in the content classroom isgiven little status when set alongside other knowledgehierarchies supported by wider societal and educationagendas. Data from a year-long ethnography in threeLondon secondary schools is used to explore howteachers and students manage the content and languageinterface in a subject-focused classroom. The ensuingdiscussion considers issues such as the conflation andseparation of language and curriculum learning aimswithin teacher-student interactions and classroom texts.It explores the pedagogic consequences of shiftingbetween the dual aims of subject and language learningand investigates how texts become transformed asteachers and students attempt to meet both sets of aims.It also considers wider societal pressures on classroominteractions and teaching texts in the shifting betweenlanguage and content aims in English multilingualclassrooms.


06–633 DAVISON, CHRIS (U Hong Kong, China;[email protected]), Learning your lines:

Negotiating language and content in subject

English. Linguistics and Education (Elsevier) 16.2(2005), 219–237.doi:10.1016/j.linged.2006.01.005

Subject English is a central feature of state-mandatedcurriculum in English-speaking contexts and ahighstakes barrier to be negotiated for successfulgraduation from secondary school, irrespective oflanguage and cultural background. In an increasinglyglobalized world, subject English is also beingreconstituted in new and unfamiliar contexts, as partof the drive to export education services. However, theconstruction of subject English in the curriculum israrely subjected to the same scrutiny of applied linguistsas mathematics, science or history, partly becauseof the widespread perception that subject English islanguage rather than ‘content’, and partly because of thecontinually contested and changing nature of subjectEnglish as a discipline. This paper draws on a largercomparative study of senior secondary school subjectEnglish in Hong Kong and Australia. It draws onBernstein’s notions of visible and invisible pedagogiesand work on insider/outsider perspectives to explore theperceptions and impact of subject English on studentsfrom language backgrounds other than English.


06–634 FARMER, FRANK (Universidad de QuintanaRoo, Mexico; [email protected]),Accountable professional practice in ELT.

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Language teaching ■ELT Journal (Oxford University Press) 60.2(2006), 160–170.doi:10.1093/elt/cci103

Professionalism is widely thought to be desirable inELT, and at the same time institutions are takingseriously the need to evaluate their teachers. Thisarticle presents a general approach to professionalismfocused on the accountability of the professional tothe client based on TESOL’s (2000) classification ofadult ELT within eight general service areas. BothTESOL’s attempt to ascribe Indicators, Measures andPerformance Standards to those areas of service andrecent attempts to form professional bodies in ELT areshown to be unable to provide effective protection ofclients’ interests. Nevertheless, the TESOL approach todefining a full ELT service can be modified to adopt aclient’s perspective, leading to a proposal for a morecomplete and accountable professional ELT service.The analysis presented here will be of interest to allELT practitioners seeking to understand the professionalcontext of their own practice and how it may beevaluated.


06–635 HAMPEL, REGINA (The Open U;[email protected]), Rethinking task design for

the digital age: A framework for language

teaching and learning in a synchronous online

environment. ReCALL (Cambridge UniversityPress) 18.1 (2006), 105–121.doi:10.1017/S0958344006000711

This article discusses a framework for the developmentof tasks in a synchronous online environment usedfor language learning and teaching. It shows howa theoretical approach based on second languageacquisition (SLA) principles, sociocultural and constru-ctivist theories, and concepts taken from research onmultimodality and new literacies, can influence thedesign and implementation of tasks for computer-mediated communication (CMC). The findings arebased on a study conducted at the Open University,a study which examined all three levels of theory,design and implementation. The paper first presents theunderlying theories in more detail before examininghow these theories are translated into the designof tasks for language tutorials via an audio-graphicconferencing tool. Finally it looks at how the designwas implemented in practice by focusing on a numberof issues such as student–student and student–tutorinteraction, feedback, use of multimodal tools, and thedifferences between teaching face-to-face and online.

http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_REC

06–636 HAWORTH, AVRIL (ManchesterMetropolitan U, UK), The literacy maze: Walking

through or stepping round? Language and

Education (Mutilingual Matters) 20.2 (2006),95–109.

Literacy has always been a contested site in primaryphase teaching. Internationally, there is a trend towardsincreased direct government intervention in areas ofpedagogy, as well as curriculum. Recently in theUnited Kingdom, national initiatives, designed to raisestandards of literacy among the 11–14 age group, haverequired English teachers to adapt their professionalpractices to accommodate highly prescriptive curricularand pedagogic directives which represent a ‘discursiveregime’ that challenges English teachers to rethinkprofessional identity in relation to ‘English’ and‘literacy’. Specifically, this article explores the rhetoricaland professional options available to teacher educatorsand postgraduate trainee teachers in their initialencounters with such literacy programmes in universityand schools. Using Bakhtin’s account of ‘authoritative’and ‘internally persuasive’ discourses, it traces theprofessional self-identifications of a group of Englishtrainee teachers over a period of a year.


06–637 JAMES, MARK (Arizona State U, USA;[email protected]), Teaching for transfer in

ELT. ELT Journal (Oxford University Press) 60.2(2006), 151–159.doi:10.1093/elt/cci102

A basic goal of ELT is that students will apply outsidethe classroom what they have learned in the classroom.This goal is related to transfer of learning. Researchon transfer of learning suggests that this phenomenonis not automatic and can be difficult to stimulate.However, instruction can be designed to try to promotetransfer of learning. This article describes different wayslearning transfer can occur and examines from an ELTperspective techniques that have been suggested forteaching for transfer in general education. The articlecloses with questions that might form the basis forfurther exploration of this topic.


06–638 LYSTER, ROY (McGill U, Canada;[email protected]), Predictability in French

gender attribution: A corpus analysis. Journal ofFrench Language Studies (Cambridge UniversityPress) 16.1 (2006), 69–92.doi:10.1017/S0959269506002304

This article presents a corpus analysis designed todetermine the extent to which noun endings inFrench are reliable predictors of grammatical gender. Acorpus of 9,961 nouns appearing in Le Robert JuniorIllustre was analysed according to noun endings, whichwere operationalised as orthographic representations ofrhymes, which consist of either a vowel sound (i.e. anucleus) in the case of vocalic endings or a vowel-plus-consonant blend (i.e. a nucleus and a coda) in

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■ Language teachingthe case of consonantal endings. The analysis classifiednoun endings as reliably masculine, reliably feminine,or ambiguous, by considering as reliable predictors ofgrammatical gender any noun ending that predicts thegender of least 90 per cent of all nouns in the corpuswith that ending. Results reveal that 81 per cent of allfeminine nouns and 80 per cent of all masculine nounsin the corpus are rule governed, having endings thatsystematically predict their gender. These findings, atodds with traditional grammars, are discussed in termsof their pedagogical implications.

http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_JFL

06–639 LYSTER, ROY (McGill U, Canada;[email protected]) & HIROHIDE MORI,Interactional feedback and instructional

counterbalance. Studies in Second LanguageAcquisition (Cambridge University Press) 28.2(2006), 269–300.doi:10.1017/S0272263106060128

This comparative analysis of teacher-student interactionin two different instructional settings at the elementary-school level (18.3 hours in French immersion and14.8 hours in Japanese immersion) investigates theimmediate effects of explicit correction, recasts, andprompts on learner uptake and repair. The results clearlyshow a predominant provision of recasts over promptsand explicit correction, regardless of instructionalsetting, but distinctively varied student uptake and repairpatterns in relation to feedback type, with the largestproportion of repair resulting from prompts in Frenchimmersion and from recasts in Japanese immersion.Based on these findings and supported by an analysisof each instructional setting’s overall communicativeorientation, the article introduces the counterbalancehypothesis, which states that instructional activities andinteractional feedback that act as a counterbalance to aclassroom’s predominant communicative orientation arelikely to prove more effective than instructional activitiesand interactional feedback that are congruent with itspredominant communicative orientation.

http://journals.cambridge.org/ jid_SLA

06–640 MCGRATH, IAN (U Nottingham, UK;[email protected]), Teachers’ and

learners’ images for coursebooks. ELT Journal(Oxford University Press) 60.2 (2006), 171–180.doi:10.1093/elt/cci104

If, as has been widely claimed, our attitudes and beliefsare reflected in the language we use, it should bepossible to gain some insight into teachers’ views ofEnglish-language coursebooks from the metaphors theyuse to describe them. A small collection of teachermetaphors (and similes), drawn largely from HongKong, is presented and discussed. This is then comparedwith metaphors supplied by secondary school learnersin the same context. The conclusion is drawn that thereis value in teachers researching their learners’ beliefs and

attitudes – in relation to coursebooks and other aspectsof the teaching-learning environment – and reflectingon and comparing these with their own. Metaphorsmay be a conveniently economical way of focusing suchreflection.


06–641 MURAHATA, YOSHIKO (Kochi U, Japan),What do we learn from NNEST-related issues?

Some implications for TEFL in Japan. TheLanguage Teacher (Japan Association for LanguageTeaching) 30.6 (2006), 3–7.

In the last two decades an increasing number of articlesand books have been published regarding non-nativeEnglish speaking teachers (NNESTs). Although mostlypublished in ESL countries, this literature providesprecious ideas and opinions for English languageteachers in EFL contexts to improve themselves as well.This article first reviews publications on NNEST-relatedissues from pedagogical, sociolinguistic, socioculturaland sociopolitical aspects. Then it discusses what welearn from these issues to contribute to English languageteaching in Japan and proposes some ideas for futureresearch topics.

http://www.jalt.org

06–642 NAKATANI, YASUO (Nakamura Gakuen U,Japan; [email protected]), Developing an

oral communication strategy inventory. TheModern Language Journal (Blackwell) 90.2 (2006),151–168.doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2006.00390.x

This study focuses on how valid informationabout learner perception of strategy use duringcommunicative tasks can be gathered systematicallyfrom English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners.First, the study attempted to develop a questionnairefor statistical analysis, named the Oral CommunicationStrategy Inventory (OCSI). The research projectconsisted of three stages: an open-ended questionnaireto identify learners’ general perceptions of strategiesfor oral interaction (N = 80); a pilot factor analysisfor selecting test items (N = 400); and a final factoranalysis to obtain a stable self-reported instrument(N = 400). The resulting OCSI includes 8 categoriesof strategies for coping with speaking problemsand 7 categories for coping with listening problemsduring communication. The applicability of the surveyinstrument was subsequently examined in a simulatedcommunicative test for EFL students (N = 62). Tovalidate the use of the instrument, participant reportson the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL)were compared with the result of the OCSI. Whencombined with the oral test scores, it was revealedthat students with high oral proficiency tended to usespecific strategies, such as social affective strategies,fluency-oriented strategies, and negotiation of meaning.

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/jnl_default.asp

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Language teaching ■06–643 NAUGHTON, DIANE (U Granada, Spain;[email protected]), Cooperative strategy training

and oral interaction: Enhancing small group

communication in the language classroom. TheModern Language Journal (Blackwell) 90.2 (2006)169–184.doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2006.00391.x

This study focused on the effect of a cooperative strategytraining program on the patterns of interaction thatarose as small groups of students participated in an oraldiscussion task. The underlying assumption was thatstudents could be taught to engage with each other andwith the task in a way that would foster the creationand exploitation of learning opportunities. Intactclasses were randomly assigned to the experimentalor control condition, and triads from within eachgroup were videotaped at the beginning and end ofthe experimental intervention. Data taken from thevideotapes were analyzed in order to measure changes inoverall participation, strategic participation, and the useof the individual strategies included in the program. Thepretest showed that prior to strategy training, interactionpatterns frequently did not reflect those interactionsdeemed important for language acquisition as identifiedwithin both traditional Second Language Acquisition(SLA) and sociocultural research. The posttest revealed,however, that the strategy training program was largelysuccessful in encouraging students to engage in thesetypes of interactional sequences.


06–644 O’DONNELL, KEVIN (Suzuka InternationalU, Japan), Japanese secondary English teachers:

Negotiation of educational roles in the face of

curricular reform. Language, Culture andCurriculum (Multilingual Matters) 18.3 (2005),300–315.

Five teachers of English at the secondary level inJapan agreed to participate in this qualitative studythat set about uncovering their beliefs about teachingand their current curricular activities. Findings indicatethat despite their vastly different workplaces, teacher-participants continue to work in the shadow ofan educational system where yakudoku (grammar-translation) remains the accepted and primary teachingmethod for preparing students for juken (entranceexaminations). In the face of current MEXT (Ministryof Education) led curricular reforms, three themesemerged from data analysis which shed light ondiscerning these teachers’ dissatisfaction with their statusquo. These include the intrusion of non-teachingduties into participants’ curricular responsibilities,institutional restrictions in the workplace and themanner which curricular reform has been interpretedand implemented within their schools. Findingsindicate that current reform measures appear to beimplemented unevenly within the educational system.Participants conclude that the content of English

entrance examinations for universities must change intandem with curricular reform, so that more teacherscan be won over to the implementation of reform intheir classrooms.

http://www.multilingual-matters.net/lcc/default.htm

06–645 PAUWELS, ANNE (U Western Australia,Australia) & JOANNE WINTER, Gender inclusivity or

‘Grammar rules OK’? Linguistic prescriptivism

vs. linguistic discrimination in the classroom.Language and Education (Mutilingual Matters) 20.2(2006), 128–140.

This paper explores the potential conflict classroomteachers face in their dual roles as ‘guardians ofgrammar’ and as ‘agents of social language reform’ withreference to third person singular generic pronounsin English. This article investigates to what extentteachers (primary, secondary and tertiary) experiencetensions between these roles in relation to theirown and students’ use of generic pronouns, and ifthey do, how they resolve the issue. Drawing uponsurvey and interview data from Australian classroomteachers it finds substantial adoption of gender-inclusivealternatives to generic he with a clear preferencefor and tolerance of singular they in their own andtheir students’ writing. Remnants of social genderand the use of generic he and generic she are foundfor the antecedents real estate agent and teacher,respectively. Younger teachers are by and large unawareof grammatical prescriptivism arguments while allteachers have awareness of the need to address andreform linguistic discrimination. Female educators leadthe way as ‘agents of change’ and intervene in students’writing to promote the avoidance of gender-exclusivegeneric he.


06–646 PELED-ELHANAN, NURIT (Hebrew UJerusalem & Tel-Aviv U, Israel) & SHOSHANA

BLUM-KULKA, Dialogue in the Israeli classroom:

Types of teacher-student talk. Language andEducation (Mutilingual Matters) 20.2 (2006),110–127.

This paper is part of an ongoing study of discursivebehaviour both at home and at school. The overallgoal of the analysis presented was to explore the levelof dialogicity manifest in Israeli classrooms. This questwas motivated by a sociocultural inclination towardslearning, which places instructive dialogue at the coreof successful teaching and learning. The question thisarticle addresses is, what are the different types ofteacher-student interaction prevailing in the classroom,and how do they affect ways of making meaning? Threemain genres of classroom discourse were identified,differing in the degree of their dialogicity: Socraticdialogue – a topical discussion where the final textis created by students and teacher in concert –pseudodialogue – in which the students are made to

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■ Language teachingbelieve that they are engaged in a topical discussionwhile being assessed on grounds of interpersonalrelationships and mode – and monologue in the guise ofa dialogue – in which the teacher asks topical questionswhile seeking the reproduction of her own text. The lasttwo were found to be dominant in the classes observed.


06–647 STRAUSS, SUSAN (Pennsylvania State U,USA; [email protected]), JIHYE LEE & KYUNGJA AHN,Applying conceptual grammar to

advanced-level language teaching: The case of

two completive constructions in Korean. TheModern Language Journal (Blackwell) 90.2 (2006),185–209.doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2006.00392.x

This article introduces conceptual grammar as anapproach to the analysis and teaching of grammarin foreign and second language contexts through acombination of paradigms: corpus, discourse analysis,and cognitive linguistics. Although the approachis applicable to virtually any language and anyconstruction within that language at various levels ofstudy, the authors provide a detailed demonstrationusing Korean as a model. In particular, they focuson constructions expressing the completive aspect.The Korean system of marking aspect can be quitecomplex; what renders the Korean completive evenmore perplexing is the fact that it is expressed throughtwo seemingly similar auxiliary forms, each of whichsignals different elements in the speaker’s or writer’sstance vis-a-vis the event described. By combining theparadigms of corpus, discourse analysis, and cognitivelinguistics, the article demonstrates how a conceptualgrammatical approach can render salient the particulardiscursive and conceptual patterns underlying the targetforms. It is designed as a pedagogical tool to guide usersto discern both inductively and deductively how nativespeakers conceptualize these differences and expressthem morphosyntactically – a perspective that is absentfrom most existing reference grammars and textbooks.


06–648 WALLEN, MATTHEW (U Limerick, Ireland) &

HELEN KELLY-HOLMES, ‘I think they just think it’s

going to go away at some stage’: Policy and

practice in teaching English as an additional

language in Irish primary schools. Language andEducation (Mutilingual Matters) 20.2 (2006),141–161.

Due to growth in immigration to the Republic ofIreland, the number of language minority studentsenrolling in primary schools has increased substantiallyover the last ten years. The Irish context is a particularlyinteresting one in that until recently Ireland was acountry of net emigration with limited experience ofcultural diversity. An additional factor here is the Irishlanguage, which makes the education system open to

bilingualism and encouraging linguistic diversity. Thisstudy looks at how Ireland is responding to thesechanges in a case study of practice in teaching Englishas an additional language (EAL) to students in a cityin western Ireland. A review of government policyinitiatives in this area reveals that they seem to havebeen developed primarily in isolation from internationalmodels of best practice. Instead, the concern is withreacting to what is considered a temporary issue. Finally,the case study shows very inconsistent EAL provision forlearners in schools and a general under-valuing of thesubject and teachers involved in its delivery.


06–649 WALQUI, AIDA (Teacher ProfessionalDevelopment Program, West Ed, USA),Scaffolding instruction for English language

learners: A conceptual framework. InternationalJournal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism(Multilingual Matters) 9.2 (2006), 159–180.

Adolescent students learning academic subject matter ina new language face a number of challenges, both localand global in nature, as they negotiate the linguistic,academic and social world of schooling. Making acase for a pedagogy of rigour and hope, the authorpresents a model of scaffolding that emphasises theinteractive social nature of learning and the contingent,collaborative nature of support and development.Drawing on Sociocultural Theory, as well as a largebody of empirical research on effective practices withsecond language learners, the author examines the useof specific types of scaffolding to promote linguistic andacademic development. The model, developed by theauthor, conceives of scaffolding as both structure andprocess, weaving together several levels of pedagogicalsupport, from macro-level planning of curricula overtime to micro-level moment-to-moment scaffoldingand the contingent variation of support responsive tointeractions as they unfold.


06–650 YAMANAKA, NOBUKO (Ehime U, Japan), An

evaluation of English textbooks in Japan from

the viewpoint of nations in the inner, outer and

expanding circles. JALT Journal (Japan Associationfor Language Teaching) 28.1 (2006), 57–76.

English is used as an international language incommunicating with people across many culturesin the modern world. Kachru has investigated thisphenomenon and created the ‘three concentric circles’model to portray the global diffusion of English.His findings show that the ‘cultural dimensions’ ofEnglish usage have been expanding; as a result, it isimportant for Japanese English learners to understandas wide a variety of cultures as possible for effectiveintercultural interactions. In Japan, the Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

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Language learning ■maintains that ‘the understanding of cultures’ shouldbe regarded as one of the main objectives in teachingEnglish at the secondary school level. However, as thereare few specific instructions provided in terms of theteaching of culture, it is difficult to understand whichnations should be included in the teaching of English.This paper, therefore, aims to help us understand whichcountries are currently included in junior high andsenior high school English textbooks based on Kachru’sthree-concentric-circles model.

http://www.jalt.org

06–651 YU, WEIHUA (Guangdong U of ForeignStudies, China), Promoting quality in China’s

higher education by motivating students

attending the British Culture Survey course.Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education(Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 33.3 (2005), 261–274.doi:10.1080/13598660500286432

This article discusses an intervention project bymeans of motivational approaches in a British culturesurvey course for English majors in mainland China’suniversity classroom context. The intervention usessuch motivational theories as attribution and taskorientation to motivate the teaching and learningof the EFL course so as to create a cooperativeclassroom environment. Theoretical bases of theChinese heritage culture and motivation are examined,specific intervention procedures discussed, relevant dataanalysed and finally some suggestions regarding theEFL teachers’ important role in promoting the qualityof EFL education are made. The intervention resultsshow that an innovative pedagogy to motivate students’metacognitive awareness, cognitive and socio-cognitiveability in cooperative classroom learning situationsdifferent from the traditional cramming methods andexaminations proves effective. Motivation should begiven a central role in promoting China’s EFL qualityeducation.


Language learningdoi:10.1017/S0261444806223851

06–652 ANGELOVA, MARIA (Cleveland State U,USA), DELMI GUNAWARDENA & DINAH VOLK, Peer

teaching and learning: co-constructing language

in a dual language first grade. Language andEducation (Mutilingual Matters) 20.2 (2006),173–190.

This paper presents findings from a study of teachingand learning strategies co-constructed by peers in aSpanish/English dual language first grade classroom.Grounded in sociocultural theory and developed usingethnographic approaches to data collection and analysis,the study analyses the children’s mediation of their

own and each other’s language learning within andacross languages, focusing on strategies that supportlearning. The strategies are analysed within the contextof teaching/learning interactions in a Dual LanguageProgramme with attention given to the children’songoing negotiation of the linguistic roles of novice,expert, and dual language expert when working inmixed groups in the English and Spanish classrooms.


06–653 ASADA, HIROFUMI (Fukuoka Jogakuin U,Japan), Longitudinal effects of informal language

in formal L2 instruction. JALT Journal (JapanAssociation for Language Teaching) 28.1 (2006),39–56.

This study investigates the longitudinal effects ofinformal language contact on formally instructed L2learners through multiple approaches which includequantitative and qualitative data sources. It focuseson the use of the aspect markers -te iru and -teru (the reduced form of -te iru) in Japanese oraldiscourse by Chinese exchange students (NNSs). Thequantitative data for conversational tasks was transcribedand analyzed using the Child Language Data ExchangeSystem (CHILDES), and the frequency of occurrenceand variation of aspect markers were compared withthose of Japanese university students (NSs). Qualitativedata from follow-up interviews and pre- and post-surveys was also analyzed. The findings were that: a)NSs used -te ru less than -te iru over a period of oneyear. However, the use of -te ru steadily increased withlonger stays in Japan. The implications of the results forsociolinguistic theories are also discussed.

http://www.jalt.org

06–654 BIRDSONG, DAVID (U Texas, USA),Nativelikeness and non-nativelikeness in L2A

research. International Review of AppliedLinguistics in Language Teaching (Walter deGruyter) 43.4 (2005), 319–328.doi:10.1515/iral.2005.43.4.319

This commentary addresses the use of nativelikeness andnon-nativelikeness in research relating to the age factorin L2A. I suggest that, in the context of the CriticalPeriod Hypothesis as it applies to L2A, the criteria ofnativelikeness and non-nativelikeness may be subject toabuse. I also argue that the use of the monolingual nativestandard for falsification of the CPH is underminedby departures from monolingual nativelikeness that areartifacts of the nature of bilingualism. Finally, I discussways that evidence of (non-)nativelikeness can be put toconstructive use in research that investigates the upperlimits of L2A attainment.


06–655 BRUEN, JENNIFER (Dublin City U, Ireland),Educating Europeans? Language planning and

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■ Language learningpolicy in higher education institutions in

Ireland. Language and InternationalCommunication (Multilingual Matters) 5.3&4(2005), 237–248.

The Council of Europe and European Commissionhave repeatedly called for the development of languagepolicies by higher education institutions (HEIs) in theEuropean Union. This paper presents the results of asurvey of Irish HEIs regarding their language policiesand considers the implications for language learning inIreland.


06–656 CARPENTER, HELEN (Georgetown U, USA;[email protected]), K. SEON JEON, DAVID

MACGREGOR & ALISON MACKEY, Learners’

interpretations of recasts. Studies in SecondLanguage Acquisition (Cambridge University Press)28.2 (2006), 209–236.doi:10.1017/S0272263106060104

A number of interaction researchers have claimedthat recasts might be ambiguous to learners; that is,instead of perceiving recasts as containing correctivefeedback, learners might see them simply as literal orsemantic repetitions without any corrective element.This study investigates learners’ interpretations of recastsin interaction. Videotapes of task-based interactionsincluding recasts and repetitions were shown toadvanced English as a second language students (N =34). Although both groups viewed the teacher’sfeedback (recasts, repetitions, or other), one groupsaw video clips that had been edited to remove thelearners’ nontargetlike utterances that had triggeredthe feedback, and another group saw the same videoclips with the initial nontargetlike utterances included.After each clip, learners in both groups were askedto indicate whether they thought they were hearinga recast, a repetition, or something else. A subset oflearners (n = 14) provided verbal reports while theyevaluated the clips. Results show that learners who didnot overhear initial learner utterances were significantlyless successful at distinguishing recasts from repetitions.The verbal protocol data suggest that learners werenot looking for nonverbal cues from the speakers. Apost hoc analysis suggests that morphosyntactic recastswere less accurately recognized than phonological orlexical recasts in this study. These findings suggest thatthe contrast between a problematic utterance and arecast contributes to learners’ interpretations of recastsas corrective.


06–657 CHUJO, KIYOMI (Nihon U, Japan;[email protected]) & MASAO UTIYAMA,Selecting level-specific specialized vocabulary

using statistical measures. System (Elsevier) 34.2(2006), 255–269.doi:10.1016/j.system.2005.12.003

To find an easy-to-use, automated tool to identifytechnical vocabulary applicable to learners at variouslevels, nine statistical measures were applied to the 7.3-million-word ‘commerce and finance’ component ofthe British National Corpus. The resulting word listsshowed that each statistical measure extracted a differentlevel of specialized vocabulary as measured by wordlength, vocabulary level, US native speaker grade level,and Japanese school textbook vocabulary coverage, andthat these measures produced level-specific words; i.e.beginning-level basic business words were identifiedusing Cosine and the complimentary similarity measure;intermediate-level business words were extracted usinglog-likelihood, the chi-square test, and the chi-squaretest with Yates’s correction; and advanced-level businessword lists were created using mutual information andMcNemar’s test. We conclude that these statisticalmeasures are effective tools for identifying multi-levelspecialized vocabulary for pedagogical purposes.


06–658 COFFEY, STEPHEN (Universita di Pisa, Italy;[email protected]), High-frequency grammatical

lexis in advanced-level English learners’

dictionaries: From language description to

pedagogical usefulness. International Journal ofLexicography (Oxford University Press) 19.2(2006), 157–173.doi:10.1093/ijl/eck007

In this article it is argued that many grammaticalitems recorded as lexical entries in EFL (English as aForeign Language) dictionaries should be dealt with inradically different fashion from that which is currentpractice. Examination of the entries for more than40 high-frequency closed-class items in the 5 majorEFL dictionaries reveals that too much emphasis isplaced on detailed linguistic description and too littleon didactic usefulness. Two important findings werethat (i) polysemic analysis is very thorough but probablycounterproductive to the needs of the average dictionaryuser, and (ii) many entries could be usefully shortenedby omitting data already known to the learner. Giventhe intended ‘readership’ of the dictionaries, a morepedagogically motivated approach is suggested, and onewhereby learners would be encouraged to investigateentries which may otherwise be ignored because of theperceived ‘banality’ of the word forms in question.


06–659 COMAJOAN, LLORENC (Middlebury College,USA; [email protected]), The aspect

hypothesis: Development of morphology and

appropriateness of use. Language Learning(Blackwell) 56.2 (2006), 201–268.doi:10.1111/j.0023-8333.2006.00347.x

According to the aspect hypothesis, perfective mor-phology emerges before imperfective morphology, itis first used in telic predicates (achievements and

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Language learning ■accomplishments) and it later extends to atelic predicates(activities and states). The opposite development ishypothesized for imperfective morphology. This studyproposes to investigate the emergence of preterite andimperfect morphology in Catalan to examine if theaspectual characteristics of predicates can account forthe emergence of morphology and also appropriateuse. Past verbal forms in narratives produced by threemultilingual learners of Catalan as a foreign languagewere coded for appropriateness of use, morphology, andlexical aspect. An aspectual analysis of the data providedsupport for the aspect hypothesis, because achievementand accomplishment predicates in general were inflectedfor preterite morphology more frequently than wereactivity and state predicates, and the opposite wasfound for the emergence of imperfect morphology. Theaspectual trends, however, varied for individual learners,tasks, and developmental stages. An analysis of theappropriate use of preterite and imperfect forms showedthat morphology was used appropriately in almost allcontexts. Prototypical combinations of morphologyand aspect tended to be used more appropriately thannonprototypical combinations.


06–660 COWIE, NEIL (Okayama U, Japan),What

do sports, learning Japanese, and teaching

English have in common? Social-cultural

learning theories, that’s what. JALT Journal(Japan Association for Language Teaching) 28.1(2006), 23–37.

An analogy is drawn between how sports in Japanare practiced, and how Japanese as a second languageis taught. These two areas are examined throughthe frameworks of sociocultural and cultural learningtheories which have led the author to reflect on andadjust his own English language teaching beliefs. Thesetheories are then linked with Bordieu’s concept of‘cultural capital’ in which students are socialized intocertain educational practices and perceptions in orderto succeed in a society. It is argued that when studentsmove from familiar practices and perceptions of schoolto the different ones of a university foreign languageclassroom, both they and their teachers need to be giventime and the means to adapt to new forms of culturalcapital.

http://www.jalt.org

06–661 CUMBRENO ESPADA, ANA BELEN, MERCEDES

RICO GARCIA, ALEJANDRO CURADO FUENTES & EVA MA

DOMINGUEZ GOMEZ (U Extremadura, Merida, Spain;[email protected]), Developing adaptive

systems at early stages of children’s foreign

language development. ReCALL (CambridgeUniversity Press) 18.1 (2006), 45–62.doi:10.1017/S0958344006000413

This paper describes the integration of hypermediaadaptive systems for foreign language learners at an

early age Our research project is concerned withexploring the relationship between language learningand information technology according to six differentphases: a preliminary study of the plausible adaptivesystem; the development of lessons based on hypermediaand learners’ needs; the examination of languagelearners’ profiles; the definition of an adapted interface;the integration of the systems in schools; and theevaluation of the use of such systems. While the lastthree stages are still under way, we have already obtainedsome significant feedback from preliminary observationand approaches, which chiefly reveal the importanceof accounting for interrelated factors at an early age,such as specific learning strategies, skills, and graphicaldesign.


06–662 DERWING, TRACEY, RON THOMSON

(U Alberta, Canada; [email protected]) &

MURRAY MUNRO, English pronunciation and

fluency development in Mandarin and Slavic

speakers. System (Elsevier) 34.2 (2006), 183–193.doi:10.1016/j.system.2006.01.005

The development of accent and fluency are tracedin the speech of 20 Mandarin and 20 Slavic adultimmigrants to Canada over a period of 10 months.The participants were enrolled in an ESL programbut had no special instruction in either pronunciationor fluency. The immigrants’ self-reported exposure toEnglish outside of class was used to determine whetherthere was a relationship between accent, fluency, andvoluntary contact with English. Judgment tasks werecarried out in which native English listeners assessedL2 speech samples recorded at the outset of theirstudies, two months later, and again ten months afterthe first recording. The listeners’ scalar judgments ofaccentedness and fluency indicated that there was a smallimprovement in accent over time, and that the Slaviclearners made significant progress in fluency, whereasthe Mandarin participants showed no improvement.The Slavic participants reported significantly morecontact with English speakers than did the Mandarinspeakers. Suggestions are made for ESL instruction andfurther research.


06–663 DJITE, PAULIN G. (U Western Sydney,Australia), Shifts in linguistic identities in a

global world. Language Problems & LanguagePlanning (John Benjamins) 30.1 (2006), 1−20.

Language diversity and the necessity of communicatingacross language boundaries have almost naturallyfostered a desire to learn the languages of one’sneighbors, the languages of the playground and/or thelanguages of the market place. This process continues toincrease with internal (rural exodus) and international

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■ Language learningmigration, urbanization and exogamous marriages,leading to a changing language demography, wherelanguage shift and language learning are constant andongoing processes. A cursory look at what peoplehave always done and do with language(s) and anepistemological approach to their language repertoire(s)suggest that individuals and communities are very activeagents, whose language practices show an incrediblecapacity and resourcefulness in empowering themselveswhere and when it matters most. And yet, the conceptof ‘linguistic identity’ tries to cast a mold aroundindividuals and speech-communities, as if they are tobelong to a given language or identity to the exclusionof (an) other(s). This paper explores the concept of‘linguistic identity’ and asks whether it is possible toargue that we actually have one identity, whetherlanguage is intricately tied to identity or whetherlanguage itself has an identity. It concludes with someconsiderations about language management.

http://www.benjamins.com

06–664 ELLIS, NICK (U Michigan, USA), Language

acquisition as rational contingency learning.Applied Liguistics (Oxford University Press) 27.1(2006), 1–24.doi:10.1093/applin/ami038

This paper considers how fluent language users arerational in their language processing, their unconsciouslanguage representation systems optimally prepared forcomprehension and production, how language learnersare intuitive statisticians, and how acquisition can beunderstood as contingency learning. But there areimportant aspects of second language acquisition that donot appear to be rational, where input fails to becomeintake. The paper describes the types of situation wherecognition deviates from rationality and it introduceshow the apparent irrationalities of L2 acquisition resultfrom standard phenomena of associative learning asencapsulated in the models of Rescorla & Wagner(1972) and Cheng & Holyoak (1995), which describehow cue salience, outcome importance, and the historyof learning from multiple probabilistic cues affect thedevelopment of ‘learned selective attention’ and transfer.

http://applij.oxfordjournals.org

06–665 ELLIS, ROD (U Auckland, New Zealand;[email protected]), SHAWN LOEWEN & ROSEMARY

ERLAM, Implicit and explicit corrective feedback

and the acquisition of L2 grammar. Studies inSecond Language Acquisition (CambridgeUniversity Press) 28.2 (2006), 339–368.doi:10.1017/S0272263106060141

This article reviews previous studies of the effectsof implicit and explicit corrective feedback on SLA,pointing out a number of methodological problems. Itthen reports on a new study of the effects of thesetwo types of corrective feedback on the acquisitionof past tense -ed. In an experimental design (two

experimental groups and a control group), low-intermediate learners of second language Englishcompleted two communicative tasks during whichthey received either recasts (implicit feedback) ormetalinguistic explanation (explicit feedback) inresponse to any utterance that contained an error inthe target structure. Acquisition was measured by meansof an oral imitation test (designed to measure implicitknowledge) and both an untimed grammaticalityjudgment test and a metalinguistic knowledge test(both designed to measure explicit knowledge). Thetests were administered prior to the instruction, oneday after the instruction, and again two weeks later.Statistical comparisons of the learners’ performanceon the posttests showed a clear advantage for explicitfeedback over implicit feedback for both the delayedimitation and grammaticality judgment posttests. Thus,the results indicate that metalinguistic explanationbenefited implicit as well as explicit knowledge andpoint to the importance of including measures of bothtypes of knowledge in experimental studies.


06–666 GHABANCHI, ZARGHAM (Sabzevar TeacherTraining U, Iran; [email protected]), MARJAN

VOSOOGHI, The role of explicit contrastive

instruction in learning difficult L2 grammatical

forms: A cross-linguistic approach to language

awareness. The Reading Matrix(Readingmatrix.com) 6.1 (2006), 121–130.

Most of the scholars in the fields of language learningand teaching assert that, when confronted with difficultgrammatical forms, learners often conduct an L1–L2comparison and since this comparison is implicit, itmay result in the formation of wrong rules due to anincomplete L2 knowledge (Selinker 1992; Robinson1995). Here, the purpose was to evaluate one specificapproach pertaining to the findings of contrastiveanalysis referred to as contrastive instruction. It providesa kind of inter-lingual comparison on the basis ofcontrastive analysis database. Such an approach mayfacilitate the learning process especially if the structuresare difficult with respect to the learners’ L1. Here, anattempt was made to introduce contrastive data into theclassroom. A classroom-based experiment indicates thatcontrastive instruction input can strengthen learners’metalinguistic knowledge and – due to their age –second-grade students benefit much more than the first-grade students in a recognition task, though not inproduction tasks, probably because in the latter typelearners need additional skills.

http://www.readingmatrix.com/journal.html

06–667 GILLIES, ROBYN M. & MICHAEL BOYLE

(U Queensland, Australia), Teachers’ scaffolding

behaviours during cooperative learning.Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education

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Language learning ■(Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 33.3 (2005), 243–259.doi:10.1080/13598660500286242

This paper outlines the types of verbal interactionsteachers engage in to challenge children’s thinkingand problem-solving during cooperative learning. Thepaper also provides examples of how children modelmany of the verbal interactions they have seendemonstrated in their discourse with each other. Itappears that when teachers are explicit in the types ofthinking they want children to engage in, it encourageschildren to be more focused and explicit in the typesof help they provide. Understanding the key role thatteachers play in promoting thinking and problem-solving in their students is particularly important giventhat it is the quality of talk that children generate that isa significant predictor of their learning.


06–668 GRAHAM, SUZANNE (U Reading, UK;[email protected]), Listening

comprehension: The learners’ perspective.System (Elsevier) 34.2 (2006), 165–182.doi:10.1016/j.system.2005.11.001

This paper reports on the findings of an investigationinto the perceptions held by English students aged 16–18 years regarding listening comprehension in Frenchand how they view the reasons behind their successor lack of it in this skill. The study suggests thatlistening comprehension is the skill in which studentsin the post-compulsory phase of education feel theyhave achieved the least success. The main problemshighlighted by learners were dealing adequately withthe speed of delivery of texts, making out individualwords in a stream of spoken French, and making senseof any words identified. Furthermore, most learnersattributed their difficulties in listening to their ownsupposed low ability in the skill and to the difficultyof the listening tasks and texts set, with little awarenessshown regarding the role played by ineffective listeningstrategies or skill application. Suggestions are made foraddressing problems regarding how students listen andtheir attitudes towards listening comprehension.


06–669 HOLMES, PRUE (U Waikato, New Zealand),Problematising intercultural communication

competence in the pluricultural classroom:

Chinese students in a New Zealand university.Language and International Communication(Multilingual Matters) 6.1 (2006), 18–34.

This study juxtaposes current approaches to intercul-tural communication competence (ICC) with Chinesestudents’ learning and communication experiences ina New Zealand pluricultural classroom. Fifteen first-year Chinese university students were interviewed andparticipated in focus groups. The findings indicatedthat the Chinese students’ rules for communication –

face negotiation, and maintaining roles, harmony andrelationships – were not compatible with the NewZealand rules for competent classroom communication.Therefore, there is a need for a critical turn thatis culture- and context-specific, and exposes powerrelations when theorising and investigating ICC.

http://www.multilingual-matters.net/laic/default.htm

06–670 HEMARD, DOMINIQUE (LondonMetropolitan U; [email protected]),Evaluating hypermedia structures as a means of

improving language learning strategies and

motivation. ReCALL (Cambridge University Press)18.1, (2006), 24–44.doi:10.1017/S0958344006000310

By providing access, data and new forms of literacyand communication practices, it is widely accepted thatnetworked technologies have done much to promotelearner autonomy. However, in practical terms, thelack of resources, expertise and research investigationsinto learner interaction have all too often meantthat autonomous learning is conveniently likened toteacher-independent learning, largely relying on thesuccess and assumed intuitiveness of the World WideWeb (web) for its learner driven delivery. This situationaffecting foreign language teaching and learning hasbeen further aggravated by the recent trend, at leastin UK universities, to conceive languages solely ascommunicative tools, further severing them from theiracademic base and cultural roots, often reducing learnerautonomy to poor repetitive interaction. On thispremise, this paper proposes to focus on how to makebetter use of the interactive potential of the webin order to maximise independent language learningonline. From a Human Computer Interaction (HCI)design perspective, it intends to shed further light onand increase our understanding of hypermedia andmultimedia structures through learner participation andevaluation. On the basis of evidence from an ongoingresearch investigation into online CALL literacy, it willseek to identify crucial causalities between the userinterface and learner interaction affecting the learners’focus and engagement within their own learningprocesses. The adopted methodology combines a taskanalysis of a hypermedia prototype underpinned byan activity theory approach and participatory designbased on user walkthroughs and focus groups. Bylooking at the relationship between action and goal aswell as between activities and motives, it attempts toprovide a framework for evaluating online hypermediainteractivity based on identified activities, design tasksand design criteria.


06–671 HOWARD, MARTIN (U College, Ireland;[email protected]), The expression of

number and person through verb morphology

in advanced French interlanguage. International

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■ Language learningReview of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching(Walter de Gruyter) 44.1 (2006), 1–22.doi:10.1515/IRAL.2006.001

This paper presents a quantitative analysis of thevariation underlying subject-verb agreement in thespoken French interlanguage of Irish classroom andstudy abroad learners. Results outline the rangeof factors constraining that variation, such as thelearners’ level of informal contact with the language,as well as linguistic factors such as temporal context,verb frequency, and functional constraints. Since thevariation observed is specifically restricted to irregularverbs in third person plural contexts, the findings arediscussed with reference to the acquisition of (ir)regularverb morphology.


06–672 HOWARD, MARTIN (U College, Cork,Ireland; [email protected]), ISABELLE LEMEE &

VERA REGAN, The L2 acquisition of a

phonological variable: The case of /l/ deletion in

French. Journal of French Language Studies(Cambridge University Press) 16.1 (2006), 1–24.doi:10.1017/S0959269506002298

This article is situated within the recent strand ofsecond language acquisition (SLA) research whichapplies variationist sociolinguistic methods to the studyof the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation by theL2 speaker. Whilst that research has tended to focuson the study of morphological and morphosyntacticvariables, this article aims to investigate a number ofacquisitional trends identified in previous research inrelation to phonological variation, namely the variabledeletion of /l/ by Irish advanced L2 speakers of Frenchin both an instructed and study abroad environment.Based on quantitative results using GoldVarb 2001,the study further illuminates the difficulty that theacquisition of sociolinguistic variation poses to theinstructed L2 speaker, who is found to make minimaluse of informal sociolinguistic variants. In contrast,contact with native speakers in the native speechcommunity is seen to allow the L2 speaker to makeconsiderable sociolinguistic gains, not only in relation tothe acquisition of the informal variant in itself, but alsoin relation to the underlying native speaker grammaticalsystem as indicated by the constraint ordering at workbehind use of the variable.

http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_JFL

06–673 JIN, LIXIAN (De Montfort U, UK) & MARTIN

CORTAZZI, Changing practices in Chinese cultures

of learning. Language, Culture and Curriculum(Multilingual Matters) 19.1 (2006),5–20.

This paper analyses some of the changing aspects oflearning and ‘cultures of learning’ in China: theseare related to meeting the needs of Chinese learners

studying in higher education in the UK. We use theterm ‘cultures of learning’ to draw attention to thesocio-cultural aspects of key practices, expectations andinterpretations of learning and the term is understoodto include diversity of practices both at individual andgroup levels. We use the notion of changing practicesin a double sense: firstly, practices in learning at schooland university levels are changing in China and hencethe cultures of learning that are likely to influencestudents’ pre-departure experiences include an aspectof dynamic change. Secondly, Chinese students in theUK change their practices in many respects as theylearn in, and from, British academic cultures. The paperalso delineates some long-standing features of learningin the Confucian heritage and summarises recentdevelopments in the Chinese national curriculum forlearning English. We propose a model of ‘participation-based’ language learning which includes cognitive,creative, cultural and affective dimensions. The paperconsiders practical issues related to the previous learningexperiences that Chinese learners bring to the UK.


06–674 LAUFER, BATIA (U Haifa, Israel;[email protected]) & TAMAR

LEVITZKY-AVIAD, Examining the effectiveness of

‘bilingual dictionary plus’ – a dictionary for

production in a foreign language. InternationalJournal of Lexicography (Oxford University Press)19.2 (2006), 135–155.doi:10.1093/ijl/eck006

The study investigated the usefulness of a Hebrew–English–English (L1–L2–L2) mini-dictionary, forproduction in a foreign language. The dictionaryentries included L1 (Hebrew) words, their L2 (English)translation options, usage specifications, semanticallyrelated English words, and additional L2 meaningsfor each translation option. Seventy five studentstranslated thirty six sentences from Hebrew intoEnglish using four dictionaries, one dictionary fornine sentences: a Hebrew-English-English electronicdictionary, a Hebrew–English–English paper dictionary,an English-English-Hebrew bilingualized dictionary,and a Hebrew-English bilingual dictionary. Eachsentence contained one target word, defined as ‘simple’or ‘complex’. Learners also rated them in termsof usefulness. All electronic dictionary activity wasrecorded in log files. The four dictionaries werecompared on the number of correct translations and ondictionary ratings. Log files were analyzed for lookuppreferences. Results demonstrated the superiority ofL1–L2–L2 dictionaries in terms of the effectiveness fora production task and learners’ preferences.


06–675 LONG, MIKE (U Maryland, USA),Problems with supposed counter-evidence to

the Critical Period Hypothesis. International

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Language learning ■Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching(Walter de Gruyter) 43.4 (2005), 287–317.doi:10.1515/iral.2005.43.4.287

While almost all observers agree that young children,older children, and adults differ both in initial rate ofacquisition and in the levels of ultimate attainmenttypically achieved, they continue to disagree overwhether the observed patterns are a function of nurtureor nature. Is it simply that older starters do not doas well because they are less motivated, receive poorerquality input, spend less time on task, or (paradoxically)are hindered by superior cognitive development, oris it that they cannot? In particular, well-respectedscholars differ on the existence, scope, and timing ofputative maturational constraints on the human capacityfor learning second (including foreign) languages.Some recent research on age differences is considered,in particular, studies purporting to provide evidenceagainst claims of maturational constraints on (Second)Language Acquisition (SLA) and/or putative criticalperiods for L2 phonology, morphology and syntax. It isargued that, in each case, one or more of nine limitationsor design flaws means that the findings are, in fact,unproblematic for at least some of those claims.


06–676 MCDONOUGH, KIM (Northern Arizona U,USA; [email protected]), Interaction and

syntactic priming: English L2 speakers’

production of dative constructions. Studies inSecond Language Acquisition (CambridgeUniversity Press) 28.2 (2006), 179–207.doi:10.1017/S0272263106060098

Interaction research about the role of languageproduction in second language (L2) developmenthas focused largely on modified output, specificallylearners’ responses to negative feedback. However,other processes involved in language production mighthelp account for the beneficial relationship betweeninteraction and L2 development. This paper reportsthe findings of two experiments that examined theoccurrence of syntactic priming – a speaker’s tendencyto produce a previously spoken or heard structure –during interaction between L2 English speakers. Bothstudies used confederate scripting to elicit dativeconstructions from advanced English L2 speakers.In experiment 1, the participants (n = 50) wereexposed to both prepositional and double-object dativeprimes. The linear mixed-model analysis indicated thatsyntactic priming occurred with prepositional dativesonly. In experiment 2, the English L2 participants(n = 54) received double-object dative primes only;results showed no evidence of syntactic priming. Theimplications are discussed in terms of the potentialrole of syntactic priming in driving L2 developmentin interactive contexts.


06–677 MOHAN, BERNARD (U British Columbia,Canada; [email protected]) & TAMMY SLATER,A functional perspective on the critical

‘theory/practice’ relation in teaching language

and science. Linguistics and Education (Elsevier)16.2 (2005), 151–172.doi:10.1016/j.linged.2006.01.008

This article uses a functional view of language toframe and analyze issues of language and content inmainstream classrooms. Describing a Western Canadiangrade one/two science class, it examines how a teacherand her class of young ESL students were able to buildup a simple theory of magnetism in a scientific register,link its technical terms to their practical experience,and apply the theory to explain and extend theirexperience of magnets. She thus created a new blend oftheory and practice in their activity of doing science.The study demonstrates the value of a functionalperspective on social practice, leading to a sharperunderstanding of issues of language and content learningin mainstream classrooms and a greater ability toanalyze relevant data. Educational implications includea richer understanding of the connections betweenstudents’ practical experience and their theoreticalunderstanding.


06–678 MORI, SETSUKO (Kyoto Sangyo U, Japan;[email protected]) & PETER GOBEL,Motivation and gender in the Japanese EFL

classroom. System (Elsevier) 34.2 (2006),194–210.doi:10.1016/j.system.2005.11.002

In the field of SLA, there have been variousattempts to define second language learning motivationand to discover relationships between motivationand gender. Using two well-known motivationalmodels: Expectancy-value theory, and Gardner’s Socio-educational model, the present study sought to (1)first define foreign language learning motivation in aparticular EFL setting and (2) then explore differencesin motivational sub-constructs based on the variableof gender. A previously tested motivational scale wasadministered to 453 second-year non-English majors.Factor analysis of the results revealed a multidimensionalconstruct comprised of Integrativeness, Intrinsic value,Amotivation, and Attainment value, together explaining54.4% of the variance. A MANOVA was thenperformed with gender as the independent variable.The results of the MANOVA indicated a significantdifference in Integrativeness based on gender, withfemales scoring significantly higher on those items.The results are discussed in relation to both the Socio-educational model and Expectancy-value theory, andwith reference to their relevance in the EFL classroom.


06–679 OH, JANET (California State U, USA) &

TERRY KIT-FONG AU, Learning Spanish as a

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■ Language learningheritage language: The role of sociocultural

background variables. Language, Culture andCurriculum (Multilingual Matters) 18.3 (2005),229–241.

This study represents a first effort to identifysociocultural background variables that predict thesuccessful mastery of a heritage language byadult learners. While there are well-documentedsociocultural models for other second language learners,thus far there are no similar published models forheritage language learners. We focused on Latinocollege students learning Spanish (N = 55) and thefollowing background variables: cultural identification,cultural participation, and use of Spanish outside ofclass. Language assessments focused on learners’ masteryof Spanish accent and grammar. Results indicate thatthese background variables are related to mastery ofSpanish accent, and that use of Spanish outside of classis related to mastery of Spanish grammar. The findingshave important implications for language instructionand point to a number of important future researchdirections in the field of heritage language learning andinstruction.


06–680 PICA, TERESA (U Pennsylvania, USA;[email protected]), HYUN-SOOK KANG &

SHANNON SAURO, Information gap tasks: Their

multiple roles and contributions to interaction

research methodology. Studies in SecondLanguage Acquisition (Cambridge University Press)28.2 (2006), 301–338.doi:10.1017/S027226310606013X

This article describes how information gap tasks canbe designed as instruments for data collection andanalysis and as treatments in interaction research. Thedevelopment of such tasks is illustrated and data arepresented on their role in drawing learners’ attentionto second language (L2) forms that are difficult tonotice through classroom discussion alone. Because thetasks presented here are closed-ended and precisionoriented, and require the exchange of uniquely heldinformation, they promote modified interaction amongparticipants and orient their attention to form, function,and meaning. These processes can be observed by theresearcher during task implementation. Thus, the tasksreduce researcher’s dependence on externally appliedtreatments and analytical instruments not integral tothe interaction itself. To illustrate this methodology inuse, the article reports on a study in which six pairs ofintermediate-level English L2 learners carried out threetypes of information gap tasks in their classrooms. Theyfirst read passages on familiar topics, whose sentencescontained L2 forms that were low in salience anddifficult to master but developmentally appropriate.To complete the tasks, the learners were required toidentify, recall, and compare the forms, their functionsand their meanings. Data revealed close relationshipsamong learners’ attentional processes, their recall of

form, function and meaning, and the interactionalprocesses that supported their efforts.


06–681 PIETILAINEN, JUKKA (U Tampere, Finland),Current trends in literary production in

Esperanto. Language Problems & LanguagePlanning (John Benjamins) 29.3 (2005), 271–285.

We can divide Esperanto literature into four historicalperiods. The first (1887–1920) was characterised bythe important role of translations. The second period(1921–1945) was marked by the development of poetryand also, to some extent, of prose and drama. Thethird period (1946–1974), while beset with difficulties,continued the development started in the second periodand made some new innovations, especially in poetry.The fourth period (since 1975) has so far been aperiod in which the novel and experimental poetry haveflourished. Unlike the earlier periods, the fourth periodis no longer dominated by a small group of authorsand influential literary magazines: Esperanto literatureis now more diverse and fragmented, leaving space fordifferent schools and linguistic styles.


06–682 POLIO, CHARLENE (Michigan State U, USA;[email protected]), SUSAN GASS & LAURA CHAPIN,Using stimulated recall to investigate native

speaker perceptions in native-nonnative

speaker interaction. Studies in Second LanguageAcquisition (Cambridge University Press) 28.2(2006), 237–267.doi:10.1017/S0272263106060086

Implicit negative feedback has been shown to facilitateSLA, and the extent to which such feedback is given isrelated to a variety of task and interlocutor variables.The background of a native speaker (NS), in termsof amount of experience in interactions with non-native speakers (NNSs), has been shown to affect thequantity of implicit negative feedback (namely recasts)in a classroom setting. This study examines the effectof experience and uses stimulated recall to attempt tounderstand the interactional patterns of two groups ofNSs (with greater and lesser experience) interactingwith second language (L2) learners outside of theclassroom context. Two groups of NSs of Englisheach completed an information exchange task with aL2 learner: the first group consisted of 11 preserviceteachers with minimal experience with NNSs, whereasthe second group included 8 experienced teachers withsignificant teaching experience. Immediately after thetask, each NS participated in a stimulated recall, viewinga videotape of the interaction and commenting onthe interaction. The quantitative results did not showa strong difference in the number of recasts used bythe two groups, but it did show a difference in thequantity of NNS output between the two groups.This finding was corroborated by the stimulated recalls,

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Language learning ■which showed that those with experience – who clearlysaw themselves as language teachers even outside ofthe classroom – had strategies for and concerns aboutgetting the learners to produce output. Additionally,the experienced teachers showed greater recognition ofstudent comprehension, student learning, and studentproblems. Those with little experience were morefocused on themselves, on student feelings, and onprocedural and task-related issues.


06–683 PUJOL, DIDAC (Universitat Pompeu Fabra,Spain; [email protected]), MONTSE CORRIUS &

JOAN MASNOU, Print deferred bilingualised

dictionaries and their implications for effective

language learning: A new approach to

pedagogical lexicography. International Journal ofLexicography (Oxford University Press)19.2 (2006), 197–215.doi:10.1093/ijl/ecl009

Print bilingualised learners’ dictionaries, which typicallyinclude an L2 definition immediately followed by anL1 translation, represented a step forward in the fieldof pedagogical lexicography insofar as they providedusers with access to both monolingual and bilingualinformation. However, the very structure of printbilingualised dictionaries minimises the monolingualpart: most users read only the L1 text, thus missingexposure to L2. This paper presents a new kind ofbilingualised dictionary, the ‘print deferred bilingualiseddictionary’, in which users do not encountertranslations immediately, as is the norm in otherprint (immediate) bilingualised dictionaries. Rather, inthis new type of dictionary translations are deferred.This avoids the users’ skipping of monolingual L2definitions and reading only the bilingual (side-by-side)translation. Apart from that (and unlike print immediatebilingualised dictionaries, which are not circular), whengiving bilingual L1 → L2 translations the print deferredbilingualised dictionary directs the reader towards themonolingual part, thus promoting L2 exposure.


06–684 RADFORD, JULIE (U London, UK), JUDY

IRESON & MERLE MAHON, Triadic dialogue in oral

communication tasks: What are the

implications for language learning? Languageand Education (Mutilingual Matters) 20.2 (2006),191–210.

Asymmetry in classroom discourse, typified by teachers’frequent use of inauthentic initiating question turns,does not afford the best opportunities for the learningof language skills. More favourable conditions wouldappear to be associated with collaborative discoursepatterns that display genuine interest in the child’scontribution and build on, and respond to, the child’sturn. Video-recordings were made of consecutiveepisodes of ‘story-writing’, ‘speaking-book’ and ‘circle-

time’ activities to explore the sequential implicationsof the teachers’ initiations across each task. Duringspeaking-book the teacher initiates with topic initialelicitors which invite news, ideas or opinions from thechild. In story-writing the teacher employs invitations,which call for the children to generate ideas orsuggestions. Analysis of teacher follow-up turns demon-strates ways in which they recast and reformulate thechildren’s response turns and elicit further materialrelated to the pupils’ agendas. By contrast, thereis limited evidence of negotiation in the circle-time activity. The study demonstrates the potentiallyfacilitative role played by triadic dialogue in languagelearning and therefore has professional significance forall those involved in the development of oral languageskills in classrooms.


06–685 SAGARRA, NURIA (Pennsylvania State U,USA; [email protected]) & MATTHEW ALBA, The key

is in the keyword: L2 vocabulary learning

methods with beginning learners of Spanish.The Modern Language Journal (Blackwell) 90.2(2006) 228–243.doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2006.00394.x

This study investigates the effectiveness of three methodsof learning vocabulary among 778 beginning secondlanguage (L2) learners. Rote memorization consistsof memorizing the first language (L1) translationof a new L2 word by rehearsal. Semantic mappingdisplays L1 words conceptually related to the L2word in a diagram. The keyword method involvesassociating the novel L2 word with an L1 keywordthat is acoustically or orthographically similar, and thenconnecting the L1 keyword with the L1 translation ofthe L2 word. The results reveal that vocabulary learningtechniques requiring deeper processing through formand meaning associations (i.e. the keyword method)yield the best retention. In addition, rote memorizationof L1–L2 equivalents is more effective than creatingmultiple meaning associations (i.e. semantic mapping).The authors suggest that using the keyword methodwith phonological keywords and direct L1 keyword-translation links in the classroom leads to better L2vocabulary learning at early stages of acquisition.


06–686 SCHAUER, GILA A. (Lancaster U, UK;[email protected]), Pragmatic awareness

in ESL and EFL contexts: Contrast and

development. Language Learning (Blackwell) 56.2(2006), 269–318.doi:10.1111/j.0023-8333.2006.00348.x

The study reported on in this article set out toreplicate and extend an earlier investigation of pragmaticawareness by addressing two research questions: (a) Dolearners in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) andEnglish as a Second Language (ESL) contexts displaydifferences in their recognition and rating of pragmatic

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■ Language learningand grammatical errors?(b) Do ESL learners increasetheir pragmatic awareness during an extended stay inthe target environment? The data were elicited usinga video-and-questionnaire instrument accompanied bypost hoc interviews. The 53 participants in the studyincluded 16 German students studying at a Britishuniversity, 17 German students enrolled in a highereducation institution in Germany, and 20 BritishEnglish native-speaking controls. The data show that theGerman EFL participants were less aware of pragmaticinfelicities than the ESL group and that the ESL learnersincreased their pragmatic awareness significantly duringtheir stay in Great Britain.


06–687 SHARPE, TINA (Sharpe Consulting,Australia), ‘Unpacking’ scaffolding: Identifying

discourse and multimodal strategies that

support learning. Language and Education(Mutilingual Matters) 20.2 (2006), 211–231.

In this paper the sociocultural notion of ‘scaffolding’ andthe way in which various ‘scaffolding’ strategies supportstudents’ learning are examined through classroom data.A distinction is made between scaffolding at a macrolevel, consisting of a planned, ‘designed-in’ approachto a unit of work in a subject discipline and thelessons that constitute it, and contingent scaffoldingthat operates at a micro level or ‘at the point of need’.By drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL)theory it has been possible to articulate the kinds ofdiscourse and multimodal strategies that constitute thenature of scaffolding and then examine the ways inwhich these function in the discourse to support studentlearning in the local and immediate context. In addition,this paper identifies an Induction genre that providesfoundational understandings about the study of historyfor apprentice historians. This is supported by twopost-foundational lessons that form a Macrogenre. ThisMacrogenre reinforces the application of focus questionsthat are fundamental to historical study and an approachto answering these questions that is consistent with themethodology of the subject.


06–688 SHI, LIJING (The Open U, UK), The

successors to Confucianism or a new

generation? A questionnaire study on Chinese

students’ culture of learning English. Language,Culture and Curriculum (Multilingual Matters) 19.1(2006), 122–147.

With an increasing number of Chinese learnerspursuing higher education in Western universities,the characteristics of Chinese students have raisedmany discussions and debates (e.g. Carson 1992;Watkins & Biggs 2001). Two contradictory views arecommonly reflected in the existing literature: beingpassive, quiet, submissive, or disciplined vs. valuingactive thinking, open-mindedness and a spirit of inquiry.

Unlike much available discussion on Chinese learnersbased on literature review or personal experience,this paper examines the topic from an empiricalperspective. From an analysis of questionnaire datacollected from 400 Chinese middle-school students in2003 about learning English, this paper argues thatcontemporary Chinese students demonstrate differentcharacteristics from those described in many previousstudies. Overall, they show little difference from theirWestern counterparts by being active learners andpreferring a more interactive relationship with theirteachers. However, some traditional features still persistwith their examinations influencing student views oflearning English. The findings should be interpreted ina context of rapid social changes in China. Other studiesmay be correct historically, but it is important not todraw on such studies in characterising contemporarystudents in China.


06–689 SINGLETON, DAVID (U Dublin, Ireland), The

Critical Period Hypothesis: A coat of many

colours. International Review of AppliedLinguistics in Language Teaching (Walter deGruyter) 43.4 (2005), 269–285.doi:10.1515/iral.2005.43.4.269doi:10.1111/j.0023-8333.2006.00348.x

Research on age-related effects in L2 development ofteninvokes the idea of a critical period – the postulation ofwhich is customarily referred to as the Critical PeriodHypothesis. This paper argues that to speak in terms ofthe Critical Period Hypothesis is misleading, since thereis a vast amount of variation in the way in which thecritical period for language acquisition is understood –affecting all the parameters deemed to be theoreticallysignificant and indeed also relating to the ways in whichthe purported critical period is interpreted in terms ofits implications for L2 instruction. The paper concludesthat the very fact that there are such diverse andcompeting versions of the Critical Period Hypothesisof itself undermines its plausibility.


06–690 STOWE, LAURIE A. (RijksuniversiteitGroningen) & LAURA SABOURIN, Imaging the

processing of a second language: Effects of

maturation and proficiency on the neural

processes involved. International Review ofApplied Linguistics in Language Teaching (Walterde Gruyter) 43.4 (2005), 329–353.doi:10.1515/iral.2005.43.4.329

In this paper we discuss recent neuroimaging evidenceon three issues: (1) whether the same ‘language’ areasare used to process a second language (L2) as the firstlanguage (L1) (2) the extent to which this depends onage of acquisition and (3) to the extent that the sameareas of the brain are used, are they used in the sameway? The results examined here are in general consistent

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Language learning ■with the hypothesis that the same areas of the brain are ingeneral used for both languages, even for relatively lowproficiency speakers. On the other hand, it appears thatthese areas are not necessarily employed as efficiently inL2, even for languages learned early in life. This mayshow up as a shift to the overuse of one part of the L1processing system and an underuse of another.


06–691 TATAR, SIBEL (Bogazici U, Turkey), Why

keep silent? The Classroom participation

experiences of non-native-English-speaking

students. Language and InternationalCommunication (Multilingual Matters) 5.3&4(2005), 284–293.

The purpose of this study is to explore silence as a meansof communication through the perceptions of non-native-English-speaking graduate students studying atUS academic institutions. Beyond issues related toculture and language, there may be other reasons toexplain the silence of students.


06–692 TOTH, PAUL D. (U Wisconsin-Madison,USA; [email protected]), Processing instruction

and a role for output in second language

acquisition. Language Learning (Blackwell) 56.2(2006), 319–385.doi:10.1111/j.0023-8333.2006.00349.x

This study addresses the role of output in secondlanguage (L2) acquisition by comparing processinginstruction (PI) to communicative output (CO) tasks.Participants included 80 English-speaking adults fromsix university course sections of beginning L2 Spanish,with two assigned to each treatment (PI = 27; CO =28) and two others comprising a control group (n =25). Instruction lasted seven days and targeted theanticausative clitic se. One lesson was videotapedand transcribed in each treatment group. Results ongrammaticality judgment and guided production tasksadministered before, immediately after, and 24 daysfollowing instruction indicated similar grammaticalityjudgment improvements, but more frequent uses ofse by CO learners on guided production. Transcriptdata suggest a role for output in acquisition involvingattention to, and metalinguistic analyses of, L2 structure.


06–693 TSENG, WEN-TA, ZOLTAN DORNYEI &

NORBERT SCHMITT (U Nottingham, UK), A new

approach to assessing strategic learning: The

case of self-regulation in vocabulary

acquisition. Applied Liguistics (Oxford UniversityPress) 27.1 (2006), 78–102.doi:10.1093/applin/ami046

This article draws on work done in educationalpsychology to propose a new approach to generatinga psychometrically-based measure of second language

learners’ strategic learning, operationalized as theirself-regulatory capacity, as an alternative to the scalestraditionally used to quantify language learning strategyuse. The self-regulation instrument was developedthrough a three-phase process, focusing on the realmof vocabulary learning. The first phase involved thegeneration of an item pool, the second a pilot studyin a sizeable sample, and the third an evaluation ofthe psychometric properties of the revised instrument,using confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis.The results show that the proposed instrument hassatisfactory psychometric characteristics and that thehypothesized theoretical model had a good fit withthe data. We argue that the results provide evidencefor the validity of transferring the theoretical constructof self-regulation from educational psychology to thearea of second language acquisition. We also proposethat instruments targeting learner self-regulation in asimilar way to the questionnaire presented in this studycan provide a more psychometrically sound measureof strategic learning than traditional language learningstrategy scales.


06–694 TSUDA, SANAE (Tokai Gakuen U, Japan),Japan’s experience of language contact: A case

study of RADIO-i, a multilingual radio station in

Nagoya. Language and InternationalCommunication (Multilingual Matters) 5.3&4(2005), 248–263.

Language contact is traditionally associated withlanguage communities having a long and closeassociation with a second language – through an existingofficial language, or extensive use of the languagespoken by past colonial rulers, or both. Japan neitherfalls directly into these categories, nor is it considereda country with a strong bilingual tradition. Despite itsimage as monolingual, it has several foreign languageradio stations. This paper puts language contact inJapan in context, describes its historical backgroundand illustrates its peculiar features. Then it isolates therationale for the existence of a multilingual radio station,RADIO-i, and examines why its listeners prefer it to amonolingual alternative.


06–695 USO-JUAN, ESTHER (U Jaume I, Castello,Spain; [email protected]), The compensatory

nature of discipline-related knowledge and

English-language proficiency in reading English

for academic purposes. The Modern LanguageJournal (Blackwell) 90.2 (2006) 210–227.doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2006.00393.x

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to estimatethe contribution of discipline-related knowledge andEnglish-language proficiency to reading comprehensionin English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and, second,to specify the levels at which the compensatory effect

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■ Language learningbetween the two variables takes place for successful EAPreading. The participants in the study were 380 nativeSpanish-speaking undergraduates who exhibited a widerange of proficiency in English as a foreign language andknowledge of the topics being tested. Scores for thethree-criterion variables (discipline-related knowledge,English proficiency level, and academic reading) weresubjected to 6 multiple regression analyses. The resultsindicated that English proficiency accounted for arange varying between 58% and 68% of EAP reading,whereas discipline-related knowledge accounted for arange varying between 21% and 31%. The exact levelsat which the compensatory effect between the twovariables takes place for successful academic reading areprovided, and pedagogical implications are suggested.


06–696 VAN BOXTEL, SONJA, THEO BONGAERTS &

PETER-ARNO COPPEN, Native-like attainment of

dummy subjects in Dutch and the role of the L1.International Review of Applied Linguistics inLanguage Teaching (Walter de Gruyter) 43.4 (2005),355–380.doi:10.1515/iral.2005.43.4.380

In this study, we test the prediction, derived fromthe Critical Period Hypothesis, that a native levelin L2 grammar cannot be attained by learners whostart acquiring a second language after childhood. Weselected 43 very advanced late learners of Dutch (nativespeakers of German, French and Turkish) and comparedtheir performance on a grammar test with that of44 native speakers of Dutch. The test consisted of anelicited imitation task and a sentence preference task. Inthese tasks, participants were tested on their knowledgeof dummy subject constructions. These constructiontypes are known to be very hard to acquire for L2-learners of Dutch and are hardly covered in Dutchgrammars or L2 Dutch textbooks. The results showthat it is possible to attain a native level of proficiencyfor learners who start acquiring an L2 after puberty,even for learners with a typologically distant L1.


06–697 VETTER, ANNA & THIERRY CHANNIER

(U de Franche-Comte, France;[email protected]), Supporting oral

production for professional purposes in

synchronous communication with

heterogenous learners. ReCALL (CambridgeUniversity Press) 18.1, (2006), 5–23.doi:10.1017/S0958344006000218

During the last decade, most research studies haveanalysed online synchronous interactions in writtenmode (textchat), highlighting the benefits of chattingfor the development of learners’ oral proficiency. Theenvironment used in our experiment is multimodal andbased on a synchronous audio conference. Analyzinginteractions in such an environment is rather new

in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL).This study is related to false-beginners in an Englishfor Specific Purposes (ESP) course, presenting a highdegree of heterogeneity in their proficiency levels. Weuse two approaches. One is quantitative and involveslearners’ participation in audio and textchat. Theother is qualitative and relates to the complexity ofprofessional discourse. Firstly, we provide a methodthat accurately measures oral participation in the twomodes. Then, within this framework, we report thatheterogeneous linguistic levels do not constrain learners’oral participation, outlining the equalizing role played inthis instance by the textchat. Moreover, this type of en-vironment supports oral production by false-beginnerswho have over a period of years become unaccustomedto learning and speaking in a foreign language, and leadsthem to regain self-confidence. The qualitative part ofour study shows that false-beginners can cope with pro-fessional conversations at different levels of complexity.


06–698 VICKERS, CAROLINE & ENE, ESTELA

(California State U, USA; [email protected]),Grammatical accuracy and learner autonomy in

advanced writing. ELT Journal (Oxford UniversityPress) 60.2 (2006), 109–116.doi:10.1093/elt/cci097

This paper aims to explore advanced ESL learners’ability to make improvements in grammatical accuracyby autonomously noticing and correcting their owngrammatical errors. In the recent literature in SLA,it is suggested that classroom tasks can be used tofoster autonomous language learning habits (cf. Dam2001). Therefore, it is important to consider classroomtasks that encourage autonomous language learningbehaviour. Working with 13 advanced ESL compositionstudents, we engaged the subjects in an explicit taskin which they compared their own use of grammaticalform in their own written output to the use of grammat-ical form as used in a text written by a native speaker.Based on the comparison between their own writtenoutput and the native speaker text, subjects subsequentlycorrected their grammatical errors. Results suggest thatsuch a comparison task is beneficial in allowing learnersto make gains in grammatical accuracy.


06–699 VINE, ELAINE W. (Victoria U Wellington,New Zealand), ‘Hospital’: A five-year-old Samoan

boy’s access to learning curriculum content in

his New Zealand classroom. Language andEducation (Mutilingual Matters) 20.2 (2006),232–254.

Previous research suggests that young ESOL (English forSpeakers of Other Languages) learners in mainstreamEnglish-medium classrooms are afforded limitedopportunities to engage with curriculum content.This paper reports on a study of a five-year-old

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Reading & writing ■boy from Samoa who was just beginning to learnEnglish in a mainstream New Zealand classroom.Interactions between the boy and his teacher andEnglish-speaking peers are analysed for evidence thathe was learning ‘hospital’, a central concept in asocial studies curriculum unit. The analysis shows that,while this was a language- and resource-rich classroom,affordances of ‘hospital’ were not consistently accessibleto the boy. He did begin to attend to the word ‘hospital’,but there is little evidence that he engaged with theconcept. However, noticing the word is a step towardslearning its meaning, and it was in interactions with histeacher that he attended to the word, not in interactionswith his peers.


06–700 WANG, YUPING (Griffith U, Queensland,Australia. [email protected]), Negotiation of

meaning in desktop videoconferencing-

supported distance language learning. ReCALL(Cambridge University Press) 18.1 (2006), 122–145.doi:10.1017/S0958344006000814

The aim of this research is to reveal thedynamics of focus on form in task completion viavideoconferencing. This examination draws on currentsecond language learning theories regarding effectivelanguage acquisition, research in Computer MediatedCommunication (CMC) and empirical data from anevaluation of desktop videoconferencing-supported taskcompletion by distance learners of Chinese. Occasionsof focus on form that occurred in this learningenvironment are explored using the Varonis and Gassmodel (1985) for negotiation of meaning. Initialfindings indicate that videoconferencing-supportednegotiation of meaning may facilitate second languageacquisition at a distance and has its own distinctfeatures. Issues for future research in the employmentof videoconferencing for L2 learning at a distance aresuggested.


Reading & writingdoi:10.1017/S0261444806233858

06–701 BOON, ANDREW (Toyo Gakuen U, Japan;bromleycross@ hotmail.com), The search for

irony: A textual analysis of the lyrics of ‘Ironic’

by Alanis Morissette. The Reading Matrix(Readingmatrix.com) 5.2 (2005), 129–142.

This article provides a textual analysis of the lyricsof ‘Ironic’ by Alanis Morissette (1995) to determinehow a reader utilizes the linguistic devices within thelyrics while activating and employing schemata to makeinferences and achieve a coherent understanding of thetext-as-presented. It examines the relationship betweencohesion and coherence in each section of ‘Ironic’

and includes think-aloud data collected from groups ofstudents who were asked to read and process the songlyrics and discuss the ‘irony’ in them. Findings fromboth the author’s analysis and student data suggest thatthe irony in ‘Ironic’ is located in the reader and not inthe text itself. The article concludes by linking the roleof schema theory to implications for reading instructionand comprehension.http://www.readingmatrix.com/journal.html

06–702 BRANTMEIR, CINDY (Washington U, USA;[email protected]), The effects of language

of assessment and L2 reading performance on

advanced readers’ recall. The Reading Matrix(Readingmatrix.com) 6.1 (2006), 1–17.

The extent to which L2 reading comprehension ofadvanced language learners is a function of languageof recall task and/or former L2 reading performancehas yet to be investigated. The present study examineshow much variance in L2 comprehension, measured viawritten recall, is accounted for by the condition (L1 orL2) of assessment under which it is administered. It alsoconsiders prior L2 reading achievement as a predictorof comprehension with advanced learners. Participantswere 106 learners enrolled in Academic Spanish at theuniversity. Initial results indicate that overall language ofrecall does not matter with learners from advanced levelsof language instruction. Language of recall accountsfor only 3% of variance in written recall. However,when advanced learners are further analyzed accordingto prior L2 reading achievement instead of level ofinstruction, there are significant differences in thequantity recalled by language. Readers recall better intheir native language when L2 reading achievement istaken into account, with learners of lower L2 readingachievement performing better on L1 recalls than L2recalls. Prior L2 reading performance accounts for28% of variance in L2 written recall. This positiverelationship holds important implications for research,and it may suggest that, with learners from advancedlevels of language instruction, researchers should assessreading achievement before making a decision aboutlanguage of assessment for comprehension.

06–703 BROOKS, WANDA (Temple U, Philadelphia,USA), Reading representations of themselves:

Urban youth use culture and African American

textual features to develop literary

understandings. Reading Research Quarterly(International Reading Association) 41.3 (2006),372–392.doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.3.4

This article describes a qualitative research study thatexplored how a middle school case-study class read andresponded to ‘culturally conscious’ African Americanchildren’s books (Sims 1982: 49). Literary analysesconducted mainly by Sims (1982) and Harris (1995)were first used to identify African American textualfeatures contained in three African American children’s

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■ Reading & writingbooks. Second, using several theories from readerresponse criticism, the author inductively examinedhow the study participants read and responded to thetextual features identified. Data included 18 audio-tapedliterature discussions, observational field notes, and 270written artifacts. The study provides two core findings:(1) recurring cultural themes, African American lingu-istic patterns, and ethnic group practices are identifiableAfrican American textual features; and (2) participantsactively use cultural knowledge, experiences, andAfrican American textual features to develop literaryunderstandings. These findings suggest that culturallyinfluenced textual features have the potential to becomeimportant pedagogical tools for literacy instruction.http://www.reading.org

06–704 BURNS, EILA (Jyvaskyla U of AppliedSciences, Finland; [email protected]), Pause,

prompt and praise – Peer tutored reading for

pupils with learning difficulties. British Journal ofSpecial Education (Blackwell) 33.2 (2006), 62–67.doi:10.1111/j.1467-8578.2006.00416.x

The project described here aimed to assess theeffectiveness of peer tutoring and the advantages of thestructured ‘pause, prompt and praise’ reading method inimproving reading skills among pupils working in KeyStage 4. Action research was undertaken in a Britishsecondary level special school catering for pupils withmoderate learning difficulties (MLD) in order to explorethe benefits of establishing such interventions withinspecial school environment. The pause, prompt andpraise reading sessions were conducted at the beginningof lessons, employing same-age peer tutors and usingsubject-based texts. The findings reveal that, after a slowstart, the tutees’ rates of self-correction began to rise,indicating improvements in reading skills. The tutors’skills developed, as did the teachers’ and confidencein the tutors, suggesting benefits for all involved in thepeer tutoring process. There were interesting differencesbetween outcomes for the different tutor-tutee pairingsin her work. The implications of this study are veryencouraging for practitioners considering the use ofpeer tutoring in their own environments.http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/jnl_default.asp

06–705 CARLISLE, JOANNE F. & C. ADDISON STONE,Exploring the role of morphemes in word

reading. Reading Research Quarterly (InternationalReading Association) 40.4 (2005), 428–449.doi:10.1598/RRQ.40.4.3

Two studies were designed to investigate the role ofmorphemic structure on students’ word reading. Thefirst study asked whether familiar morphemes in wordsfacilitate word reading for elementary students. Resultsshowed that lower and upper elementary students readwords with two morphemes (derived words with abase word and one suffix, such as shady) faster thanwords with one morpheme (e.g. lady). The second study

was designed to investigate the effects of phonologicaltransparency on middle and high school students’reading of derived words. Results showed that phono-logically transparent words, words in which a base formis intact in the pronunciation of the derived word (e.g.classic in classical), were recognized and read faster thanderived words that are less phonologically transparent(e.g. colonial), pinpointing an aspect of morphemicstructure that affects reading derived words. The resultsindicate that reading derived words is not accomplishedsolely by familiarity with letter-sound associations orsyllables; morphemes also play a role. Results alsosuggest value in emphasizing morphemic structure inmodels of word-reading acquisition.http://www.reading.org

06–706 CHO, KWANGSU, CHRISTIAN D. SCHUNN

(U Pittsburgh, PA, USA) & DAVIDA CHARNEY,Commenting on writing: Typology and

perceived helpfulness of comments from novice

peer reviewers and subject matter experts.

Written Communication (Sage) 23.3 (2006),260–294.doi:10.1177/0741088306289261

How do comments on student writing from peerscompare to those from subject-matter experts? Thisstudy examined the types of comments that reviewersproduce as well as their perceived helpfulness. Com-ments on classmates’ papers were collected fromtwo undergraduate and one graduate-level psychologycourse. The undergraduate papers in one of the courseswere also commented on by an independent psychologyinstructor experienced in providing feedback to stu-dents on similar writing tasks. The comments producedby students at both levels were shorter than the in-structor’s. The instructor’s comments were predomin-antly directive and rarely summative. The undergraduatepeers’ comments were more mixed in type; directiveand praise comments were the most frequent. Con-sistently, undergraduate peers found directive and praisecomments helpful. The helpfulness of the directivecomments was also endorsed by a writing expert.http://wcx.sagepub.com

06–707 CUNNINGHAM, JAMES W. (U North Carolinaat Chapel Hill, USA), STEPHANIE A. SPADORCIA,

KAREN A. ERICKSON, DAVID A. KOPPENHAVER, JANET

M. STURM & DAVID E. YODER, Investigating the

instructional supportiveness of leveled texts.Reading Research Quarterly (International ReadingAssociation) 40.4 (2005), 410–427.doi:10.1598/RRQ.40.4.2

Leveled books originally selected by or produced foruse in Reading Recovery or its regular classroominitiative are now also widely used in regular andspecial classrooms having no affiliation with ReadingRecovery. The frequent use of these leveled booksin settings other than Reading Recovery raises an

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Reading & writing ■important question: Do books leveled for use in Read-ing Recovery support other reading instructional em-phases in addition to the ones that Reading Recoveryteachers are trained to provide? The purpose of thisstudy was to examine the curricular dimensions ofbooks leveled for use in Reading Recovery in orderto judge how supportive such texts are for early readinginstruction emphasizing word recognition or decodinginstead of, or in addition to, the three main cueingsystems. The study found that Reading Recoverybooks, as a category of early reading instructional texts,provide only a moderate amount of support for word-recognition instruction and almost none for decodinginstruction in the use of onsets and rimes. The study alsofound that books leveled for use in Reading Recoverydo not consistently increase in word-level demands astheir levels increase.http://www.reading.org

06–708 DEVOSS, DANIELLE NICOLE & JAMES E.

PORTER (Michigan State U, USA), Why Napster

matters to writing: Filesharing as a new ethic of

digital delivery. Computers and Composition(Elsevier) 23.1 (2006), 178–210.doi:org/10.1016/j.compcom.2006.02.001

This article discusses the Napster phenomenon andits cultural significance, traces some of the threadsof the current ‘copyright crisis’, and connects thesecultural and legal dynamics to show how the currentfilesharing context of digital environments pertains toissues affecting writing teachers. The article (1) urgeswriting teachers to view the Napster moment – andthe writing practice at the center of it, filesharing – interms of the rhetorical and economic dynamics of digitalpublishing and in the context of public battles aboutcopyright and intellectual property and (2) argues thatdigital filesharing forms the basis for an emergent ethicof digital delivery, an ethic that should lead compositionteachers to rethink pedagogical approaches and to reviseplagiarism policies to recognize the value of filesharingand to acknowledge Fair Use as an ethic for digitalcomposition.http://www.elsevier.com

06–709 GHAHREMANI-GHAJAR, SUE-SAN (Al-ZahraU, Iran) & SEYYED ABDOLHAMID MIRHOSSEINI, English

class or speaking about everything class?

Dialogue journal writing as a critical EFL literacy

practice in an Iranian high school. Language,Culture and Curriculum (Multilingual Matters) 18.3(2005), 286–299.

This qualitative study, employing an ethnographicresearch method, investigates how dialogue journalwriting, which allows teachers and learners to engage in’written conversation’, may provide an opportunity tobring critical pedagogy and foreign language educationtogether in a productive way in the context of a criticalliteracy practice. The data consisted of informal writteninterviews and more than 600 journal entries written

by 30 16-year-old high school students in Tehran. Theresults were qualitatively analysed in search of themesrelevant to empowerment as a critical educational valueand critical writing as a critical literacy practice.The study revealed that writing dialogue journals asa language education activity in EFL pedagogy mayempower learners and provide them with opportunitiesto express their ‘voice’. It further revealed that dialoguejournal writing led to gains in critical self-reflective EFLwriting ability.http://www.multilingual-matters.net/lcc/default.htm

06–710 HUNTER, DARRYL (U British Columbia,Canada; [email protected]), CHARLES

MAYENGA & TREVOR GAMBELL, Classroom

assessment tools and uses: Canadian English

teachers’ practices for writing. Assessing Writing(Elsevier) 11.1 (2006), 42–65.doi:10.1016/j.asw.2005.12.002

Classroom assessment of writing is considered froman anthropological perspective as practitioners’ tooluse. Pan Canadian data from a 2002 English teacherquestionnaire (N = 4070) about self-reported assess-ment practices were analyzed in terms of tool choiceand use by secondary teachers of different experienceand qualification levels. Four underlying variables wereidentified in their choice of assessment tools: whetheraffective traits such as attendance, effort, motivation orparticipation were factors; whether self-assessment andpeer evaluation were considered; whether portfolios orexamples of student work were variables in gradingpractices; and whether multiple choice or short responsetasks were chosen. In terms of tool use, the three salientvariables were: the nature of the feedback cycle withstudents; whether homework contributed to grades; andwhether homework served in large group instruction.A number of significant differences by career stage andcredential level were revealed in assessment instrumentchoice and use. Implications for teacher pre-service andin-service professional development are outlined.http://www.elsevier.com

06–711 JARRATT, SUSAN C., ELIZABETH LOSH &

DAVID PUENTE (U California at Irvine, USA),Transnational identifications: Biliterate writers

in a first-year humanities course. Journal ofSecond Language Writing (Elsevier) 15.1 (2006),24–48.doi:org/10.1016/j.jslw.2006.01.001

This essay presents the results of a study of first-year students in a California University who reportcompetence as speakers and writers of a languageother than English. The data collected for the studyinclude a language questionnaire administered to over athousand students and, from a smaller sample, responsesto focus group interviews, a research paper written at theculmination of a year-long writing-intensive humanitiescourse, and reflections on that paper drawn from a

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■ Reading & writingwriter’s memo. To establish a theoretical context, theauthors review the founding assumptions of contrastiverhetoric as well as recent critiques of CR, arriving ata framework for analysis based in transnational culturaltheory. Drawing from the data, they sketch profiles ofstudents with home languages of Mandarin Chinese,Vietnamese, and Spanish, finding that the students’transnational linguistic experiences and identificationsinform in complex and significant ways their researchand writing strategies, as well as their future educationalgoals.http://www.elsevier.com

06–712 JOCSON, KORINA M. (Stanford U, USA),‘Bob Dylan and Hip Hop’: Intersecting literacy

practices in youth poetry communities. WrittenCommunication (Sage) 23.3 (2006), 231–259.doi:10.1177/0741088306288154

This article builds upon the concept of hybridity toaffirm the relevance of poetry, music, and other formsof popular culture in the lives of urban youth. Itsfocus examines the blending of seemingly disparateforms to understand how young people, in particularyoung people of color, negotiate their multi-layeredsocial worlds. One of these worlds is that of Antonio’s,a 17-year old African American male, whose interestand practice of creating poetry within and outside ofclassrooms offers a lens into a growing community ofyouth poets in U.S. cities. An analysis of Antonio’s casesuggests how intersecting literacy practices served asviable building blocks for realizing and expanding hisability to write. Central to the argument is the notionof hybrid literacy learning and why it is important torecognize youth’s cultural and literacy practices thatboth excite and engage them while continuing todevelop their reading, writing, and other communicat-ive skills.http://wcx.sagepub.com

06–713 JONES, RODNEY H., ANGEL GARRALDA,

DAVID C. S. LI & GRAHAM LOCK (City U Hong Kong,China), Interactional dynamics in on-line and

face-to-face peer-tutoring sessions

for second language writers. Journal of SecondLanguage Writing (Elsevier) 15.1 (2006), 1–23.doi:org/10.1016/j.jslw.2005.12.001

This paper reports the results of a study comparingthe interactional dynamics of face-to-face and on-line peer-tutoring in writing by university studentsin Hong Kong. Transcripts of face-to-face tutoringsessions, as well as logs of on-line sessions conducted bythe same peer-tutors, were coded for speech functionsusing a system based on Halliday’s functional-semanticview of dialogue. Results show considerable differencesbetween the interactional dynamics in on-line andface-to-face tutoring sessions. In particular, face-to-face interactions involved more hierarchal encountersin which tutors took control of the discourse, whereas

on-line interactions were more egalitarian, with clientscontrolling the discourse more. Differences were alsofound in the topics participants chose to focus on inthe two modes, with issues of grammar, vocabulary,and style taking precedence in face-to-face sessions andmore ‘global’ writing concerns like content and processbeing discussed more in on-line sessions.http://www.elsevier.com

06–714 KRUSE, OTTO (Zurich U of AppliedSciences, Winterthur, Switzerland), The origins of

writing in the disciplines: Traditions of seminar

writing and the Humboldtian ideal of the

research university. Written Communication(Sage) 23.3 (2006), 331–352.doi:10.1177/0741088306289259

The introduction of seminars to university teachingmarks the onset of a new teaching philosophy andpractice in which writing is used to make studentsindependent learners and researchers. Although thebeginnings of writing pedagogy at American universit-ies are well documented, little is known about its originsin Germany. The article tracks the history of seminarteaching back to its roots and reviews its historicaldevelopment from the very beginnings to the pointwhen seminars became the pedagogical flagship ofthe Humboldtian research university. Twenty seminarregulations from Prussian universities, written between1812 and 1839, are reviewed with respect to theprescriptions they contain about writing. They revealthat a writing-to-learn pedagogy was elaborated as earlyas about 1820. The most important claim of the articleis that an early concept of writing in the disciplines wascentral to the development of the Humboldtian researchuniversity.http://wcx.sagepub.com

06–715 LI, JIANG ([email protected]), The

mediation of technology in ESL writing and its

implications for writing assessment. AssessingWriting (Elsevier) 11.1 (2006), 5–21.doi:10.1016/j.asw.2005.09.001

The present study investigated the influence of wordprocessing on the writing of students of English asa second language (ESL) and on writing assessmentas well. Twenty-one adult Mandarin-Chinese speakerswith advanced English proficiency living in Torontoparticipated in the study. Each participant wrote twocomparable writing tasks under exam-type conditions –one on a Macintosh computer that traced and recordedtheir writing and revision processes and the otherwritten with pen. Think-aloud protocols were alsorecorded. It was found that participants paid moreattention to higher order thinking activities whileevaluating their written texts in the computer session,that they revised significantly more at most levelson the computer, and that their computer-generatedessays received higher scores in argumentation than the

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Reading & writing ■hand-written ones, suggesting that educators shouldseriously consider the impact of computers on writingassessment.http://www.elsevier.com

06–716 LUNSFORD, ANDREA A. (Stanford U, USA),Writing, technologies, and the fifth canon.Computers and Composition (Elsevier) 23.1 (2006),169–177.doi:org/10.1016/j.compcom.2006.02.002

Andrea Lunsford’s keynote address to the 2005 Com-puters and Writing Conference at Stanford University,Palo Alto, California, expands the definition of writingto include epistemic, multivocal, multimodal, andmultimediated practices in the computers and writingclassroom. The article describes the development andpiloting of a new undergraduate course in Stanford’sProgram in Writing and Rhetoric that applies theseconcepts to the undergraduate composition process.The address closes with a challenge to create classroomexperiences that allow students to compose in ‘the mostcompelling discursive modalities of their generation’.http://www.elsevier.com

06–717 MARSH, JACKIE (U Sheffield, UK), Popular

culture in the literacy curriculum: A Bourdieuan

analysis. Reading Research Quarterly (InternationalReading Association) 41.2 (2006), 160–174.doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.2.1

This article discusses data arising from a longitudinalstudy of the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences ofpre-service teachers regarding the use of popularculture in the primary literacy curriculum in England.Eighteen students took part in a series of interviewsthroughout their three-year initial teacher educationcourse. Data were inductively coded. The responsesof three students are analyzed using a number of thetheoretical concepts developed by Bourdieu in order toexplore how students’ agency was limited in relation totheir use of popular cultural texts. Findings indicatethat consideration needs to be given to the way inwhich habitus, capital, and field interrelate if pre-serviceteachers’ decision-making processes with regard to thecurriculum are to be understood, rather than examiningany or all of these concepts in isolation. In addition,challenges to dominant practices can occur when thereis tension between habitus and field. It is suggestedthat pre-service teachers need opportunities to explorethe relationship between structure and agency if theyare to understand the limitations on their practice andchallenge traditional models of the literacy curriculum.Implications for teacher education and future researchare addressed.http://www.reading.org

06–718 MARTIN, DEB (Rowan U, USA;[email protected]) & DIANE PENROD, Coming to

know criteria: The value of an evaluating writing

course for undergraduates. Assessing Writing(Elsevier) 11.1 (2006), 66–73.doi:10.1016/j.asw.2006.01.002

In this article, the authors argue that evaluation coursesgrounded in assessment theory and situated within acultural context of actual workplace practices enhancesstudent learning. Giving students the tools that assessors,both formal and informal, use helps them learn toanticipate and generate those tools for writing situationsthey will encounter in the future. The authors detailthe development, structure, activities, and outcomes ofan evaluating writing course at the undergraduate levelto illustrate their assertion. Theories and concepts thatguide and support the course’s ongoing developmentare also presented. Benefits of the course, demonstratedthrough various sources including surveys, courseevaluations, and student achievement on assignments,are identified. Achieved outcomes support the claimthat a course with an explicit focus on evaluatingwriting, one featuring a critical understanding ofcriteria for writing in diverse contexts, fosters students’own development as writers.http://www.elsevier.com

06–719 MCINTYRE, ELLEN, DIANE W. KYLE

(U Louisville, USA) & GAYLE H. MOORE, A

primary-grade teacher’s guidance toward

small-group dialogue. Reading ResearchQuarterly (International Reading Association) 41.1(2006), 36–66.doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.1.2

The purpose of this study was to describe how oneprimary teacher of poor and working class rural studentspromoted small-group dialogue about books and liter-ary concepts. A videotaped four-day lesson sequenceshowed how she guided the students from the beginningof a lesson in ways that later led to dialogue. Interactionsof teacher-student talk during the sequence thatinvolved reading, talking about, and responding tomysteries were analyzed and coded to show ‘indicators’of instructional conversation outlined by Dalton (1997).Other features of dialogue derived from theory, suchas use of encouragement and pace for purposes ofincreasing thinking, called ‘democratic supports’ here,such as providing opportunities for student decisionmaking, were coded. Findings, contributing to thefield’s growing literature on classroom dialogue inprimary-grade classrooms, show: (1) teacher-frontedtalk and true dialogue are not mutually exclusive; theformer can be used to achieve the other, with teacher-fronted discourse emphasizing telling, defining, andmodelling; (2) additional instructional patterns, such asnon-evaluative responses, encouragement rather thanpraise, examples and suggestions, and linguistic andparalinguistic cues such as pacing of talk and handgestures, all appeared to assist students’ participation.Finally, this study confirms that classroom culture,characterized by a problem-solving environment,student decision making, student choice, collaborative

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■ Reading & writingwork, and product-driven work, affects students’participation and subsequent construction of meaningduring small-group dialogue.http://www.reading.org

06–720 MCQUILLAN, JEFF (Center for EducationalDevelopment, USA; [email protected]),The effects of print access and print exposure

on English vocabulary acquisition of language

minority students. The Reading Matrix(Readingmatrix.com) 6.1 (2006), 41–51.

This study examines the relationship among accessto reading materials, print exposure, and vocabularyacquisition among language minority (LM) students inthe United States. Access to print, print exposure andEnglish vocabulary knowledge were measured throughthe use of surveys and signal-detection checklists with agroup of Spanish/English bilingual high school students(N = 133). Results indicated that LM students hadsignificantly less access to reading materials than theirEnglish-only peers. Print exposure and print accesswere both found to be related to English vocabularyknowledge, although there appears to be a ‘threshold’effect below which variations in print access have lessof an impact on differences in vocabulary knowledge.http://www.readingmatrix.com/journal.html

06–721 NEUMAN, SUSAN B. (U Michigan, USA) &

DONNA CELANO, The knowledge gap: Implications

of leveling the playing field for low-income and

middle-income children. Reading ResearchQuarterly (International Reading Association), 41.2(2006), 176–201.doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.2.2

This study examines children’s uses of reading resourcesin neighborhood public libraries that have been trans-formed to ‘level the playing field’. Through foundationfunding (US$20 million), the public library system ofPhiladelphia converted neighborhood branch librariesinto a technologized modern urban library system,hoping to improve the lives of disadvantaged childrenand their families by closing the achievement gap. Usinga mosaic of ethnographic methodologies, four studiesexamined children’s uses of library resources in low-income and middle-income neighborhood libraries,prior to renovations and technology, right after, andonce the novelty had worn off a year later, for pre-schoolers, elementary, and teens. Results indicatedthat despite heavy library use across low-income andmiddle-income children, quality differentials in theway resources were used appeared at all age levels,prior to, immediately after, and stronger still followingtechnology renovations. Taken together, these studiessuggest equal resources to economically unequal groupsdid not level the playing field. Instead, it appeared towiden the knowledge gap between low-income andmiddle-income children.http://www.reading.org

06–722 O’SULLIVAN, IDE & ANGELA CHAMBERS

(U Limerick, Ireland), Learners’ writing skills in

French: Corpus consultation and learner

evaluation. Journal of Second Language Writing(Elsevier) 15.1 (2006), 49–68.doi:org/10.1016/j.jslw.2006.01.002

While the use of corpora and concordancing in thelanguage-learning environment began as early as 1969(McEnery & Wilson 1997: 12), it was the work in the1980s of Tim Johns (1986) and others which brought itto public attention. Important developments occurredin the 1990s, beginning with publications advocatingthe use of corpora and concordancing in languageteaching (Tribble & Jones 1990). The first empiricalstudy of learners’ consultation of corpus printouts(Stevens 1991) was followed by studies of direct corpusconsultation (Cobb 1997), and more recently by studiesof learners’ actual use of corpora in L2 writing(Gaskell & Cobb 2004; Yoon & Hirvela 2004). Thisstudy presents the second phase of a research projectat the University of Limerick involving native speakersof English at both the masters and undergraduate levelwho are given the opportunity to engage in corpusconsultation in order to improve their writing skills inFrench (see Chambers & O’Sullivan 2004 for the firstphase of this study). The aim is to investigate what typeof changes they tend to make, to evaluate how effect-ively they complete this task, and to determine theirreactions to this process. This is done with a viewto discovering what similarities and differences existbetween the two groups of learners in relation to theiruse of the corpus and their reaction to the process.http://www.elsevier.com

06–723 PINO-SILVA, JUAN (U Simon Bolivar,Venezuela; [email protected]), Extensive reading

through the internet: Is it worth the while? TheReading Matrix (Readingmatrix.com) 6.1 (2006),85–96.

Reading materials written in English is the prime goalof many reading programs around the world. Extensivereading (ER) has for years aided new students at myinstitution to gradually acquire large vocabularies andother sub-skills that are needed to read fluently. Tocontinue to do that effectively, a new scheme involvingthe use of internet – called w-ERP – was set in place incollaboration with the students. The main focus of thisarticle is to describe the 3-phase, gradual process thatled to the current design of the web-based ER scheme.The paper begins with a brief discussion of ER, readingonline (RO) and self-directed learning as part of therationale for the new scheme. Participants’ preliminarydata on the benefits and potentials for learning to readand reading for learning other things are discussed.

06–724 ROGERS, THERESA (U British Columbia,Canada) ELIZABETH MARSHALL & CYNTHIA A. TYSON,Dialogic narratives of literacy, teaching, and

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Reading & writing ■schooling: Preparing literacy teachers for

diverse settings. Reading Research Quarterly(International Reading Association) 41.2 (2006)202–224.doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.2.3

This study focuses on the ‘dialogic narratives’ (Bakhtin1981, 1986) of selected pre-service teachers withinan innovative teacher education program in theMidwestern U.S. that included community-basedinternships. In particular, it examines how these studentsauthor their identities as literacy teachers within thecontext of a mediated seminar setting. Drawing onBakhtin’s theory of discourse, the authors analyzedstudents’ dialogic narratives as a way to understandthe construction of their professional identities withinparticular discursive moments. The analyses illustratehow the students negotiated authoritative and internallypersuasive discourses as they authored their ownnarratives, revealing the complexity of preparingteachers to become flexible cultural practitioners indiverse settings. It is argued that immersing students incommunity based environments and providing spacesfor dialogue offer promising strategies for complicatingand deepening pre-service teachers’ understandings of,and approaches to, language and literacy education inrelation to issues of cultural diversity and social justice.http://www.reading.org

06–725 SCOTT, TONY (U North Carolina, USA),Writing work, technology, and pedagogy in the

era of late capitalism. Computers andComposition (Elsevier) 23. 1 (2006), 228–243.doi:org/10.1016/j.compcom.2005.08.008

This article explores the relationship between howtechnologies are presented in professional and technicalwriting classes and the complicated dynamics of the late-capitalist working world. A growing body of scholarshipemphasizes the necessity of including critical theoryin well-rounded professional and technical writingcurriculums. Some promote theory as a means of help-ing working writers make more ethically and sociallyconscious decisions concerning the technologies theyhelp to produce and document. Others promote theoryas essential for survival in an ever-evolving, sometimesvery harsh, technology-driven marketplace. This articlepoints to some of the weaknesses of both approaches,as it advocates an approach to pedagogy that exploreshow emerging technologies help to establish the termsof work in the contemporary economy. This pedagogyis intended to unflinchingly examine the more cynicalaspects of late capitalism as it locates agency incollective action outside of managerialism and corporateframeworks.http://www.elsevier.com

06–726 TIAN, SHIAUPING (National Taiwan U ofScience and Technology, Taiwan;[email protected].), Passage dependency

of reading comprehension items in the GEPT

and the TOEFL. The Reading Matrix(Readingmatrix.com) 6.1 (2006), 66–84.

This study investigates the passage dependency ofselected reading comprehension items from the GEPT(General English Proficiency Test) and the TOEFL(Test of English as a Foreign Language) and examinesstudents’ responses to items with extremely low passagedependency. Thirty-seven reading comprehensionitems selected from the two tests were administeredto a group of ninety-three university students in bothpassage-out and passage-in conditions. Results ofpassage dependency analysis are presented according totest and item type. The selected items from the twotests do not differ significantly in passage dependencyindex, although the average passage dependency indexof items from the GEPT is slightly higher than that ofitems from the TOEFL. Also, items about details appearto be more passage dependent than inference items.Three items with zero or negative passage dependencyare identified, all vocabulary items from the TOEFL,indicating that the passage might have in some waymisled the students. The paper then presents detailedexamination of these three vocabulary items along withresults of further tests to identify possible sources ofconfusion. The author concludes with implications forinstruction and future studies.http://www.readingmatrix.com/journal.html

06–727 TSENG, YEN-CHU & HSIEN-CHIN LIOU

(National Tsing Hua U, China;[email protected]), The effects of online

conjunction materials on college EFL students’

writing. System (Elsevier) 34.2 (2006), 270–283.doi:10.1016/j.system.2006.01.006

Misuse of English conjunction related to incoherentwriting, according to the literature, comes fromlearners’ first language interference, improper mech-anical exercises, and misleading lists of connectors intextbooks demonstrated as if mutually interchangeablewithout contextual constraints. Form-focused instruc-tion with explicit semantic, stylistic and syntacticproperties can help learning of connectors. Additionally,computer learner corpus analysis which identifies sys-tematic interlanguage patterns in Chinese learner dataoffers pedagogical insights for the current study. FourWeb-based online conjunction units based on principlesfrom related literature and learner corpus analyseswere designed for 19 EFL college students to use fora month with sentence-beyond contexts concerningstylistic properties and overuse situations. Before andafter the project, a gap-filling test on conjunctors anda writing task were used, followed by an evaluationquestionnaire on students’ perception. Results indicatedthat students generally held a positive attitude towardthe online units and demonstrated statistically significantimprovements in the use of connectors in both the testand free production contexts. The case study arguesthat pedagogically sound instructional design for online

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■ Language testingconjunction materials can help college EFL learnerswrite more accurate and coherent essays.http://www.elsevier.com

06–728 VANDERSTAAY, STEVEN L. (WesternWashington U, Bellingham, USA), Learning from

longitudinal research in criminology and the

health sciences. Reading Research Quarterly(International Reading Association) 41.3 (2006),328–350.doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.3.2

This article reviews longitudinal research withincriminology and the health sciences on the relationshipbetween reading and criminal, delinquent, or antisocialbehavior. Longitudinal research in criminology,medicine, and psychology examines the role of readingwithin a broad set of interactive processes, connectingliteracy to public health via its association with childand adolescent behavior, family dynamics, and socio-cognitive phenomena such as school-bonding andacademic frustration. The article provides a select reviewof longitudinal research in three areas of concen-tration: pre-school; reading achievement; and antisocial,delinquent, or criminal behavior. Following thisreview, the article compares longitudinal research incriminology and the health sciences with ethnographicand social practice research within literacy studies. Thearticle discusses the viability of literacy practices andeducational resilience as theoretical frames that may helpscholars integrate reading research across disciplines.The article closes with recommendations for expandingthe breadth of topics engaged within reading researchand for further research on high-stakes testing,resilience, and the relation of literacy to behavior andthe bonds and attachments children form with theirparents, teachers, and schools.http://www.reading.org

06–729 WARRINGTON, STUART (Asian U, Japan;[email protected]), Building automaticity of

word recognition for less proficient readers. TheReading Matrix (Readingmatrix.com) 6.1 (2006),52–63.

The purpose of this article is to reveal how to build theautomatic process of word recognition for those who areless proficient at reading. The article initially looks at theproblems less proficient readers face and what researchhas revealed. It then moves to explore what teachers cando in their practice, such as reading aloud, unlockingpronunciation models, the use of audio material inreading programs, or letter-sound associations andtemporary spelling methods to name but a few, tofacilitate the process. Tasks are then introduced suchas extensive reading, read and look up procedures, thematching of specific words with identical words, andpredict and inferred meaning tasks that students canwork on to develop their word recognition skills. Thefinal part of the paper explores learner autonomous

methods (learner strategies) that can be employed bystudents to improve their word recognition skills. Theseinclude DISSECT, the use of analogy, contextual clues,pictures semantic clues, and syntactic word order clues.http://www.readingmatrix.com/journal.html

06–730 YASUDA, SACHIKO (Waseda U, Japan),Japanese students’ literacy background and the

role of the writing center. The Language Teacher(Japan Association for Language Teaching) 30.5(2006), 3–7.

It has been argued that Japanese university students lackthe abilities to explain their ideas, to write coherenttexts, and to present their opinions logically. One reasonfor this is that these abilities are less emphasized inJapanese high schools than the ability to read andinterpret literary work (Kobayashi & Rinnert 2002).However, these abilities are perceived by universityteachers to be very important, and therefore Japaneseuniversity students who do not have a solid groundingfor writing can be expected to have various problemswhen they write academic papers. The followingquestion arises here: If students are not formally taughthow to write, how can they acquire the writing skillsthey need at the university level? This paper illustratesthe role of the writing center as an alternative learningplace for helping Japanese students to become betterwriters, and demonstrates the significance of thepartnerships between the writing center and WritingAcross the Curriculum (WAC) in Japanese universitycontexts.http://www.jalt.org

Language testingdoi:10.1017/S0261444806243854

06–731 CARR, NATHAN T. (California StateU, USA), The factor structure of test task

characteristics and examinee performance.Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.3 (2006),269–289.doi:10.1191/0265532206lt328oa

The present study focuses on the task characteristicsof reading passages and key sentences in a test ofsecond language reading. Using a new methodologicalapproach to describe variation in test task characteristicsand explore how differences in these characteristicsmight relate to examinee performance, it posed two re-search questions. First, how do the characteristics of thetexts used in a high-stakes test of English for AcademicPurposes reading vary? Second, what relationshipsexist between its text characteristics and examineeperformance? An expanded test task characteristicsinstrument was constructed, following Freedle & Kostin(1993) and Bachman et al. (1996), and adding a largenumber of syntactic features (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman 1999). Ratings and numerical counts were

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Language testing ■compiled for three forms of the Test of English as aForeign Language (TOEFL) Reading ComprehensionSection. Taking items as the object of measurement,the results were then used in a series of exploratoryand confirmatory factor analyses, along with IRT(item response theory) parameter estimates for the itemsin question.

http://www.arnoldpublishers.com/journals

06–732 DENTON, CAROLYN A. (U Texas at Austin,USA), DENNIS J. CIANCIO & JACK M. FLETCHER,Validity, reliability, and utility of the observation

survey of early literacy achievement. ReadingResearch Quarterly (International ReadingAssociation) 41.1 (2006), 8–34.doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.1.1

This study evaluated the validity, reliability, and utilityof five of the six subtests of Clay’s (2002) ObservationSurvey of Early Literacy Achievement (OS), includingLetter Identification (LI), Word Reading (WR),Writing Vocabulary (WV), Hearing and RecordingSounds in Words, and Text Reading (TR). Studiesproviding assessment of the reliability and validity ofthe OS are reviewed, and an analysis given of (a) theconcurrent validity of the OS subtests relative to otherinstruments, (b) their validity and accuracy as predictorsof reading development in grade 1, and (c) inter-administrator reliability for the TR and WV subtests.The score distributions of OS subtests indicatedinadequate floors and ceilings, suggesting that the OSsubtests scored as recommended in the manual are notsuitable for program evaluation. However, analyses ofpredictive validity indicated that decisions based on theattainment of established benchmarks in OS WI, TR,and WV would be valid for early screening purposes andto evaluate student outcomes, with more work neededin setting benchmarks. There was also evidence forconcurrent validity of the OS. Inter-assessor reliabilitywas high for both the TR and WV subtests. The reviewof the characteristics and administration procedures ofeach subtest suggests cautions regarding the utility ofsome of the measures for diagnostic assessment andprogress monitoring. Overall, the OS can generallybe validly implemented to assess components of earlyreading development.

http://www.reading.org

06–733 ECKES, THOMAS & RUDIGER GROTJAHN

(TestDaF Institute, Hagen, Germany), A closer look

at the construct validity of C-tests. LanguageTesting (Hodder Arnold) 23.3 (2006), 290–325.doi:10.1191/0265532206lt330oa

What C-tests actually measure has been an issue ofdebate for many years. In the present research, theauthors examined the hypothesis that C-tests measuregeneral language proficiency. A total of 843 participantsfrom four independent samples took a GermanC-test along with the TestDaF (Test of German as a

Foreign Language). Rasch measurement modelling andconfirmatory factor analysis provided clear evidencethat the C-test in question was a highly reliable,unidimensional instrument, which measured the samegeneral dimension as the four TestDaF sections: reading,listening, writing and speaking. Moreover, the authorsshowed that language proficiency was divisible intomore specific constructs and that examinee proficiencylevel differentially influenced C-test performance. Thefindings have implications for the multicomponentialityand fluidity of the C-test measurement construct.


06–734 HE, LIANZHEN & YING DAI (Zhejiang U,China), A corpus-based investigation into the

validity of the CET–SET group discussion.Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.3 (2006),370–401.doi:10.1191/0265532206lt333oa

This article reports the results of an investigation, basedon a 170,000-word corpus of test performance, of thevalidity of College English Test–Spoken English Test(CET–SET) group discussion by examining the degreeof interaction among candidates in the group discussiontask with respect to a set of interactional languagefunctions (ILFs) to be assessed. The results show alow degree of interaction among candidates in theCET–SET group discussion. Consequently, theinadequate elicitation of ILFs from candidates may wellpose a problem for measuring their speaking ability inthis regard.


06–735 HUHTA, ARI, PAULA KALAJA & ANNE

PITKANEN-HUHTA (U Jyvaskyla, Finland), Discursive

construction of a high-stakes test: The many

faces of a test-taker. Language Testing (HodderArnold) 23.3 (2006), 326–350.doi:10.1191/0265532206lt331oa

As part of a larger project, we studied how a foreignlanguage test got discursively constructed in the talkof upper-secondary-school leavers. A group of studentswere asked to keep an oral diary to record their ideas,feelings and experiences of preparing for and taking thetest over the last spring term of school, as part of a high-stakes national examination. In addition, they took partin discussions either in pairs or groups of three afterhaving learned about the final test results. Aftertranscribing the data, drawing on a form of discourseanalysis originally launched by a group of socialpsychologists, we identified (at least) four interpretativerepertoires in the students’ accounts – with differentconstructions of themselves as test-takers, the test, andtheir performance in the test – including expectationsand explanations for success or failure as well as creditor blame. The findings point to variation in the uses of

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■ Language testingthese repertoires, not only from one context to anotherbut also from moment to moment.


06–736 KENWORTHY, ROGER (Ohio U, USA;[email protected]), Timed versus at-home

assessment tests: Does time affect the quality

of second language learners’ written

compositions? TESL-EJ (http://www.tesl-ej.org)10.1 (2006), 13 pp.

This preliminary study examines what the effects ofadditional time and different media have upon theoverall quality of English language learner’s writtenassessment tests. Sixteen intermediate-level students(L1 Cantonese), enrolled at a satellite campus of anAmerican university within Asia, manually wrote a45-minute timed placement test in the confines ofan educational setting. Based upon identical topicsprovided for this first set of writings, several weeks laterthese same students were allotted one week to completea computer-generated essay at their personal residence.Statistical analyses (t-tests) revealed mostly insignificantdifferences between the frequency counts of selectedlexical features found within both sets of writings. Bycontrast, there were statistically significant differencesin the number of reported grammatical errors. On thewhole, when compared to the timed writings, the at-home essays were characterized as having fewer numbersof grammatical errors and greater holistic scores, whichsupports the idea that participants efficiently usedadditional time to affect overall textual quality.

http://writing.berkeley.edu/tesl-ej

06–737 KIKUCHI, KEITA (Waseda U, Japan),Revisiting English entrance examinations at

Japanese universities after a decade. JALTJournal (Japan Association for Language Teaching)28.1 (2006), 77–96.

Since Brown & Yamashita (1995a, b) criticized thehigh difficulty of reading passages and the discrete-point, passive nature of the university English languageentrance examinations at 10 private and 10 prestigiouspublic universities and one nationwide examinationin 1994, no studies have been conducted to monitorchanges in such exams. A decade later, the present studyreplicates Brown & Yamashita, and seeks to identifydifferences in entrance examinations at the sameuniversities in 2004. Although some changes werefound, the types of items, their variety, and the skillsmeasured did not look substantially different. Readingpassages still seemed very difficult and translation taskswere still often used in 2004. The present study callsfor future studies to analyze entrance examinationsat different universities or to be given to students ofdifferent major fields.

http://www.jalt.org

06–738 MAYOR, BARBARA (The Open U, UK),Dialogic and hortatory features in the writing of

Chinese candidates for the IELTS test. Language,Culture and Curriculum (Multilingual Matters)19.1 (2006), 104–121.

Research conducted in the context of the IELTSResearch Program indicates that there are recurrentfeatures in the writing under test conditions ofcandidates from Chinese language backgrounds, partic-ularly in terms of interpersonal tenor. These includea high level of interpersonal reference, combinedwith a heavily dialogic and hortatory style. Chinesecandidates in the study used significantly more inter-rogatives and imperatives than a similar sample of Greekcandidates, along with a range of other grammaticaldevices which perform a hortatory function, callingfor a mental or physical response on the part of theindividual reader or collective. Together, these featureslend a polemical tone to the English-medium writing ofthe Chinese candidates. It seems reasonable that Chinesestudents who wish to succeed in English-mediumhigher education should aim ultimately towards modelsof writing commonly expected of students in thatcontext. However, in order to fairly assess the potentialof Chinese candidates, it is important to recognisethat some students who may have performed well inthe Chinese educational system may import into theirEnglish writing a range of hitherto valued practices fromtheir Chinese writing and/or their English languageclasses which may be affecting their test scores.


06–739 MYKLEBUST, JON OLAV (Volda U College,Norway; [email protected]), Class placement and

competence attainment among students with

special educational needs. British Journal ofSpecial Education (Blackwell) 33.2 (2006), 76–81.doi:10.1111/j.1467-8578.2006.00416.x

Four hundred and ninety-four young people withspecial educational needs were followed in a six-year-long study. . The analysis focuses on the attainments ofthese students during their time in upper secondaryeducation and asks whether placement in special orordinary mainstream class groupings is more beneficial.The results indicate that students receiving special sup-port in ordinary classes obtain vocational or academicqualifications more often than students in special classes.Following a study of the influence of a number ofother variables, including assessments of functional level,family stability and gender, it is possible to conclude thatthe relationship between attainment and placement inan ordinary classroom does not change, even when thesevariables are taken into account. The findings providefurther support for the inclusion of learners with specialeducational needs in ordinary mainstream classes.


06–740 PAPAJOHN, DEAN (Pima County, Tucson,AZ, USA; [email protected]), Standard

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Teacher education ■setting for next generation TOEFL Academic

Speaking Test (TAST): Reflections on the ETS

panel of International Teaching Assistant

developers.TESL-EJ (http://www.tesl-ej.org) 10.1 (2006), 9 pp.

While many institutions have utilized TOEFL scoresfor international admissions for many years, a speakingsection has never before been a required part of TOEFLuntil the development of the IBT/Next GenerationTOEFL. So institutions will need to determine howto set standards for the speaking section of TOEFL, alsoknown as TOEFL Academic Speaking Test (TAST).International Teaching Assistant (ITA) developers asa group have a long history of assessing oral Englishthrough semi-direct tests, interviews, and performancetests (Ginther, April 2004; Briggs et al. 1997; Briggs1994; Smith et al. 1992; Plakans & Abraham 1990).Educational Testing Service (ETS) convened a panelof nineteen ITA developers in Philadelphia on 24September 2004. This article reflects on that panelspecifically, and on standard setting in general. Althoughthe focus here is on the speaking component of TOEFL,the process for standard setting recommended byETS for the other three sections of TOEFL, namelywriting, listening, and reading, is similar. Resultingcut off scores are only as good as the standard settingprocess from which they are derived. Understandingthe standard setting process will lead to a more accurateinterpretation of standards.


06–741 YAN, JIN (Shanghai Jiao Tong U, China) &

YANG HUIZHONG, The English proficiency of

college and university students in China: As

reflected in the CET. Language, Culture andCurriculum (Multilingual Matters) 19.1 (2006),21–36.

The College English Test (CET), designed in accor-dance with the requirements of the National CollegeEnglish Teaching Syllabus and as a result of the needfor China’s reform and its open-door policy in the1980s, is the world’s largest language test administerednationwide. Owing to its scientific approach, consistentmarking, rigorous administration and comparablescores, the CET, now well-established as a large-scalestandardised EFL test, is held in high esteem by languagetesters and teachers inside and outside China and wellreceived by the public. This paper begins with a reviewof the CET from the perspective of its development,score interpretation and test validation. The papermoves on to an in-depth analysis of the test content,test format, and candidates’ performances on eachcomponent with a view to presenting readers with anoverview of the proficiency of the CET test-takers. Thepaper then discusses the issue of reform of the CETas a response to the pressing social need for collegeand university graduates with a stronger communicativecompetence in English. After a brief analysis of thechallenges facing the CET, the paper concludes with a

section on the way forward for the CET to meet theever-changing needs of society.


06–742 ZHANG, SU (U Iowa, USA), Investigating

the relative effects of persons, items, sections,

and languages on TOEIC score dependability.Language Testing (Hodder Arnold) 23.3 (2006),351–369.doi:10.1191/0265532206lt332oa

This study applied generalizability theory to investigatethe contributions of persons, items, sections, andlanguage backgrounds to the score dependability ofthe Test of English for International Communication(TOEIC). I replicated and extended Brown’s (1999)study of the Test of English as a Foreign Language(TOEFL), using data from two language groups whotook the same form of the TOEIC: 45 156 Japaneseexaminees and 46 067 Korean examinees. Both classicalreliability analyses and generalizability analyses foundthe TOEIC scores of the examinees in question to behighly reliable/generalizable. The items within a sectionvaried greatly in difficulty. An examinee who scoredrelatively high in one section was likely to score high inthe other section. The findings regarding the effect oflanguage backgrounds on TOEIC score dependabilitywere inconclusive, which suggests directions for futureresearch. TOEIC test developers might explore designalternatives with fewer items per section.


Teacher educationdoi:10.1017/S0261444806253850

06–743 AMADOR MORENO, CAROLINA, STEPHANIE

O’RIORDAN & ANGELA CHAMBERS (U de Extremadura,Spain; [email protected]), Integrating a corpus of

classroom discourse in language teacher

education: The case of discourse markers.ReCALL (Cambridge University Press) 18.1 (2006),83–104.doi:10.1017/S0958344006000619

While language teacher education programmes andlanguage syllabi in secondary education encourage theuse of the target language in the classroom, resourcesto support teachers in this endeavour, such as bookswith useful phrases, do not state that the examplesthey provide are corpus-based, i.e. drawn from actuallanguage use rather than invented phrases. This paper in-vestigates whether consultation of a corpus of classroomdiscourse can be of benefit in language teachereducation. The paper describes a project involving thecreation of corpora of classroom discourse in Frenchand Spanish, and the use of these corpora with studentteachers. After setting the research in the context ofcorpora and classroom interaction, it examines issues

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■ Teacher educationsuch as the content of the corpora, the type ofconsultation (direct or mediated by the teacher), andthe student teachers’ evaluation of the activity. Specialattention is paid to one particular aspect of classroominteraction, discourse markers.


06–744 ARNOLD, EWEN (U Leeds, UK;[email protected]), Assessing the

quality of mentoring: Sinking or learning to

swim? ELT Journal (Oxford University Press) 60.2(2006), 117–124.doi:10.1093/elt/cci098

This paper describes a framework for assessing mentor-ing quality, which is then used to evaluate a mentoringprogramme conducted in a large military EFL school inthe Middle East. The analysis presented here provides‘mini confirmations’ of some of the findings in theliterature such as the great variability of mentor qualitywithin one school, the need for ‘quality time’ formentor-mentee pairs, and the lack of real challengeprovided by mentors to mentees. It raises several issuessuch as the quality and type of mentor training, thecomplexity of mentor role, its similarity to the roleof middle management and the need for support formentors from within the school.


06–745 CARY, LISA J. & STUART REIFEL

(U Texas-Austin, USA), Cinematic landscapes of

teaching: Lessons from a narrative of classic

film, Action in Teacher Education (Association ofTeacher Educators) 27.3 (2005), 95–109.

The purpose of this inquiry was to utilize the conceptof ‘landscapes of teaching’ in the analysis of a classic filmabout a venerated teacher, entitled Goodbye, Mr. Chips(1939). First, the aim of the analysis is to provide insightsinto teacher development and to discuss the sacred andmystical dimensions of teaching (Craig 1995). Second,the analysis of teaching as a profession portrayed in thisvintage film and the role of teachers as guardians of asociety’s culture provides insights about the enduringvalue of the teaching profession. Considering thecurrent criticism of teachers and teacher educators, thisfilm analysis and discussion serves as a much neededand inspiring reminder of our role and responsibilities.The utilization of the work of Connelly & Clandinin(1996) notion of ‘landscapes’ and of the suggested useof a teaching strategy of the film analysis offers a finecomplement to the lecture approach often used inteacher education as well as a tool for those of us whouse constructivist approaches.

http://www.ate1.org

06–746 COMMINS, NANCY L. & OFELIA B.

MIRAMONTES (U Colorado-Boulder, USA),Addressing linguistic diversity from the outset.

Journal of Teacher Education (Sage) 57.3 (2006),240–246.doi:10.1177/0022487105285591

Schools of education typically prepare their prospectiveteachers to work with amorphous ‘average students’ –who are by implication middle class, native, Englishspeaking, and White. They are then given some limitedopportunities to adapt these understandings to studentswith diverging profiles – children of poverty, secondlanguage learners, and students of color. The authorsargue that given the changing demographics of public-sector schools in the USA, initial teacher educationshould be based on the understandings that teacherstypically do not receive until the end of their programsor in add-on endorsements. They should be preparedfrom the outset to work with the wide diversity oflanguage, culture, and class that they are likely tomeet in public-sector schools. Ten recommendationsare presented for ‘What Every Teacher Should Do’to work effectively in the linguistically and culturallydiverse settings they are likely to encounter.

http://www.sagepub.com/journals.nav

06–747 DONNELLY, ANNA M. (Washington College,USA), Let me show you my portfolio!

Demonstrating competence through peer

interviews. Action in Teacher Education(Association of Teacher Educators) 27.3 (2005),55–63.

This article describes an innovative pedagogical strategy,the use of teaching portfolios in peer interviews. It willfirst describe the process designed to prepare pre-serviceteachers to demonstrate professional competencethrough the use of a standards-based working portfoliodeveloped during a reading practicum. Then it willreport on strategy benefits as perceived by the studentparticipants. Analysis of student survey results indicatedthat actively presenting a portfolio generated multiplepositive consequences. These were manifest aspersonal and professional competencies and includedmultiple dimensions of self-evaluation, goal setting andownership of responsibility for personal and professionalgrowth.

http://www.ate1.org

06–748 ELLIS, ELIZABETH MARGARET (U NewEngland, Australia; [email protected]), Language

learning experience as a contributor to ESOL

teacher cognition. TESL-EJ(http://www.tesl-ej.org) 10.1 (2006), 26 pp.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages(ESOL) in English-speaking countries are not usuallyrequired to have proficiency in another language.Teacher competency statements frequently require ‘anunderstanding of second language development’, andit is assumed that a monolingual teacher can attainsuch understanding without having learned a secondlanguage (L2). This paper sets out to challenge such a

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Teacher education ■position by establishing a theoretical framework withinwhich to argue that teacher language learning is animportant contributor to professional practice. Thisframework is based on research into teacher cognition,particularly that which highlights connections betweenteachers’ lived experience and the ways in which theyform their beliefs about their profession (Freeman2001). Using data from an Australian study, this papershows that experiential knowledge formed by differentkinds of L2 learning (formal, informal, childhood,adult, elective, or circumstantial bilingualism) forms apowerful resource underpinning ESL teachers’ profes-sional knowledge and beliefs about language teaching.


06–749 EZER, HANNA (Levinsky College ofEducation, Israel), SHOSHY MILLET & DORIT PAKIN,Multicultural perspectives in the curricula of

two colleges of education in Israel: ‘The

curriculum is a cruel mirror of our society’.Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice(Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 12.4 (2006), 391–406.doi:10.1080/13450600600644244

This study reveals the multicultural perspectives in thecurricula of two colleges of education in Israel. Itexamines the perceptions of teacher educators withregard to: the importance of the teacher’s role ineducating students for sensitivity and diversity; theneeds of students from different cultural backgroundsin colleges of education; the roles of the teacher and thecollege; and an evaluation of how multiculturalism isdealt with in teacher education in Israel. Facultymembers in both colleges perceived multiculturalismas relating to two domains: student population andcurriculum. The findings and conclusions confirm theexistence and increasing awareness of multiculturalismin the two colleges. However, it is obvious that as yetthe concept has not been thoroughly investigated, norhas it penetrated all realms of activity. Clearly, teachereducators know the meaning of multiculturalism andbelieve that it should play a more significant rolein colleges of education. However, they seem to beuncertain as to how to go about it.


06–750 FARREL, THOMAS (Brock U, Canada;[email protected]), The first year of language

teaching: Imposing order. System (Elsevier) 34.2(2006), 211–221.doi:10.1016/j.system.2005.12.001

The transition from the teacher education institutionto life in a real classroom has been characterized as atype of reality shock in which beginning teachers realizethat the ideals they formed while training may not beappropriate for the realism they are faced with duringtheir first year of teaching. Unfortunately, teachereducation programs have not had a successful historyof adequately preparing beginning teachers for this

transition because learning to teach is often viewedas being a highly situated, highly interpretative, andidiosyncratic activity. This paper suggests that the use ofa ‘story structure’ framework (setting – complication– resolution) may be one method of imposing someorder on the various descriptions of first-year teachingexperiences. The paper reports on a case study of howa first-year English language teacher experienced thetransition from a teacher education program to life ina real classroom, and how he balanced a delicate, andsometimes conflicting, role between learning to teachand learning to become a teacher within an establishedschool culture in a neighborhood secondary schoolin Singapore. Three major challenging situations areidentified and the teacher’s responses with each as hestruggled to establish himself as a teacher.


06–751 GARRIDO, CECILIA & INMA ALVAREZ (TheOpen U, UK), Language teacher education for

intercultural understanding. European Journal ofTeacher Education (Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 29.2(2006), 163–179.doi:10.1080/02619760600617342

Over recent decades language teaching and learninghas undergone a redefinition of the subject and a rapidchange in its methodology. Language programmes cannow be delivered in technology based environmentsand communication at an international level can be adaily occurrence. This paper on the one hand analyseshow these developments have extended and challengedthe traditional roles and responsibilities of languageteachers. On the other, it examines to what extent estab-lished models of language teacher education acknow-ledge and address the needs of language teachers today,in particular in relation to the integration of theintercultural dimension into language teaching andlearning.


06–752 GOKER, SULEYMAN DAVUT (EasternMediterranean U, Turkey;[email protected]), Impact of peer

coaching on self-efficacy and instructional skills

in TEFL teacher education. System (Elsevier) 34.2(2006), 239–254.doi:10.1016/j.system.2005.12.002

The goal of the study was to test whether studentteachers trained using a peer coaching training programafter teaching practicum sessions in teaching of Englishas a foreign language would demonstrate greater im-provement on measures of a number of identifiedinstructional skills and self-efficacy than those justreceiving traditional supervisor visits. Two groups ofstudent teachers (32 in total) from English languageteaching Department of European University of Lefke,North Cyprus doing their Teaching Practicum course(EDU 420) as part of a B.A. teacher education program

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■ Teacher educationwere compared in regard to their (a) self-efficacy, and(b) development of (clarity) instructional skills. Resultsshowed statistically significant differences in favor of theexperimental condition on 7 variables measured. Thefindings also have implications for how peer coachingcan be a vehicle to develop self-efficacy.


06–753 GRANT, CARL A. (U Wisconsin-Madison,USA) & MAUREEN GILLETTE, A candid talk to

teacher educators about effectively preparing

teachers who can teach everyone’s children.Journal of Teacher Education (Sage) 57.3 (2006),292–299.doi:10.1177/0022487105285894

This article focuses on characteristics necessary tobe an effective teacher for all children, regardless oftheir academic ability, ethnicity, socioeconomic status,family structure, sexual orientation, and ability to speakEnglish. The article gives attention to the issues ofequity and social justice as it addresses the knowledgeand skill base of effective teachers.


06–754 JONES, PHYLLIS (U South Florida, USA;[email protected]), ELIZABETH WEST &

DANA STEVENS, Nurturing moments of

transformation in teachers – Comparative

perspectives on the challenges of professional

development. British Journal of Special Education(Blackwell) 33.2 (2006), 82–90.doi:10.1111/j.1467-8578.2006.00416.x

This article discusses teachers’ views of their ownlearning. Two groups of teachers attending graduateprogrammes in Seattle, WA, in the United States ofAmerica and Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom,participated in a project that encouraged them to discussexamples of effective professional development. Theteachers from the UK were enrolled on a Masters degreecourse for staff working with pupils with autism. Theteachers from the USA were enrolled on a Mastersdegree course specifically focused upon working withchildren who have moderate to severe difficulties.Both groups of teachers were working, at least for aportion of their timetables, with pupils who had lowincidence disabilities. The authors analyse the criticalmoments of professional development identified bythe teachers in both contexts. Four themes emerged:seeing the relationship between theory and practice, therole of the professor or lecturer in mediating learning,learning from others, and reflecting in action. Theauthors further analyse the themes in relation to thesubtle differences that occurred within and across thetwo contexts. This analysis will assist in the designof quality professional development opportunities thatreflect teachers’ voices. Teachers make meaning of theirlearning in highly personal ways and, although it ispossible to nurture formalised learning opportunities,

teacher educators need to be constantly aware of thecontextual and personal meaning making that is at play.


06–755 KUPETZ, RITA & BIRGIT ZEIGENMEYER

(U Hannover, Germany;[email protected]), Flexible

learning activities fostering autonomy in

teaching training. ReCALL (Cambridge UniversityPress) 18.1 (2006), 63–82.doi:10.1017/S0958344006000516

The flexible use of digital recordings from EFLclassrooms as well as online communication with teach-ing experts are two promising ways of implementinge-learning in the context of initial teacher training.Our research focuses on how to blend these elementsefficiently with the different theoretical and practicalcontent layers of an introductory course ‘TeachingEnglish as a Foreign Language’ to foster the develop-ment of critical, reflective thinking of prospectiveteachers of English and to empower the learners. Inthis paper we discuss the concept of autonomy as acourse strategy and argue that enabling a student totake responsibility and to make informed choices is themain route to an autonomous learner. We introduce andanalyze learning activities such as working with multi-media-based case stories that include video episodesas situational anchors and conducting an einterview.These learning activities are two formats that integrateelearning and contact learning in a directed, interactiveway to foster the learner’s autonomy. The study isa follow-up of a pilot study on blended learningin a teacher training course and was conducted asaction research in the 2004/05 winter semester. Itcombines qualitative and quantitative research methodsand integrates multiple perspectives on the teaching andlearning scenarios.


06–756 KWAN, TAMMY & FRANCIS LOPEZ-REAL

(U Hong Kong, China), Mentors’ perceptions of

their roles in mentoring student teachers.Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education(Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 33.3 (2005),275–287.doi:10.1080/13598660500286267

Mentoring may be seen as a process that helps studentteachers become professional teachers. In this context,a variety of significant roles played by mentors havebeen identified in the literature. This paper reportson mentors’ perceptions of the most important rolesselected from a given list, as revealed through question-naire and interview data. This analysis forms part ofa large-scale evaluative project of a school–universitypartnership scheme initiated by the University ofHong Kong. The findings indicate overwhelmingattention given to the role of ‘provider of feedback’,which stresses the provision of pragmatic advice given

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Teacher education ■to student teachers according to their personal strengthsand weaknesses. However, for those mentors whoseperception of the most important role had changedover time, the direction of change was towards rolessuch as ‘counselor’, ‘equal partner’ and ‘critical friend’,which emphasize a more relational aspect of workingtogether with student teachers to achieve professionaldevelopment.


06–757 LENSKI, SUSAN DAVIS (Portland State U,USA), KATHLEEN CRAWFORD, THOMAS CRUMPLER &

CORSANDRA STALLWORTH, Preparing pre-service

teachers in a diverse world. Action in TeacherEducation (Association of Teacher Educators) 27.3(2005), 3–12.

This study was designed to develop more effectiveways to address culture and cultural differences in thepreparation of pre-service teachers. Its purpose wasto provide a more adequate preparation for workingin high-need schools by assisting educators in thedevelopment of ‘habits of mind’ that incorporate anunderstanding and valuing of students’ cultures and arecognition of the need to consider those cultures inteaching practices. This paper reports data from thesecond year of a five-year study that examined theexperience of six pre-service teachers. The data indicatethat using ethnography as an observational tool helpspre-service teachers become more aware of culturaldifferences.

http://www.ate1.org

06–758 MARTIN, ANDREW J. (U Western Sydney,Australia), The relationship between teachers’

perceptions of student motivation and

engagement and teachers’ enjoyment of and

confidence in teaching. Asia-Pacific Journal ofTeacher Education (Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 34.1(2006), 73–93.doi:10.1080/13598660500480100

This paper examines teachers’ perceptions of their stu-dents’ motivation and engagement and their enjoymentof and confidence in teaching. Drawing on Martin’sStudent Motivation and Engagement Scale, 10 facetsof motivation and engagement were explored amongsta sample of 1,019 teachers. These facets comprisedthree adaptive cognitive dimensions of motivation(self-efficacy, valuing of school, mastery orientation),three adaptive behavioural dimensions (planning, studymanagement, persistence), two impeding dimensions(anxiety, failure avoidance), and two maladaptive di-mensions (uncertain control, self-handicapping). Maleteachers tended to report significantly higher studentmotivation and engagement than female teachers(though effect sizes were small) and primary schoolteachers reported significantly higher student motiv-ation and engagement than high school teachers (effectsizes were moderate). Adaptive dimensions were more

strongly associated with enjoyment and confidence inteaching than impeding and maladaptive dimensions. Ofthe adaptive dimensions, students’ mastery orientationwas the strongest correlate of teachers’ enjoymentof teaching and students’ persistence and students’planning were the strongest correlates of teachers’confidence in teaching. These associations were moremarked for male teachers and relatively independent ofyears spent teaching. Implications for teacher educationand professional development are discussed.


06–759 MAYER, DIANE (U California, USA), The

changing face of the Australian teaching

profession: New generations and new ways of

working and learning. Asia-Pacific Journal ofTeacher Education (Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 34.1(2006), 57–71.doi:10.1080/13598660500480142

Today’s workforce is characterised by an increasingmix of people with varying career aspirations, workmotivators and job satisfiers. This paper discusses theintergenerational nature of today’s workforce, whichis currently dominated by the age groups commonlyreferred to as Baby Boomers and Generation X. TheBaby Boomers defined and redefined work during thelast quarter of the twentieth century, but as they tracktowards retirement, GenXers’ valued work patternsand their career and life aspirations are increasinglydominating. This paper draws on a body of literatureabout a younger generation of workers and thecurrent world of work in today’s knowledge society,and discusses possible implications for the teachingprofession, particularly for attracting and retainingyoung people as teachers.


06–760 MCCORMACK, ANN , JENNIFER GORE &

KAYE THOMAS (U Newcastle, Australia), Early career

teacher professional learning. Asia-Pacific Journalof Teacher Education (Routledge/Taylor & Francis)34.1 (2006), 95–113.doi:10.1080/13598660500480282

Becoming a teacher requires not only the developmentof a professional identity but the construction ofprofessional knowledge and practice through continuedprofessional learning. This study tracked a sample groupof 16 early career teachers through their first year ofteaching. The participants were encouraged to writeabout their experiences in journals and undertake aninterview in an attempt to provide an understanding ofthe central tasks of learning to teach required by earlycareer teachers during their induction into teachingtogether with the factors which support or hindertheir professional learning. This paper makes use of acontinuum developed by Feiman-Nemser whichidentifies Central Tasks in Learning to Teach (CTLT)as a Framework for analysis of participant data.

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■ Teacher educationConclusions indicate developing a professional identityand enacting a beginning repertoire to be the mostchallenging aspects of professional learning for theseteachers. Learning support in the traditional form offormal induction programs and mentoring were recog-nized as useful; however, collaborative, informal, un-planned learning from colleagues and former peers wasalso reported as a most significant and valuable sourceof support. Conversely, participants felt additionalresponsibilities, difficult classes and unrealistic teachingexpectations together with lack of status and professionalfeedback hindered their professional learning.


06–761 OLSON, SUSAN J. & CAROL WERHAN

(U Akron, USA), Teacher preparation via on-line

learning: A growing alternative for many. Actionin Teacher Education (Association of TeacherEducators) 27.3 (2005), 76–84.

There is increasing use of distance learning technologiesto deliver alternative teacher licensure and certificationprograms for those areas of shortage such as rural andurban areas and those content areas that are difficultto find highly qualified teachers. This article reviewsthose collaborative groups, partnerships and institutionsthat are using distance learning to deliver alternativeteacher education programs in the United States.Alternative programs being offered via distance learningtechnologies and methods will continue to grow withthe demand for such programs. With the advent ofcharter teacher education colleges, this will become anoption for those who are teaching without the properteaching credential or those wishing to fill the highdemand area voids.

http://www.ate1.org

06–762 OTERO, VALERIE K. (U Colorado-Boulder,USA), Moving beyond the ‘get it or don’t’

conception of formative assessment. Journal ofTeacher Education (Sage) 57.3 (2006), 240–246.doi:10.1177/0022487105285963

This article proposes a model of formative assessmentgrounded in Vygotsky’s theory of concept formationand argues that this model can provide a usefulframework for facilitating a beginning teacher’scontinued learning. The model is used to argue thatbeginning teachers need to know how to recognize,describe, and use students’ prior knowledge not only interms of whether students get the academic concept butalso in terms of the valuable, experience-based aspectsof what students do know. The author demonstratesthe model’s utility by describing the results of a 3-year classroom research study on preservice teachers’conceptions of students’ prior knowledge and formativeassessment. A ‘get it or don’t’ conception was commonlyused by preservice teachers and was found to haveserious impacts on their instructional practices. Thearticle concludes by exploring the potential of a theory-

enhanced model of formative assessment for teachereducators’ own instructional practices.


06–763 PHELAN, ANNE M. (U British Columbia,Canada), RUSSELL SAWA, CONSTANCE BARLOW,

DEBORAH HURLOCK, KATHERINE IRVINE, GAYLA ROGERS

& FLORENCE MYRICK, Violence and subjectivity in

teacher education. Asia-Pacific Journal of TeacherEducation (Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 34.2 (2006),161–179.doi:10.1080/13598660600720561

Caught between the demands of the normative (whatthey believe they ought to be and value) andnormalisation (what professional others tell them thatthey should be and value), teacher candidates oftenexperience themselves as belated even though they arenewcomers to the profession – simultaneously heirs toa history and new to it. In this paper we illustrate andexplore the tensions that result between ‘new’ and ‘old’in teacher education. Drawing on Lyotard’s concept ofthe differend, we examine the narratives of a practicumtriad – one student teacher and his two mentors – as theyeach attempt to make sense of their irreconcilabledifferences. We conclude by discussing how the pro-fession might fulfill its obligation to judge the adequacyof new teachers while remaining hospitable to thedifference they introduce.


06–764 RANTZ, FREDERIQUE (Kildare EducationCentre, Ireland), Exploring intercultural

awareness in the primary modern language

classroom: The potential of the new model of

European language portfolio developed by the

Irish Modern Languages in Primary Schools

Initiative (MLPSI). Language and InternationalCommunication (Multilingual Matters)5.3&4 (2005), 209–221.

This paper reflects a key concern for teacher trainers:how can primary language teachers promote the devel-opment of intercultural awareness among their pupils?It addresses the concept of intercultural awareness as itapplies to young learners and refers more specificallyto the context of the Irish primary classroom and itscurriculum. It argues that the European LanguagePortfolio (ELP) provides a valuable framework to de-velop and describe young learners’ experiences, aware-ness and attitudes in this area and outlines the role ofthe MLPSI ELP model as a valuable potential instru-ment for both teacher training and teaching practice inthis area.


06–765 REID, JO-ANNE & NINETTA SANTORO

(Charles Sturt U, Australia), Cinders in snow?

Indigenous teacher identities in formation.

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Teacher education ■Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education(Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 34.2 (2006), 143–160.doi:10.1080/13598660600720553

The identity work engaged in by Indigenous teachersin school settings is highlighted in a study of AustralianIndigenous teachers. The construction of identity inhome and community relationships intersects with andcan counteract the take up of a preferred identity inthe workplace. In this paper we analyse data frominterviews with Indigenous teachers, exploring theinterplay between culture and identity. We foregroundthe binary nature of racial assignment in schools,demonstrate how this offers contradictory constructionsof identity for Indigenous teachers, and note the effectsof history, culture and location in the process of forminga teaching ‘self’.


06–766 REIS-JORGE, JOSE M. (Instituto Superiorde Educacao e Ciencias, Portugal), Developing

teachers’ knowledge and skills as researchers:

A conceptual framework. Asia-Pacific Journal ofTeacher Education (Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 33.3(2005), 303–319.doi:10.1080/13598660500286309

Terms like ‘enquiry-oriented’ and ‘research-based’teacher education have been used to describe a generalapproach to teacher education that emphasizes thedevelopment of prospective and practising teachers’knowledge, skills and disposition to adopt an enquiringstance to their work. The inclusion of research inteacher education curricula has gained wide acceptancewithin the teacher education community. However,little is known about how and what student teacherslearn about research, especially amongst those for whomthis represents a new area of their learning. This paperpresents an alternative approach to describing the pro-cess of research in connection with different typesof knowledge about research likely to be acquiredand developed by student teachers in different modesof involvement in research in formal contexts ofinstruction. The descriptor may serve as a frameworkfor studies concerned with the involvement of teachersin research or as a pedagogic tool and a guide tothe development of teaching and learning activities onresearch methods courses for teachers.


06–767 RICHARDSON, PAUL W. & HELEN M. G.

WATT (Monash U, Australia), Who chooses

teaching and why? Profiling characteristics and

motivations across three Australian universities.Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education(Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 34.1 (2006), 27–56.doi:10.1080/13598660500480290

In this large-scale Australian study, we profile thebackground characteristics and teaching motivationsfor individuals entering teacher education across three

major established urban teacher provider universities inthe Australian States of New South Wales and Victoria.Our recently developed and validated ‘FIT-Choice’(Factors Influencing Teaching Choice) Scale determinesthe strength of influence for a range of motivationsfrom individuals choosing teaching as a career. Findingsbuild upon and extend previous literature relating toreasons for teaching as a career choice, which have notsystematically applied current motivational models todeveloping explanations. Participants were the entirecohorts (N = 1,653) of first-year pre-service teachereducation candidates at three universities in Sydney andMelbourne. Results provide a profile of a large sample ofpre-service teachers whose decision to enrol in a teachereducation program has been made at a time when themass media and the general public have increasinglylooked upon teaching as a poor career choice. Ournew theoretical approach allows us to recommendstrategies for teacher recruitment campaigns, based on acomprehensive understanding of individuals’ motiva-tions for choosing teaching.


06–768 ROMANO, MOLLY (U Arizona, USA),Assessing and meeting the needs of pre-service

teachers: A programmatic perspective. Action inTeacher Education (Association of TeacherEducators) 27.3 (2005), 40–54.

This investigation offers a programmatic perspectiveinto how a certain group of elementary pre-serviceteachers experienced and evaluated their teachereducation program by periodically assessing progresswith regard to needs being met. A Likert scale surveyincluding open-ended responses was administered to123 elementary pre-service teachers at three differentpoints in their program and in-depth interviews with10 focus group members were conducted. Survey resultsindicate that all needs identified were met by the endof the program. Qualitative analyses provide insightsinto how several aspects of the teacher educationprogram might be further enhanced, leading to fourrecommendations for teacher education programs ingeneral: 1) Require observation in a variety of gradelevels; 2) Offer a mainstreaming course earlier in theprogram; 3) Provide specific instruction on parentconferences and preparing for the first day of school; and4) Create additional opportunities to have pre-serviceteachers discuss their needs.

http://www.ate1.org

06–769 RUAN, JIENING & SARA ANN BEACH

(U Oklahoma, USA), Using online peer dialogue

journaling to promote reflection in elementary

pre-service teachers. Action in Teacher Education(Association of Teacher Educators) 27.3 (2005),64–75.

This case study investigates the effectiveness of onlinepeer dialogue journaling. The authors developed this

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■ Teacher educationlearning strategy for elementary pre-service teachersto reflect on their tutoring experiences and providesupport to their journal partners using an Internetdiscussion forum. The participants were asked to fillin two questionnaires, before and after they participatedin writing online peer dialogue journals. The journalentries posted by the participants were also collected.The findings suggest that most participants respondedfavorably to this strategy. It facilitates technologyintegration, promotes interactive learning, and supportsreflective practices in the dialogic form. The authorsalso raise several issues that need to be further addressedby teacher educators.

http://www.ate1.org

06–770 SHAW, CARLA COOPER (Northern Illinois U,USA) & DEBORAH DOBBINS NEDERHOUSER, Reel

teachers: References for reflection for real

teachers. Action in Teacher Education (Associationof Teacher Educators) 27.3 (2005), 85–94.

Movies with teachers as main characters providea powerful medium of instruction in the teacher-education classroom. The authors describe a graduatecourse for practicing teachers, ‘The Portrayal ofTeachers in Film’, in which such movies stimulate theexamination of trends in the portrayal of teachers andserve as springboards for the exploration of educationaltopics and issues. Most important, the ‘reel teachers’featured in these films provide references for reflectionamong ‘real teachers’. Included are summaries ofselected teacher movies and suggestions of related topics,questions for discussion, and activities.

http://www.ate1.org

06–771 SHIN, SARAH (U Maryland BaltimoreCounty, USA), Learning to teach writing through

tutoring and journal writing. Teachers andTeaching: Theory and Practice (Routledge/Taylor &Francis) 12.3 (2006), 325–345.doi:10.1080/13450600500467621

Structured reflection on practical teaching experiencesmay help pre-service teachers to integrate their learningand analyze their actions to become more effectivelearners and teachers. This study reports on 12 pre-service English as a second language (ESL) teachers’individual tutoring of learners of English languagewriting. The data of the study are the writing journalentries that the pre-service ESL teachers maintainedduring their tutoring experience. These journals hadcommon elements: all were used by the pre-serviceteachers to consider what funds of knowledge theybring to their teaching of ESL learners, to evaluate theirroles as writers, learners and teachers and to reflecton the educational, social and cultural implicationsof teaching writing in English to speakers of otherlanguages. This article describes ways in which bothnative and non-native English speaking pre-serviceteachers adapted their instruction to meet the particular

needs of individual ESL writers and what they learnedin the process. It provides insight regarding the valueof using tutoring and reflection generally in teachereducation and specifically in the preparation of teachersof ESL.


06–772 SMITH, ERICA (Charles Sturt U, Australia),A rich tapestry: Changing views of teaching and

teaching qualifications in the vocational

education and training sector. Asia-PacificJournal of Teacher Education (Routledge/Taylor &Francis) 33.3 (2005), 339–351.doi:10.1080/13598660500286374

This paper describes and critiques changes in the nature,status and qualification requirements of the teach-ing workforce over the past fifteen years in thevocational education and training sector (VET) inAustralia. Changes in the settings in which VET isdelivered, expansion of the VET market, and newinitiatives in qualifications for VET teachers havecreated a detailed tapestry. In this tapestry are woventogether threads representing pedagogy, assessment,industry requirements and practitioner sophistication.The threads interact in complex and rich ways. Thearticle draws on a number of data sources whichillustrate the potential dangers of any assumption thatimproving the qualification levels of VET teachersmight be unproblematic or even always desirable.


06–773 SMITH, KARI & LILACH LEV-ARI (OranimAcademic College of Education, Israel), The place

of the practicum in pre-service teacher

education: The voice of the students. Asia-PacificJournal of Teacher Education (Routledge/Taylor &Francis) 33.3 (2005), 289–302.doi:10.1080/13598660500286333

The focus of this paper is the importance studentteachers attribute to the practical experience oftheir teacher education program, the practicum. Fourhundred and eighty student teachers from the largestteacher education institution in Israel responded to aquestionnaire with 68 closed items asking for their eval-uation of various components of the teacher educationprogram in relation to preparing them for teaching,and about sources for support during the practicum.The main findings show that the practicum is evaluatedhighly by a large majority of students; however, studentsfind importance in the more theoretical aspects of theireducation as well. Institutional-based supervisors of thepracticum were perceived by student teachers to providethe strongest support, alongside peers and school-based mentors. School principals were perceived not tobe supportive of student teachers during the practicum.The findings align with previous research in termsof importance of the practical aspects in preparationfor teaching, however not as a replacement for

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Teacher education ■theoretical courses. Moreover, findings suggest thatschool principals do not include school-based teachereducation as part of their professional responsibility.


06–774 STERN, LESA A. (Southern Illinois U, USA;[email protected]) & AMANDA SOLOMON, Effective

faculty feedback: The road less travelled.Assessing Writing (Elsevier) 11.1 (2006), 22–41.doi:10.1016/j.asw.2005.12.001

Grading papers may be one of the most stressful,most time consuming, and least rewarding activities inwhich professors engage. Although effective gradingtechniques for papers have been widely researched,especially within the ‘Writing’ or ‘English’ scholarlyarenas, has this information been put into practice?The goals of this paper are two-fold: (1) to replicateand extend Connor & Lunsford’s [R. J. Connors &A. A. Lunsford, Teachers’ rhetorical comments onstudent papers. College Composition and Communication44 (1993), 200–223] analysis of faculty comments, and(2) to review some of the tips for effective gradingpractices and see if the comments reflected theseeffective practice advice. A content analysis wasconducted on faculty comments from 598 graded paperswritten for hundreds of courses from thirty differentdepartments in the university. Results indicate that mostcomments were technical corrections that addressedspelling, grammar, word choice, and missing words.Macro- and mid-level comments that addressed paperorganization and quality of the ideas contained in itwere surprisingly absent. The lack of these larger idea-and argument-centered comments may prevent studentsfrom improving the quality of the larger issues in writingand refocus them on the smaller, albeit important,technical issues of writing.


06–775 TATE, PATRICIA, CURTIS PYKE, KAREN

KORTECAMP (The George Washington U, USA) &

CAROLMUSKIN, Developing an ethical orientation

toward supervisory practice through

collaborative case writing. Action in TeacherEducation (Association of Teacher Educators)27.3 (2005), 13–25.

This work is a collaborative study of a case-basedpractical inquiry. Teacher education faculty, led bya group facilitator, engaged in writing cases aboutsupervisory dilemmas they experienced for the purposesof reflection, clinical analysis and ethical thinking.Researchers reflected on their experiences indeveloping the cases and examined through analysis ofthe practical inquiry data what was valued to be just andright in the important work of the university supervisor.The reflections on experiences and analyses of the issuesinvolved stimulated ethical thinking and gave researchers

a deeper understanding of the ethical constructs relatedto their supervisory practices.

http://www.ate1.org

06–776 TIN, TAN BEE (U Auckland, New Zealand;[email protected]), Investigating the nature

of ‘interest’ reported by a group of postgraduate

students in an MA in English language teacher

education programme. System (Elsevier) 34.2(2006), 222–238.doi:10.1016/j.system.2005.09.004

‘Interest’ is a widely used term not only in languageeducation but also in our everyday life. However, verylittle attempt has been made to investigate the nature of‘interest’ in language teaching and learning. This paper,using a definition of interest proposed in the field ofeducational psychology, reports on the findings of astudy conducted with a group of postgraduate studentsstudying in an English language teacher educationprogramme at a New Zealand university. The studyuses a checklist as a tool for real-time measurementof student interest during four lectures observed. Thefindings suggest that there are various situational andindividual sources of interest that can be exploited.The topic and content of lectures seem to play asignificant role in triggering student interest. Interestin the topic can be triggered not only by what thelecturer does (situational factors) but also by what thestudent him/herself does (individual factors). Studentsthemselves can be trained to seek a connection betweenthe lecture topics, their teaching/learning experienceand other subjects. Students can also come to the lectureprepared with their own personal goals and questionsthey would like to have addressed.


06–777 VICK, MALCOLM (James Cook U,Australia), ‘It’s a difficult matter’: Historical

perspectives on the enduring problem of the

practicum in teacher preparation. Asia-PacificJournal of Teacher Education (Routledge/Taylor &Francis) 34.2 (2006), 181–198.doi:10.1080/13598660600720579

Current reviews of teacher education pay considerableattention to problems associated with the practicum,and often claim to propose major changes in order toimprove the quality of new graduates. Many of theproblems they address concerning the practicum andits relation to the ‘theoretical’ component of programsare longstanding, and have been the focus of sustainedcritique and consequent ongoing modification.Between 1900 and 1950 teacher educators andadministrators in England and Australia sought todevelop programs that balanced and integrated theoryand practice, supported by a range of teaching andadministrative procedures. They identified a range ofproblems in staffing, curriculum and pedagogy, schoolplacements and supervision, and explored a wide range

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■ Teacher educationof possible solutions to those problems from minoradjustments to substantial reconceptualisations of wholeprograms. However, many such solutions generatedfurther problems of their own. The analysis of thehistory of the practicum in teacher preparation indicateshow firmly contemporary proposals are embeddedwithin the framework of assumptions and approachesthat have shaped teacher education for over a century.


06–778 WALSH, STEVE (Queens U Belfast, UK),Talking the talk of the TESOL classroom. ELTJournal (Oxford University Press) 60.2 (2006),133–141.doi:10.1093/elt/cci100

This paper considers ways in which a detailedunderstanding of classroom discourse can be achievedthrough the use of reflective practices and professionaldialogue. For the teacher, understanding classroomcommunication, being able to ‘shape’ learnercontributions and making strategic decisions in themoment-by-moment unfolding of a lesson are regardedas being crucial to developing SLA in the formal,L2 classroom context. The study reported heremakes extensive use of a research instrument and ametalanguage designed to enable teachers make ‘good’interactive decisions online by using samples of theirown data. The collaborative process of interpretingdata and ‘meaning-making’ in a reflective feedbackinterview provides teachers with a means to uncoverthe interactive details of their classes and make consciouschanges to classroom actions.


06–779 WASBURN-MOSES, LEAH (Miami U, Ohio,USA), Preparing special educators for secondary

positions. Action in Teacher Education (Associationof Teacher Educators) 27.3 (2005), 26–39.

The field of special education has been consistentlyplagued with serious personnel shortages, high ratesof teacher attrition, criticisms of inadequate teacherpreparation, and questionable student outcomes. Therecent focus on increased standards and improvedstudent outcomes adds complexity to this situation. Ofparamount concern is the need to address shortfallsin teacher preparation and the growing gap betweenthat preparation and the changing world of practice.This study surveyed 191 high school learning disabilitiesteachers regarding these issues. Their responses lead torecommendations for the reform of special educationteacher preparation. Results indicated that manyteachers did not perceive they were well prepared eitherfor their positions, and urged more training in areas suchas curriculum and pedagogy, paperwork and legal issues,and student issues.

http://www.ate1.org

06–780 WUBBELS, THEO (Utrecht U, theNetherlands), PERRY DEN BROK, LETJE VELDMAN &

JAN VAN TARTVIJK, Teacher interpersonal

competence for Dutch secondary multicultural

classrooms. Teachers and Teaching: Theory andPractice (Routledge/Taylor & Francis) 12.4 (2006),407–433.doi:10.1080/13450600600644269

In the Netherlands, as in many European countries,classrooms display a growing cultural diversity. Thereare only very limited empirically supported data onthe interpersonal competence teachers need in Dutchclassrooms and studies from other countries cannot begeneralized because of differences in the compositionof the student population. This paper reports on anexploratory study in two schools on teachers’ experi-ences in multicultural classes followed by an in-depthcase study of one expert teacher. We use this study toanswer the question to what degree this teacher dis-plays interpersonal competence (teaching behaviours,knowledge and attitudes) specific for teaching inmulticultural classrooms by comparing this teacher’scompetence with generic interpersonal teachingcompetence. The teacher studied seems to be aware ofspecial needs of students from different cultures and touse this knowledge to apply specific teaching strategiesand interpersonal cues to create a positive classroomatmosphere and to cater for needs of diverse students.Further, the results indicate that many elements ofthis teacher’s interpersonal competence in teaching amulticultural class can be considered aspects of genericteaching competence. It seems that the multiculturalclassroom puts heavier demands on this competencethan a less diverse classroom.


06–781 YEE FAN TANG, SYLVIA, MAY MAY HUNG

CHENG & WINNIE WING MUI SO (Hong Kong Instituteof Education, China), Supporting student

teachers’ professional learning with

standards-referenced assessment. Asia-PacificJournal of Teacher Education (Routledge/Taylor &Francis) 34.2 (2006), 223–244.doi:10.1080/13598660600720629

Professional standards in teaching are developed inmany education systems, with professional learning andquality assurance being the central purposes of thesestandards. This paper presents an initiative in developinga professional development progress map (hereafter,progress map) within a learning-oriented fieldexperience assessment (LOFEA) framework. The articleexamines the use of a progress map to supportprofessional learning in teaching supervision in thefield experience of a teacher education programme.Views of users, including 16 tertiary supervisors and21 teacher participants of the in-service programmes,were collected. Issues relating to supporting stu-dent teachers’ professional learning with standards-referenced assessment, are discussed around four themes,

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Bilingual education & bilingualism ■namely intention, instrumentation, interpretation andimplementation.


Bilingual education & bilin-gualismdoi:10.1017/S0261444806263857

06–782 BAUMGARDNER, ROBERT J. (Texas A&M U,USA; [email protected]),The appeal of English in Mexican commerce.World Englishes (Blackwell) 25.2 (2006), 251–266.doi:10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00463.x

This paper deals with the profound influence of theEnglish language in business and commerce in Mexico.The use of English and Spanish–English creativity isshown to manifest itself in advertising in both Mexicannewspapers and magazines, in shop names as well asin product names. Interviews with two top Mexicanbusinessmen reveal the attitude of the Mexican businesscommunity toward the language: English sells. Theappeal of English, the paper shows, is due to both itsrole as an international language as well as its reflectionof modernity and technological superiority. The paperalso discusses the influence Spanish now has on Englishin the United States as a result of the recent influxof Spanish speakers. While both major languages willcontinue to be used in the future and Spanish Englishbilingualism will increase, English will maintain itspresent role as the world’s lingua franca.

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp

06–783 BUNTA, FERENC (Temple U, USA), INGRID

DAVIDOVICH & DAVID INGRAM, The relationship

between the phonological complexity of a

bilingual child’s words and those of the target

languages. International Journal of Bilingualism(Kingston Press), 10.1 (2006), 71–88.

The study of an English–Hungarian two-year-oldchild explored two research issues: (1) the relationshipbetween the complexity of the child’s productions andtheir respective target words in each language, and (2)the similarities of the child’s word shapes and consonantinventories in the two languages to address the issueof one versus two phonological systems. The resultsof the analysis of the complexity of child wordforms (as measured by Phonological Mean Length ofUtterance; Ingram 2002) and their targets revealed thatthe child’s English and Hungarian words and theirtarget words were significantly longer for Hungarianthan for English. The proximity to the target words ineach language, however, was approximately the same(i.e. 68% and 67%, respectively). These results suggestthat keeping close to the adult target forms may beas important in phonological acquisition as improvingoverall complexity in all words. The results of the

phonological analyses revealed surface differences,suggestive of separate phonological systems. However,the actual syllable shapes and phonological featuresfound were the same for both languages. These resultsare interpreted as supporting a model in which the childwas building the phonological systems from the samephonological units, but was using them in differentiatedways that produced different-looking surface forms.

http://www.kingstonpress.com

06–784 CHRISTIANSEN, PIA VANTING (Roskilde U,Denmark), Language policy in the European

Union: European/English/Elite/Equal/Esperanto

Union? Language Problems & Language Planning(John Benjamins) 30.1 (2006), 21−44.

This article analyses some of the potential languagepolicy scenarios in a democratic, integrated EuropeanUnion. It examines how a functional multilingual,democratic, ecological language policy in theEuropean Parliament may ensure equal participationin, and benefit from, democratic processes for bothmajority and minority language communities. Howmultilingualism is managed and language policy isformed will be crucial in creating the identity of afuture European Union, which the author discussesthrough a reinterpretation of what the EU might standfor; summarised in the notions of an English Union, anElite Union, an Equal Union or an Esperanto Union.Language policy issues are especially important withregard to education, as multilingual education couldbe viewed as a democratic tool safeguarding activecitizen participation in an intergovernmental forumsuch as the EU. Based on a three-language model it ispossible to sustain a secure ethnic identity or identitiesvia teaching through the mother tongue(s), as well asby acquiring at least one lingua franca and additionallanguages through carefully planned and well-organisedmultilingual education. The article concludes, in thelong term, that the optimal language policy alternativewould be one employing a planned language (such asEsperanto) as lingua franca, as a relay language and as aninternal working language for the EU institutions.


06–785 COOK, VIVIAN, BENEDETTA BASSETTI, CHISE

KASAI, MIHO SASAKI & JUN ARATA TAKAHASHI, Do

bilinguals have different concepts? The case of

shape and material in Japanese L2 users of

English. International Journal of Bilingualism(Kingston Press) 10.2 (2006), 137–152.

An experiment investigated whether Japanese speakers’categorization of objects and substances by shape ormaterial is influenced by acquiring English. Basedon Imai and Gentner (1997), subjects were presentedwith an item and asked to choose between two otheritems that matched it for shape or for material. Thehypotheses were that for simple objects the number ofshape-based categorizations would increase according to

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■ Bilingual education & bilingualismexperience of English and that the subjects’ preferencefor shape- and material-based categorizations woulddiffer from monolingual speakers of both languages.Subjects were two groups of 18 adult Japanese usersof English: the short-stay group had lived in English-speaking countries for less than three years, long-staygroup for three years or more. Both groups achievedabove criterion on an English vocabulary test. Resultswere: both groups preferred material responses forsimple objects and substances but not for complexobjects, in line with Japanese monolinguals, but thelong-stay group showed more shape preference thanthe short-stay group and also were less different fromAmerican monolinguals. These effects of acquiring asecond language on categorization have implications forconceptual representation and methodology.


06–786 COSTA, ALBERT (U Barcelona, Spain;[email protected]), WIDO LA HEIJ & EDUARDO

NAVARRETTE, The dynamics of bilingual lexical

access. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition(Cambridge University Press) 9.2 (2006), 137–151.doi:10.1017/S1366728906002495

This article discusses different views about how inform-ation flows through the lexical system in bilingualspeech production. The first part focuses on some ofthe experimental evidence often quoted in favor ofthe parallel activation of the bilinguals’ two languagesfrom the semantic system in the course of languageproduction. It is argued that such evidence does notrequire us to embrace the existence of parallel activationof the two languages of a bilingual. The second part ofthe article discusses the possibility that the language-not-in-use (or the non-response language) is activatedvia feedback from the sublexical representations and theauthors devise some experimental procedures to assessthe validity of such an assumption.

http://journals.cambridge.org/jid_BIL

06–787 DAGENAIS, DIANE, ELAINE DAY & KELLEEN

TOOHEY (Simon Fraser U, Canada), A multilingual

child’s literacy practices and contrasting

identities in the figured worlds of French

immersion classrooms. International Journal ofBilingual Education and Bilingualism (MultilingualMatters) 9.2 (2006), 205–218.

In this paper, we explore the intersection of practice,identity, resources and literacy central to the NewLiteracy Studies and recent second language researchinformed by sociocultural theories of learning andlanguage. Drawing on the construct figured worlds ofliteracy that describe how representations of literacypractices invoked in relation to certain people frametheir social position and the construction of theiridentities, we discuss literacy practices and teacherdiscourse documented in our classroom research. Wepresent data excerpts that illustrate how a multilingual

child is variously constructed as ‘literate child’ in thefigured worlds of elementary school French Immersionclassrooms. In particular, we consider how her literacypractices are shaped and her identities mediated indifferent ways socially, materially and linguistically.We argue that the mediation of her identities inclassroom literacy activities is tied to teacher expect-ations of her future educational progress. Finally,we suggest that partnerships between researchers,educational practitioners and policy makers aimed atdocumenting classroom literacy practices may highlighthow interpretations of multilingual children’s identitiescan serve to fix or change their social relations andeducational paths.


06–788 DAILEY-O’CAIN, JENNIFER & GRIT

LIEBSCHER, Language learners’ use of discourse

markers as evidence for a mixed code.International Journal of Bilingualism (KingstonPress), 10.1 (2006), 89–109.

This paper focuses on learners’ use of discourse markersin one advanced German language classroom, treatedas a bilingual community of practice. As in otherbilingual communities, the learners in the data exhibitphenomena that are characteristic for various stagesalong the continuum from codeswitching to mixedcode (Auer 1998). Analysis of the data for functionaldistribution of pairs of German and English discoursemarkers as used by the students finds that the discoursemarkers ’so’ and ’also’ have specialized functionally onthe level of the entire classroom community of practice,causing a structural division of labor between the twomarkers, and thus exhibiting evidence of a later stageof a mixed code. These practices are meaningful tothe community rather than originating from contactphenomena such as language transfer. Attention isdrawn to the importance of working across the fieldsof second language acquisition and bilingualism, sincelanguage learners in a classroom may develop similarpractices to those found in natural bilingual settings.


06–789 DE GROOT, ANNETTE M. B. (U Amsterdam,The Netherlands; [email protected]) & INGRID

K. CHRISTOFFELS, Language control in bilinguals:

Monolingual tasks and simultaneous

interpreting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition(Cambridge University Press) 9.2 (2006), 189–201.doi:10.1017/S1366728906002537

The typical speech of (fluent) bilinguals in monolingualsettings contains few switches into the non-targetlanguage. Apparently, bilinguals can control whatlanguage they output. This article discusses views onhow bilinguals exert control over their two languages inmonolingual tasks, where participants only have to im-plicate one of their languages in performing the task, andin translation and, especially, simultaneous interpreting,

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Bilingual education & bilingualism ■tasks that can only be performed if both languagesare addressed. A distinction is made between ‘global’control, where control involves the activation and/orinhibition of complete language systems, and ‘local’control, where control impacts on a restricted set ofmemory representations. A number of studies suggestthat bilingual control is a special case of the control ofaction in general. This insight suggests an opportunityto incorporate relevant work in the field of translationstudies in the study of bilingual control, embedding itin the same theoretical framework.


06–790 FINKBEINER, MATTHEW (Harvard U, USA;[email protected]), TAMAR H. GOLLAN &

ALFONSO CARAMAZZA, Lexical access in bilingual

speakers: What’s the (hard) problem?

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition (CambridgeUniversity Press) 9.2 (2006), 153–166.doi:10.1017/S1366728906002501

Models of bilingual speech production generallyassume that translation equivalent lexical nodes sharea common semantic representation. Though this typeof architecture is highly desirable on both theoreticaland empirical grounds, it could create difficulty at thepoint of lexical selection. If two translation equivalentlexical nodes are activated to roughly equal levels everytime that their shared semantic representation becomesactivated, the lexical selection mechanism should findit difficult to ‘decide’ between the two (the ‘hardproblem’) – yet in some cases bilinguals benefit fromthe presence of a translation equivalent ‘competitor’.This article reviews three models that have beenproposed as solutions to the hard problem. While eachof these models has difficulty accounting for the fullrange of findings in the literature, it is suggested thatthese shortcomings stem from their acceptance of theassumption that lexical selection is competitive. It isargued that without this assumption each proposal isable to provide a full account of the empirical findings,and suggested that the simplest of these proposalsshould be rejected before more complicated models areconsidered.


06–791 FRANCIS, NORBERT (Northern Arizona U,USA), Democratic language policy for

multilingual educational systems: An

interdisciplinary approach. Language Problems &Language Planning (John Benjamins) 29.3 (2005),211−230.

This article outlines a proposal for evaluatingeducational policy and planning for multilingualschool systems. Often, debates on language policyin education suffer from a restricted perspective thatelevates socio-political considerations above all others.Assigning secondary importance to language learningconstraints and developmental principles of second

language learning renders the discussion incompleteand incoherent. Bilingual instructional models need tobe based on current research findings that prioritizeboth an early introduction of content-based secondlanguage instruction (immersion), and the developmentof higher-order language abilities through a languagethat children understand.


06–792 GLASER, EVELYNE (Johannes Kepler U,Austria), Plurilingualism in Europe: More than a

means for communication. Language andInternational Communication (Multilingual Matters)5.3&4 (2005), 195–208.

While plurilingualism is not necessarily a novel concept,the author argues that the ability to speak severallanguages will help Europeans to develop a Europeanidentity and to deconstruct existing cultural and evengenetic barriers. To this aim it would make sense to beintroduced at a very early age to elements of languageand culture from neighbouring countries or immigrantpopulations. Plurilingualism is the only means tomaintain linguistic diversity, which, in turn, empowerspeople and enhances their creativity and problem-solving skills.


06–793 HELOT, CHRISTINE (U Marc Bloch, France)& ANDREA YOUNG, Notion of diversity in language

education: Policy and practice at primary level

in France. Language, Culture and Curriculum(Multilingual Matters) 18.3 (2005), 242–257.

This paper will present an analysis of the notion ofcultural and linguistic diversity in the new curriculumfor primary schools in France (MEN 2003). First,it will explain how this notion is linked both to awider choice of languages and to the teaching of oneforeign or regional language only. We shall argue that,despite the wide theoretical choice of languages and thepurported ministerial objective of ’familiarisation’ withlinguistic and cultural diversity, the notion of diversityis envisaged mainly as a policy to counterbalance thehegemony of English. The second part of the paper willreport on a language and cultural awareness project in aprimary school in Alsace, where a variety of languagesand cultures of different status have been presented topupils. In contrast to the objectives of foreign languageteaching (FLT), the project focused on raising the profileof minority languages, acknowledging the educationalpotential of home bilingualism, educating childrenabout language, languages, and the relativity of culturalpractices, with the ultimate aim of fostering tolerance.Our analysis shows that, despite the reluctance of mostFrench schools to move away from a monolingualhabitus, some teachers are able to go beyond the top-down policies inscribed in the new curriculum. Theteachers in the Didenheim project were not afraidto tackle the growing multilingualism within their

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■ Bilingual education & bilingualismclassrooms and have been able to break down ideologicalbarriers by using the linguistic and cultural diversity oftheir pupils as a resource for learning


06–794 HERNANDEZ, ARTURO E. (U Houston, USA;[email protected]) & GAYANE MESCHYAN,Executive function is necessary to enhance

lexical processing in a less proficient L2:

Evidence from fMRI during picture naming.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition (CambridgeUniversity Press) 9.2 (2006), 177–188.doi:10.1017/S1366728906002525

Recent work in the bilingual literature suggests thatnaming pictures in a second language (L2) differs fromnaming pictures in the first language (L1) because ofeffortful lexical retrieval. This finding has received somesupport in the neuroimaging literature (De Blesser et al.2003). In the current study, twelve Spanish-Englishbilinguals, who had learned English later in earlyadulthood, were asked to name pictures covertlyin either Spanish or English while being scannedwith functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).Picture naming in the second language (L2) relative tothe native language (L1) revealed increased activity inthe right insula, anterior cingulate gyrus and dorsolateralprefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the left fusiform gyrus.These results are consistent with the view that picturenaming in a less proficient L2 requires increased effortto establish links between motor codes and visual forms.


06–795 HERRERO, ELBA ALICIA (New Jersey City U,USA), Using Dominican oral literature and

discourse to support literacy learning among

low-achieving students from the Dominican

Republic. International Journal of BilingualEducation and Bilingualism (Multilingual Matters)9.2 (2006), 219–238.

This study focuses on ways of organising literacyinstruction to raise the skill levels of low-achieving,language minority students. The study involves twoteachers and twenty-two students of their students fromthe Dominican Republic, most of whom had scoredwell below the 41st percentile in Spanish and Englishreading and writing tests (the Language AssessmentBattery). The literacy activities were organised aroundculturally relevant literature and patterns of discourse.The students were charged with the tasks of researching,collecting and committing community-generatednarratives to memory. In the classroom, they presented,critiqued, edited and revised the narratives. Findingsshow that community-generated oral narratives wereuseful in helping to engage the students in criticalliterary discussion. The students addressed a variety ofconcerns with content, form and language in relation topersonal and cultural ways of knowing about literature.Findings also show that the students’ writing and

discourse, in both their mother tongue and English,was richer and more elaborate when they were allowedto draw upon those patterns of language used intheir everyday interactions. The study extends theoriespertaining to the role that student knowledge plays inliteracy instruction and helps teachers to better under-stand how students’ cultural literature, patterns ofdiscourse and ways of knowing influence theirparticipation, performance and learning.


06–796 KROLL, JUDITH F. (Pennsylvania State U,USA; [email protected]), SUSAN C. BOBB & ZOFIA

WODNIECKA, Language selectivity is the

exception, not the rule: Arguments against a

fixed locus of language selection in bilingual

speech. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition(Cambridge University Press) 9.2 (2006), 119–135.doi:10.1017/S1366728906002483

Bilingual speech requires that the language of utterancesbe selected prior to articulation. Past research hasdebated whether the language of speaking can bedetermined in advance of speech planning and, if not,the level at which it is eventually selected. We arguethat the reason that it has been difficult to come to anagreement about language selection is that there is nota single locus of selection. Rather, language selectiondepends on a set of factors that vary according tothe experience of the bilinguals, the demands of theproduction task, and the degree of activity of the non-target language. We demonstrate that it is possible toidentify some conditions that restrict speech planningto one language alone and others that open the processto cross-language influences. We conclude that thepresence of language non-selectivity at all levels ofplanning spoken utterances renders the system itselffundamentally nonselective.


06–797 LEUNG, CONSTANT (King’s College London,UK; [email protected]), Language and

content in bilingual education. Linguistics andEducation (Elsevier) 16.2 (2005), 238–252.doi:10.1016/j.linged.2006.01.004

This article suggests that there is a tendency to argue foror against bilingual education in terms of productivity(student attainment expressed as test scores), and thatproductivity is discussed in terms of division of time,curriculum and speakers. Although this orientation hasproduced some valuable macrolevel accounts, it does notaddress the need for close-up interaction data showinghow language(s) is/are used by teachers and students inclassroom activities. It is argued that such data is vitalfor understanding language and curriculum contentlearning in specific local contexts, which in turn canbe fed into wider discussions on pedagogy and policyin bilingual education.


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Bilingual education & bilingualism ■06–798 LOW, WINNIE W. M. (Pentecostal LamHon Kwong School of Hong Kong, China) & DAN LU,Persistent use of mixed code: An exploration of

its functions in Hong Kong schools. InternationalJournal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism(Multilingual Matters) 9.2 (2006), 181–204.

Code-mixing of Cantonese Chinese and English is acommon speech behaviour used by bilingual peoplein Hong Kong. Though code-mixing is repeatedlycriticised as a cause of the decline of students’ languagecompetence, there is little hard evidence to indicateits detrimental effects. This study examines the use ofmixed code in the context of the home setting, schoolsetting and leisure activities. The data are compliedfrom a questionnaire completed by 160 Hong Kongteachers and students. Subjects recorded their awarenessof their frequency and purposes of using a mixed codecommunication style. Results showed that code-mixingwas frequently used by the subjects. Findings suggestedthat code-mixing performed certain communicativefunctions and was used for various practical purposes.Code-mixing appears to be a customary componentof a bilingual society. No matter whether peopledislike or prefer it, code-mixing continues to existand satisfy bilingual speakers’ communicative needs.Administrative sanctions may not be effective.


06–799 LUNG, RACHEL (Lingnan U, Hong Kong,China; [email protected]), Translation training

needs for adult learners. Babel (John Benjamins)51.3 (2005), 224–237.

A survey on the translation training needs of adultlearners in Hong Kong was conducted in February2002. Quantitative and qualitative data were collectedfrom 185 applicants of a Postgraduate Diploma in Trans-lation programme through a standard form requestingdemographic and education background information,along with a 400-word English essay spelling out theapplicant’s reasons for applying. The Statistical Packagefor Social Scientists (Windows 10.1 version) wasused to perform gross statistics. Advanced statisticalprocedures were deliberately spared in order to have therudimentary findings presented, without any technicaldistortion. These findings provided an objective pictureabout the nature of translation needs for adult learners ingeneral. Such feedback from people of the real workingarena would also shed light on the nature and directionof university translation programme provision.


06–800 MALOOF, VALERIE MILLER (GwinnettCounty Public Schools, USA), DONALD L. RUBIN &

ANN NEVILLE MILLER, Cultural competence and

identity in cross-cultural adaptation: The role of

a Vietnamese heritage language school.

International Journal of Bilingual Education andBilingualism (Multilingual Matters) 9.2 (2006),255–273.

The present study examines the role of a Vietnameseheritage language school in cross-cultural adaptation, asoperationalised by the confluence of two independentvariables, language competence and integrated culturalidentity. To characterise the students’ language com-petencies and degree of integrated cultural identities,interview questionnaires of virtually a completecensus of students in the school were analysed viadescriptive statistics. Correlation and regression analyseswere conducted to determine relations between eachindependent variable and demographic factors (such asage at arrival in the USA and family milieu) and todetermine relations between each independent variableand school factors (such as pattern of attendance andclass participation). The findings suggest the heritageschool experience was related to components ofVietnamese language competency but had little impacton integrated cultural identity. Age at arrival in the USAand family milieu played a more significant role in thecross-cultural adaptation process.


06–801 MATIKI, ALFRED J. (U Botswana,Gaborone, Botswana), Literacy, ethnolinguistic

diversity and transitional bilingual education in

Malawi. International Journal of Bilingual Educationand Bilingualism (Multilingual Matters) 9.2 (2006),239–254.

This paper examines recent attempts by the Malawigovernment to introduce local languages into theprimary school system and other secondary domainsof national life, breaking more than 30 years ofChichewa/English monopoly. In a country where thelanguage policy has essentially established the hegemonyof English over indigenous languages, the fundamentalquestion that this policy must consider should revolvearound the role that these languages can play in thedevelopment of Malawi(ans) from a traditionally oralto an increasingly literate culture, ever more connectedto the international community through the Englishlanguage. For many Malawians, economic success ispredicated on one’s ability to speak, read and writeEnglish. There are, therefore, enormous attitudinal,political, economic and social problems that the policyhas to contend with.


06–802 MILLS, JEAN, Talking about silence:

Gender and the construction of multilingual

identities. International Journal of Bilingualism(Kingston Press) 10.1 (2006), 1–16.

This paper draws upon post-structuralist discussions onthe role of language in the construction of identity,particularly in relation to gender and bilingualism.As gender is socially constructed, negotiated and

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■ Bilingual education & bilingualismperformed through language, it differs between culturesand involves different relations of power. A bilingualperson, specifically, a bilingual woman, can, therefore,construct and perform identity in different waysdepending on context and may employ strategies indifferent ways between contexts, such as in the interplaybetween speech and silence. Silence as a phenomenonhas been viewed in the context of the exercise of powerbetween dominant and subordinate groups, especiallyin male-female relationships, and the ways in which theoral contributions of the ‘muted group’ are excluded,constrained or devalued. Furthermore, it has beennoted that there are different social sanctions betweencultures that may silence women in different ways.This discussion explores some of the roles that speechand silence have played in the life of one multilingualperson of Asian heritage. In doing so, different scenariosof empowerment through the role of translator andapparent disempowerment documented within a groupof female friends are addressed. The paper examines theways in which individuals may both work within andagainst cultural expectations in relation to the discursivepractice of silence.


06–803 MONTRUL, SILVINA, On the bilingual

competence of Spanish heritage speakers:

Syntax, lexical-semantics and processing.International Journal of Bilingualism (KingstonPress) 10.1 (2006), 37–69.

This study investigates the bilingual competence ofadult simultaneous Spanish–English bilinguals living inthe U.S. whose perceived weaker language is Spanish,and who are typically considered cases of language lossor incomplete acquisition. Potential Spanish languageloss was assessed with respect to the grammar ofmonolingual Spanish speakers and with respect to thebilinguals’ own competence in English, their perceivedstronger language. The bilinguals took proficiency testsin Spanish and English. Four experiments tested thebilinguals’ lexico-semantic and syntactic competencein Spanish and English. Experiments 1 and 2 useda Grammaticality Judgment Task in English and inSpanish to test syntactic and semantic aspects ofunaccusative and unergative verbs, while Experiments3 and 4 used an on-line visual probe recognition taskto test semantic and syntactic aspects of these verbs inEnglish and Spanish during sentence processing.Results of the linguistic and psycholinguistic measuresshow that despite self-perceptions and performancein the proficiency tests, the Spanish-English bilingualswere quite balanced in the two languages, anddisplayed robust knowledge of the syntactic effects ofunaccusativity in English and Spanish. Variation frommonolingual speakers was noticeable with the semanticclassification of some verbs along the unaccusativitycontinuum (Sorace 2000) as revealed in the Spanishtasks.


06–804 MOOKO, THEOPHILUS (U Botswana,Gaborone, Botswana), Counteracting the threat

of language death: The case of minority

languages in Botswana. Journal of Multilingualand Multicultural Development (MultilingualMatters) 27.2 (2006), 109–125.

When Botswana gained independence from the Britishin 1966, a political decision was taken to designateEnglish as an official language and Setswana, one of theindigenous languages, as a national language. This movedisregarded the multilingual nature of Botswana society.Furthermore, although not explicitly stated, the use ofother languages was, in effect, prohibited, especially inthe school setting and other official arenas. Whereas thegovernment undertook deliberate measures to promotethe use of Setswana, no efforts were made by thegovernment to cater for other languages spoken inBotswana. As a result, some of the latter languageshave died out whilst others have survived. This paperexamines some of the steps that members of the groupsthat speak these marginalised languages have taken intheir quest to develop and maintain their languages.The discussion in this paper considers the six strategiesproposed by David Crystal (2000) as some of the waysthat speakers of endangered languages could ensuretheir survival. Deprived of any government support, thespeakers of these languages initiated some processes thathave seen some significant developments. These includethe development of orthographies, the translation of theBible into these languages and the publication of otherwritten resources in these languages.


06–805 MULLER-SAINI, GOTELIND (U Heidelberg,Germany) & GREGOR BENTON, Esperanto and

Chinese anarchism 1907–1920: The translation

from diaspora to homeland. Language Problems& Language Planning (John Benjamins) 30.1 (2006),45−73.

The history of Esperanto in China was for long periodsclosely linked with anarchism. This article surveys theconnection in the years up to 1920, and sets out toshow which groups used which arguments to agitate forEsperanto, in order to throw light on the complexity ofthe relationship between language and politics in China,especially in the first half of the twentieth century.


06–806 MYERS-SCOTTON, CAROL (U SouthCarolina, USA; [email protected]), Natural

codeswitching knocks on the laboratory door.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition (CambridgeUniversity Press) 9.2 (2006), 203–212.doi:10.1017/S1366728906002549

This contribution discusses findings and hypothesesfrom empirical data of naturally-occurring code-switching. The discussion is framed by some

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Bilingual education & bilingualism ■comparisons of the approaches of contact linguists andpsycholinguists to bilingual production data. However,it emphasizes the relevance of naturally-occurring code-switching to the theoretical questions asked by psy-cholinguists. To accomplish this, relevant grammaticalstructures in code-switching are exemplified andanalyzed. Analysis largely follows the Matrix LanguageFrame (MLF) model, but differing approaches arementioned.


06–807 NAPIER, JEMINA (Macquarie U, Australia;[email protected]), Training sign

language interpreters in Australia: An

innovative approach. Babel (John Benjamins)51.3 (2005), 207–223.

This paper describes an innovative approach totraining sign language interpreters, through a programestablished at Macquarie University in Sydney,Australia. The course is innovative because sign langu-age and spoken language interpreting students jointlystudy key subjects, which enables all students to gaininsight into the theoretical applications and professionalpractices of their respective working experiences.This component is particularly innovative as signlanguage interpreting programs are typically providedas language specific courses with little (if any) exposureto interpreting students of other languages. This paperwill provide an overview of the program for bothspoken and signed language interpreters, detailing thestructure, content and delivery modes, with the aimof encouraging other interpreter educators to considercombining the teaching of all language interpreters.


06–808 PARK, HYEON-SOOK, Structural

characteristics of proper nouns in

Korean–Swedish discourse. International Journalof Bilingualism (Kingston Press) 10.1 (2006), 17–36.

This article examines the structural characteristics ofproper nouns from other languages, which have beenconsidered to be the most typical borrowings to suchan extent that most codeswitching researchers have notmade it a subject of discussion at all. The data consistof spontaneous adult, child and family conversationsamong Koreans residing in Sweden. Linguistic analysisshows that a number of proper nouns attested in theKorean-Swedish data do not behave as borrowings butas codeswitches. They do not show complete morpho-syntactic integration into the language of the sentence,yet even so they sometimes include function morph-emes such as definite articles. Occasionally the wordorder of the proper noun (or noun phrase) correspondsto the original language. Taking all of this intoaccount, we can reasonably conclude that even propernouns, which are generally assumed to be the mosttypical borrowings by many codeswitching researchers,undergo the same (or at least related) morphosyntactic

processes and that they are not different fromcodeswitching.


06–809 QUEEN, ROBIN M., Phrase-final

intonation in narratives told by Turkish–German

bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism(Kingston Press) 10.2 (2006), 153–178.

This study examines how three pre-adolescent,Turkish–German bilingual girls use intonationalresources from both of their languages as one strategyfor organizing monologic narratives. It shows that thebilingual narrators make strategic use of phrase-finaltunes that have their origins in the speakers’ (andtheir community’s) bilingualism. In particular, thesespeakers utilize two phrase-final rises that differ intheir frequency of occurrence, acoustic, phonologicaland functional characteristics. The contrasts in therises taken in conjunction with the contrasts betweenrises, levels and falls provide the speakers with conven-tionalized strategies for cueing specific narrativecontexts. These conventionalized strategies represent afusion of Turkish and German intonational patterns intoa single intonational grammar and form part of thebilingual linguistic and discursive repertoire. As suchthey also represent one locus of contact-related languagechange.


06–810 ROELOFS, ARDI (Nijmegen Institute forCognition and Information, Nijmegen, theNetherlands; [email protected]) & KIM VERHOEF,Modeling the control of phonological encoding

in bilingual speakers. Bilingualism: Language andCognition (Cambridge University Press) 9.2 (2006),167–176.doi:10.1017/S1366728906002513

Phonological encoding is the process by which speakersretrieve phonemic segments for morphemes frommemory and use the segments to assemble phonologicalrepresentations of words to be spoken. When conversingin one language, bilingual speakers have to resist thetemptation of encoding word forms using the phono-logical rules and representations of the other language.We argue that the activation of phonological repre-sentations is not restricted to the target language andthat the phonological representations of languages arenot separate. We advance a view of bilingual control inwhich condition-action rules determine what is donewith the activated phonological information dependingon the target language. This view is computationallyimplemented in the WEAVER++ model. We presentWEAVER++ simulations of the cognate facilitationeffect (Costa, Caramazza & Sebastian-Galles 2000) andthe between-language phonological facilitation effectof spoken distractor words in object naming (Hermans,Bongaerts, de Bot & Schreuder 1998).


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■ Bilingual education & bilingualism06–811 ROSENHOUSE, JUDITH, LUBNA HAIK & LIAT

KISHON-RABIN, Speech perception in adverse

listening conditions in Arabic–Hebrew

bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism(Kingston Press) 10.2 (2006), 119–135.

Relatively little is known about the combined effectsof adverse listening conditions on bilinguals’ speechperception. This study examines the effect of (1)speech rate and (2) noise, separately and combined, onbilinguals’ speech perception in L1 and L2. Participantswere university students, native speakers of Arabic (L1),with Hebrew L2. Speech perception tests consistedof 64 CHABA sentences adapted to Hebrew and toArabic (32 sentences per language). In each language,speech perception was evaluated under four conditions:quiet + normal speech rate; noise + normal speechrate; quiet + fast speech rate; fast speech rate + noise.The results showed that under optimal conditions,our native speakers of Arabic in Israel had similarachievements in Arabic (L1) and Hebrew (L2). Underdifficult conditions, however, their performance waspoorer in L2 than in L1: background noise had a greaterdetrimental effect than speech rate, and the combineddetrimental effect of speech rate and background noisewas greater for L2 than for L1. These results highlightthe importance of attention to acoustic conditionsand speaker related characteristics when testing speechperception in general and especially in the case ofbilinguals.


06–812 SALOMON, FRANK (U Wisconsin–Madison,USA) & EMILIO CHAMBI APAZA, Vernacular literacy

on the Lake Titicaca High Plains, Peru. ReadingResearch Quarterly (International ReadingAssociation) 41.3 (2006), 304-326.doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.3.1

In Quechua- and Aymara-speaking villages on the highplains of Lake Titicaca, universal public schooling isa relatively recent innovation. It overlays an unofficialliteracy that racially and linguistically stigmatizedpeasants acquired up to a century ago as culturalcontraband and as a tool of conflict. Field research inthe years 2000–02 in Azangaro province focuses onQuechua households’ memories of acquiring literacyand their ways of reading, making, using, and curatingthe documents resulting from it. A team of locallyrooted researchers interviewed rural herder-farmersabout past and present literacy practices. The papersin their household archives, almost all in Spanish,stand poles apart from indigenous Quechua speech.Moreover, the Spanish household papers’ use is diglossicas compared to rural Spanish. Yet despite this doubledissociation from speech, writing has become deeplyinvolved in traditional practices of social reciprocity,ritual, and song. Writing has somewhat the status ofa ‘parallel language’, useful precisely because of itsseparateness from the hazards of unequal bilingualism.Schools take little notice of these informal traditions.

Attention to them might work in favor of improvedclassroom achievement.

http://www.reading.org

06–813 SANDEL, TODD L. (U Oklahoma, Norman,USA), WEN-YU CHAO & CHUNG-HUI LIANG,Language shift and language accommodation

across family generations in Taiwan. Journal ofMultilingual and Multicultural Development(Multilingual Matters) 27.2 (2006), 126–147.

This study explored language shift and accommodationamong bilingual Mandarin and Tai-gi (also calledHokkien, Holo, Tai-gu, Taiwan Min, Taiwanese)families in Taiwan. From the 1940s until the 1980s theChinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Taiwan promotedMandarin Chinese. Recent years have witnessed a shiftin policy: since 2001 elementary schools throughoutTaiwan offered mother-tongue education as a wayto preserve and maintain Taiwan’s mother tongues.This paper is based upon interviews with 58 parentswho lived in both urban and rural locations andwhose children were enrolled in mother-tongue classes.Interview responses were analysed both quantitativelyand qualitatively. Quantitative analysis found significantlanguage shift occurring from Tai-gi to Mandarinamong parents and children, and a faster shift inurban versus rural environments. Qualitative analysisexamined the perceived processes and meanings oflanguage shift. Many parents spoke of accommodationas affecting language shift: they spoke Tai-gi to elders,mixed Tai-gi and Mandarin to peers, and Mandarin tochildren. Most parents perceived Tai-gi as more intimatethan Mandarin and the source of tradition, whileMandarin was the language of public discourse. Theperceived link between language and identity variedacross location as most rural parents linked Tai-gi witha Taiwanese identity while urban parents did not.


06–814 SCOTT SHENK, PETRA, The interactional

and syntactic importance of prosody in

Spanish–English bilingual discourse.International Journal of Bilingualism (KingstonPress) 10.2 (2006), 179–205.

This paper highlights prosody as a fundamental featureof bilingual conversation. The author’s data show thatsyntactic structure does not, as one prevalent line ofinquiry regarding codeswitching claims, impose con-straints on codeswitching, but rather certain discoursestructures make codeswitching at any given pointmore or less cognitively and interactionally profitableaccording to conversationalists’ ability to produceand comprehend information. The corpus consistsof one hour of conversational data from four competentbilinguals of Mexican heritage living in SouthernCalifornia yielding a total of 782 analyzable units.Using the transcription methods developed by Du Bois,Schuetze-Coburn, Paolino, and Cumming, (1993)

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Sociolinguistics ■wherein each line of transcription consists of oneIntonation Unit (Chafe 1979, 1987, 1993, 1994),the prevalent pattern which emerged was one inwhich speakers overwhelmingly switched at IntonationUnit boundaries. Using what is termed the Switch-Boundary Intonation Unit (SBIU) as the unit of analysisand adapting the notion of completion points (Sacks,Schegloff & Jefferson 1974; Ford & Thompson 1996),the author examines intonation contour type,syntactic completion and constituency, and pragmaticcompletion in order to best characterize thecodeswitching frame.


06–815 SMITH, DANIEL J., Thresholds leading to

shift: Spanish/English codeswitching and

convergence in Georgia, U.S.A., InternationalJournal of Bilingualism (Kingston Press) 10.2(2006), 207–240.

In the speech of members of a Georgia (U.S.A.)community of immigrants from Latin America, as theirbilingual sentences of Spanish/English reach a certainthreshold of English content, Spanish morphosyntacticpatterns begin to converge toward those of English. Datafrom naturally-occurring conversations by 56 childrenand adults of both sexes are analyzed within Myers-Scotton’s (1993 [1997], 2002) Matrix Language Framemodel. Eight language types were identified, includingmonolingual Spanish and English turns, codeswitchedturns, and turns showing convergence (morphemestrings from one language with some grammaticalstructure from the other). An instance of each languagetype per turn was counted as a token of that languagetype. Each sentence of a multisentence turn wascounted as a separate token. Tokens of each type werecounted per informant. A rank ordering of the data bypercentage of monolingual Spanish allows observationof how certain thresholds signal changes in the typesof language mixing. Analysis reveals that percentagesof monolingual and codeswitched utterances patternin relation to percentages of utterances showingconvergence, indicating that informants’ Spanish doesnot begin to converge toward English until fewer than70% of their utterances are monolingual Spanish. Thedata thus show that both codeswitching and conver-gence are mechanisms of language shift and change fromdominance in one language to another. Social factors arealso shown to be associated with the linguistic patterns.


Sociolinguisticsdoi:10.1017/S0261444806273853

06–816 AFFUL, JOSEPH BENJAMIN ARCHIBALD

(National U Singapore, Singapore), Address terms

among university students in Ghana: A case

study. Language and International Communication(Multilingual Matters) 6.1 (2006), 76–91.

An important feature of the interface between languageand society is the use of address terms. Following Brownand Gilman (1960), research studies of address termshave been extended to several cultural settings. Thisstudy contributes to this fertile area of sociolinguisticstudies by describing the address terms used amongundergraduates in an English-medium university inGhana. Two sets of data collected from participant andnon-participant observation and interviews constitutethe primary source of data, supplemented by intuition.Analysis and discussion of this study point to three keyfindings. First, Ghanaian students use four major groupsof address terms. The second finding relates to the useof the reported modes of address, namely, personalnames, titles, descriptive terms and catch phrases toreflect and construct the individual and social identityof students. The final point is the use of modes ofaddress to reflect a warm and vivacious culture. Thesefindings have implication for theory and interculturalcommunication.


06–817 BHATIA, TEJ K. (Syracuse U, USA;[email protected]), Super-heroes to super

languages: American popular culture through

South Asian language comics. World Englishes(Blackwell) 25.2 (2006), 279–298.doi:10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00465.x

Although under immense pressure from television,movies, and video games, comics are a very effective andnon-intrusive means of introducing American popularculture in South Asia in the age of globalization.The introduction of American comic books in SouthAsian languages, although a recent phenomenon, hasalready stimulated the South Asian/Indian appetite forAmerican super-heroes and comics and has added vari-ous new cognitive and (psycho) linguistic dimensionsto traditional Indian comics. The paper attempts toaccount for the creative linguistic strategies employedin the representation of super-heroes through superlanguages (Sanskrit and English) in South Asianlanguage comics and to explain the highly diverse appealand positive perception of comics in South Asia.


06–818 CLARK, ROSE (U Portsmouth, UK) & S. N.

GIEVE, On the discursive construction of ‘the

Chinese learner’. Language, Culture andCurriculum (Multilingual Matters) 19.1 (2006),54–73.

Characterisations of ‘the Chinese learner’ in educationand applied linguistics have frequently taken a ‘largeculture’ approach, which involves describing the values,attitudes and learning practices of individuals in termsof fixed, homogeneous, reified national cultures. Ashared Confucian cultural heritage is offered by way

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■ Sociolinguisticsof explanation for supposedly consistent Chinesebehaviours in Western classrooms. This paper examinessome features of the deficit model of Chinese learnerdiscourse attributed to Confucian cultural heritage(passive, lacking critical thinking, reliant on simplisticrote memorisation strategies resulting in surfacelearning, unwilling to participate in classroom talk),and refers to research findings which propose alternativecharacterisations and alternative explanations rooted insocial and contextual factors. An alternative approachbased on post-structuralist, critical pedagogy andcultural studies perspectives is considered which focuseson ‘small culture’ explanations for the behaviours ofChinese learners abroad. Situated identity is a keyconcept in this approach; the influence of nationalculture on individual values and behaviour throughsocialisation in shared educational practices is moderatedor disrupted as the individual learner is transplanted intoa different context. Agency is recognised as learnersattempt to negotiate new identities for themselves in amore or less alien environment.


06–819 COLUZZI, PAOLO (U Bristol, UK ),Language planning for the smallest language

minority in Italy: The Cimbrians of Veneto and

Trentino-Alto Adige. Language Problems &Language Planning (John Benjamins) 29.3 (2005),247−269.

After an introduction to the Cimbrian language (aBavarian variety that has maintained many character-istics of early Middle High German) and a briefoverview of the sociolinguistic situation (attitudes inparticular) in the area regarded as ‘ethnically’ Cimbrian,this article looks at the language planning that has beencarried out in the Cimbrian area (particularly in theareas of graphization, mass-media and education) andat the institutions devoted to it. It is evident that notenough planning has been done. There are variousreasons for this, such as the low ethnic and linguisticconsciousness of the speakers (particularly in the Venetoregion) and the lack of both adequate funding and ofa policy that takes economic development seriouslyinto account. Considering the size of the speakingcommunity, its socio-economic situation, the invasivepresence of Italian and the lack of resources, the chancesfor the survival of Cimbrian are not high, particularlyin the Veneto region. However, language planning isworth attempting anyway, not only to preserve Italy’s(and the world’s) rich diversity, but particularly for thecultural, social and economic benefits that reversinglanguage shift always entails.


06–820 DRIESSEN, GEERT (Radboud U, theNetherlands), In Dutch? Usage of Dutch regional

languages and dialects. Language, Culture andCurriculum (Multilingual Matters) 18.3 (2005),271–285.

This paper examines the use of regional languages anddialects of Dutch in the Netherlands, and the relationof such to the Dutch language proficiency of primaryschool pupils. The data from the large-scale primaryeducation PRIMA cohort study are analysed. A total ofnearly 35,000 pupils participated in five measurementrounds covering the period 1995 through 2003. Insightis thus provided into the most recent situation and thedevelopments during this period. Two developmentsstood out in particular. A considerable intergenerationaldecrease in the use of regional languages and dialectswithin families, on the one hand, and across years, onthe other hand. Only a weak relation between the useof regional languages and dialects and Dutch languageproficiency is detected, moreover. The conclusions donot hold for each and every regional language anddialect studied here. The position of Limburgish provedinteresting in particular.


06–821 EDWARDS, RACHEL (U Northumbria, UK),What’s in a name? Chinese learners and the

practice of adopting ‘English’ names. Language,Culture and Curriculum (Multilingual Matters) 19.1(2006), 90–103.

This paper examines the widespread practice of Chineselearners choosing (and sometimes refusing) to adoptEnglish and Anglicised names. Data collected fromquestionnaires and interviews with both students andteachers are analysed in order to arrive at an under-standing of why such a practice has arisen and continuesto be perpetuated throughout institutions of highereducation. Evidence will suggest that this practicecannot be divorced from Chinese learners’ perceptionsof themselves, their own culture, and their experienceof learning English. It will highlight strategies of bothcompliance and resistance employed by students whenthey adopt and exchange names: strategies which saymuch about their attitudes to British culture andlearning English in particular. At the same time,teachers’ attitudes to students’ names will be seen tohighlight, at a basic level, some of the difficultiesencountered when East meets West in the classroom.The paper concludes by suggesting that China’s uniquerelationship to ELT is fundamental to Chinese learnersadopting ‘English’ names.


06–822 GAO, LIWEI (Monterey, USA;[email protected]), Language contact and

convergence in computer-mediated

communication. World Englishes (Blackwell) 25.2(2006), 299–308.doi:10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00466.x

With the rapid development of internet communicationin Mainland China, there has emerged a new varietyof Chinese online, which is generally referred to asChina’s internet language (Yu et al. 2001a, among

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Sociolinguistics ■others). In this paper, I examine samples of Chineseinternet language, represented on the lexical, sentential,and discursive levels. I present evidence of the impactof English upon Mandarin Chinese. Based on theanalysis, I contend that, with the ever increasing useof computer-mediated communication in MainlandChina, the influence of English upon Chinese maybecome more robust, which may in turn have implic-ations for change in the Chinese language. In thissense, internet communication serves as a mechanismto facilitate the evolution of the Chinese language inthe digital age.


06–823 GU, QING (U Nottingham, UK) & MICHELE

SCHWEISFURTH, Who adapts? Beyond cultural

models of ‘the’ Chinese learner. Language,Culture and Curriculum (Multilingual Matters) 19.1(2006), 74–89.

From a comparative perspective, this paper analysesChinese learners’ intercultural experiences in Chineseand British educational contexts. In the Chinesecontext, interview and questionnaire research wascarried out in 24 universities that hosted the BritishCouncil’s English teaching development programmes.The research uncovered perspectives on change in theChinese teachers, who were the learners in this teachertraining programme. In the UK, a current study isprobing into the challenges Chinese learners face inadapting to the British higher education teaching andlearning culture. Early results reveal a change processin the learners, affected by a range of inter-relatedpersonal, cultural, social, psychological and contextualfactors. Research literature on the links between theChinese cultural context and Chinese learning styleshas provided an important basis for understanding theinterface between Chinese learners and Western modesof education. However, in comparing the perspectivesof Chinese learners in two contrasting educational andcultural contexts, this paper highlights how factors otherthan culture alone also influence the adaptation thattakes place as part of the learning process. Factors suchas the professional identities and motivations of theteachers and learners, the context where teaching andlearning take place, and the power relationships betweenthem are shown to be significant issues in the strategicadaptations made by Chinese learners.


06–824 HOSODA, YURI (Kanagawa U, Japan;[email protected]), Repair and relevance

of differential language expertise in second

language conversations. Applied Liguistics(Oxford University Press) 27.1 (2006), 25–50.doi:10.1093/applin/ami022

This paper examines the relevance of differentiallanguage expertise in ordinary conversation betweenspeakers of Japanese as a first and second language.

Adopting a conversation analytic perspective, the studyfocuses on other-repair as one sequential environmentin which the participants recurrently orient to theirdifferential linguistic knowledge. Specifically, it will beshown that language expertise was made relevant (a)when one participant invited the other party’s repairand (b) when the participants encountered a problemin achieving mutual understanding. On such occasions,the interlocutors oriented to the differences in theirlinguistic knowledge through their talk and otherinteractional conduct. The study thus provides evidencefor differential language expertise as a participantcategory that emerges on occasion but bears norelevance for the participants during most of their talk.


06–825 KACHRU, YAMUNA (U Illinois, USA;[email protected]), Mixers lyricing in Hinglish:

Blending and fusion in Indian pop culture. WorldEnglishes (Blackwell) 25.2 (2006), 223–233.doi:10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00461.x

Nativization of English in the Outer and ExpandingCircles manifests itself in mixing of English items inartistic expressions of various kinds, including fiction,poetry, and performances. Popular songs present manyinstances of Hindi–English mixing in India, rangingfrom alternate verses in the two languages to the twolanguages mixed at the level of words, phrases, idioms,etc. In East Asian languages, such as Japanese andKorean, English is mixed to achieve specific purposes,e.g. to be ‘audacious,’’exotic,’ and ‘to reexoticize’ theirown language (Stanlaw 2004), or to assert ‘a newidentity’ and to represent ‘a discourse of resistance’(Lee2004). In contrast, one salient motivation for mixingEnglish in Hindi popular songs is to have fun with thelanguage, i.e. to create humor and parody Westernizedyouth, similar to mixing with Sanskrit to create humorand parody the Traditional life style. English is no longera fresh instrument to be used with a serious intentof asserting identities or resisting the traditional andcustomary. It is used on par with other Indian languagessuch as Punjabi, Marathi, and Telugu, testifying to itsstatus as totally and completely nativized in the Indiancontext.


06–826 KENNY, COLUM (Dublin City U, Ireland) &

SUIL EILE, Another way of seeing minority

language broadcasting. Language andInternational Communication (Multilingual Matters)5.3&4 (2005), 264–273.

This paper examines, in their social context, the originsand history of TG4. It notes that TG4 broadcasts mainlybut by no means exclusively in the Irish language, beingone of the Republic of Ireland’s four national terrestrialtelevision services and one of three operated under theumbrella of the state-owned RTE. The paper focuseson the purposes and functions of TG4 and analyses

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■ Sociolinguisticsthe cultural assumptions that lie behind it. It considersthe development of TG4 as an aspect of Irish languagepolicy generally and assesses the channel’s significancefor contemporary Ireland.


06–827 MOODY, ANDREW J. (U Macau, Macau),English in Japanese popular culture and J-Pop

music. World Englishes (Blackwell) 25.2 (2006),209–222.doi:10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00460.x

This study of the role of English within Japanese popularculture, and especially within Japanese popular music,suggests that attitudes toward the Japanese languagemay be changing. Numerous scholars maintain that theJapanese conflation of race with language establishespatterns of racial discrimination in which Japaneseprefer not to use the Japanese language for inter-ethnic communication. Likewise, the Japanese languageis rarely treated as a language of broader communication(i.e. global communication) by the Japanese. However,the recent development of the ‘language entertainment’genre of broadcast television actively challenges thesestereotypes of Japanese ethnolinguistic identity. Further-more, language mixing within Japanese popular music,especially mixing that results in ‘code ambiguation,’attempts to redefine ethnic identity by obscuring whatlanguage is used in pop music. These phenomena areinterpreted according to possible ongoing changes ofJapanese ethnolinguistic identity.


06–828 OMONIYI, TOPE (Roehampton U, UK;[email protected]), Hip-hop through

the world Englishes lens: A response to

globalization. World Englishes (Blackwell) 25.2(2006), 195–208.doi:10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00459.x

This paper proposes that global popular culture and,specifically, hip-hop music offers prospective sites forexamining interaction between varieties of English inthe context of globalization. The data consist of extractsfrom Nigerian hip-hop song lyrics. Sociolinguisticfeatures of fusion as a social process of globalizationinclude divergence through (deliberate) phonologicalvariation, codeswitching, cross-referencing, nicknam-ing, colloquialisms, and reinterpretation.


06–829 O’ROURKE, BERNADETTE (Dublin City U,Ireland), Expressing identity through lesser-used

languages: Examples from the Irish and Galician

contexts. Language and InternationalCommunication (Multilingual Matters) 5.3&4(2005), 274–283.

This paper looks at the degree and way in whichlesser-used languages are used as expressions of identity,

focusing specifically on two of Europe’s lesser-usedlanguages. The first is Irish, spoken in the Republicof Ireland and the second is Galician, spoken in theAutonomous Community of Galicia in the North-western part of Spain. The paper reports on some ofthe findings of a study which looked at contemporarylinguistic attitudes and ideologies amongst younger agegroups within Irish and Galician societies.


06–830 SHI, XINGSONG (U Texas, USA), Gender,

identity and intercultural transformation in

second language socialisation. Language andInternational Communication (Multilingual Matters)6.1 (2006), 2–17.

In L2 learners’ second language socialisation process,males and females from different socioculturalbackgrounds have diverse attitudes and access to secondlanguage acquisition. In this study, informed by feministpoststructuralist theory, we can see the highly context-sensitive nature of the gendered practices and the cor-responding outcomes of language learning and languagecontact. The study generalises from the assumptionsof previous feminist poststructuralist studies on theideologies of gender and language and integratesthese with intercultural transformation theory. Thistheoretical framework is used to explain L2 learners’/users’ reconstruction and transformation of genderedperformance during their discursive reestablishment ofsocial identities in heterogeneous sociocultural contexts.The dynamic and constantly changing nature of L2learners’ gendered identity has significant implicationsfor second language educators, by ‘open(ing) uppossibility for educational intervention’ (Peirce 1995:15). The paper concludes by suggesting how schoolinstructions might mitigate the powerful socialfactors that retard L2 learners’ acquisition in certaincommunities, as well as how educators can facilitateL2 learners’ cross-cultural transformation to promotetheir social identity renegotiation and reestablishmentto achieve legitimate membership during their secondlanguage socialisation.


06–831 SHINHEE LEE, JAMIE (U Michigan, USA;[email protected]), Crossing and crossers

in East Asian pop music: Korea and Japan.World Englishes (Blackwell) 25.2 (2006), 235–250.doi:10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00462.x

This paper examines crossing and crossers betweenKorea and Japan in the domain of pop music. Crossing ofsemiotic products such as music between the two coun-tries, in both a ‘linguistic’ and ‘physical’ sense, presents asociolinguistic case in which renegotiation of positionsof ex-colonizer (Japan) and ex-colonizee (Korea)is promising. The turbulent cultural and linguisticdynamics between the two countries have undergonestages of oppression, contestation, and collaboration

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Sociolinguistics ■over the years. Pop culture, including music and TVshows, is a sociolinguistic venue that has recentlyexperienced a noticeable change in the power dynamicsbetween Korea and Japan.


06–832 SPENCER-OATEY, HELEN (U Cambridge, UK)& ZHAONING XIONG, Chinese students’

psychological and sociocultural adjustments to

Britain: An empirical study. Language, Cultureand Curriculum (Multilingual Matters) 19.1 (2006),37–53.

This paper reports an empirical study of the psycho-logical and sociocultural adjustments of two cohorts ofChinese students taking a foundation course in Englishlanguage at a British university. Using Zung’s (1965)Self-Rating Depression Scale and a modification ofWard and Kennedy’s (1999) Sociocultural AdaptationScale, quantitative data were obtained on the students’adjustment experiences, and these were correlated withother variables such as grade point average, age andlength of stay in Britain. Interview data provided aricher picture of their experiences. The study foundthat the majority of students had few psychologicalor sociocultural adjustment difficulties. Nevertheless,social interaction with non-Chinese was consistentlyidentified as problematic and this, as well as difficultiesin adjusting to daily life, were very highly correlatedwith psychological stress. End-of-course grade pointaverage was found to be negatively correlated with thepsychological stress experienced near the beginning ofthe academic year. The paper calls for further researchto follow up these findings, and concludes with a listof suggestions for universities to help address overseasstudents’ psychological and sociocultural adjustmentneeds.


06–833 STRUCK-SOBOLEVA, JULIA (U Birmingham,UK), Controversies surrounding language policy

and the integration process of Russian Germans

in Germany. Language and InternationalCommunication (Multilingual Matters) 6.1 (2006),57–75.

This paper is concerned with the impact that publicand political discourses on the issues of languageand ethnicity in Germany have on integration. Itsuggests that a combined effect of factors such as thetraditional concept of ‘Germanness’, peculiarities ofRussian Germans’ ‘cultural identity’ and certain aspectsof German language policy with respect to resettlementhave prompted the emergence and developmentof discourses that are linked to the deficiency ofsocial contacts between Russian Germans and nativeGermans. This paper focuses on the Russian German–native German discourse that is an intrinsic part ofsuch contacts. It argues that broad political and socialcontexts influence the process of interaction indirectly

by becoming part of the interlocutors’ knowledge.Fieldwork provides empirical evidence for such aninfluence. A number of communicative settings areanalysed in depth, using results of in-depth interviews,observations and authentic conversations. On the basisof this analysis, the current paper demonstrates how thediscourses that stem from controversies in the languagepolicy can interfere with face-to-face interactionsbetween Russian Germans and native Germans invarious social settings at the microlevel and thereforehave an impact on the way Russian German–nativeGerman discourse is shaped.


06–834 USHIODA, EMA (U Warwick, UK),Language motivation in a reconfigured Europe:

Access, identity, autonomy. Journal ofMultilingual and Multicultural Development(Multilingual Matters) 27.2 (2006), 148–161.

In this paper, I propose that we need to developan appropriate set of conceptual tools for examiningmotivational issues pertaining to linguistic diversity,mobility and social integration in a rapidly changingand expanding Europe. I begin by drawing on researchthat has begun to reframe the concept of integrativemotivation in the context of theories of self andidentity. Expanding the notion of identity, I discussthe contribution of the Council of Europe’s EuropeanLanguage Portfolio in promoting a view of motivation asthe development of a plurilingual European identity andthe enabling of access and mobility across a multilingualEurope. Next, I critically examine the assumptionthat the individual pursuit of a plurilingual identityis unproblematic, by highlighting the social contextin which motivation and identity are constructed andembedded. To illuminate the role of this social context,I explore three inter-related theoretical frameworks:poststructuralist perspectives on language motivationas ‘investment’; sociocultural theory; and theories ofautonomy in language education. I conclude withthe key message that, as with autonomy, languagemotivation today has an inescapably political dimensionof which we need to take greater account in our researchand pedagogical practice.


06–835 USTINOVA, IRINA P. (Murray State U, USA;[email protected]), English and

emerging advertising in Russia. World Englishes(Blackwell) 25.2 (2006), 267–277.doi:10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00464.x

This paper focuses on the role of English in theemerging advertising market in Russia. A brief overviewof the advertising industry in Russia is presented,and the current attitudes of the Russian audienceand institutions toward advertisements and foreignismsare demonstrated. Multiple language mixing, pre-dominantely of English and Russian, is observed

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■ Applied linguisticsin three types of TV advertisements: social, service, andcommercials. In TV commercials code-switching andcode-mixing are a dominant feature, as 76 percent useEnglish or an English-Russian mix. A correspondenceexists between the type of product, and the languagechoice for the brand name: names of the Westernproducts are presented totally in English, while Russiangoods employ both languages in naming and labeling.Results indicate that there is a preference for usingEnglish names and the Roman script for a variety ofproducts, such as electronic appliances, cars, personalcare, laundry and household products. Abundance ofEnglish usage in the commercials can be explained byutilitarian reasons, as Western firms promote their brandnames and logo in English all over the world, and bysocial reasons, as English signals novelty, prestige, andhigh quality products.


Applied linguisticsdoi:10.1017/S026144480628385X

06–836 RICHARDS, KEITH (U Warwick, UK), ‘Being

the teacher’. Applied Liguistics (Oxford UniversityPress) 27.1 (2006), 51–77.doi:10.1093/applin/ami041

Recent debate on the standard classroom Initiation–Response–Follow-up pattern has focused particularattention on the final move and the contribution itcan make to productive interaction in teacher-frontedsituations. This paper suggests that current researchin this area has tended to exaggerate the pedagogicimpact of changes based on specifiable discourse moves,proposing instead an approach to analysis which takesaccount of the dynamic nature of identity constructionand its relationship to the development of ongoing talk.It challenges the view that the concept of classroom con-versation is inherently contradictory and, drawing onthe work of Zimmerman (1998) related to thebroader field of Membership Categorization Analysis,demonstrates how shifts in the orientation to differentaspects of identity produce distinctively differentinteractional patterns in teacher-fronted talk. UsingZimmerman’s distinction between discourse, situatedand transportable identities in talk, extracts from class-room exchanges from different educational contextsare analysed as the basis for claiming that conversationinvolving teacher and students in the classroom is indeedpossible. The paper concludes with a discussion of thepedagogical implications of this.


06–837 SONG, JAE JUNG (U Otago, New Zealand;[email protected]), The

translatability-universals connection in

linguistic typology: Much ado about something.Babel (John Benjamins) 51.4 (2005), 308–322.

Linguistic typologists tend to assume that there is aclose connection between translatability and languageuniversals (research) but this assumption has recentlybeen called into question by Comrie, who claims thatsuch a connection should be ignored in the practicalenterprise of doing linguistics or will have a debilitatingeffect on the progress of linguistics as a discipline.This paper will demonstrate that translation is notonly possible in principle but also has much relevanceto language universals (research). First, to argue thattranslation is, in principle, not possible is to deny thebasic relation between cognitive-conceptual contentand language, mediated by translation. Moreover, thequestion of translatability is no longer looked upon assomething either possible or impossible but translationis recognized as a process in which optimal solutions totranslation are sought. Comrie’s argument for theimpossibility of translation is based on formal equi-valence, a concept which is highly debatable, parti-cularly within Translation Studies. Second, translationhas much relevance to language universals (research),because universal constraints (for example, on relativeclause formation) are formulated or defined in termsof grammatical context, which will only come to lightthrough translation. This does not come as a surprisebecause the mediation between language and cognitionis also done through translation. The role of translationin language universals (research) is much more thana mere heuristic. Translation is crucial to languageuniversals.


06–838 WHARTON, SUE (U Warwick, UK;[email protected]), Ways of

constructing knowledge in TESOL research

reports: The management of community

consensus and individual innovation.International Review of Applied Linguistics inLanguage Teaching (Walter de Gruyter) 44.1 (2006),23–48.doi:10.1515/IRAL.2006.002

This paper centres on published research reportsproduced by members of the TESOL discourse com-munity. The analysis extends the Hallidayan concept ofgiven/new information from its origins (used forcapturing information structure at the clause level)and relates it to the analysis of the macro-structuralorganisation of TESOL research reports. The pragmaticaspect of given and new is combined with Hoey’s (1983,2001) Problem-Solution pattern to help demonstratenot only how TESOL research report texts are organ-ised, but also what the pragmatic function of thatorganisation is at the genre level. Then, a deeperanalysis of writer management of certain elements ofthe Problem–Solution pattern is undertaken; this givesinsights into how writers align themselves as membersof the TESOL community while simultaneouslypresenting their own contribution as new and valuable


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Pragmatics ■06–839 Xiao, RICHARD & TONY MCENERY

(U Lancaster, UK), Collocation, semantic prosody,

and near synonymy: A cross-linguistic

perspective. Applied Liguistics (Oxford UniversityPress) 27.1 (2006), 103–129.doi:10.1093/applin/ami045

This paper explores the collocational behaviour andsemantic prosody of near synonyms from a cross-linguistic perspective. The importance of these conceptsto language learning is well recognized. Yet whilecollocation and semantic prosody have recently attractedmuch interest from researchers studying the Englishlanguage, there has been little work done on collocationand semantic prosody on languages other than English.Still less work has been undertaken contrasting thecollocational behaviour and semantic prosody of nearsynonyms in different languages. In this paper, weundertake a cross-linguistic analysis of collocation,semantic prosody, and near synonymy, drawing upondata from English and Chinese (pu3tong1hua4). Theimplications of the findings for language learning arealso discussed.


Pragmaticsdoi:10.1017/S0261444806293856

06–840 ERMIDA, ISABEL (U Minho, Braga, Portugal;[email protected]), Linguistic mechanisms

of power in Nineteen Eighty-Four: Applying

politeness theory to Orwell’s world. Journal ofPragmatics (Elsevier) 38.6 (2006), 842–862.doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2005.05.008

This article aims to analyze conversation exchanges inOrwell’s classic as discourse instances where power,hierarchy and politeness are deeply interwoven. InOceania – the ultimate example of the individual’sdenial – characters behave, linguistically and otherwise,according to strict norms, which reify built-in social andinterpersonal asymmetries. This article focuses on theseasymmetries and, more specifically, looks into the waydialogues are structured, so as to shed some light on theextent to which hierarchy and power are linguisticallydetermined. Brown & Levinson’s pragmatic theoryof politeness (1987) and later contributions providethe analytical tools to guide this approach, whichcorrespondingly analyses the range of face-threateningacts performed, the forms of redressive action takento counter those threats and the reasons and goalsunderlying the use of such forms.


06–841 FULDA, JOSEPH S. (New York, USA;[email protected]), Abstracts from logical form: An

experimental study of the nexus between

language and logic I. Journal of Pragmatics(Elsevier) 38.5 (2006), 778–807.doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2005.10.001

This experimental study is a proof-of-concept of atheory of meaning first put forward by Bar-Hilleland Carnap in 1953 and foreshadowed by Asimov in1951. The theory is the Popperian-like notion that themeaningfulness of a proposition is its a priori falsity.We tested this theory by translating to logical form along, tightly written, published text and computed themeaningfulness of each proposition using the a priorifalsity measure. We then selected the top propositions –by a priori falsity – and strung them together to formad hoc abstracts and compared these abstracts with thepublished summary. The results are startling: translationto logical form followed by application of the Asimov/Bar-Hillel/Carnap idea produces excellent abstracts,thereby providing a proof-of-concept that merely byknowing the logical form of large text passages, one canproduce reasonable abstracts of it – without actuallyunderstanding the text. In other words, were theresults of this experiment to generalize, that wouldshow that logical form captures much more semanticsthan has heretofore been considered likely. Far frombeing merely the syntactical rewrite of text intoformal notation commonly supposed, logical form,even without knowing almost anything about theparticular predicates, individual constants, or otherobjects referred to in that form, might capture the coreof the meaning in some important sense, still to be fullyformalized into a comprehensive theory.


06–842 FULDA, JOSEPH S. (New York, USA;[email protected]), Abstracts from logical form: An

experimental study of the nexus between

language and logic II. Journal of Pragmatics(Elsevier) 38.6 (2006), 925–943.doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2006.01.008

This experimental study provides further support fora theory of meaning first put forward by Bar-Hilleland Carnap in 1953 and foreshadowed by Asimov in1951. The theory is the Popperian notion that themeaningfulness of a proposition is its a priori falsity.We tested this theory (Fulda 2006) by translating tological form a long, tightly written, published text andcomputed the meaningfulness of each proposition usingthe a priori falsity measure. We then selected the toppropositions – by a priori falsity – and strung themtogether to form ad hoc abstracts and compared theseabstracts with the published summary. The resultswere startling: translation to logical form, followedby application of the Asimovian idea and Bar-Hillel/Carnap mathematics as elaborated into an AI/NLPproposal in Fulda (1986, 1988), produced excellentabstracts, thereby providing a proof-of-concept thatmerely by knowing the logical form of long textpassages, one can produce reasonable abstracts of them –without actually understanding the text. We here

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■ Pragmaticsreport on a second experiment analyzing, in the exactsame manner, the correspondence that followed thepublished text of the first experiment. While theresults of this confirming experiment are less startling,they nevertheless provide additional confidence in thepromise of the technique. In other words, were theresults of these two experiments to generalize, thatwould show that logical form captures much moresemantics than has heretofore been considered likely.Far from (as is commonly supposed) being merelythe syntactical rewrite of text into formal notation,translation to logical form, even when undertaken withalmost no knowledge about the particular predicates,individual constants, or other objects referred to in thatform, might capture the core of the meaning in someimportant sense.


06–843 GIORA, RACHEL (Tel Aviv U, Israel;[email protected]), Anything negatives can do

affirmatives can do just as well, except for some

metaphors. Journal of Pragmatics (Elsevier) 38.7(2006), 981–1014.doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2005.12.006

In this study I look into some of the functions peoplebelieve are specific to negation vis-a-vis affirmation inorder to question the asymmetry between the two,which is the received view prevalent among manyformal linguists, pragmatists, and psycholinguists (see,Horn 1989; Clark and Clark 1977). On the assumptionthat ‘[m]uch of the speculative, theoretical, andempirical work on negation over the last twenty-three centuries has focused on the relatively marked orcomplex nature of the negative statement vis-a-vis its af-firmative counterpart’ (Horn 1989: xiii), I examine herethe extent to which negation is indeed pragmaticallydifferent from affirmation. Based on findings from bothnaturally occurring and laboratory data, I argue againstan asymmetrical view of negation and affirmation(for a different view, see Horn 1989: 201). Thepragmatic and functional similarity found here betweennegation and affirmation can be explained only byhigher level processing mechanisms that are governed bypragmatic sensitivity (Giora 1985; Sperber and Wilson1986/1995).


06–844 HASSON, URI (U Chicago, USA;[email protected]) & SAM GLUCKSBERG, Does

understanding negation entail affirmation? An

examination of negated metaphors. Journal ofPragmatics (Elsevier) 38.7 (2006), 1015–1032.doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2005.12.005

How do people understand negated assertions?Negation may function like affirmation if it focuseson the counterfactual situation, i.e. the situation ruledout by the statement. Alternatively, negation could shiftfocus from the counterfactual to the factual situation

referred to in the statement. We tested these hypothesesin a study employing a lexical decision task. Participantsread affirmative and negated assertions such as this lawyeris/is not a shark and then made lexical decisions to termsrelated either to the affirmative or negative meaning(e.g. vicious; gentle). In early stages of comprehension,both the negated and affirmative assertions facilitatedthe accessibility of affirmative-related terms. After 1000ms, the affirmative assertions continued to facilitateaffirmative-related terms, but the negated assertionsno longer did so. These results suggest that negationsare initially represented as affirmation. We discussimplications for current theories of negation.


06–845 HEINEMANN, TRINE (U Uppsala, Sweden;[email protected]), ‘Will you or

can’t you?’: Displaying entitlement in

interrogative requests.Journal of Pragmatics(Elsevier) 38.7 (2006), 1081–1104.doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2005.09.013

Interrogative structures such as ‘Could you pass the salt?and ‘Couldn’t you pass the salt?’ can be used for makingrequests. A study of such pairs within a conversationanalytic framework suggests that these are not usedinterchangeably, and that they have different impactson the interaction. Focusing on Danish interactionsbetween elderly care recipients and their home helpassistants, I demonstrate how the care recipient displaysdifferent degrees of stance towards whether she isentitled to make a request or not, depending on whethershe formats her request as a positive or a negativeinterrogative. With a positive interrogative request, thecare recipient orients to her request as one she is notentitled to make. This is underscored by other features,such as the use of mitigating devices and the choice ofverb. When accounting for this type of request, the carerecipient ties the request to the specific situation she isin, at the moment in which the request is produced.In turn, the home help assistant orients to the lack ofentitlement by resisting the request. With a negativeinterrogative request, the care recipient, in contrast,orients to her request as one she is entitled to make.This is strengthened by the choice of verb and thelack of mitigating devices. When such requests areaccounted for, the requested task is treated as somethingthat should be routinely performed, and hence assomething the home help assistant has neglected to do.In turn, the home help assistant orients to the displayof entitlement by treating the request as unproblematic,and by complying with it immediately.


06–846 KAUP, BARBARA (Technische UniversitatBerlin, Germany; [email protected]), JANA

LUDTKE & ROLF A. ZWAAN, Processing negated

sentences with contradictory predicates: is a

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Pragmatics ■door that is not open mentally closed? Journalof Pragmatics (Elsevier) 38.7 (2006), 1033–1050.doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2005.09.012

We investigated whether comprehenders of isolatednegative sentences with contradictory predicates (e.g.The door was not open) have available a representation ofthe actual state of affairs (closed door) from a certainpoint in the comprehension process on. In a self-paced-reading paradigm, participants were presentedwith affirmative and negative sentences in which atarget entity and a contradictory predicate were beingmentioned. After reading the sentence, participantswere presented with a picture of the target entity thateither matched or mismatched the entity’s properties inthe described world, and their task was to name outloud as quickly as possible the name of the depictedentity. When the delay between sentence and picturewas 750 ms, a match effect with respect to the actualstate of affairs occurred for the affirmative versions ofthe sentences but not for the negative versions of thesentences. When the delay was 1500 ms, a match effectwith respect to the actual state of affairs occurred forthe negative but not for the affirmative versions. Theresults are interpreted in the context of the experiential-simulations view of comprehension.


06–847 LEE, EUNHEE (U Buffalo, USA;[email protected]), Stative progressives in

Korean and English. Journal of Pragmatics(Elsevier) 38.5 (2006), 695–717.doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2005.09.006

This paper inquires into the meaning of theprogressive in Korean and English by focusing onits complementation restriction. Although the Englishprogressive, due to its semantics of ‘process in progress’,cannot normally accept stative verbs such as know, love,have, etc., the Korean progressive ko iss form naturallyoccurs with them. Rather than proposing a differentsemantics of ko iss, such as general imperfective orresultative (Kim 1993; Ahn 1995), this paper suggeststhat know-type verbs in Korean are in fact event de-scriptions, or more specifically, inchoative eventualities,which indicate the inception of a continuous state. Inso doing, this paper not only solves the stative verb

complementation problem but also provides a unifiedsemantics of ko iss as denoting a middle phase ofa situation (Lee 1991), encompassing both its on-goingprocess and state readings. This analysis will also explainthe difference between the Korean stative progressivesand their English counterparts, the latter of whichhave been analyzed as instances of aspectual coercion(de Swart 1998). The conclusions of this paper havebroader implications concerning aspectual properties ofpsychological verbs in general, as well as the distributionof aspectual transitions in a language, both in the overtaspectual operators and in the covert coercion patterns.


06–848 PARADIS, CARITA (Vaxjo U, Sweden;[email protected]) & CAROLINE WILLNERS,Antonymy and negation – the boundedness

hypothesis.Journal of Pragmatics (Elsevier) 38.7(2006), 1051–1080.doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2005.11.009

This paper investigates the interpretation of unbounded(scalar) adjective antonyms with and without negationsuch as (not) narrow – (not) wide and bounded adjectiveantonyms with and without negation such as (not)dead – (not) alive as well as their interpretationswith approximating degree modifiers, fairly and almost,respectively. The investigation was designed to test theboundedness hypothesis, namely that the negator issensitive to the configuration of the adjective in terms ofboundedness. The data are Swedish and the results of theexperiments show that negated unbounded adjectivesdo not evoke the interpretation of their antonyms, i.e.not wide does not equal ‘narrow’. The results of theexperiments with bounded adjectives with and withoutnegation showed that some of the negated adjectiveswere interpreted as synonyms of their antonyms, i.e.not alive equals ‘dead’. However, this pattern was notconsistent across the bounded adjectives, since a numberof them readily lent themselves to partial readings. Fourtypes of bounded antonyms emerged from the parti-cipants’ judgements. For both unbounded and boundedadjectives, the interpretations of the approximatingdegree modifiers and the adjectives were notsignificantly different from the negated adjectives.


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