American,Hispanic, Spanish-Speaking? Hispanic Immigrants and the Question of Identity

This article explores Hispanics’ concepts of cultural and linguistic identity. It is based on the findings of a recent study conducted by the author in Iglesia hispana de Cristo,¹ a Hispanic church community in Western New York. Data come from ethnographic interviews conducted with 48 participants aged 13 to 80 years and with church leaders and from participant observation. Findings indicate that conceptions of identity vary according to age and generation of immigration. Older, first-generation immigrants view language and culture as inextricably linked, and believe that passing on the Spanish language to their children is an essential parenting responsibility. Younger, U.S.-born Hispanics and those who immigrated at a young age, on the other hand, tend to prioritize Hispanic culture over the Spanish language.     

英语广告在英语教学中的应用探析

广告作为一种社会语篇,具有独特鲜明的语言、语用和跨文化交际特色。国外涌入的大量英语广告为英语学习者提供了一个真实语言运用的宝贵资源,如何充分、有效地利用这一资源对提高英语教学质量,特别是提高学生综合的语言运用能力有着重要的意义。在对近年来英语广告研究成果深入的分析和综合基础上,本文提出英语广告用于教学的实用性框架,并指出在教学中充分运用这一资源有着广阔的前景。     

Language and Identity Construction of China’s Rural-Urban Migrant Children: An Ethnographic Study in an Urban Public School

This article investigates the identity construction process of China’s rural-urban migrant children through analyses of their discourses and of their use of language. Rural children have relocated to the urban centers with their parents on a massive scale over the past decades as China has undergone rapid economic changes. Many migrant children are able to attend urban public schools, and their identity construction emerges as an important issue that attracts increasing public and scholarly attention. This study draws on ethnographic data and presents four examples to illustrate the complex process of migrant identity construction. The results show that the migrant children deploy a range of linguistic features and claim multiple identities; in order for their identities to be established in social reality, they have to go through negotiation processes in which their identities are evaluated, ratified, challenged, or denied. Language is at the center of such processes.     

Language Attitudes and Community Engagement: Diwan–The Breton Immersion High School Through the Eyes of Its Pupils

This article is based on long-term participant observation and interviews with pupils and graduates of the Diwan immersion high school in Brittany, France. With reference to the theory of communities of practice, this article shows how the education in the Breton immersion school can influence a knowledge of the minority language and the young peoples’ engagement with the protection of the Breton language. This article presents the social and cultural capital received through the learning of the Breton language; the distinction between Diwan pupils and people from outside the community; and the gradual formation of a collective new Breton-speakers identity. The sociolinguistic prognostic shows that in a few dozen years the only Breton speakers will be Breton learners. The use of Breton depends thus on having knowledge of it and on finding a community in which this language acts as the benchmark for the creation of a Breton identity.     

The use of modern standard and spoken Arabic in mathematics lessons: the case of a diglossic language / El uso del árabe estándar moderno y del árabe hablado en las clases de matemáticas: el caso de una lengua diglósica

Abstract

Researchers have shown an increased interest in the way teachers use their knowledge about language (KAL) to enhance student understanding and learning. This qualitative case study investigated first- and second-grade teachers’ use of KAL in Arabic. We investigated the linguistic transitions from standard Arabic to spoken Arabic made by the teachers during mathematics lessons. The results suggested that Arab-speaking mathematics teachers were aware of the gap between home language (Spoken Arabic) and school language (Modern Standard Arabic) and used linguistic transition as a teaching strategy to develop academic thinking and behaviour among their students. The results suggested that Arab teachers built a non-formal bilingual education programme where the two languages were used to teach mathematics. Despite the requirement to use Modern Standard Arabic, participants bridged the gap between the languages, which suggests an inherent understanding that ‘language and identity are ultimately inseparable’.     

肢体语言活跃英语课堂气氛

在英语课堂教学艺术中,肢体语言可以增加语言信息输入的刺激强度、使英语教学达到声情并茂的新境界,给学生留下深刻的印象,是有声语言的重要补充。教师要合理运用生动、活泼、极富感染力的肢体语言来实现课堂教学的有趣、实用、有效,进而活跃课堂气氛。     

基于评价理论的大学英语教师课堂用语研究

马丁的评价理论是对功能语言学理论的延伸和补充,态度系统是该理论的核心。文章以态度系统为根据,从情感、判断、鉴赏三个方面来探讨教师课堂用语。运用实例对大学英语课堂中教师课堂问候语、课堂指令语、课堂提问语、对学生回答的反馈语进行详细分析,提出了大学英语教学中教师灵活运用课堂用语的思路,以期促进教师更好地通过语言表达发挥课堂语境中的人际功能。     

国内外英汉语篇对比修辞研究述评与启示

英汉语篇对比修辞研究是对比语言学学科的一个重要研究领域。围绕英、汉两种语言和文化的修辞规约异同及汉族文化在英语习得过程中的影响这两个话题,国内外学者作了深入研究。其研究方法复杂多样,但定性和实证对比研究居多;研究结论有相似之处,然也存在不同的声音。而多元化的英汉语篇对比修辞理论值得期待,基于口语语料和网络对话这种新文体的英汉语篇对比修辞研究值得关注。     

Frames of Reference: The Impact of Race on Teaching Strategy and Classroom Discussion

In this article, I examine the role of teacher racial identity on teaching strategy and the treatment of race in classroom discussions. I explicate how the pattern of minimizing the negative racial comments made to English language learners played out in participants’ teaching and how it is reflective of socially constructed notions of race and racial discourse. The treatment of racial issues, in this sense, can be seen as a microcosm of larger social, historical, and political factors that shape individuals’ thinking about equity and diversity. I argue that by analyzing these underlying factors in teacher education courses, the unconscious and often subtle ways that stereotypes based on race, culture, or English language proficiency, can be demystified and disrupted.     

Application of Language Transfer Rules to Foreign Language Teaching in College

Discourse analysis is the examination of language use by members of a speech community. It involves looking at both language form and language functions and includes the study of both spoken interaction and written texts. It i-dentifies linguistic features that characterize different genres as well as social and cultural factors that aid in our inter-pretation and understanding of different texts and types of talk. A discourse analysis of written texts might include a study of topic development and cohesion across the sentences, while an analysis of spoken language might focus on these aspects plus turn-taking practices, opening and closing sequences of social encounters, or narrative structure.     

学术英语语篇衔接手段研究综述

衔接是二语语篇产出中多维度语篇构建和二语语篇质量相关分析的焦点问题。本文从衔接的界定入手,分析了现有的学术英语语篇产出中衔接手段的研究内容和视角、研究方法和理论框架。最后,提出了学术英语语篇中衔接手段研究的走向和趋势,为未来学者进行衔接研究的有益尝试提供了理据。     

“It Was Because I Could Speak English That I Got the Job”: Neoliberal Discourse in a Chinese English Textbook Series

The issue of neoliberalism has aroused sustained interest among English language teaching (ELT) and applied linguistic researchers who are politically minded. Neoliberalism is a dominant rationality with immense economic, political and ideological consequences in all aspects of social and institutional life in globalization, including foreign language education. This article presents a critical analysis of the neoliberal discourse on English language learning in the Chinese context with a special focus on teaching materials. Informed by a political economy perspective on English language education, the study employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a methodological principle. Specifically, it examines the way (a) competence in English is commodified as a desirable linguistic cultural capital, (b) English learning is portrayed as an individualized and asocial undertaking, and (c) a monolingual and monocultural dream is built to include learners in an imagined homogeneous discourse community. Implications for ELT pedagogy and curriculum are discussed.