Support (one object preventing another from falling) is linguistically encoded by adults and children in a highly structured and differentiated way, with basic locative expressions or Light verbs (e.g., in English, the block is "on/put" on the box) encoding Support-from-Below, and lexical verbs (e.g., she "stuck" the block on…

Background: Secondary school teachers sometimes teach and assess material outside their specialisms for reasons including staff shortages or the growing popularity of the interdisciplinary courses. We hypothesised that teacher-assessors with different subject specialisms may differ in their interpretations of frequently used words in teaching and…

Semantic composition in language must be closely related to semantic composition in thought. But the way the two processes are explained differs considerably. Focusing primarily on propositional content, language theorists generally take semantic composition to be a truth-conditional process. Focusing more on extensional content, cognitive…

Discussions on diversity and disability in dialogue with special educationalists and philosophers of education are not often found in the research literature. Researchers within disability studies have been critical towards the enterprise of special education and vice versa, and the language they use is often different, as they draw on various…

As the number of students pursuing asynchronous education and learning experiences in online platforms and forums continues to grow, it is increasingly important to pause and reflect on the nature of language commonly--and often reflexively--used in these online spaces. Because online, asynchronous classroom discussion forums constitute the…

There is a need to decolonize English in order to reframe our relationships with fellow beings and our environment. English can frame water or oil as infinite, uncountable nouns, a tree as an inanimate, unconscious being, traditional and respected territories as wasteland, and animals as wildlife. With the current climate crisis, we know that…

Background: Advocacy through the work of many scholars in physical education and sport pedagogy highlights a significant direction towards which physical education is moving in light of calls for change. Importantly, and despite the 'newness' of the terms, 'pedagogical models' and 'Models-based Practice' (MbP) are beginning to shape the vocabulary…

Survey interviews are conducted to produce objective, accurate information in which interviewers ask questions as worded and their discretionary speech is carefully managed. To limit interviewer influence over answers and reduce between-interviewer variance, Standardized Interviewing (SI) requires interviewers to administer "nondirective…

This paper responds to some recent discussions in the Journal about how interview data can be used. While recognising the value of detailed analysis of the discourse employed in interviews to identify its formal features, it is argued that such analysis is not essential for all the purposes for which interview data can be employed in social…

This study explores whether English-dominant (ED) speakers and speakers of English as a foreign language (EFL) perceive the same degrees of formality in combinations of (in)formal greetings (Hi/Dear) and address forms (informal First Name/Ms. Last Name) with (in)formal nouns, verbs, and adjectives (Latinate/Germanic). It also explores which of…

Purpose: This study aims to explore how gender is represented in 64 English Language Teaching (ELT) coursebooks used in schools across seven Middle Eastern countries. It examines whether these materials promote gender equality, as outlined in the official curriculum. Design/methodology/approach: The coursebooks were analysed through content…

Due to modernisation and Englishisation in Bahrain, noticeably different types of bilingual and bicultural experiences exist, especially among the youth. Recently, the rise of Chinese education policies in the region raises the question of how it might alter the local linguistic market and the forms of capital within it. Applying a…

People use different communication patterns based on the context and who they are addressing. These differences, known as linguistic register, are common across human speech and recognized early in development. Here, we examine 4-11-year-old American children's (N = 227) ability to use linguistic registers to determine a speaker's addressee as…

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the linguistic landscapes (LL) of two distinct ethnic areas in Shin-Okubo, Japan: Koreatown and Islamic Street. By paying particular attention to the difference in the formation of the two immigrant communities, this study aims to better understand various functions of language on signage and their…

This study explored perspectives on using Swahili in English language classes and describe how teachers utilise this language in English language classes. It was a qualitative approach. Data were collected through focus group discussions, interviews, and classroom observations. In all, six secondary school teachers and three classes drawn from six…