Languages spoken in larger populations are relatively simple. A possible explanation for this is that languages with a greater number of speakers tend to also be those with higher proportions of non-native speakers, who may simplify language during learning. We assess this explanation for the negative correlation between population size and…

This study investigated the predictions of two approaches to second language acquisition. According to the usage-based approach, learner knowledge results from the strengths and weaknesses of input-driven statistical learning. According to the learner-varieties approach, pragmatic communication principles and language-internal constraints play…

Loosely attached to other syntactic elements in an utterance, pragmatic markers (PM) are one of the most frequented pragmatic elements that fulfill various functions. Among a great number of PMs encountered in daily conversations, I think is one of the most prevalent PMs in native speaker and non-native speaker discourse. Thus, the purpose of this…

In this study, we analyze the representations of singular address ("voseo," "tuteo," and "ustedeo") in contemporary Uruguayan children's literature from 1997 to 2011 as part of a broader analysis of variation and change in Uruguayan Spanish (Behares 1981; Bertolotti 2011; Bertolotti and Coll 2003; Elizaincín and Díaz…

This article focuses on the use of collocations in language learning research (LLR). Collocations, as units of formulaic language, are becoming prominent in our understanding of language learning and use; however, while the number of corpus-based LLR studies of collocations is growing, there is still a need for a deeper understanding of factors…

In this dissertation, I conceptualize a rhetorical and linguistic analysis of politics from a decolonial framework (Mignolo, 2011; Smith, 2012). My analysis draws on classical rhetoric (Aristotle, 2007), cultural rhetoric (Mao, 2014; Powell, et al., 2014; Yankah, 1995), and linguistics (Chilton, 2004) to reveal the different ways ideological and…

Born and educated in the UK, with Arab parents and Muslims, second-generation British-Arab immigrants in Cardiff find themselves at the core of a complex web of power relations which potentiates their production of multilingual practices. However, while Cardiff is officially bilingual, English being the dominant language and Welsh becoming…

Discourse markers (DMs) are significant for fluent speech. Furthermore, they are essential elements of language for conversation organisation, reciprocal relation of interlocutors, productive speaking and comprehension. Although they have critical functions for pragmatic development, they are neglected in language teaching either because of the…

In virtually every research paper on this topic we come across we read that, in the particular context that the writer is operating, English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is on the increase. But what exactly is EMI? If we consider every classroom around the world in which learners are exposed to English language as their second language (L2) we…

Although millions of EFL learners benefit from watching subtitled/captioned movies and TV shows in non-instructional settings, one almost untouched area is the development of strategies in benefiting from film scripts and their translated versions as well as audio language-subtitle combinations. This paper reports research subsequent to the…

The United States is a multilingual society. In addition to over 200 named languages such as Spanish and English, Americans also speak hundreds of varieties of these languages based on regional or social group affiliations (United States Census, 2013). In the context of this linguistic diversity, education scholars and practitioners are working…

This study develops a framework that integrates multimodality and translanguaging to analyze meaning-making in an online English teaching video. We consider pedagogy as more than teaching approaches and methods, but as a process of design that is realized by the orchestration of multimodal semiotic resources. In terms of multimodal analysis, we…

This qualitative study analyzes the use of translanguaging in co-learning activities involving four junior-one students in an English remedial class. The school advocates a policy of English immersion in the regular English class, although students may have difficulty understanding the teachers and interacting with them during the classes. In the…

Eight adult Aboriginal people residing in a remote community in the north-west of Australia participated in this research. The data were collected from an 'inside' perspective and, as culturally appropriate, through informal interviews (yarning) and ongoing conversations. These data were recorded as field notes and audio files which were…

The research work attempts to investigate that in any geographical contact zone, where the diverse languages and cultures intersect, there would inevitably be linguistic and cultural integration and assimilation. In a similar vein, the worldwide dissemination of the English language has radically shaped the linguistic and textual devices installed…