Volume 9, Issue 1 -

We present data from a bimodal trilingual situation involving Indian Sign Language (ISL), Hindi and English. Signers are co-using these languages while in group conversations with deaf people and hearing non-signers. The data show that in this context, English is an embedded language that does not impact on the grammar of the utterances, while both ISL and Hindi structures are realised throughout. The data show mismatches between the simultaneously expressed ISL and Hindi, such that semantic content and/or syntactic structures are different in both languages, yet are produced at the same time. The data also include instances of different propositions expressed simultaneously in the two languages. This under-documented behaviour is called “sign-speaking” here, and we explore its implications for theories of multilingualism, code-switching, and bilingual language production.

An English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading class was transformed by integrating goal setting with reading strategy instruction for one academic year. This intervention class was compared to a traditionally taught class to determine whether any differences in terms of motivation towards learning English and reading proficiency would be found. The goals set by the intervention class were analyzed to determine (1) whether they were met and (2) what actions were performed to reach those goals. In addition, it was further investigated whether adolescent Taiwanese students are willing to be taught English reading using an approach incorporating goal setting and reading strategy instruction. Results indicate that goal setting integrated reading strategy instruction seems to be more effective in increasing reading proficiency and learner motivation than the traditional approach as well as encouraging learner autonomy and self-efficacy. Analysis of the actions performed by the intervention group to meet goals revealed two sub-groups of learners: static action students and dynamic action students. Data analysis further indicated the actions performed by dynamic action students consisted of more diverse and concrete learning strategies whereas static action students performed mostly classroom-centered review. Pedagogical implications of the results and future research directions are discussed.

Few studies have investigated the development of L2 complaints. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of L2 complaints produced by Chinese university English learners based on their performance of a discourse completion task consisting of 18 complaint scenarios in terms of power (+P, =P, −P) and social distance (−D, =D, +D), supplemented by a delayed retrospective verbal report. Data were collected twice, over two academic years. The results indicate that students in these two ‘phases’ showed broadly similar patterns of sociopragmatic competence in terms of their ability to calibrate complaints to complainees’ (addressees’) position on power and social distance continua. However, as to internal modifications, learners in Phase 2 used significantly more lexical and syntactic downgraders than in Phase 1 at all levels of power and social distance except for syntactic downgraders at +D and =D; they only used significantly more lexical upgraders at −D. As for external modifications, the findings also showed significantly different patterns in the use of pre-moves at all levels and post-moves at all levels except at −P. Increase of English proficiency and a certain degree of explicit pragmatic instruction may have contributed to Chinese EFL learners’ pragmatic development. Implications for pragmatic instruction are also discussed.

In a few universities around the world courses are offered where the primary language of instruction is a national sign language. Many of these courses are given by bilingual/multilingual deaf lecturers, skilled in both national sign language(s) and spoken/written language(s). Research on such deaf-led practices in higher education are lacking, and this study will contribute to a greater understanding of these practices. Drawing on ethnographically created data from a higher education setting in Sweden, this case study examines the use of different languages and modalities by three deaf lecturers when teaching deaf and hearing (signing) students in theoretic subjects. The analysis is based on video-recordings of the deaf lecturers during classroom activities at a basic university level in which Swedish Sign Language (SSL) is used as the primary language. The results illustrate how these deaf lecturers creatively use diverse semiotic resources in several modes when teaching deaf and hearing (signing) students, which creates practices of translanguaging. This is illustrated by classroom activities in which the deaf lecturers use different language and modal varieties, including sign languages SSL and ASL as well as Swedish, and English, along with PowerPoint and whiteboard notes. The characteristics of these multimodal-multilingual resources and the usage of them will be closely presented in this article.

Although language experts have long advocated the use of Extensive Reading (ER) to enhance vocabulary acquisition, the widespread use of the more traditional Intensive Reading (IR) approach prevails in English as Foreign Language (EFL) settings. Many experimental studies have attempted to demonstrate the benefits of using ER over IR in classroom contexts; however, none have demonstrated significant differences in learning gains. This quasi-experimental study involved the measurement of partial vocabulary knowledge of specific words encountered through reading to compare the effects of ER and conventional IR instruction on EFL learners’ vocabulary knowledge development. Two intact classes of 72 Korean secondary students (36/class) received either ER or IR instructional treatments over a 12-week timespan, with pre- and post- performance differences examined by proficiency level. ANCOVA results showed that students benefited significantly more from the ER than from the IR treatment in terms of their knowledge of the meanings and uses of target words. With regard to proficiency, advanced and intermediate level learners benefited more from ER, while low level learners benefited more from IR. These findings suggest that EFL practitioners should carefully consider their learners’ proficiency level when selecting a reading approach, in order to optimize learners’ vocabulary development.

This article offers a case study of language ideologies and languaging in the translation of a bilingual bimodal iPad storybook app, The Baobab Tree , from American Sign Language and written English to Norwegian Sign Language and written Norwegian. Heeding Canagarajah’s (2011, Translanguaging in the classroom: Emerging issues for research and pedagogy. Applied Linguistics Review 2. 1–28) call for studies which look beyond the product to the processes involved by people navigating linguistic and semiotic diverse environments, this article looks at choices made by project team members in a language locality (Pennycook 2010, Language as a local practice . London: Routledge.) shaped by multiple language ideologies. During the process of translation the project team adopted a flexible-multiple model of pluriliteracy (Garcia 2009, Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective . Wiley-Blackwell) at odds with their initially more rigid preconceptions of languages as bounded entities. The concept of semiotic assemblages (Pennycook 2017, Translanguaging and semiotic assemblages. International Journal of Multilingualism 14(3). 269–282) is helpful in showing how languaging choices are influenced by language ideologies, sociocultural values, and the history of language practices among project team members in a particular language locality.