In a selected Western Cape school, Grade 11 isiXhosa First Language (L1) learners' written language presents errors which seem to be an indication of both their poor linguistic competence and ...learning performance. Their writing not only reflects various orthographic errors, but also inconsistency in their isiXhosa usage. These errors tend to affect learners' academic performance when made in written tasks which are used for assessment purposes. Tendencies towards serious violations of the standard orthographic rules are noticeable, and this observation presents concerns in terms of the fate and sustainability of the language. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study examines errors presented in the writings of Grade 11 isiXhosa L1 learners with a view to establishing the nature and scope of these errors. Findings reveal that learners commit a variety of errors and thus demonstrate significant deviation from the standard orthography. This study proposes recommendations in the form of interventions and strategies that are applicable in the teaching and learning of Grade 11 learners' isiXhosa with a view to maintaining its standard orthography and thus improving the learners' academic performance.
Today, scholars and students face an array of lingualisms: bilingualism, multilingualism, polylingualism, metrolingualism plurilingualism, codeswitching, codemeshing, and translanguaging, among ...others. Plurilingualism can be understood as the study of individuals' repertoires and agency in several languages, in different contexts, in which the individual is the locus and actor of contact; accordingly, a person's languages and cultures interrelate and change over time, depending on individual biographies, social trajectories, and life paths. The term 'plurilingual competence' adds emphasis on learners' agency, and constraints and opportunities in educational contexts. We discuss where and how plurilingualism fits among the other lingualisms, its similarities and differences, with an example of plurilingual pedagogy and practice from a university in Vancouver, Canada. In doing so, we challenge three common critiques of/misconceptions about plurilingualism: (i) that it is based on an invalid static binary between the social and the individual, (ii) that it is over-agentive, and (iii) that it can serve to reinforce social inequities within a neoliberal world order.
Comprehending irony is a complex task: typically developing (TD) children start recognizing what the speaker meant (typically the opposite of what was said) at approximately six years of age, with ...ironic criticisms (the more frequent form of irony) being understood earlier and better than ironic compliments. Irony comprehension has been linked to Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities, which are in turn predicted by language competence, and with a possible role of social experiences to account for the asymmetry between criticisms and compliments. We tested irony comprehension in a group of 13 children and adolescents with Down syndrome (DS, mean age 13;6; range: 10;9–15;3) and compared their performance with a control group of younger TD children (mean age: 4;10; range: 3;2–6;6) matched for nonverbal mental age and measured their linguistic and ToM abilities. Individuals with DS have severely compromised linguistic skills but relatively strong social abilities. Our aim was twofold: we wanted to investigate higher level pragmatic abilities in DS, an area that is understudied, and to disentangle the contribution of linguistic, ToM and social factors for understanding irony. We found that individuals with DS reached the same level of irony comprehension as the TD control group and that they understood ironic criticisms much better than ironic compliments. For both groups, only linguistic abilities correlated with irony comprehension, with no influence of ToM. We discuss the implications of these results for future research on pragmatic abilities in DS, and for irony comprehension in general.
•Individuals with Down Syndrome comprehend irony as typically developing children matched for mental and linguistic age.•For individuals with Down Syndrome ironic criticisms were much easier than ironic compliments.•Linguistic abilities predicted irony comprehension for individuals with Down Syndrome and typically developing children.•No role of Theory of Mind abilities was found in irony comprehension.
Code-switching is a common phenomenon that bilinguals engage in, including bilingual children. While many researchers have analyzed code-switching behaviors to better understand more about the ...language processes in bilingual children, few have examined how code-switching behavior affects a child's linguistic competence. This study thus sought to examine the relationship between code-switching and linguistic competency in bilingual children. Fifty-five English–Mandarin bilingual children aged 5 to 6 years were observed during classroom activities over five days (three hours each day). A number of different word roots and mean length of utterance for both languages, and a number of code-switched utterances for each child, were computed. English receptive vocabulary scores were also obtained. Additionally, teachers rated children's English and Mandarin language competencies approximately six months later. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses support the argument that code-switching does not indicate linguistic incompetence. Instead, bilingual children's code-switching strongly suggests that it is a marker of linguistic competence.
Language as a source of otherness Wilmot, Natalie Victoria; Vigier, Mary; Humonen, Kristina
International journal of cross cultural management : CCM,
04/2024, Letnik:
24, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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Language is now firmly on the research agenda for international business and management. However, although attention is now being given to the effects of language on social interactions, rather than ...purely focusing on language as a matter of strategic priority, there is relatively little known about how language contributes to Othering processes in which employees experience marginalisation and exclusion as a result of evaluations of their linguistic competences. This conceptual paper highlights a number of ways in which linguistic evaluations drive such processes, and particularly draws on postcolonial perspectives in order to explore language as a tool of marginalisation and oppression. We demonstrate that language is closely tied to ideological constructions of the ideal worker, and highlight that English-language competence in particular, is often positioned as an essential skill for managerial roles, which can lead to exclusion of those who do not confirm to this expectation. Additionally, we draw on research which explores language as a key component of social identity, and thus an important factor in the construction of in-groups and out-groups within the workplace, in order to demonstrate not only the influence of context on the salience of language as a marker of identity, but also how language intersects with other identity characteristics in processes of exclusion. We conclude by demonstrating the possibilities to resist Othering in order to create more inclusive workplace environments.
The peculiar characteristics, the insufficiency of legal knowledge, complexity, and technicality of legal language in addition to the differences across legal systems and cultures cause a great ...dilemma for legal texts translators. This article aims at investigating the specific issues and challenges that BA (bachelor’s degree) students face when translating legal texts. The sample size of this article was fifty undergraduate students who are taking legal texts translation courses at the University of Jordan-Aqaba. A translation test that included twenty sentences was given to the students. The correct translation of these sentences was taken from B. Hatim, R. Buckly, and Shunnaq’s book The Legal Translator at Work: A Practical Guide. The results show that the language of the law is inevitably culture-bound. The polysemy of legal terms, legal collocations, and legal terminology made it hard for the students to translate accurately. It also shows that a high cultural and linguistic competence level is required to select the right equivalence.
Our experience of working with students of a transport (technical) university shows that many of them have serious problems in learning foreign languages. Students will not be able to realize their ...potential in future professional activities, involving foreign-language partners, since poor knowledge of a foreign language prevents them from establishing business contacts. The object of our research was linguistic competence as the basis for developing a communicative competence. Having analysed the existing linguistic and methodological literature, the educational process including learning English and French as a FL2 and the reasons for the students’ poor knowledge of foreign languages, we came to the conclusion that the problem does not lie solely with the small number of school hours or poor knowledge obtained at school. The lack of linguistic competence results from the insufficient knowledge acquired from native language studies, it is one of the main reasons for the poor proficiency of students in foreign languages. Students are not familiar with linguistic terminology in their native language, and this fact greatly complicates explanation of the grammar of the studied foreign language. The purpose of this paper is to focus the attention of university teachers on the need to work with students to master Russian and foreign language terminology in the framework of a comparative approach, which is one of the main methods of teaching a foreign language, as it expands the general language awareness and develops the “linguistic flair”of students.
In this paper, I offer a reconsideration of interactional competence as an object of L2 learning. I argue that the field's uptake of the concept displays a misunderstanding of, or at least a lack of ...attention to, its related but distinct intellectual roots in linguistic anthropology and conversation analysis. This has resulted in conceptual confusion in studies that draw mainly on conversation analysis to examine L2 learning. I offer interactional repertoires as a more empirically useful concept to capture the objects of L2 learning. Its usefulness is twofold. First, it more aptly captures the variable nature of the multilingual, multimodal resources that learners draw on and develop in their diverse contexts of use. Second, it suggests a more empirically valid understanding of learning, not as a linear, single, one-path-fits-all process, but rather as multidimensional trajectories occurring over L2 learners' lifespans.
Given the widened access to Chinese higher education, a large proportion of students studying at Chinese colleges come from rural lower-class families and encounter different challenges in English ...language learning. By using Bourdieu's social theoretical lenses, this case study explores how the interplay of capital, habitus and social fields affected ten rural lower-class college students' English language learning. This study finds that these students inhabited difficult and inferior positions because they lacked different forms of capital needed for accessing language and cultural learning resources, solidifying their English language foundation, and developing intercultural understanding and competence. Their narrow, test-oriented focus, and the lack of confidence and initiative in English language learning stemmed from their habitus formed in their situated socio-cultural and educational fields. Through reflecting on these complexities and conditions in English language learning, teachers and rural lower-class college students may move from a deficit lens in terms of their knowledge foundation and learning styles, which leads to the lack of confidence in teaching and learning; instead, they might collaboratively explore appropriate strategies and resources that cultivate students' comprehensive English language competence and intercultural competence.
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