Contents
Content Type: 4
Title: Pragmatics Instruction and Digital Communication
Body:
By Sarah Murphy, University of Oregon graduate student in the LTS program.
This Activity of the Week seeks to draw from students' extant understanding and experience with technology in order to build pragmatic awareness of conventions associated with formal digital communication in North American English.
Ishikawa (2013) finds that “word distribution as well as politeness strategies can be influenced by the imposition of the task involved, social distance between the speaker and the addressee, and the relative power of the speaker over the addressee” (p. 62). In this activity, students will have opportunities to raise their awareness of how these components manifest in email requests from students to their professors. I will ask them to rank the size of their requests and the social distance between themselves and the recipients of their digital communications.
Fragale (2012) reports on “upward deference,” stating that “as the message recipient’s rank relative to the message sender’s rank increases, senders should become more concerned with managing the face of the recipient” (p. 337). She further asserts that “not expressing deference to superiors could be viewed as a status or face threat” (p. 337). In order to increase the likelihood of students’ success, we will observe and analyze different emails for elements that display deference appropriate to the student-teacher relationship, as well as those that could be perceived as face threatening in this context.
According to Bhatia (2002), discourse analysis should include textual, genre and social perspectives. In this activity, learners will recognize the distance associated with the relationship at play, the tendencies associated with digital communications, and the textual components associated with positively received email interactions in this context. Structures include: Salutations, length of email, use of slang, use of non-traditional spelling, and phrasing associated with request strategies between people with asymmetrical rank.
The context, procedure and materials are all here in one file. The student handout is here.
Objectives
- Students in small groups will be able to identify at least 2 (per group) qualities of successful and unsuccessful emails.
- Students will be able to use a list of class-made rules to rewrite an impolite email and explain their choices in a short presentation.
- Students will be able to offer feedback to their peers when called on to do so.
Assessment
The teacher conducts formative assessment by circulating and observing group work as well as by calling on groups to contribute to class-wide discussions. The teacher can also perform a summative assessment of students’ email rewrites (homework) using a rubric that is based on the rules developed during this class and posted to Moodle or otherwise made available to the students.
References
Bhatia, V. K. (2002). Applied genre analysis: A multi-perspective model. Ibérica: Revista de la Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos (AELFE), 4, 3-19.
Fragale, A. (2012). Appeasing equals: Lateral deference in organizational communication. Administrative Science Quarterly, 57(3), 373-406.
Ishikawa, Y. (2013). Gender differences in request – A statistical analysis of American English in the NICT JLE Corpus. International Journal of Humanities and Management Sciences (IJHMS), 1(1), 57-62.
Source: CASLS Activity of the Week
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Content Type: 5
Title: CASLS Heads to STARTALK Spring Conference
Body:
On May 8-9, 2015, members of the CASLS team joined educators from all over the world in Denver, CO, to launch a new summer season of STARTALK programs. STARTALK summer programs, a major initiative of the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland, bring together K-12 educators and students to teach and learn Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Hindi, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, and Urdu. CASLS worked with Program Directors and Instructors to implement STARTALK Linguafolio Online in their student programs. STARTALK Linguafolio Online is supported through STARTALK funding and developed and delivered at CASLS. More information on the STARTALK program can be found at https://startalk.umd.edu.
CASLS’ Educational Software Developer, Carl Burnstein assists the University of Massachusetts – Boston STARTALK Student Program with Linguafolio Online.
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Content Type: 5
Title: Congratulations to Megan Garland, Boren Scholar and UO Chinese Flagship student
Body:
Congratulations to Megan Garland, Boren Scholar and UO Chinese Flagship student! Megan is graduating with degrees in Chinese and International studies. She will be attending her Capstone year abroad next year at Nanjing University. This scholarship awarded her up to $20,000 for a full-year of study. In the future she plans to work in foreign relations, hopefully for the United Nations. For more on her prestigious award see: http://around.uoregon.edu/content/boren-scholar-talent-study-abroad-makes-plans-china.
Source: CASLS Spotlight
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Content Type: 1
Title: Book: Learner Corpora in Language Testing and Assessment
Body:
From https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/scl.70/main
Learner Corpora in Language Testing and Assessment
Edited by Marcus Callies and Sandra Götz
Published by the John Benjamins Publishing Company
The aim of this volume is to highlight the benefits and potential of using learner corpora for the testing and assessment of L2 proficiency in both speaking and writing, reflecting the growing importance of learner corpora in applied linguistics and second language acquisition research. Identifying several desiderata for future research and practice, the volume presents a selection of original studies, covering a variety of different languages. It features studies that present very thoroughly compiled new corpus resources which are tailor-made and ready for analysis in LTA, new tools for the automatic assessment of proficiency levels, and new methods of (self-)assessment with the help of learner corpora. Other studies suggest innovative research methodologies of how proficiency can be operationalized through learner corpus data. The volume is of particular interest to researchers in (applied) corpus linguistics, learner corpus research, language testing and assessment, as well as for materials developers and language teachers.
Visit the publisher’s website at https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/scl.70/main
Source: John Benjamins
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Title: Book: Teaching and Learning English Grammar
Body:
From http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138856936/
Teaching and Learning English Grammar: Research Findings and Future Directions
Edited by MaryAnn Christison, Donna Christian, Patricia A. Duff, and Nina Spada
Published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
An important contribution to the emerging body of research-based knowledge about English grammar, this volume presents empirical studies along with syntheses and overviews of previous and ongoing work on the teaching and learning of grammar for learners of English as a second/foreign language. It explores a variety of approaches, including form-focused instruction, content and language integration, corpus-based lexicogrammatical approaches, and social perspectives on grammar instruction.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138856936/
Source: Routledge
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Title: Book: Cross-Language Mediation in Foreign Language Teaching and Testing
Body:
From http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?K=9781783094110
Cross-Language Mediation in Foreign Language Teaching and Testing
By Maria Stathopoulou
Published by Multilingual Matters
This book contributes to the growing field of foreign language teaching and testing by shedding light on mediation across languages. Concerned with multi-/plurilingualism, it focuses on mediation as translanguaging practice. The book explores what mediation entails, the processes involved and the challenges mediators face.
Visit the publisher’s website at http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?K=9781783094110
Source: Multilingual Matters
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Content Type: 1
Title: Call for Papers: Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages
Body:
From http://www.ncolctl.org/resources-links/call-for-paper-links
The Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (JNCOLCTL) is soliciting articles for publication.
The Journal, published annually by NCOLCTL, is dedicated to the issues and concerns related to the teaching and learning of Less Commonly Taught Languages. The Journal primarily seeks to address the interests of language teachers, administrators, and researchers. Articles that describe innovative and successful teaching methods that are relevant to the concerns or problems of the profession, or that report educational research or experimentation in Less Commonly Taught Languages are welcome. Papers presented at NCOLCTL's annual conference will be considered for publication, but additional manuscripts from members of the profession are also welcome.
While submissions are welcome at any point, only manuscripts received by June 1, 2015 will be considered for the fall 2015 issue of the journal.
View the full call for papers at http://www.ncolctl.org/resources-links/call-for-paper-links
Source: NCOLCTL
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Title: American Sign Language Teachers Association Annual Conference
Body:
From http://www.aslta.org/aslta-8th-biennial-national-professional-development-conference/
American Sign Language Teachers Association Annual Conference
Recognition of ASL: 50 Years in the Making!
Reflect - Celebrate - Dream
June 24-27, 2015
Bloomington, Minnesota
The conference schedule includes keynotes, workshops, and poster sessions within the field of language and cultural teaching, mentoring, assessment and research.
Visit the conference website to learn more and to register: http://www.aslta.org/aslta-8th-biennial-national-professional-development-conference/
Source: ASLTA
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Title: American Association of Teachers of French Annual Convention
Body:
From https://www.frenchteachers.org/convention/
American Association of Teachers of French Annual Convention
July 8-11, 2015
Saguenay, Quebec
Regular registration through June 15.
For full details about the convention go to https://www.frenchteachers.org/convention/updatefiles/highlight.htm
Source: AATF
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Title: 20th Navajo Studies Conference
Body:
From http://www.navajostudies.org
20th Navajo Studies Conference
Navajo knowledge and experiences for our future
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff
May 28-30, 2015
For full details go to http://www.navajostudies.org/2015-conference.html
Source: Northern Arizona University
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