It has become increasingly clear that we as communication center professionals must confront the deeply rooted linguistic assumptions and traditions that underlie notions of speaking well. In this essay, we argue that one place to start is to look closely how and why conceptions of speaking well have come to rest on an unquestioned ideal of what…

The concept of Theme is regarded as a functional linguistic element that exists in many languages. The main aim of this study is to explore the functions of Theme in Arabic, applying the Systemic Functional Linguistics framework adopted by Downing (1991). Methodologically, several related real examples have been selected from the written discourse…

This paper addresses the role of bottom-up prescriptive pressures in language policy debates and their interplay with institution-driven, top-down influences. I approach this issue through an analysis of social media data concerning debates surrounding recent orthographic reform in France. Building on Heyd's (Lang Soc 43: 489-514, 2014) discussion…

In Pountain (2017), I argued that the indispensable foundation of an academic discipline of Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) must consist of (a) acquisition of and competence in the standard form of a foreign language, (b) awareness of its linguistic structure and varieties, and (c) critical study of cultural manifestations which depend on that…

Although traditional, unitary models of language standardisation have been prominent in minority languages, it is contended that this approach reproduces dominant language hierarchies and hegemonies, diminishes linguistic diversity and marginalises speakers who do not conform to prestige models. The polynomic model has been described as an…

We argue that composition scholarship's defenses of language differences in student writing reinforce dominant ideology's spatial framework conceiving language difference as deviation from a norm of sameness. We argue instead for adopting a temporal-spatial framework defining difference as the norm of utterances, and defining languages,…

Purpose: This paper aims to progress the dialogue on language rights in the urban classroom. Research has evidenced how language can serve as a powerful tool in mainstream ideologies; more specifically, the preferred and dominant use of Standard Written English in the American classroom has demonstrated how language serves as a gatekeeper for…

In 2003, the Amazigh (Berber) language and the Tifinagh script were, for the first time in history, introduced as a subject for all students in public primary schools in Morocco. This study first investigates the language planning policy behind the introduction of the new Amazigh curriculum: selection, codification, standardization, curriculum…

Hip Hop Based Pedagogy is a significant movement in the United States that uses hip hop texts not as "gimmicks to entice students to be compliant and cooperate" but for their expression of "enduring and comprehensive themes" (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p. ix). Texts that draw on students' popular cultures can be used in a manner…

English language teachers' opinions on the pedagogic relevance of spoken grammar are beginning to be reported, yet the voices of teachers in East Asia are rarely heard. In this article, the views of teachers from China and Singapore expressed in an online discussion are compared. The discussion, which was part of a taught postgraduate course,…

The issue of dialect and education and, in particular, the issue of which code to use as the medium of instruction has generated much heated debate in bidialectal societies. This debate is reflected in the literature on language policy in education which is divided into three main areas: (i) the use of the standard variety as medium of…

This article looks at issues affecting Robert Garioch's translation into Scots of a sonnet from Giuseppe Gioachino Belli's Romaneschi collection. It begins with the discussion of a problem involved in writing in dialects with no settled written standard. This 'standardizing' poetry is then looked at in terms of translation and theories of the…

An approach to writing instruction in a second language begins with a look at the different functions of oral and written language and proceeds to an analysis of stylistic differences. A number of examples are offered from French textbooks, letters, and excerpts from speech used on television. (MSE)

This paper offers a historical and sociolinguistic interrogation of Taiwanese to demonstrate the significance of language continuum in relation to identity formation. To this end, Taiwanese is discussed as a particular variety of language. Literacy practices in the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945) are contrasted with the precolonial and…

A study of the functions and structure of referential third- person pronominal chains in spontaneous English conversation as compared to those in written English is discussed. The study found the frequencies of these pronouns and of their chains to be generally much higher in the spoken corpus than in the written corpus. In the spoken corpus,…