Cognitive grammar on "smash": Perspectives from Langacker's framework

The language system allows us to express perceived events in different ways using different linguistic resources. Ability to perform this task goes beyond the notion of prescriptive grammar, which makes no connection between language and the cognitive mind. Cognitive grammar focuses on the way we construct our ideas. Meaning is equated with conceptualization. Semantic structures are characterized Based on the ideas and theses posited by Langacker with regards to Cognitive Grammar, we seek to illustrate how our cognitive minds help us manipulate the use of language, especially the grammatical items.

English language in Brunei: Use, policy, and status in education – A review

This paper explores the literature on the status of the English language in Negara Brunei Darussalam, particularly in education. The review encompasses a total of 103 sources, including 44 journal articles, 27 book chapters, 15 books, and 17 other items (institution/organisation websites and reports, government documents, newspaper articles, and conference presentations), published between 1985 and 2020, with at least 70 sources published in the last decade. The author summarises findings from research in key areas in the Bruneian context including bilingual education, linguistic diversity, the status of English, educational policies, educational divides, and challenges to the student experience, particularly in higher education in the bilingual setting. The author found that: i) while there are concerns over the impact of English on the Malay language and on indigenous languages in the Sultanate, and apprehension around an educational divide, the majority of attitudes appear to be very positive about the use of English in Brunei, including in education; ii) the bilingual education policy has evolved over time, and now places an emphasis on English as a key competency for the 21st century; iii) the student experience in the bilingual context is a particularly under-researched area. Staff working in tertiary education can always benefit from further insights into different aspects of learning, teaching, and content delivery, which may be applicable in many settings. The paper concludes with recommendations for further research in Brunei.

Indian parents’ perspective of maintaining heritage language in the metropolitan Jakarta

The present study examines the role of Indian parents residing in Indonesia in maintaining heritage languages at home. The report presents parents' attitudes towards languages and the strategies used by these parents to promote heritage-language maintenance (HLM) while residing in Indonesia. Two research instruments were used: a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. 23 Indian respondents (22 mothers and 1 father) residing in Jakarta participated in an online survey. Four participants volunteered for a follow-up interview to explore their language beliefs and attitudes. The majority of these parents regard Hindi or other Indian regional languages to be their heritage language, yet they use English to communicate with their children because of the ease—and lack of time to teach their children their heritage language. They also valorize English and the learning of other languages because of the benefits they entail, such as a better future and economic stability. Most of these parents agree that preserving and maintaining their heritage language is vital; however, they have only been somewhat successful in maintaining it.

A culture of collaboration: Forms and factors affecting collaboration between NESTs and NNESTs in extracurricular English activities

Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) assist local English teachers to further the English language development of students around the globe, while simultaneously acting as cultural ambassadors for the United States. ETAs in Indonesia are required to spend between twenty and twenty-five hours each week in the classroom with their teaching counterpart(s) but are also encouraged to engage with their school and community outside of class, and as such many ETAs also spend considerable time developing extracurricular English programming. While some of these extracurriculars are facilitated independently by the ETAs, many are collaborative projects with counterparts from the host institution. As part of a larger five-year research plan initiated by the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF) that seeks to explore the impact of ETAs, this research explores the collaboration within these extracurriculars. It seeks to identify the forms that this collaboration takes, as well as the factors that affect the collaboration. The findings suggest that collaboration within these extracurriculars usually takes the form of either one teach – one assist model, or team teaching, and that logistical and interpersonal factors are of the greatest concern within the collaboration.

Weighing on languages: Indonesian parents’ perspectives on bilingualism

The paper focuses on the micro-level language policy where parents are the primary ‘actors’ to socialize language(s) to their children in the family circle. This small-scale study aims to find out 1) parent’s language attitudes towards bilingualism; 2) how the attitudes contribute to the decision making on language policy in the family; 3) and what efforts or strategies for maintaining the heritage language (HL). Data were collected from questionnaires to 28 Indonesian parents (from diverse ethnic backgrounds). To gain deeper insights, interviews were also conducted to investigate individual perceptions, feelings, and experience over bilingualism. Based on the analysis, it is found that although most of the families are bilingual with 3-4 languages being spoken at home, there is a limited context where interaction is carried out in HLs. The majority of respondents reported that it is only used to close relatives. The maintenance of HL is symbolic rather than strategic; it is perceived as important because of the sense of family hood to the language. This is confirmed in the following finding that parents feel that national language is far more important (65%) than the heritage language (34.6%) which is slightly below parents' aspiration for the children to learn a foreign language (38.5%). Also, there is little evidence showing parents’ explicit language policy which may be affected by familiarity and the status of the language, social institutions, community relations, and family structure.

Observing EFL teachers' use of formulaic language in class

Mastering formulaic language is said to be crucially important in second language (L2) learning as it showcases the L2 user’s different levels of competency: linguistic, psycholinguistic, and communicative. Frequent use of these formulaic sequences also makes an L2 speaker sound more native–like. In a language teaching and learning context where English is a foreign language (EFL), the language teacher is the one major resource of spoken language exposure. Therefore, the quality of teacher’s instructions in an EFL classroom clearly has effects on the learner’s language learning process. Mercer (2001) puts it, “[a]ll […] aspects of teacher’s responsibility are reflected in their use of language as the principal tool of their responsibilities” (p. 243). A great deal of research has been devoted to L2 learners and the acquisition of formulaic language, and classroom interaction, but very little attention has been paid to teachers’ use of formulaic sequences in their classrooms. This paper presents a descriptive study with analytical discussion of extracts from four video–recorded lessons conducted by school teachers in different South–east Asian countries. This small-scale study attempts to explore to what extent non–native EFL teachers are familiar with and use formulaic language during class time.

Native speakerism (?!): (Re)Considering critical lenses and corresponding implications in the field of English Language Teaching

Within English language teaching (ELT), critical scholarship has paid ever-increasing attention to identity, experience and (in)equity, and thus to privilege-marginalization: where it comes from, how and why it manifests, who (potentially) experiences it, and what might be done to address inequity in (and potentially beyond) the profession. This dialogue is intertwined with broader attempts in the field to account for the complexity of identity and interaction in settings around the globe. In this article, I discuss how categorical apprehensions of identity, experience and privilege-marginalization, and approaches to (in)equity, have framed discourse within critical scholarship. I then survey how more recent work has called into question many of the critical “assumptions” (Pennycook, 2001) both shaping and shaped by such theory and inquiry. This scholarship contends that critical lenses predicated upon categories of being, while calling attention to idealized nativeness embedded in ELT, fail to account for the contextualized, sociohistorical negotiation of privilege-marginalization within and transcending communities around the globe. Next, in order to contextualize and unpack these divergent lenses, I provide a review of critical dialogue attending to Japan, both in and beyond ELT, noting in conclusion how privilege-marginalization within ELT is intertwined with the sociohistorical negotiation of “selfhood” and “otherness” pertaining both to Japanese society and Japan and “the world beyond.” I close by briefly commenting on future directions for critical scholarship in ELT, and the challenges facing, and yet to be faced by, its stakeholders.

Considering the reality of hegemonic tendencies: English and linguistic diversity

This paper aims to analyze the commodification aspect of dominant languages, in particular, English, while looking into linguistic diversity as a commodity in its own right. In order to illustrate multilingualism as a valuable commodity in itself, we mention Immersion Programs in the US and the increasing recognition of the importance of being proficient in languages other than English, for educational, personal, economic and national security reasons. This research also aims to look into some aspects of the delicate issue of English being strengthened over the weakening of thousands of local languages and cultures. Some arguments are provided in order to illustrate the fact that ‘global English’ represents special politico-economic interests that cannot meet the needs of the people whose languages and cultures are being subjugated by the imperialistic and capitalist ideologies of the spread of English. Unless local language policies are elevated on political agendas, globalization language policies will remain insensitive to the irreplaceable value of linguistic diversity, along with the real needs of citizens from all over the world.

Prompting second language writers for productive reflection using narrative questioning prompt

This paper aims to introduce a novel form of reflective tool ‘narrative questioning’ to facilitate students’ elaborate and graded reflection in two ESL composition classes in a university in the US. Little has been written about a reflective tool where students need to produce a graded and elaborate reflection and this paper will seek to narrow that gap. Narrative questioning is developed primarily from Barkhuizen and Wette’s (2008) narrative frames. Narrative frames employ “a series of incomplete sentences and blank spaces of varying lengths” (Barkhuizen, 2014, p. 13). Narrative questioning utilizes a series of questions through which students reflected on their perceived learning gain throughout the semester. This paper will first discuss research in narrative reflective tools. Then, it will describe the classroom pedagogical lesson that I conducted to introduce and guide students to write their reflection using narrative questioning. Thirdly, the data gathered through students' reflection and individual interviews of 10 students will be presented and discussed. The data illustrates the different ways of narrative questioning facilitate reflection. Limitations of the narrative questioning elicited from students' interviews will also be presented here along with the pedagogical implication of the study.

“I’m like kentang”: Bilingual Indonesians construction of identity in the era of transnationalism

This study looks at bilingual Indonesians who experienced living abroad as sojourners. The study aims to explore their identity experiences and struggles as influenced by their interactions with other language(s) and culture(s). An open-ended questionnaire and interview questions were used to obtain information on the respondents’ short biodata and experiences abroad. Nineteen respondents participated in an online open-ended questionnaire, and a few respondents volunteered to be interviewed. The findings reveal that these bilinguals Indonesian sojourners find it challenging to explain themselves from the monocultural essentialists view of identity. They identify themselves strongly with both their home and host countries and cultures but remaining staying open to new possibilities of identities. Yet, there are also traces of contradicting and conflicting selves of belonging in both cultures.