Language and Culture

Conceptualizing and Conventionalizing Style

by Chris Taylor

Qualifying the Qualitative Social Work Interview

by Summerson Carr

“Secrets keep you sick”: Metalinguistic labor in a drug treatment program for homeless women

by Summerson Carr

Chinese Teachers' Views of Culture in their EFL Learning and Teaching

by Michael Lessard-Clouston

Language, Culture and Curriculum, 9, 197-224. (1996)

Although there is an emphasis on culture in English as a foreign language (EFL) education, a review of the literature... more Although there is an emphasis on culture in English as a foreign language (EFL) education, a review of the literature reveals a lack of empirical research on this topic. This article aims to help fill this gap with a case study of one context — EFL in China. The present paper first describes relevant background from the literature and then outlines a descriptive case study of 16 Chinese EFL teachers’ views of culture in both their EFL learning (during a summer intensive EFL teacher training programme) and teaching (at the middle school level). The participating teachers/learners were interviewed towards the end of their programme, and their answers provide the data for this study. The findings reveal participants’ major support for the role of culture in their EFL learning, but also suggest the need for a greater understanding of how to incorporate culture into their own EFL classes. The findings also suggest that more needs to be done for culture to be incorporated more explicitly into EFL curriculum, and more research is needed into this complex yet important aspect of EFL education.

Teaching Culture: An Annotated Bibliography

by Michael Lessard-Clouston

Mosaic: A Journal for Language Teachers, 2(1), 19-20. (1994)

This short paper introduces seven works related to culture teaching. This short paper introduces seven works related to culture teaching.

Center or centre? Language choice and ideological framing in academic ESL

by Faiz Sathi Abdullah

Published in:
Abdullah, F. S. (2008). Center or centre? Language choice and ideological framing in academic ESL. In B. H. Tan, M. H. Abdullah, W. Che Dan, N. Omar, F. S. Abdullah & R. Talif (Eds.), Theoretical and Practical Orientations in Language and Literature Studies (pp. 301-326). Kuala Lumpur: Pearson/Longman.

British English has been the prototype in the Malaysian postcolonial era but current globalisation discourses appear... more British English has been the prototype in the Malaysian postcolonial era but current globalisation discourses appear to be increasingly colonised by American English in Outer/Expanding Circle ESL/EFL settings, perhaps powered largely by the ‘McDonaldisation’ of the global economy and geopolitical balance of power. Hence, despite the putative universals of academia in terms of its normative values and conventions, discourse communities at the centre are said to be ‘divided by one language’. Elsewhere, it is generally agreed that both British and American versions of English are ‘correct’ but that it is important to be consistent in usage depending on which standard is adopted for use. Nonetheless, given the emergent need to identify linguistic norms as the bases for appropriation into a ‘glocal’ variety of English as Lingua Franca (ELF as opposed to an ENL, English as a Native Language), which of the two dominant varieties do Malaysian academic users prefer, and in what contexts of their discursive practice? Further, since language use cannot be culturally neutral, to what extent, if at all, do these users orientate towards the target cultures of these ‘centre Englishes’? This paper addresses these issues by drawing on recent survey data pertaining to selected spelling, pronunciation and vocabulary/grammar items that were procured from university academic staff. The results of the study found (the expected) preferences for British English for sustained use in various areas of academic activity amongst the university faculty in question but only limited support for significant ideological correlates in identity formation with respect to orientations towards British/American cultures. Some implications and areas of further research are considered for a viable pedagogical model of ELF.

Standard global English: Use, usage, and identity

by Faiz Sathi Abdullah

Abdullah, F. S. (2011). Global standard English: Use, usage and identity. In F. S. Abdullah, Z. M. Kasim & M. Y. Chan (Eds.), Recent Research Topics in Malaysian English Language Studies (pp. 4-42). Serdang: UPM Press.

Malaysians of various ethnic origins have used standard British English (SBrE) in both its spoken and written variants... more Malaysians of various ethnic origins have used standard British English (SBrE) in both its spoken and written variants in the postcolonial era but current globalisation discourses appear to be increasingly colonised by American English, including in ESL/EFL settings, perhaps powered largely by the “mcdonaldisation” of the world’s economy and the attendant shifts in geopolitical balance of power. Hence, despite the putative universals of academia in terms of its normative values and conventions, discourse communities both at the centre and the periphery may be said to be “divided by one language” with respect to the British and American standards. Assuming that there is an emergent trend towards the appropriation of extant linguistic norms into a “glocal” variety of English as Lingua Franca (ELF), which of the two dominant varieties do Malaysian academic users prefer, in what contexts of their academic discourse practice, and with what outcomes in terms of global/local identity construction? The study reported here drew on recent questionnaire survey data pertaining to selected spelling, pronunciation and vocabulary/grammar items, as well as identity construction vis-à-vis geopolitical entities and aspects of potential multilingual competence to find the expected preferences for British English for sustained use in various areas of academic activity amongst the university faculty in question. However, it also found alternative lexical forms enjoying currency with the standard British/American English standards in selected situations. Further, while there was only limited support for significant correlates in identity formation orientated towards British/American cultures as well as geopolitical entities other than the local/regional but with a possibly expedient orientation towards acquiring multilingual competence. The study concluded that the findings were consistent with a World Englishes perspective on the continuing development of a local Malaysian English standard, and another on a global standard that is subject to local/regional variation but which is evolving in the periphery as a strategic albeit resistant variety in the ELF mould. Perspectives on further research are considered.

Aveva ragione Whorf? : La lingua embodied / embedded

by Vito Evola

Evola, V. (2011). Aveva ragione Whorf?: La lingua embodied/embedded. Reti, 1(2).

Questa è una bozza finale. Per eventuali citazioni fare riferimento alla versione definitiva pubblicata in: Reti. Rivista del Dipartimento di Scienze cognitive della formazione e degli studi culturali. Università di Messina, a cura di Domenica Bruni e Edoardo Fugali, ISSN 2239-7000. Vol. 1, Num. 2, 2011

(Italiano)
Abstract: Uno degli assunti fondamentali della linguistica e psicologia cognitive è che ogni... more (Italiano)
Abstract: Uno degli assunti fondamentali della linguistica e psicologia cognitive è che ogni percezione ed espressione è connessa alla nostra biologia, e più di quanto si pensasse in precedenza. Dopo una panoramica della letteratura cognitivista orientata per l’indipendenza tra linguaggio e pensiero, evidenzierò punti problematici di questa posizione avvalendomi di ricerche empiriche da un lato condotte in ambito neuro-cognitivista e dall’altro di tipo psicolinguistico. Proporrò degli spunti a favore della ‘contro-tesi’ per cui il pensiero implica la lingua naturale: linguaggio e pensiero, cioè, si influenzano l’un l’altro.
Questa posizione implica che la mente umana sia in corpore (embodied) in un corpo fenomenologico e strutturata dalle nostre esperienze, e gli stimoli esterni quotidiani offerti dall’ambiente in cui si è situati (embedded) formino dinamicamente il modo di pensare degli esseri umani. La mente intesa come prodotto dell’interazione delle proprie introspezioni con le interazioni quotidiane è influenzata, e in una certa misura persino condizionata, dalla lingua parlata e da come è usata. Conoscere la natura dinamica del rapporto tra linguaggio e pensiero permette una migliore comprensione della natura del linguaggio e di come la lingua motivi il modo in cui si ragiona del proprio mondo.

Parole chiavi: Sapir-Whorf, linguaggio e pensiero, linguaggio e cultura, embodiment, cognizione


(English)
Abstract: One of the fundamental premises of contemporary cognitive linguistics and psychology is that human perception and expression are intimately coupled with human biology, to a much greater degree than linguists and psychologists had previously thought. In this essay I provide an overview of contemporary literature from cognitive linguistics and psychology that posits language-thought independence. I also highlight the theoretical problems and the further neurocognitive and psycholinguistic empirical research specific to these issues which make this position problematic. I then provide evidence for the counter-theory, that thinking in fact involves natural language and that language and thought influence one another.
This position indexes the supposition that our minds are embodied in a phenomenological body built on our everyday experiences, and daily external stimuli offered by the cultural environment in which we are individually embedded dynamically form our way of thinking. The mind is the product of the interaction of introspections and daily interactions; it is influenced, and to a certain extent even conditioned, by language and how it is used. Understanding the dynamic nature of language and thought will guide us in better understanding figurative language in general and metaphor in particular as well as how they motivate our way of reasoning about our world.

Keywords: Sapir-Whorf, language-thought, language and culture, embodiment, cognition

Proverb Preferences Across Cultures: Dialecticality or Poeticality?

by Jyotsna Vaid

Perceiving and Responding to Embarrassing Predicaments Across Languages: Cultural Influences on the Emotion Lexicon

by Jyotsna Vaid

Joking Across Languages: Perspectives on Humor, Emotion, and Bilingualism

by Jyotsna Vaid

Sprache, Spracherwerb, Kultur: Das Beispiel der Migrantenkinder in Frankreich

by Heidemarie Sarter

Review: New Ways in Teaching Culture

by Michael Lessard-Clouston

Canadian Modern Language Review, 55, 412-414. (1999)

This is a review of Alvino Fantini's (1997) edited book, New Ways in Teaching Culture. This is a review of Alvino Fantini's (1997) edited book, New Ways in Teaching Culture.

Assessing Culture Learning: Issues and Suggestions.

by Michael Lessard-Clouston

Canadian Modern Language Review, 48, 326-341. (1992)

Within communicative language teaching, culture has clearly taken on a role of increasing importance in second and... more Within communicative language teaching, culture has clearly taken on a role of increasing importance in second and foreign language (L2/FL) classrooms in recent years. The assessment of culture learning, however, has essentially been neglected. This article provides an overview of various issues in assessing FL and L2 culture learning by providing some background on the development of culture teaching, outlining basic definitions and foundations, and offering some techniques for the assessment of culture learning in FL and L2 classrooms. It is argued that culture is crucial in developing communicative competence; thus suggestions are offered for assessing three aspects of culture learning outlined in this article. In concluding, the author makes three important observations and challenges readers to obey the command not to teach culture without assessing culture learning.

Towards an understanding of culture in L2/FL education

by Michael Lessard-Clouston

The Internet TESL Journal, 3(5). (May 1997)

The title of Valdes' (1990) paper, "The inevitability of teaching and learning culture in a foreign language... more The title of Valdes' (1990) paper, "The inevitability of teaching and learning culture in a foreign language course," may now reflect an axiom in second-and foreign-language (L2 and FL) pedagogy, but it remains unclear to many L2 and FL educators just how this has come to be the case and what impact this has on their classroom practice. This article addresses these issues by working towards an understanding of culture in L2 and FL education. In doing so, we will examine how L2 and FL culture teaching has developed, where it currently stands, and what directions to take for future research on this topic.

The Making of Language

by Mike Beaken

Japanese Semiotic Vernaculars in Second Language Multiliteracies Projects

by Alfredo Ferreira

Endangered languages have a new champion / Candy Gibson

by Ghil'ad Zuckermann

Adelaidean, June 2011

Endangered languages have a new champion


The University of Adelaide has appointed Australia's... more Endangered languages have a new champion


The University of Adelaide has appointed Australia's first Chair of Endangered Languages - Israeli-born, Oxford-educated linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann.


Professor Zuckermann, who holds an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Fellowship, has vowed to make Adelaide a world centre for language revival.

His new role as Professor of Linguistics and Endangered Languages in the School of Humanities will involve both research and teaching, with the aim of establishing a new sub-discipline of linguistics - "revival linguistics".

"Along with my colleagues Professor Peter Mühlhäusler and Dr Rob Amery, I shall be analysing how to resurrect languages that are no longer spoken or about to become extinct," Professor Zuckermann said.

These include more than 100 Aboriginal languages that are "critically endangered".

Professor Zuckermann said one of his goals was to raise the value of language diversity in today's society, given the prediction that 90% of the world's 6000 languages will disappear by 2100.

"From an Australian perspective, it is critical on a number of fronts that Aboriginal languages are revived and preserved.

"These fascinating, complex languages provide a sense of identity for Aboriginal people, reflecting a close interaction with their culture, heritage and history. Reclaiming and maintaining Aboriginal languages helps to empower some Indigenous people and give them a strong sense of pride and purpose."

Professor Zuckermann said Aboriginal traditions, spirituality, ecology and land were inextricably linked to their languages.

The multilingual Israeli academic is internationally renowned for his innovative and provocative approach to language revival (Modern Hebrew in particular), defining himself as an anti-purist.

"I don't think we should be rigid about languages. They are forever changing and evolving and are the result of cross-fertilisation of numerous lects and languages.

"Even if you isolated a community on the moon without external influences, you would find in the space of several generations that their language would have altered significantly."

Professor Zuckermann holds doctorates from Oxford and Cambridge universities and has taught at universities in the United Kingdom, United States, China, Israel, Singapore, Slovakia and Australia. He has also been a senior research fellow in Italy and Japan.

He has published several books and numerous articles in eight different languages.

Professor Zuckermann has also consulted to the Oxford English Dictionary and Oxford University Press, among many others, and delivered hundreds of keynote speeches, plenary conference papers and public lectures.

Although he officially started at the University of Adelaide in February, Professor Zuckermann spent the first three months of his appointment as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Shanghai International Studies University.

"I hope to make Adelaide known in the world as the place where revival linguistics emerged as a new paradigm of linguistics," he said.

"We have the core expertise here - with strengths in Kaurna, Israeli and creole languages - and with the help of the Mobile Language Team, established in 2009 through Federal Government funding, we can go a long way towards supporting and reviving Aboriginal languages in South Australia as a first step," Professor Zuckermann said.

To read more about the University of Adelaide's work supporting Aboriginal languages and resources in South Australia, visit: ua.edu.au/linguistics/mlt

The University of Adelaide offers both undergraduate and postgraduate linguistics degrees. If you're interested visit: ua.edu.au/programs/2011


Story by Candy Gibson

Literacy in the community: A study of Mexicano families in Chicago

by Marcia Farr

Essayist Literacy and Other Verbal Performances

by Marcia Farr

Published in Written Communication, 1993