scholarly journals Sprachnormbezogene Akkommodation in der Hochschullehre

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-62
Author(s):  
Philip C. Vergeiner

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between accommodation processes and social norms in varietal choice within tertiary education in Austria. The investigation consists of (a) a content analysis of metalinguistic statements in semi-structured interviews and (b) a variable rule analysis of actual language variation in university lectures.The findings show that there are norms prescribing that listeners must have at least be able to comprehend a particular variety, whereas accommodation to actual language use does not appear to be required to the same extent. However, the norms depend strongly on group membership: while there is a norm prescribing the use of the standard variety in the presence of speakers of German as a foreign language, there is no such norm for Austrians vis-à-vis people from Germany, although speakers from both groups may lack the ability to understand the respective nonstandard varieties. This difference can be explained by the sociocultural context and differing language attitudes.

Author(s):  
Edit H. Kontra ◽  
Kata Csizér

Abstract The aim of this study is to point out the relationship between foreign language learning motivation and sign language use among hearing impaired Hungarians. In the article we concentrate on two main issues: first, to what extent hearing impaired people are motivated to learn foreign languages in a European context; second, to what extent sign language use in the classroom as well as outside school shapes their level of motivation. The participants in our research were 331 Deaf and hard of hearing people from all over Hungary. The instrument of data collection was a standardized questionnaire. Our results support the notion that sign language use helps foreign language learning. Based on the findings, we can conclude that there is indeed no justification for further neglecting the needs of Deaf and hard of hearing people as foreign language learners and that their claim for equal opportunities in language learning is substantiated.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lubna Alnaeem

This study attempted to examine the relationship between participation in extracurricular activities and levels of Communication Apprehension (CA) among English as a foreign language (EFL) students and explore the students’ perspectives of how extracurricular activities affect their communication skills. The study addressed the following two questions: a) what is the relationship between EFL students’ involvement in extracurricular activities and their level of Communication Apprehension?, b) What are the EFL students’ perspectives regarding the effect of extracurricular activities on their communication skills?. The participants were 40 EFL students among 80 who participated in extracurricular activities at the College of Languages and Translation at Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. The participants were asked to complete a Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) to examine their levels of CA as well as a questionnaire about their attitudes toward extracurricular activities. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 participants to explore their perspectives in depth. The findings showed that most participants had moderate levels of CA and that 100% of the participants agreed that participation in extracurricular activities helped them reduce CA and improve their communication skills. The study also showed that extracurricular activities were more helpful than classroom activities in improving communication skills. This study is significant in that it shed the light on the importance of involvement in extracurricular activities and their role in improving EFL students’ communication skills and lowering CA levels. Thus, it is recommended to encourage EFL students to participate in extracurricular activities and consider including such activities in course requirements and teaching materials.


Author(s):  
Jeanina Umaña Aguilar

La contribución de la psicología social y la sociolingüística a la comprensión de las actitudes lingüísticas en general y las actitudes hacia Inglés, en particular. Evaluación del Inglés vis-á-vis otros códigos, de las variaciones sociales y étnicas de Inglés y de acento del habla Inglés, La relación entre el alojamiento y la identidad lingüística, y su relevancia en el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras.The contribution of social psychology and sociolinguistics to the understanding of language attitudes in general and attitudes towards English in particular. Evaluation of English vis-á-vis other codes, of social and ethnic variations of English, and of accented English speech, The relationship between linguistic accommodation and identity, and its relevance in foreign language learning.


Babel ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riyadh Khalil Ibrahim

The paper aims at studying the relationship between contrastive linguistics (CL) and translation as branches of applied linguistics, on one hand, and the use of computer corpora (C.C) on the other. It also stresses the fact that the boundaries of CL have been redrawn to incorporate the output of C.C in performing various tasks in translation, that goes beyond the traditional methods of CL carried out exclusively on solving problems in foreign language teaching (FLT). The paper supports the call for the manipulation of data obtained from CC in contrastive linguistic projects for the betterment of translation quality. Previously, CL was concerned with linguistic systems rather than language use, but with the introduction of corpora, language use become more easily accessible and the field of CL has expanded. The access to huge amounts of original texts and their translation in electronic format is of great benefit to professional translators, since a wide range of translation solutions for any particular source language are available by a gentle hit on the required tagging key. As for translation-oriented corpus based CL it becomes obvious that the actual contrastive study will be carried out in order to obtain data for explaining the various phenomena in translation. Hence, translation as a communicative event can assume a fully-fledged descriptive discipline if it manages to develop its own descriptive tools of study. Computer corpora can play a decisive role in turning translation into a well-established academic discipline.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingyang Yan

The current study explored the relationship between participants’ label-based evaluations of six regional varieties in Enshi Prefecture, China, and their speech-based evaluations of talkers from these varieties using a label ranking task and a speaker evaluation task. The results revealed that under correct identification of talker dialect, participants’ evaluations of real talkers based on speech samples were different from their evaluations of ‘imagined’ county-based dialects, suggesting that speech-based talker evaluations are not solely governed by ideological values associated with dialects. Focusing on a small, understudied community in China, this study contributes to our understanding of the local language attitudes, and language use and maintenance in Enshi Prefecture. An integrated approach is needed to build a model of talker evaluation, which must include a complex set of linguistic, social cognitive, and situational objects. The current results suggest that the object(s) that primarily drives talker evaluations is not the talker’s dialect itself.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Ennser-Kananen

This qualitative case study of one German suburban high school classroom in the Midwestern United States examines how learners of German negotiate their linguistic legitimacy, which is defined as discursively constructed acceptance or validation for their language use. Specifically, it investigates how the students negotiated legitimacy for using their target language German in their classroom. Based on the premise that linguistic legitimacy is crucial for the maintenance and development of speakers’ languages, data was collected and analyzed from classroom recordings, semi-structured interviews, and participant observations. Findings revealed that, while English dominated the lessons as the default legitimate language among the students, using German was accepted and valued under certain circumstances. Such instances of linguistic legitimacy included the use of German for entertainment or in role plays, a pattern which points to the students’ desire to mitigate investment and display “uninvestment” in learning or using German. Implications for foreign language (FL) pedagogy and teacher education are discussed.


2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Hägi ◽  
Joachim Scharloth

This paper is concerned with the question, whether the status of Standard German in German-speaking Switzerland is adequately described as that of a foreign language. It discusses typological aspects, language awareness and language ideologies among German-speaking Swiss people, the practice of language acquisition, the language use in private life and media and the linguistic discourse about the relationship between the use of Swiss German and Standard German. It argues that from a linguistic point of view in none of these fields a clear decision can be made whether Standard German is a foreign language or not. Thus, the authors suggest that the conceptual framework ought to be widened to adequately describe the status of Standard German in German-speaking Switzerland. Finally, they take occasion to develop the concept of "Sekundärsprache"/"secondary language" for language situations similar to that in German-speaking Switzerland.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-208
Author(s):  
Lubna Alnaeem

This study attempted to examine the relationship between participation in extracurricular activities and levels of Communication Apprehension (CA) among English as a foreign language (EFL) students and explore the students’ perspectives of how extracurricular activities affect their communication skills. The study addressed the following two questions: a) what is the relationship between EFL students’ involvement in extracurricular activities and their level of Communication Apprehension?, b) What are the EFL students’ perspectives regarding the effect of extracurricular activities on their communication skills?. The participants were 40 EFL students among 80 who participated in extracurricular activities at the College of Languages and Translation at Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. The participants were asked to complete a Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) to examine their levels of CA as well as a questionnaire about their attitudes toward extracurricular activities. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 participants to explore their perspectives in depth. The findings showed that most participants had moderate levels of CA and that 100% of the participants agreed that participation in extracurricular activities helped them reduce CA and improve their communication skills. The study also showed that extracurricular activities were more helpful than classroom activities in improving communication skills. This study is significant in that it shed the light on the importance of involvement in extracurricular activities and their role in improving EFL students’ communication skills and lowering CA levels. Thus, it is recommended to encourage EFL students to participate in extracurricular activities and consider including such activities in course requirements and teaching materials.


Educatio ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 344-352
Author(s):  
Ildikó Novák

Összefoglaló. A hatékony középiskolai nyelvtanulás kérdésköre az elmúlt évtizedekben a hazai kutatások középpontjába került. Ezen tanulmány egy gimnáziumi és technikumi tanulók körében folytatott kérdőíves pilot kutatás eredményeit mutatja be, melynek célja volt feltárni a tanulók anyagi, kulturális és társadalmi tőkéje, valamint nyelvtanulási eredményessége között meglévő kapcsolatot. Az eredmények összefüggést mutattak a nyelvtanulási eredményesség és a szülők iskolai végzettsége, a családi könyvtár nagysága és a csoporttagság között, azonban az anyagi tőkével való összefüggés nem volt megfigyelhető. Summary. The importance of effective foreign language learning in Hungarian secondary schools has become a key focus of research in the last decades. This paper presents the results of a questionnaire-based pilot study conducted among secondary grammar and secondary technical school students to explore the relationship between the language learning effectiveness of the students and their economic, cultural, and social capital. The results showed correlations between language learning effectiveness and parental education, the size of the family library as well as group membership; however, no correlation with economic capital was detected.


Author(s):  
Youssef A. Haddad

This chapter highlights the crucial role that context plays in interaction. It hastens to add that the interplay between context and language use is an empirical issue; that is, the investigation of the social functions of a linguistic phenomenon, include the phenomenon of attitude datives examined in this study, requires a close and systematic analysis of the context in which the phenomenon occurs; thus, the focus on Levantine Arabic. The chapter goes on to delineate the three types of context that need to be taken into account in any sociopragmatic analysis. These are the co-textual context, the situation context, and the sociocultural context. Finally, it underlines the significance of sociopragmatic analyses of the type put forth and employed in this study from a learnability perspective, including foreign language education.


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