Search Results (27)

Globalization enhances communication among people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As cultural artifacts, English language teaching textbooks are crucial media for learners’ intercultural education, especially under the concept of English as a lingua franca. This study investigated the cultural elements in Chinese university English textbooks via the approach of content analysis. Specifically, a set of Chinese English language teaching textbooks was selected as the sample and the audio and video materials were transcribed into texts as the data. The results were displayed by the counts of cultural elements. The data revealed that international cultures and source cultures were highlighted, and the textbooks were not oriented toward native-speakers’ English. Moreover, the distribution of cultural categories across the textbooks remains imbalanced, with cultural products occupying the largest proportion, and cultural perspectives displayed the least. This is mainly attributed to the fact that cultural perspectives are implicit cultures under the surface of the iceberg, and notably, they are sporadically reflected by the cultural products, practices, and persons. The findings provide suggestions that writers include balanced cultural elements in compiling English language teaching textbooks, and teachers scrutinize cultural representation and design intercultural activities. Full article

In linguistically diverse and multilingual South African communities, it is common to use non-standard language varieties (NSLVs), often called mixed languages, as lingua franca. These NSLVs are primarily spoken in black townships throughout South Africa. Previous studies show that the discursive production of oral narratives impacts the development and use of higher-order language processing, as they require the knowledge, language skills and abilities to produce coherent discourse. The main focus of the existing literature in oral narrative is mostly on standard languages. In this study, we explore how speakers of Sepitori, a non-standard language variety (NSLV), produce an oral narrative compared to Sesotho, a standard language. The current study investigates the oral narrative production of a total number of 20 participants who are adult speakers of Sesotho and Sepitori (ten from each language). The Sesotho speakers were bilingual speakers of English and Sesotho. The Sepitori speakers were multilingual speakers of English, Sesotho, Zulu and other languages spoken in the Mamelodi township. This study used a mixed methodology of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Narratives were annotated for language complexity in the macro- and microstructure elements: the length and type of clause, pragmatic acts, referential lexical choices and code-switched words. Sepitori speakers produced narratives characterised by interactive clauses unrelated to the narrative level and with a greater range of lexical referents, showcasing more individual linguistic variation. Sesotho speakers produced a more sequential oral narrative in line with story schema with fewer interjections to the researcher. In an increasingly linguistically heterogeneous South Africa, more research is required to gain insights into how multilingual individuals develop and refine their narrative skills, emphasising the much-needed focus on NSLV from a psycholinguistic perspective, which may ultimately inform tools of assessment for multilingual children and adults in social, clinical and academic contexts. Full article

English as a Lingua Franca is emerging in Indonesia, but it is not a well-documented variety. This paper aims to describe the pronunciation features of Indonesian-Accented English (IAE). Fifty educated Indonesians who were regular users of English were recorded reading two texts. The phonological features of consonants, clusters, and vowels were investigated through acoustic analysis and spectrographic observation. The results show that IAE is not predictable from contrastive Indonesian English analyses; that IAE may confuse listeners (e.g., if ‘she’ is realised as [si:]); and that speakers may regularly produce sounds at the beginning of words that they do not produce at the ends of words. Full article

The teaching practicum, a psychologically demanding phase of professional development, yields diverse self-efficacy outcomes for pre-service teachers. While it is crucial to view the practicum as a cornerstone for shaping teaching beliefs, there exists a research gap in understanding its influence on the self-efficacy of pre-service English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in East Asia and delving into the cognitive processes during this period. This mixed-methods study (n = 18) aimed to address this gap. The quantitative results revealed an overall increase in participants’ self-efficacy, notably in classroom management. The qualitative findings uncovered challenges faced by those with lower self-efficacy, particularly when discrepancies arose with mentor teachers over teaching English through a communicative approach. Conversely, individuals with linguistically and culturally diverse pre-practicum experiences exhibited resilience while maintaining robust beliefs about their own teaching. The findings suggest the necessity for tailored teacher preparation programs aiming at nurturing a multilingual perspective through interaction in English as a lingua franca. Full article

Learning a Foreign Language (FL) beyond the classroom has become common practice thanks to advances in technology and the use of English as a Lingua Franca. This study explores the types and amount of out-of-school informal exposure to English that Spanish secondary school students typically receive in their daily lives. Informed by recent literature on the influence of extramural activities on FL proficiency, the second aim of this study is to investigate the potential relationship between out-of-school exposure and academic performance, as measured by English school grades. Data were obtained from a questionnaire answered by secondary school students aged 12–16 (N = 2015) regarding the different types and amounts of activities they perform in English outside school. Findings revealed that teenage learners were most frequently exposed to English through audiovisual input. Social media interaction, along with reading and writing (with or without digital support), were closely associated with their English marks. Other popular activities, such as listening to music or playing video games, were not found to be related to proficiency or even showed a negative correlation with it, while less popular activities, such as watching subtitled movies and series, could have greater potential for language learning. This study contributes to the understanding of informal practices in FL learning settings and provides insights that can help bridge interactive language practices and formal curriculum to create holistic learning experiences for language learners. Full article

This study aims to examine whether a crosslinguistic influence (CLI) is exerted on the referring expressions of the spoken narratives of Japanese–English bilingual children in different discourse contexts. Thirteen early bilingual (school-age) children separately presented Japanese and English narratives for a wordless picture book and a speechless video clip. Further, seven Japanese and nine English monolingual children participated as controls. The linguistic devices that the children adopted to introduce, reintroduce, and maintain the topic were compared with those of their monolingual controls to detect any CLI. As predicted, CLI for English on Japanese was observed but not vice versa. In Japanese, bilinguals utilize significantly more noun phrases (NPs) compared with their monolingual counterparts. More crucially, this was observed only in the referent reintroduction context, indicating that only discourse contexts that require the integration of much pragmatic information may be vulnerable to English influence. Null forms are barely utilized in English narratives; thus, no influence from Japanese was observed. We present the referential choice patterns in the elicited spoken narratives of bilingual school-age children acquiring an under-researched language pair. By controlling for the discourse context, we demonstrate that CLI is more likely to manifest in the reintroduction context. These findings offer additional evidence for the interface and structural overlap hypothesis, further highlighting the criticality of considering information structure as an influencing condition. Full article

The present study examines teachers’ perceptions, attitudes, and practices regarding the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) to teach Greek as a second language (L2) in multicultural classrooms in Greece, a largely underexplored area in the field of applied linguistics. The research was based on self-reports collected through questionnaires, written accounts, metaphor elicitation, and semi-structured interviews provided by 20 teachers of young learners with a migrant background in public schools in Greece. The findings showed that the classroom discourse takes place mainly in the target language, i.e., Greek, and ELF was also reported to be used by both teachers and learners for specific functions, such as vocabulary translation, explanation of grammar rules, and checking for comprehension. As reported by the participants, both teachers and learners welcome the idea of ELF use because a sense of security and comfort is provided through its employment. The study suggests that ELF may allow a smooth transition into the new social reality of the host country and a better approach of L2 Greek for young learners with a migrant background in the context of multilingual and intercultural education. Full article

This study examines English textbooks used in Taiwanese junior high schools (Grades 7 to 9) from the perspective of English as a lingua franca (ELF) and with regard to the national English curriculum. In this study, English textbooks that are currently used in junior high schools in Taiwan were examined based on an analysis framework featuring ELF attributes. These ELF attributes were proposed and enumerated in light of previous studies on the analysis of English textbooks and the national English curriculum. This study revealed that the examined textbooks partially reflected an ELF perspective with the manifestation of the ELF attributes to a different extent. Moreover, it demonstrated that the ELF-oriented content was displayed in various forms of activities and exercises (e.g., listening, reading, writing, and discussion) and that the subject matter of the units covered a wide range of topics. In light of the research results, the author provides suggestions for the design of ELF-oriented textbooks at the junior high school level, such as promoting learners’ awareness of ELF, encouraging the development of intercultural communication strategies in learners, considering learners’ experiences in the learning of English, and entailing meaningful learning of English for learners. Full article

English as a lingua franca (ELF) has challenged English language teaching and learning and has recently impacted teacher education as well as teacher beliefs and practices. Nevertheless, there are very few studies exploring teachers’ beliefs and practices towards ELF-aware assessment. Within the framework of an online ERASMUS+ course, the current study investigated the perceptions of English language teachers towards assessment within two multilingual contexts, Norway and Italy. The data were collected through the assessment course activities and final assignments. The findings showed that most teachers were in agreement with balancing ELF-aware teaching and assessment but struggled to address formative and summative assessment mandates in their multilingual contexts. The evolving classroom context that characterizes multilingual settings demands teachers to develop flexibility and innovation as part of their language assessment literacy trajectories. This study has several implications for language teachers, teacher trainers, and future researchers. Full article

In a European context, where member states of the European Union share a common language policy, multilingualism and foreign language (FL) learning are strongly promoted. The goal is that citizens learn two FLs in addition to their first language(s) (L1). However, it is unclear to what extent the multilingual policy is relevant in people’s lives, at a time when the English language is established as a lingua franca. This survey-based study contributes insights into the relevance of the EU multilingual policy in an intra-European migration context, by focusing on Swedish migrants (n = 199) in France, who are L1 speakers of Swedish. We investigated the perceived importance of skills in FL French, FL English, and L1 Swedish, for professional and personal life. The quantitative analyses showed that participants perceive skills in French and in English to be equally important for professional life, whereas skills in Swedish were perceived to be less important. For personal life, skills in French were perceived as the most important, followed by skills in English, and then Swedish. In conclusion, the European multilingual language policy appears to be reflected in Europeans’ lives, at least in the case of Swedish migrants in France. Full article

During the American annexation of the Philippines, a classic English catechism designed in a question-and-answer format known as the Baltimore catechism became popular. Apparently, that said catechism served as the standard Catholic catechetical text (lingua franca) in the country from 1900 to the late 1960s. There is no single best method and approach in the ministry of catechesis. However, cultural appreciation of the people is essential to realize purposeful and meaningful catechesis. In the celebration of the Quincentenario of the arrival of Catholicism in the Philippines, it is a fitting tribute to recognize Fray Juan de Oliver, O.F.M. and revisit his Declaracion de la Doctrina Christian en Idioma Tagalog which he used from 1582 to 1591 when he was tasked to evangelize the locals of Balayan, Batangas during the early stages of the Catholic propagation in Luzon. The 188-page catechism attributed to de Oliver was all written in Tagalog which meant that he persevered in learning the local language to impart the Catholic teachings strikingly to the natives. Through historical and textual analysis, the proponent intends to reconstruct de Oliver’s adaptable and comfortable (gamay) methods and approaches of catechizing in a suitable way (hiyang) to the worldview, language, and culture of the locals. Likewise, de Oliver’s catechetical pedagogy may also serve as a pedagogical paradigm for priests, religious educators, and catechists in conducting contextualized catechesis. Full article

Language teachers struggle to shift from monolingual ideologies and pedagogical practices, as advocated for in the promotion of multilingualism and inclusive pedagogy. Additionally, the role of English as a multilingua franca pushes English teachers to rethink their beliefs about the language and its use. Even when positive about multilingualism, teachers are often uncertain of how to address the complexities of multilingual ideals due to varying contextual factors and a lack of practical knowledge and skills. This study reports on English teachers’ (N = 110) language beliefs and self-reported practices in linguistically diverse classrooms in Norway based on an online survey. We applied factor analysis to investigate if any demographic factors influenced the results. A complexity paradox emerged in which the teachers’ acceptance of multilingual ideals was contradicted by their beliefs and teaching practices, which reflected monolingual ideologies. Teacher age, learner age group, and teacher gender were important factors in the respondents’ beliefs. The discussion suggests why various factors may influence teachers and explores the complexity of their multifaceted ecologies. We conclude with recommendations for practitioners and researchers. Full article

The present study investigated Macao university students’ attitudes towards English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Macao maintains a diverse multilingual society, with speakers from several cultures converging into one city for work and travel. Traditionally, the common languages of communication have been Chinese and Portuguese, due to Macao’s historical connection with both mainland China and Portugal. However, with the development of tourism and economy, English has become a lingua franca in the city. Despite this, it is unclear what attitudes are held about ELF and whether these attitudes may differ according to academic interest, academic background, and experience with intercultural communication. To address this need, 303 university students completed a survey measuring attitudes towards ELF on five dimensions. Afterwards, nine participants were interviewed to expand on their survey responses. The descriptive results indicated that in general Macao university students’ attitudes towards ELF were positive in many aspects, but also included conservative attitudes. Results from t-tests showed that English minors, local Macao students, and students who have overseas intercultural communication experience held more positive attitudes towards ELF than English majors, mainland Chinese students, and those without overseas experience, respectively. Implications for English teaching in Macao are discussed. Full article

With the availability of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) courses, an increasing number of international students have been joining Swedish universities. However, the language use in Swedish EMI courses may display unique features; while many Swedish students have high English language proficiency, code-switching between Swedish and English is reported as a common practice by both lecturers and students, even when international students are present. Moreover, the term “international students” is often used to include students of various statuses and linguistic abilities, and the experiences and perspectives of short-term exchange students towards the language use in Swedish EMI courses are rarely documented. The current study investigates the perspectives of short-term exchange students from Japan enrolled in EMI courses at a university in Sweden. Questionnaire and focus group interview confirmed previous studies regarding the language-use practices in the classrooms. Moreover, the rate of speech, turn-taking, and background knowledge were found to hinder the learning and participation of the exchange students. The findings suggest the need to raise awareness of the language practices in Swedish EMI courses to students, lecturers, and other universities in order to support the learning experience of short-term exchange students. Full article