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The article focuses on the importance of assessing interactional competence in a second language (L2). It mentions that addressed in the papers are the challenges of linking empirical and conceptual progress in L2 assessment and second language acquisition research, particularly in testing interactional competence, which is a complex task. It highlights that interactional competence is conceptualized as the systematic procedures used by speakers to accomplish actions during interactions.

Internationally, most prestigious and influential academic journals are published in English, and therefore a mastery of the language is necessary to ensure engagement with the international scientific community. There is debate in the literature as to whether the dominance of English might lead to the marginalization of contributions from academics for whom English is a second language. The present study explores through interviews the insights of 11 humanities and social sciences academics working at two Japanese universities ranked in the top 50 globally. The findings indicate that most of the participants view English as the logical vehicle for reaching a wider audience for their research. Despite an acknowledgement that publishing in English presents problems from both linguistic and pragmatic perspectives, these academics do not, on the whole, believe that current standards need to be revisited. These issues are discussed in light of the changing realities of academic environments, and the need to ensure accessible pathways for those who can and should be contributing to knowledge construction in the global academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the use of blogs has gained increasing popularity among second language (L2) writers, research into their role in developing L2 writing ability is yet underdeveloped. In particular, investigations into the use and effectiveness of peer feedback on L2 blogs are limited. The current study sought to fill this gap by comparing the provision of peer feedback in blogs versus on paper. Participants were a class of ESL students in a TESL university program in Quebec who produced written texts both in blogs and on paper, received peer feedback, and then revised their texts. Altogether, the findings suggest that while both blogs and paper can be influential mediums for L2 writing, they may inspire different types of errors, elicit different types and degrees of feedback, and lead to differences in subsequent revisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contributions to this Special Issue employ conversation analysis to illustrate how detailed analysis of language use can lead to the identification of assessable features of second/foreign language Interactional Competence (L2 IC) and the development of institutional testing instruments and practices. L2 IC has been the focus of much research at the intersection of social interaction and second language acquisition. It has also been treated as a construct in the field of language assessment. However, scholars in each research branch have just begun to collaborate systematically. This Special Issue furthers this collaboration, connecting research on L2 IC in diverse learning contexts with practical questions regarding the assessment of individual learners. It adopts a dialogic 'full paper–commenting paper' structure: Four empirical papers are each paired with invited commentaries that provide critical discussion and a complementary view of the topics the full papers address. The final discussion papers take a broader perspective on the complex nature of L2 IC and assessment and propose ways to productively move forward. Besides introducing the notion of L2 IC and each individual contribution, this introductory article explains the rationale behind the Special Issue in relation to current research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L2 frameworks, such as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, describe expected linguistic abilities at different levels of L2 development. These frameworks, and the assessment rubrics they inform, only peripherally address how L2 speakers respond to informings in interaction. Through responses interactants show their understanding of, and stance toward, a previous informing. In question-answer sequences in which a participant requests new information, the response to the answer may additionally reveal the questioning participant's orientation to the answer in terms of its fit with the question. Responses to informings are thus a site of important interactional work. In our paper, we draw on the notion of 'Interactional Competence' and propose a conversation-analytic approach to assessing L2 speakers' responses to elicited informings in German in question-answer sequences. We analyze L2 speakers' use of tokens (e.g., oh, okay, wirklich) in sequentially third position in dyadic, video-mediated everyday conversations with L1 speakers, as, in the turns following the third-position token, participants make visible their understanding of the token. We thereby attempt to describe how competent an L2 speaker's use of a third-position token is. We end our paper by using our findings to make recommendations for language assessment frameworks and rubrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurring question for researchers in any field concerns the best place to submit their research. This is also true of L2 pronunciation research. In this paper, we look at journals that have repeatedly published pronunciation research over the past decade. Publication venues include specialist journals that focus on speech, general second language acquisition and learning journals, regional journals, and newsletters. The first two sets of journals are accompanied by word clouds from their scope and aims statements. The paper encourages authors to consider a number of issues in determining the best places to submit L2 pronunciation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the decisions made in the development and delivery of the training outlined in Maczuga, O'Brien and Knaus (2017). Framed within a Processing Instruction framework, this contribution considers previous input-based training research, which has primarily focused on the training of second language segments. In addition to providing a brief summary of the results, the paper also includes relevant recent research and provides a discussion of the limitations and recommendations for future work in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a pilot implementation of the FL2 approach and resources, developed to support tertiary students' wellbeing as well as their second language learning (L2). The FL2 approach and learning activities were piloted in two Spanish language courses at Australian universities. Evaluation data were collected through an online survey of participating students and compared to the results of previous pilots conducted with students of Italian. Responses to scale items and open-ended questions indicate that the majority of participants greatly enjoyed their experiences in the courses and were satisfied with the learning opportunities provided, which shows potential for the FL2 approach. Evaluations of seven Positive Psychology-informed learning activities also piloted in this study were more nuanced. Taken together, these results suggest that designing curriculum to support student wellbeing as well as disciplinary learning can yield positive results. However, careful consideration must be given to alignment between FL2 activities and curriculum, as well as to students' individual differences in the reception of Positive Psychology-informed activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article states that the impact of Conversation Analysis (CA) on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has led to its integration into L2 assessment to explore the structure of oral language assessment interactions. It mentions that by comparing the Interactional Competence (IC) construct features in rating scales across assessment contexts, the paper analyzes two test interactions using microanalysis.

This paper reports on an eye-tracking study investigating the processing and mnemonic retention of reverse subtitles (foreign-language subtitles presented alongside native-language audio) in learners of Italian as a Foreign language (IFL). 26 English native speakers with a CEFR B2+ Italian level watched an English clip with Italian subtitles in two translation conditions, formal similarity (literal transfer) and formal discrepancy (non-literal transfer). Immediately after watching, they answered recognition and recall questions. This study examines memory, attention allocation and the concept of noticing, which was investigated through triangulation of eye tracking, verbatim recognition and explicit reports. Data analysis methods include generalised mixed-effect modelling. Results revealed that reverse subtitles have acquisitional potential for advanced IFL learners, noticing can be probed experimentally, and formal (dis)similarity appears to have some psychological reality in the mind of the learner, being able to affect both recognition and recall. Evidence of novel word learning as well as deepening of existing knowledge emerged from the analyses, supporting the view that reversed subtitles could be more fruitfully exploited in FLL contexts. The paper presents details of the data analyses, discusses them in relation to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and psycholinguistic concepts, and draws some recommendations based on the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Issue presents a collection of empirical studies examining the teaching and learning processes in science classrooms in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) contexts. It is observed that in most contexts, CLIL is mainly practised by content subject specialists ([14]; [53]), although in some contexts, CLIL is practised by language specialists or by teachers with qualifications in both content and language subjects. The CLIL programme described in Turner's paper appears to be rather language-driven, as the teachers had their own discretion on the proportion of using Japanese and English (L1), and students' science knowledge was assessed mainly in their L1. These cards are then utilised by CLIL teachers, who are expected to engage in different interaction patterns with students so as to provide both "designed scaffolding" (i.e., the designed teaching materials) and "spontaneous scaffolding" (teacher-student interaction). [Extracted from the article]

This special issue comprises a selection of studies on the acquisition of tense, aspect and modality (TAM) in second languages (L2) which aim to gain insight into the acquiring and learning of TAM representations, as this is one of the most challenging tasks for second language learners ([3]). González and Diaubalick's pilot study on the understudied language combination Dutch-Spanish highlights the importance of methodological questions in TAM research: only in certain experiments, an L1-effect was revealed. By means of a study in a setting of L3 acquisition, Eibensteiner's paper shows that aspectual knowledge successfully acquired in an L2 is able to accelerate the tense-aspect system in an L3, even if this latter system is more complex. Subtle differences, rigorous implications: German and Dutch representation of tense-aspect features in SLA research of Spanish. [Extracted from the article]

Research on L2 interactional competence (IC) has become increasingly focused on how L2 speakers develop and recalibrate linguistic resources to do interactional work, i.e., how L2 speakers develop a grammar-for-interaction (Pekarek Doehler 2018). In this paper, I use interactional linguistics to track one L2 German speaker's IC development over 11 months by analyzing her use of German also (English 'so') in formulations (see Deppermann 2011; Heritage & Watson 1979, 1980). In initial months, the L2 speaker uses also exclusively to do work on her own prior talk, e.g., in upshots, consequences, and unpackings. The L2 speaker's initial also uses contribute to moves that maintain intersubjectivity by ensuring her co-interactant's understanding of her own talk. In later months, the L2 speaker diversifies her uses of also, including uses oriented to co-interactants' prior talk that address manifest problems of intersubjectivity: to preface an other-correction of an incorrect candidate understanding, and to preface turns addressing a co-interactant's problem of understanding. The L2 speaker's changing also uses demonstrate her ability to contribute to interactional organization in increasingly diverse ways, evidencing a developing grammar-for-interaction. I end by calling for more research on the L2 development of linguistic resources that primarily serve interactional functions, such as particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As discussed in Section 6.2.2 in the book, we were able to work with Karajá teachers making metacognitive explicit contrastive analyses, which revealed to be very useful for them to become conscious of the transfer process and successfully control the automatic replication of Karajá structures in their BP texts. The processing of causative alternation structures by Karajá/Brazilian Portuguese bilinguals: new eye-tracking evidence. [6] epistemological paper "The dynamics of bilingualism in language shift ecologies" addresses the core issue of shift ecologies focusing on endangered languages - situations of unstable bilingualism or multilingualism, in which whole communities of speakers undergo quick shift in their language choice, use, proficiency levels, facing dialectical, generational and contact based variation. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of the current paper is to reinterpret some results of two previous studies on the mastery of figurative expressions from the perspective of usage-based linguistics. The reanalysis aims to shed more light on the learning and use of figurative language by multilingual students by exploring the complex interplay of linguistic creativity, expressivity, and conventionality in figurative expressions. The reinterpretation shows that many of the examples that were previously categorized as novel figurative expressions used in students' writing, can be analyzed as instances of regular patterns, i.e. constructions, with certain lexical idiosyncrasies. Modifications of conventionalized figurative expressions are discussed and reinterpreted in terms of strength of entrenchment of links between form and meaning within certain constructions or links between constructions and conventionalized pragmatic information in the multilinguals' mental construction. Implications for the treatment of Swedish figurative expressions in the second language class room are, in line with previous research, that focusing on regularity might reduce unpredictability, often seen as the core difficulty in the learning of such expressions in an L2. The paper also offers some directions for further investigation of the socio-cognitive processes involved in the learning of figurative language in an additional language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is positioned at the interface of second/foreign language (L2) assessment and Conversation Analysis-Second Language Acquisition (CA-SLA). It explores challenges of ratability in assessing interactional competence (IC) from three dimensions: an overview of the conceptual and terminological convergence/divergence in the CA-SLA and L2 assessment literature, a micro-analytic Conversation Analysis of test-taker interactions, and the operationalisation of IC construct features in rating scales across assessment contexts. It draws insights from these dimensions into a discussion of the nature of the IC construct and the challenges of IC ratability, and concludes with suggestions on ways in which insights from CA research can contribute to addressing these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactional competence (IC) is a crucial component of teaching and assessing speaking in second/foreign languages in general. However, SLA research based on Conversation Analysis (CA) has shown that IC is a complex phenomenon, and while a qualitative approach to assessing IC is needed, it is time-consuming. At the same time, assessment in the foreign-language classroom has to be both manageable for teachers and it should provide learners with reliable and supportive feedback about their specific strengths and weaknesses. This paper offers some solutions for these issues. It will draw on previous proposals in CA to employ generic organizations of practice as a way to manage the complexity of the IC concept. Second, it will show how one of these organizations – action accomplishment – can be operationalized for assessment purposes in public-school classrooms. This includes a discussion of the CEFR Companion's approach to 'action'. Finally, it will present a possible rubric for action accomplishment. Our approach to assessing will be illustrated through the analysis of a sample role play with two foreign-language learners from a corpus of 14 2–4 minute role plays, recorded with beginning-to-intermediary-level learners of English as a foreign language in two German secondary schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing L2 learners' productive mastery of vocabulary is a challenging task. Recent research has called for greater attention to understanding how receptive vocabulary may be transformed for productive use (Schmitt, 2019). Using a design-based research methodology, this study investigated adult ESL learners' productive oral vocabulary development through engaging them in a series of classroom workshops where they were exposed to nine target words in five different contexts. Findings suggest that such exposure to words combined with phonological form-focused elaboration facilitates the development of metalinguistic awareness, specifically the associations between grammatical patterns and word meaning, leading to subsequent productive use of target words. The paper contributes to the understanding that vocabulary training combining a focus on meaning with a focus on phonological and grammatical form may enhance form-meaning mapping, leading to productive oral vocabulary development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Language, Interaction & Acquisition / Langage, Interaction et Acquisition is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Learner corpus research has a strong tradition of collecting metadata. However, while we tend to collect rich descriptive information about learners on directly measurable variables such as age, year of study, and time spent abroad, we frequently do not know much about learner characteristics that cannot be measured directly (and that thus need to be measured through questionnaires and tests) such as language aptitude, working memory, and motivation, which have been identified as important variables in neighboring fields such as Second Language Acquisition. In this position piece, we (i) join the proponents of increased focus on learner characteristics in LCR in arguing in favor of collecting information about such variables and (ii) introduce an analytical framework that can be used to model these variables. Specifically, the primary focus of this paper is to discuss the concept of latent variables as it relates to LCR and show how their standard form can be used to model learner characteristics within the structural equation modeling analytical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a review of the book "Multiple Perspectives on Learner Interaction: The Corpus of Collaborative Oral Tasks" edited by William J. Crawford. The book introduces the Corpus of Collaborative Oral Tasks (CCOT) and brings together seven papers that showcase how the CCOT can inform our understanding of peer interaction and task variation through the use of learner corpora. The CCOT is a collection of 775 timed paired oral assessments collected at Northern Arizona University between 2009 and 2012. The book explores various aspects of the CCOT, including the design of the corpus, linguistic features of L2 collaborative oral tasks, learners' use of phraseological units, assessment of peer-to-peer interactions, and the impact of situational characteristics on linguistic features. The book provides valuable insights for researchers, language practitioners, and educators interested in learner corpus research and second language acquisition and teaching. [Extracted from the article]

This paper reports the developmental stages of the acquisition of estar in stage-level predicate constructions in the L2 Spanish grammar of native speakers of French and Portuguese. Copular verbs exist in the L1s of both learner groups; however, only in Portuguese is there an aspectual contrast, with copula selection conditions that partially differ from those of ser and estar in Spanish. The study used data extracted from the Corpus de Aprendices de Español (CAES), made up of written texts produced by L2 Spanish learners from CEFR A1 to C1 levels. We attempt to analyse whether, and to what degree, these L2 learners are sensitive to estar copula restrictions in adjective constructions. Our analysis of the written production of 143 L1 French speakers and 361 L1 Portuguese speakers showed differing acquisitional patterns depending on the L1. We consider that the estar overextension, found in the learners' productions, is related to the process of developing the ability to identify the specific features that distinguish the use of copular verbs in the interlanguage of our learners. Our findings, thus, provide a more fine-grained description of the semantic representation and access of interpretable features in L2 Spanish with special relevance to current hypotheses on Second Language Acquisition such as the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Lardiere 2009). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an experimental investigation of what second language (L2) learners and heritage speakers of Russian know about the relationship between word order and information structure in Russian. The participants completed a bimodal acceptability judgment task, rating the acceptability of SVO and OVS word orders in narrow-focus contexts, under neutral prosody. Heritage speakers behaved like the control group of baseline speakers, preferring SVO order in answer to object questions, and OVS order in answer to subject questions. In contrast, L2 learners preferred SVO order regardless of the context. While the heritage speaker group was more proficient than the L2 group, proficiency alone cannot account for differences in performance: specifically, with regard to acceptance of OVS order for subject narrow focus, heritage speakers improved with proficiency, but L2 learners did not. It is proposed that heritage speakers have an advantage in this domain due to early age of acquisition (cf. Montrul, 2008). This finding is consistent with prior literature on narrow focus with heritage speakers of other languages, and suggests that this phenomenon is not particularly vulnerable in heritage languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Chinese as a Second Language is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents a multimodal analysis of apologies performed by Chinese EFL learners at two proficiency levels by considering their use of both verbal and nonverbal (i.e., gestures and gaze) strategies. The results showed that both groups used IFID (illocutionary force indicating device, which, in this study, refers to explicit apology strategies such as Sorry or Forgive me), explanation, and acknowledgment of responsibility strategies frequently, but the high proficiency participants tended to use more diverse IFID sub-strategies. Analysis of gestures also revealed significant between-group differences in the duration and frequency of the use of gestures, with the high proficiency group using more ideographic gestures (gestures which indicate specific meaning or help to express certain meaning, such as emblems, illustrators, and regulators) than their lower proficiency counterparts. Finally, the two groups differed significantly in gaze duration, but not in gaze frequency. These findings suggest that although both groups used nonverbal cues to supplement linguistic strategies of apology, they differed in how they used them. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of employing a multimodal approach when attempting to gain a more comprehensive understanding of EFL speakers' use of speech acts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the development of an aural multiple-choice discourse completion task (aural MC-DCT) for use with EFL learners for large-scale instructional needs assessment. The original version of the aural MC-DCT and an oral DCT were administered to 134 EFL learners from three universities in China. The aural MC-DCT was revised based on the results of the initial administration and completed by 251 EFL students and 89 native speakers of American English in a second administration. Both versions of the task used learner-generated options. The first version used digital files of learner production from an earlier oral DCT taken by ESL learners; the second version re-recorded the learner-produced options using native speakers of American English. The results from the second version show that the aural MC-DCT is a feasible format for exploring learner knowledge of conventional expressions by comparing learner selections to production on the oral DCT, which has been established as a reliable measure of L2 English conventional expressions. The aural MC-DCT provides teachers with a practical alternative to the transcription and analysis required by the oral DCT, allowing them to easily assess knowledge of target conventional expressions and preferred alternatives in order to facilitate decisions about instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial number of studies have been conducted in various second language teacher education settings. Yet, evidence about the effectiveness of teacher preparation continues to be debated and research findings about the efficacy of preparing language teachers are still somewhat inconclusive. As a further complication, even though pronunciation has regained some of its prominence in second language teaching, only minimal understanding exists about the preparation of pronunciation instructors in teacher education. The aim of this paper is to address this gap and to advance our understanding of teacher learning by first combining the findings from four research-based articles on learning to teach English pronunciation and then by introducing a new and innovative conceptual framework that reflects effective pronunciation teacher preparation in an Australian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over 30 years, corpus research on register variation has expanded our understanding of language use by illustrating how linguistic features co-occur and vary in different situations of use (Biber & Conrad 2019). Over the same period, Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) has provided a theoretical and empirical basis for research in instructed Second Language Acquisition/SLA (Ellis 2012). This paper illustrates how the methods and approaches used in register analysis offer a useful framework for understanding critical issues in TBLT (e.g., describing tasks and interpreting task performance). The paper compares register analysis and TBLT and then draws upon recent empirical work demonstrating how a register approach (a) identifies a wider range of linguistic and non-linguistic variables than are generally in TBLT; and, (b) provides a useful framework to functionally interpret task performance. The paper ends by discussing how a register perspective can benefit future areas of investigation in task-based second language research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Chinese as a Second Language is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The book "Broadening the Spectrum of Corpus Linguistics: New Approaches to Variability and Change" edited by Susanne Flach and Martin Hilpert is a collection of papers from the 40th International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English (ICAME40) conference. The book explores the diverse applications of corpus linguistics as a methodology, including its use in English as a second or foreign language, historical linguistics, discourse analysis, and variationist sociolinguistics. The book is divided into three sections: new perspectives, revisiting old debates, and refinements and innovations. It introduces methodological innovations in corpus creation and analysis, and provides insights into corpus design and construction. The book is aimed at researchers familiar with the field of corpus linguistics, particularly those interested in ESL/EFL, second language acquisition, learner English, and variation and language change. [Extracted from the article]

This variation is, in fact, not completely unknown to spoken dialectal German varieties: verb second order can be used in relative clauses introduced by a d-pronoun and verb second after I weil i is not uncommon in colloquial speech. The epistemological paper by Grenoble and Osipov ([6], henceforth G&O) focusing on linguistic effects of bilingualism in language shift ecologies reports "multiple kinds of variation in these endangered language communities" (p. 1). [4] investigated whether this heritage language maintains the patterns of verb placement typical for German varieties, i.e., verb-second placement in main clauses and verb-final placement in subordinate clauses. [Extracted from the article]

This article addresses the pitfalls of performance analysis in investigating cognitive processing during second language (L2) learning. The problems that we discuss in this paper are twofold: (1) Assuming psychological variables to be ontological entities without meeting the criteria for ontological reality and (2) Inappropriateness of assessing abilities based on learner's speaking or writing performance to investigate cognitive processes. By addressing these problems, we argue that some latent variables postulated by observing L2 performance do not exist in reality and emphasize the difficulty of interpreting cognitive mechanisms through performance analysis. We also enumerate some problems that arise from the epistemological perspectives of previous research practice (e.g., the bifurcation of contradictory hypotheses and their indeterminacy). Finally, two alternative approaches treating L2 performance are proposed. The implications of this line of discussion for future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One way to investigate learner writing is by analyzing the most frequently recurring sequences of words, that is, lexical bundles. This paper presents results for lexical bundles analyses of a Malaysian corpus (MCSAW) against its reference language variety, LOCNESS (Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays). Key 4-word lexical bundles are firstly investigated in terms of their frequencies as well as distribution in both corpora. Following this, key lexical bundles are further categorized and analyzed according to their functions, including qualitative analysis of the most recurrent bundles by examination of concordance lines. Results show that learners use simple types of lexical bundles repeatedly compared to their native speaker counterparts. Evidence of tautology can also be found in learner writing. The findings highlight that using lexical bundles appropriately is important to achieve native-like fluency, while the absence of more varied lexical bundles in learners' discourse may result in unidiomatic-sounding writing style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedagogical translation in UK secondary school language classrooms appears to have returned to favour after years of demonisation brought about by Grammar Translation pedagogy and the rise of L2-only approaches. This renewed interest is reflected in the recent inclusion of translation in the reading and writing sections of GCSE exams (taken by students in all countries within the UK except Scotland). However, there is still some uncertainty around how translation is perceived and utilised in the language classroom. What function has translation been thus far ascribed within language education? What could it be used to achieve? This article presents an overview of where translation currently sits within the secondary Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) landscape in the UK. It then examines how translation may be redefined as 'dynamic' and used as a communicative, creative activity to aid students with various aspects of their language learning. Examples of such activities are provided and explained. Finally, recommendations are made as to how to make Dynamic Translation accessible to students in future, namely through task-based translation projects and new forms of pedagogical translation assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While translation has recently had a comeback in language pedagogy, its applicability in classrooms with students from diverse linguistic backgrounds has been underexplored. In countries with increasing immigration and high intakes of international students, which is the case of Canada, language classrooms are intrinsically multilingual. This multilingual reality provides unique opportunities for students to use their linguistic repertoire while learning English – one of Canada's official languages –, but teachers may be hesitant to use translation as a pedagogical tool if they do not speak the languages of their students. This paper reports on the results of a qualitative study with three teachers and 40 adult learners of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in a Canadian university. All of the student participants had at least two languages in their repertoire, and 90% reported being plurilingual, that is, using several languages with varying levels of proficiency. With the exception of English, the language of instruction, the teachers did not share any of the languages spoken by the students. The study explored how the teachers used translation to engage students' plurilingual repertoires and investigated students' perceptions of translation practices. Data was gathered through student diaries and classroom observations. Results of deductive analyses show that translation, when used within a plurilingual approach, was helpful for making sense of English vocabulary. Moreover, students reported that translation across languages enhanced conceptual knowledge. The paper argues that translation as a process rather than an L2-L1 textual product can advance language learning in multilingual classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pennycook, Alastair 2021 Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Reintroduction New York & London Routledge 978-0-367-54777-6 978-1-003-09057-1 The critical turn in the field of applied linguistics, initiated by [2] landmark paper "Towards a Critical Applied Linguistics for the 1990s" has produced a vigorous body of literature. The integration of critical discourse analysis into applied linguistics has greatly contributed to the advance of critical applied linguistics. Although applied linguistics, as a pivotal branch of linguistics, has achieved much in the past several decades, insufficient attention has been paid to the integration of critical approaches with applied linguistics. [Extracted from the article]

This paper reports on the findings of a 15-year-old German girl's motivational and linguistic experiences during her one-semester study abroad (SA) in New Zealand. Chiara primarily interacted in social settings with either locals (e.g. homestay) or other Germans (e.g. school breaks). This paper investigates the nature of her second language (L2) learning motivation in different social settings, as elicited in interviews, reports and blog entries; and the dynamics of her oral L2 development, as captured in six interviews. The findings show that Chiara's L2 motivation was highly situational: she only made significant efforts in L2 use when she considered the specific social setting valuable for reaching non-linguistic goals and when it validated her sense of self. The linguistic findings, measured in language complexity, accuracy, lexis and fluency (CALF) demonstrated that Chiara improved her already highly functioning oral skills during SA – especially fluency and accuracy – despite inconsistent L2 interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of the lexicon in the exoskeletal approach to grammar proposed by Lohndal and Putnam. The authors argue that this approach can be used to analyze data from diverse populations and eliminate the need for specific mechanisms like Feature Reassembly in second language acquisition. However, the article raises questions about how the exoskeletal model can account for the mapping of lexical items to features, as this process is not made explicit. The article also examines learning tasks in second language acquisition and how they relate to the exoskeletal approach. Overall, the article highlights the need for further research and collaboration in understanding the role of the lexicon and features in language acquisition. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Language, Interaction & Acquisition / Langage, Interaction et Acquisition is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An introduction is presented which discusses articles in the issue on topics including Dutch Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) subject pedagogies, CLIL by history teachers focussing on second language teaching, and language oriented content teaching.

This paper examines whether adult learners of English whose native languages (Korean and Mandarin Chinese) lack articles are influenced by transfer from demonstratives and numerals in their acquisition of English articles. To this end, the results of two studies are reported. The first study examines native Korean and Mandarin speakers' preferences for bare vs. non-bare (demonstrative or numeral) forms in different types of definite and indefinite environments. The results of this study give rise to specific predictions for L1-Korean and L1-Mandarin L2-English learners' sensitivity to article omission errors in different types of definite and indefinite contexts in English. These predictions are tested in the second study, which uses both an offline task (grammaticality judgments) and an online task (self-paced reading) to investigate learners' sensitivity to errors of article omission. L1-Korean and L1-Mandarin L2-English learners are found to behave very similarly when tested in English, despite different preferences exhibited by native speakers of Korean and Mandarin.  It is concluded that learners of these article-less first languages do not transfer the semantics of demonstratives and numerals onto articles in their second language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new corpus resource for language learning research, the Trinity Lancaster Corpus (TLC), which contains 4.2 million words of interaction between L1 and L2 speakers of English. The corpus includes spoken production from over 2,000 L2 speakers from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds at different levels of proficiency engaged in two to four tasks. The paper provides a description of the TLC and places it in the context of current learner corpus development and research. The discussion of practical decisions taken in the construction of the TLC also enables a critical reflection on current methodological issues in corpus construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Old French is considered by many to have been a verb-second (V2) language. Furthermore, 13th century Old French featured a V2 system with strong restrictions on the prefield, meaning only a single constituent was generally accepted to the left of the finite verb. This bears a strong resemblance to the pattern found in the Modern Germanic V2 languages and has occasionally given rise to suggestions that V2 was a Germanic property inherited from the language of the Franks. In this paper, a concrete hypothesis is developed for the diachronic evolution of Old French V2 from Late Latin. It is argued that the hypothesis of Germanic influence is not necessarily incorrect, but too simplistic, as the two synchronic components of the Old French V2 construction -namely V-to-C movement and restrictions on the prefield – most likely have their own and independent diachronies as well. Comparative and historical evidence is presented to show that V-to-C movement is very unlikely to have been a product of Germanic influence and should rather be considered an internal development from Latin. As for the restricted prefield (so-called 'linear V2'), the scarcity or even absence of evidence does not allow firm conclusions, but some general theoretical insights from the literature on language change and second language acquisition combine to make the idea of Germanic influence quite plausible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout antiquity, the Chittagong Hill Tract was a sparsely populated region. This population increased with the immigration of different speech communities, thus changing its linguistic mosaic, and creating conditions for language contact between vernacular Bangla and between its ancestral Indo-Aryan variety Pali, the superstrate, and the Tibeto-Burman variety, the substratum. In the changing language contact situation, language contact involved various phenomena, such as language maintenance, the creation of new contact languages, i.e. pidgins and creoles as well as the acquisition and integration into a dominant L2. Through this language contact, the processes of language contact have had particular linguistic, social, and political outcomes that have shaped the region. The linguistic outcomes include lexical borrowing, calquing, and structural convergence, as well as the creation of a new contact language combining both the Indo-Aryan vernacular and Tibeto-Burman vernacular. This paper discusses these outcomes, and describes that changes in the social and political makeup of the region have ultimately led to language change. The study argues that linguistic change appears at present in several ways: The lexical makeup, phraseology and syntactic structure of Indo-Aryan varieties spoken by the Tibeto-Burman speech communities; pidgins including Chakma and Tanchangya which have emerged from contact between the Indo-Aryan variety and the Arakanese vernacular; a Tibeto-Burman pidgin which has emerged from contact between the superstrata Marma and the substrates Chak, Khumi, and Kheyang, which are spoken by the Marma, Chak, Khumi, and Kheyang ethnicities. Ultimately, the study presents that these social and linguistic outcomes have manifested themselves in the form of bilingualism and so code-mixing, and where the political outcomes of language contact have forged the political makeup of the Chittagong Hill Tract to bring the region to become one part of the larger political superstructure of Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the texts that second language learners engage with include both text (written and/or spoken) and images. The use of images accompanying texts is believed to support reading comprehension and facilitate learning. Despite their widespread use, very little is known about how the presentation of multiple input sources affects the attentional demands and the underlying cognitive processes involved. This paper provides a review of research on multimodal reading, with a focus on attentional processing. It first introduces the relevant theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence provided in support of the use of pictures in reading. It then reviews studies that have looked at the processing of text and pictures in first and second language contexts. Based on this review, main gaps in research and future research directions are identified. The discussion provided in this paper aims at advancing research on multimodal reading in a second language. Achieving a better understanding of the underlying cognitive processes in multimodal reading is crucial to inform pedagogical practices and to develop theoretical accounts of second language multimodal reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study’s objective is to present an overview of experimental applications of Concept-Based Instruction (CBI) for Second Language Acquisition. CBI aims to describe complex grammatical notions in a thorough manner in order to facilitate their acquisition. Even though CBI is still considered as a recent domain in language teaching, the growing body of research makes it timely to present a systematic review, which is currently lacking. In the present paper, we will first describe the theoretical background upon which CBI is grounded. Then, we will carry out an analysis of 29 CBI studies in which a classroom experiment was performed, with the objective of considering the strengths and limits of this teaching method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts a process-oriented approach to comparing EFL and ESL varieties and examines to what extent they are driven by general cognitive processes of language acquisition and production. A comparative corpus-study of lexical innovations in derivational morphology brings to light two general types of innovations: 1) interlingual, L1-based innovations, resulting from cross-linguistic influence, and 2) intralingual, L2-based innovations, resulting from various other processes. While the first type is virtually absent in ESL varieties, it is in the second type where similar types of innovations in EFL and ESL varieties can be observed. The paper argues that these innovations can be explained in terms of several underlying cognitive processes that serve to create and maximise morphological transparency and increase explicitness of form-meaning relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]