Socio-Cultural Factors Contributing to the Formation of the Russian Technical University Students’ Bilingual Strategies

Author(s): Elena Vladimirovna Susimenko,Elena Yurievna Litvinenko / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2015

The article considers the socio-cultural factors that motivate stable bilingual strategies of technical university students, necessary for their future career and employment in the new economic and social conditions in Russia. Particular attention is paid to factors such as the intensification of the modern technical university’s international activities and the formation of a cultural capital. The students’ attitudes towards the priority selection of English language are reviewed, considering instrumental and universal interests. The cited data were obtained from the empirical research conducted among students of the 4 study courses at the Platov South-Russian State Polytechnic University (NPI) during 2010-2013.

Slušno procesiranje kod djece s jezičnim teškoćama

Author(s): Draženka Blaži,Marijana Balažinec,Helena Obučina / Language(s): English,Croatian Issue: 2/2014

Auditory processing is a system of processes that consists of active and passive noticing, following, discriminating, and continously transmitting information throughout the peripheral and central nervous system, as well as filtering, sorting, and combining the same information at the appropriate perceptive and conceptual level. Auditory processing deficit includes difficulties in interpreting speech sounds despite normal hearing abilities and regular cognitive functioning. Language impairment refers to a delay in language development and poor language skills despite regular cognitive functioning and the absence of neurological, motor, and sensory deficits. The aim of this study was to examine the auditory processing skills of language elements in children with language impairment and to compare the results with those of children with regular speech and language development, by adminstering a battery of tests for the evaluation of auditory processing deficit. Another aim was to determine differences within the group of children with language impairment in auditory processing skills considering the different types of language impairment, age, and gender of the examinees. The sample included 68 examinees ranging in age between 5,6 and 7,6 years (21 examinees with language impairment and 47 examinees with regular speech and language development) and was balanced for gender and age. The analysis of the results showed poorer auditory processing skills in examinees with language impairment. Differences corresponded to gender and type of language impairment, but did not correspond to the age of the examinees. These results suggest that there is a relation between neurological dismaturation, poorer auditory processing skills, and the development of language impairment because the most discriminative were the dichotic subtests, which can assess the functioning of neurological connections in the auditory system. Despite a probable close connection between language impairment and auditory processing deficit, we cannot claim that an auditory processing deficit alone is sufficient to cause language impairment.

Do Foreign Language Learners Need Failures?

Author(s): Joanna Kic-Drgas / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

A lack of motivation, incomprehensible content and a high workload are only some of the causes leading to students’ failures in the learning process. Dealing with failures seems to have become a new core competence in the current world, which is why the definition and implementation of an appropriate strategy is essential for prospective learning results. The focus of the contribution is on the meaning of failure and sources of potential student failures in the foreign language learning at the university level. The results presented in the paper base on the survey conducted with English language students at Koszalin University of Technology. Students were asked to identify the field causing learning failures. The described survey delivers information about the sources of failures from learner’s point of view, which can be an incentive to develop and implement strategies to cope with failures in the ESP class.

Osvojování gramatických kategorií sloves u českého dítěte

Author(s): Pavla Chejnová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 3/2016

The article presents a description of the acquisition of verbal grammatical categories in a monolingual Czech-speaking boy living in Prague. The author uses diary data for the pre-morphological stage and a corpus of transcriptions of audio recordings from ages 2.8 to 3.6 which covers the stage of protomorphology. In the pre-morphological stage, words are rote-learned and usually occur in one form per lemma. The protomorphological stage manifests itself through the emergence of grammatical oppositions. The occurrence of miniparadigms and the gradual development of grammatical forms are documented. First the child produces only a limited number of forms, and the 3rd person singular present tense functions as a base form. Then the 1st person singular and plural appear. In parallel, the child learns to use tenses – present tense prevails for imperfective verbs, future tense and past participles for perfective verbs. The directive function is expressed by infinitives before the imperative is acquired. The conditional and passives are acquired at the end of the protomorphological phase. The author argues that the main principle of acquisition is the pragmatic principle: a child acquires what he or she needs to express. The frequency of verbal means in input and their complexity also influence the sequence of acquisition.

Aspecte ale dialogului ca formă de comunicare orală

Author(s): Iulia Mihaela Tămaș / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2018

This article approaches the defining aspects of oral speech,the manner in which the syntax of the dialogue becomes a mixed syntax, the latter being determined by the place, position and elements within both the linguistic context and within the situational or social-historical context.We also target certain aspects of the conversation viewed as a form of dialogue in dialectal surveys. The statement of oral speech is often fragmented, elyptical or beyond proper analysis, consisting in nouns, adverbs, interjections, random constructions having varied discourse effects. The communication between the interviewer and the local community member is a stimulated one.The text created by the interviewee sounds like a targeted monologue.In dialectal surveys, the conversation becomes similar to the structure of dyadic conversation, an important role being played by the factual elements whose purpose is to actually trigger, lengthen, as well as to interrupt communication.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) “In Use”: Ideas for a Cross-Curricular Activity for Students in the 5th Grade The Little Linguists And Explorers

Author(s): Ligia Tomoiagă,Claudia Hojda / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

CLIL is a comprehensive, interwoven method of teaching, in which certain contents, coming from cross-curricular fields, are taught in a foreign language. The knowledge that students acquire is, thus, supplemented by a new way of storing and using information, which also involves participation of the foreign language skills, creating new competence both in the language and the respective fields of knowledge. This is a model curriculum for the 5th grade students, in which they are taught history, geography and a little environment and biology, using English. The proposed theme is The Little Linguists and Explorers: Following Christopher Columbus. The project takes place in Borşa, at the Gymnasium-Highschool, and is the result of the collaboration between the two authors of the article.

Le texte, témoin d’une langue, en constant contact avec la societe et la culture environnantes

Author(s): Estelle Variot / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2018

The text refers, essentially, to the composition of terms with different etymologies and specific uses which, constructed in accordance with some working rules inherent in languages, permit to lead to a whole and to illustrate an author’s thought. The language development and its gradual fragmentation in idioms which have spread on various continents and have come into contact with others, that have different substrata or that have moved away after centuries of conquests or of foreign dominations, have accompanied the human gradual evolution. This phenomenon continued till the XXIst century, at a time which has largely been influenced, sometimes excessively, by some dominating languages. The progress, technical adaptation and innovations as well as fashions have generated exchanges that have had repercussions on our linguistic acts and have summon up all our language wealth. This has sometimes required the reevaluation of some rules, with regard to the general use that has changed, in order to state new tendencies that are henceforward accepted by the whole society. This is the reason why all parts of speech have been affected, irregularly during centuries, by tendencies and influences urged or not by state development, academies and most influent cultural personalities. The examples that we have chosen and the extracts in French and in Romanian languages will aim to help and raise questions about the link that exists between a text, parts of speech within it and the surrounding context, throughout a proper use of its resources. Despite this, the purpose is also to keep in mind that the evolution and preservation linguistic rules have to foresee the necessary tools for their specificity, their harmony and their respectful welcome to new ideas and concepts that are absolutely connected with use and memory of origins. Diachronic and synchronic prospects will be followed in order to foresee the main evolutions in French and Romanian languages that have convergences and differences. Practical applications of these characteristics of our idioms will be obvious theoretically, in learning or teaching and at the time when we translate or interpret.

Pilar Ordóñez-López, Nuria Edo-Marzá (eds.), Medical Discourse in Professional, Academic and Popular Settings. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2016, 209 p.

Author(s): Oana Atomei / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2018

A personal approach to the employment of technology during the English course

Author(s): Ramona Demarcsek / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

Being in a constant struggle of trying to keep our students’ interest during the English class at a time when they are bombarded with technological distractions from every platform – television programmes, smart devices, computers, laptops etc. – requires a teacher’s resourcefulness and creativity, and investment of his/her time and money in materials and technology in order to keep up with the pace at which students operate on a daily basis, including in class. This paper takes a closer look at the employment of technology during the English class with students in Business Administration from the North University Center of Baia Mare, the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. It is a case study regarding the extent to which the use of technology aids the teaching-learning process. It also tries to find the right balance between traditional teaching-learning tools and the employment of modern technology in class.

ASK A QUESTION! HOW ITALIAN CHILDREN WITH COCHLEAR IMPLANTS PRODUCE SUBJECT AND OBJECT WH-QUESTIONS

Author(s): Francesca Volpato,Silvia D'Ortenzio / Language(s): English,Italian Issue: 2/2018

Syntax is impaired in individuals with cochlear implants (CIs). Several studies have shown that Italian speaking children fitted with CIs have troubles with relative clauses (Volpato and Adani 2009, Volpato 2010, Volpato 2012, Volpato and Vernice 2014), sentences containing clitic pronouns (Guasti et al. 2014), and wh-questions (Volpato and D’Ortenzio 2017). The aim of this study is to provide a detailed analysis of the production of wh-questions by a group of 13 Italian-speaking children fitted with CIs, and to compare their performance with a group of 13 typically developing children matched on comparable chronological age. Accuracy is lower in the group of children with CIs than in controls, but no significant difference was found between the two groups. However, much individual variability was observed. Some children with CIs showed good competence of Italian. Other children produce ungrammatical sentences, which is evidence of the linguistic delay associated to hearing impairment, even when they are fitted with CIs.

Veronica Tomescu. 2017. Acquisition in a Romanian-Hungarian Bilingual Setting. A Case Study.

Author(s): Anca Sevcenco / Language(s): English,Romanian,Hungarian Issue: 24/2019

THE ACQUISITION OF THE QUANTITATIVE PRONOUN BY ENGLISH AND FRENCH LEARNERS OF L2 DUTCH: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY BASED ON AN ELICITED IMITATION TASK

Author(s): Petra Sleeman,Sanne Berends / Language(s): English,French,Dutch Issue: 23/2019

It has been argued that an Elicited Imitation Task gives better insights into the L1 acquisition of the Dutch quantitative pronoun ER than a Picture Elicitation Task. In this paper the results of an Elicited Imitation Task submitted to adult L1 French and L1 English learners of L2 Dutch are presented and compared to earlier results of a Grammaticality Judgment Task. Like Dutch and unlike English, French uses a quantitative pronoun in noun ellipsis constructions with a numeral. Earlier results revealed that in the Grammaticality Judgment Task there was no significant difference between both groups of L2 learners in their acceptance of ER, although this was predicted on the basis of possible transfer from their L1. In the Elicited Imitation Task, however, the L1 English learners repeated ER significantly less often than the L1 French learners. This can be attributed to the different nature of the two types of test.

Raising Collocational Awareness with Humour

Author(s): Tünde Nagy / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

Despite the increased interest that collocations have received in EFL methodology lately, making language learners aware of these multiword constructions continues to represent a challenge for teachers. While there may be different ways of teaching collocations, finding activities that raise collocational awareness efficiently is no easy task. Collocational awareness can be defined as the ability of language learners (and users) to use and acknowledge word combinations in their entirety. Humour can be useful in this regard as it not only ensures a more relaxed atmosphere in the classroom but can also help students to acknowledge and remember specific linguistic structures (among them, also collocations) more easily. In line with Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995, 1997, 2006), it is believed that collocations are to be treated as constructions, pairings of form with a specific meaning and varying degrees of predictability – teaching them as such can contribute to a better understanding and acquisition of these constructions. After offering a brief overview of the characteristics of collocations and reflecting on the possible advantages of using humour in class, the paper shows possible ways of teaching collocations with humour. The exercises and activities suggested focus on both the productive and receptive competence of language learners and also incorporate the necessary skills required in the language learning process: listening, reading, writing, and speaking.

GABRIELA BIRIŞ, Limbaj medical. Anatomie. Curs pentru studenţii străini din anul pregătitor, Bucureşti, Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, 2014

Author(s): Andreea-Victoria Grigore / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 65/2016

Iolanda Sterpu, Limba română pentru străini: gramatică şi exerciţii, Iaşi, Editura Universităţii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, 2012

Author(s): Gabriela Biriş / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 64/2015

Ground Zero: A bibliometric analysis of L2 vocabulary research 1986-1990

Author(s): Paul Meara / Language(s): English Issue: 8/2022

This paper uses a co-citation analysis to examine the research on vocabulary acquisition that was published in 1990. Two analyses are presented. The first is a detailed account of the 1990 research on its own terms. The second analysis places this work in a larger context by looking at research published in a five-year window covering 1986-1990.

Acquisition of Polish among Foreigners in Bilingual Couples with Poles: Impact Factors

Author(s): Agnieszka Stępkowska / Language(s): English Issue: 27/2022

The article considers bilingual couples of Poles with foreigners residing in Poland with a special focus on the acquisition of Polish by the latter. Foreigners from such couples function not only in their families but also in wider circles of the host society. Communication needs resulting from contacts outside a bilingual couple and job commitments lead to situations when life in the host society becomes a challenge if these needs are not met. Theoretical framework for the analysis and interpretation of this phenomenon is the Complementarity Principle (Grosjean) and the concept of a domain (Fishman). Data were obtained from 24 in-depth interviews with bilingual couples. Qualitative methodology made it possible to grasp the complexity of the researched cases and phenomena which unveiled specific trends. Findings of the study revealed major factors that had a direct impact on the acquisition of Polish among foreigners in bilingual couples with Poles. The key impact factors referred to (1) the way of communication in the couple, (2) the couple’s language strategies towards children, and (3) the contact with the partner’s extended family, including the type of professional activity.

PARAPHRASING IN ESAP: TEACHER-GUIDED, AI-ASSISTED OR COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

Author(s): Adina-Maria Mezei / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2023

Paraphrasing in ESAP: Teacher-Guided, AI-Assisted or Communicative Activities. At the heart of progress in academia lies the principle of building upon other people’s ideas, linguistic expressions and/or scientific endeavours by taking note of invariably crediting the original author (Mori 2018). One way of doing this is by the usage of paraphrasing. Though paraphrasing is regarded as the prerogative of successful academic thinking and writing, what it means exactly is still ambiguous to some extent. After undertaking to formulate some working definitions, we discuss paraphrasing techniques and activities in the context of teaching English for Specific Academic Purposes to students majoring in Biology. The activities considered are grouped into three main categories with respect to the procedure involved: teacher-guided (with a focus on certain parts of a sentence/text as selected by the teacher), AI-assisted (linked to the usage of automated paraphrasing tools) and communicative (tasks having a connection to real-world communicative needs). Some examples are discussed with the purpose of determining their appropriateness in a teaching context. The article sketches an initial paraphrasing teaching toolkit, developing mainly the first category, and ends with considerations regarding future research, such as the development and implementation of AI-assisted tasks and the analysis of inferential and rhetorical processes.

SETTING UP A CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM AT BABEȘ-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY

Author(s): Alexandru Oltean-Cîmpean / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2023

Setting up a Creative Writing Program at Babeș-Bolyai University. The present paper argues for the establishment of a Creative Writing program within Babeș-Bolyai University, by initially providing more courses at the BA level, with an MA in Creative Writing being the end goal. By examining the history of the field and its current status within higher education in America, the UK and beyond, I show that, wherever Creative Writing programs have appeared and gained sufficient traction, they have thrived, attracting significant numbers of students year after year. In those countries outside of Anglophone space where the implementation of Creative Writing is a much more recent endeavor, significant steps have already been taken to analyze and find solutions for the current issues that might slow down the spread of interest in this field. With this in mind, the paper concludes that it is time for Babeș-Bolyai University to embrace this growing trend.

A kárpátaljai magyar nyelvhasználat sajátosságai az 1980-90-es évek fordulóján a Vörös Zászló járási lap anyagai alapján

Author(s): Vilmos Gazdag / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2024

The turn of the 1980s and 1990s brought a number of changes for the whole Soviet world, including the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia, which obviously had an impact on the language of the press, as elements of political or economic jargon appear in the daily press just as much as the language of sport or the argot. The majority of linguists agree that press language is a mirror of language use in which linguistic changes are detectable and traceable almost immediately. In this paper, we have attempted to present an overview of the 1989–1990 issues of the Berehovo District Council newspaper, the Vörös Zászló [Red Flag]—i.e. more than 300 issues and more than 1,200 pages of text for the two years—presenting the major events and problems of the period, and the linguistic information related to them, especially the state language loanwords that appeared in the paper as a result of bilingualism.