Contents

By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director

In most cases, the ultimate goal of language instruction is to prepare learners to use language in a context other than the classroom (i.e., in the wild). This might mean work in a multilingual profession, engagement with a local L2-speaking community, online exploration, or a myriad of other possibilities. To prepare learners for this adventure, language teachers have a unique opportunity to enhance learners’ ability to do so through the development of critical skills and dispositions. This month, we will explore examples of these skills and dispositions (e.g., noticing, sorting, analysis, subjectivity, and awareness) and provide examples for cultivating them as part of learners' classroom experiences.

• Noticing: the ability to pay attention to what is happening and make choices about what to pay attention to and what to ignore.
• Sorting: the ability to categorize information, language strategies and techniques, and perspectives into any number of relevant categories.
• Analysis: the ability to make choices on what language to use, what others have used, and make sense of relevant patterns found in language.
• Subjectivity: the ability to make conscious choices about language and articulate those choices.
• Awareness: the ability to recognize others’ reactions during discourse.

This week’s Activity of the Week utilizes gameplay to cultivate each of these five areas.

Volume 16 of the journal Language Documentation and Description is available online at http://elpublishing.org/publicationpage/16. In this issue:

Spaces for participatory research, decolonization and community empowerment: working with speakers of Nahuatl in Mexico, by Justyna Olko

Swadesh lists are not long enough: Drawing phonological generalizations from limited data, by Rikker Dokum and Claire Bowern

Tonsawang (Toundanow), North Sulawesi, Indonesia — Language Contexts, by Timothy C. Brickell

Ahamb (Malekula, Vanuatu) — Language Contexts, by Tom Bratrud and Julie Barbour

Gorwaa (Tanzania) — Language Contexts, by Andrew Harvey

Sapé (Venezuela) — Language Snapshot, by Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada and Francis Medina

Sihan (Sarawak, Malaysia) — Language Snapshot, by Peter Puxon

Cora (Mexico) — Language Snapshot, by William H. Parker

Kawésqar (Chile) — Language Snapshot, by Rodrigo Becerra

Chhitkul-Rakchham (Himachal Pradesh, India) — Language Snapshot, by Philippe Antoine Martinez

Book review: The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization, by Robbie Penman

From https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/policy-and-planning-endangered-languages?format=PB

Policy and Planning for Endangered Languages
Edited by Mari C. Jones
Published by Cambridge University Press

Language policy issues are imbued with a powerful symbolism that is often linked to questions of identity, with the suppression or failure to recognize and support a given endangered variety representing a refusal to grant a 'voice' to the corresponding ethno-cultural community. This wide-ranging volume, which explores linguistic scenarios from across five continents, seeks to ignite the debate as to how and whether the interface between people, politics and language can affect the fortunes of endangered varieties. With chapters written by academics working in the field of language endangerment and members of indigenous communities on the frontline of language support and maintenance, Policy and Planning for Endangered Languages is essential reading for researchers and students of language death, sociolinguistics and applied linguistics, as well as community members involved in native language maintenance.

Visit the publisher's website at https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/policy-and-planning-endangered-languages?format=PB

From https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/acquiring-metaphorical-expressions-in-a-second-language-9781350071797/

Acquiring Metaphorical Expressions in a Second Language: Performance by Chinese Learners of English
By Chris Mengying Xia
Published by Bloomsbury

Conventional metaphorical expressions are widely used by native speakers in everyday language and have received extensive attention in theoretical semantics and cognitive linguistics. However, how a second language learner can acquire those expressions is left largely unknown. Researchers and language learners face the question: if one has acquired the literal meaning of a word, can they automatically derive the metaphorical meaning?

This book provides the answer by placing the question of acquisition of metaphorical expressions in the framework of bilingual lexicon. Assessing whether metaphorical expressions are taken for granted by second language learners, it explores how the metaphorical meaning(s) of a word should be connected in a learner's mental lexicon, and how the cross-linguistic availability of a metaphorical expression could affect the outcome of acquisition of that expression. The book also provides a detailed comparison between metaphorical expressions and other figurative language from both the theoretical and experimental perspectives.

Visit the publisher's website at https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/acquiring-metaphorical-expressions-in-a-second-language-9781350071797/

From https://iallt.org/webinars/8-15-19/

If you are planning your 2019-20 Language Center events calendar, this webinar is for you. This interactive session introduces language and culture activities that have successfully engaged learners at two large university language centers. Participants will have ample time to share “nailed and failed” experiences from their own centers, so that all can benefit from the wealth of creativity in the IALLT community.

Presenters: Hope Fitzgerald (University of Virginia) and Tony Brinckwirth (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Date: Thursday, August 15, 2019
Time: 12:00pm PST / 1:00pm MST / 2:00pm CST / 3:00pm EST
Webinar Duration – 1 hour

Register at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeCpaYhSWTtqPgmgvl6nszhSEB1ktahIMhrBFQdzrbAjgQGPA/viewform

From https://www.capitolnewsillinois.com/Blog/Posts/439/Uncategorized/2019/7/State-Board-of-Education-releases-new-world-languages-standards/blog-post/

State Board of Education releases new world languages standards
New guidelines stress cultural awareness, use of languages across disciplines
by Peter Hancock
July 31, 2019

Foreign language teachers in Illinois are being asked to update the way they teach those courses starting in the upcoming school year by putting more emphasis on world cultures and how to use languages across different academic disciplines.

The Illinois State Board of Education on Wednesday released its newly-updated educational standards for world languages, replacing ones that were adopted in 1997.

...In addition to guiding teachers on how to structure their lessons, the world language standards are also used to determine whether graduating high school students have met the qualifications for a State Seal of Biliteracy, an award that recognizes students for achieving a high level of proficiency in two or more languages.

...Traditionally, foreign language classes have focused on memorizing vocabulary lists and rules of grammar so students gain a functional understanding of the printed and spoken word of another culture.

But Kim Johnson, a consultant with ISBE’s Curriculum and Instruction section, said the new standards go beyond that by focusing on the people and the culture behind the language in order to give students studying that language — whether it be Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese or Russian — a broader, more multicultural view of the world.

Read the full article at https://www.capitolnewsillinois.com/Blog/Posts/439/Uncategorized/2019/7/State-Board-of-Education-releases-new-world-languages-standards/blog-post/

From https://www.languagemagazine.com/2019/07/30/house-boosts-language-funding-in-defense-bill/

House Boosts Language Funding in Defense Bill
July 30, 2019

Last month, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to include the World Language Advancement and Readiness Act (WLARA) as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2020. However, the NDAA was passed in the House without a single Republican vote, marking the first time in history that the annual defense spending bill has not received bipartisan support. Hopefully, the amendment will be added to the Senate version of the bill during committee reconciliation this summer.

...The WLARA seeks to expand language learning at the elementary and secondary levels. The amendment would create a grant program to increase and improve world language education in Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools and in local education agencies (LEAs), which would have to provide matching funds unless they could not afford them. At least 75% of funds are earmarked for elementary schools and the same percentage for languages deemed critical to national security.

...Representative David Price (D-North Carolina), who introduced the amendment, commented, “The U.S. is lagging behind other nations in language proficiency, which threatens our ability to succeed in global military and diplomatic missions.”
Representative Don Young (R-Alaska), an early supporter and original sponsor of WLARA in the House, added, “The World Language Advancement and Readiness Act helps America keep pace with other developed nations by providing the language education our students need to secure good jobs, achieve success in global marketplaces, and successfully navigate multilingual business environments.

Read the full article at https://www.languagemagazine.com/2019/07/30/house-boosts-language-funding-in-defense-bill/

From https://www.tofugu.com

Continuing an intermittent series about different Japanese counters, Tofugu has a new, detailed lesson about the counter 面, available here: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-counters-men/

From http://icebergproject.co

Learn the pragmatic ins and outs of apologizing in Italian, from minor to major oops situations: http://icebergproject.co/italian/2019/08/how-to-apologize-in-italian/