From the oral-literate debate to the translanguaging paradigm – and back again

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Münch ◽  
Christina Noack

Abstract For several years now, the current debates on multilingualism and multiliteracy have revolved around the concept of translanguaging. In our paper we aim to contribute to the debate by presenting two theoretical approaches that have fueled the debate in the German-speaking academic context over the last thirty years and bringing them to the attention of an international readership. In discussing the analysis of written data of multilingual speakers from an acquisition perspective, we wish to demonstrate the fascinating aspects these works can contribute.

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Endesfelder Quick ◽  
Elena Lieven ◽  
Malinda Carpenter ◽  
Michael Tomasello

Abstract Intra-sentential code-mixing presents a number of puzzles for theories of bilingualism. In this paper, we examine the code-mixed English-German utterances of a young English-German-Spanish trilingual child between 1;10 – 3;1, using both an extensive diary kept by the mother and audio recordings. We address the interplay between lexical and syntactic aspects of language use outlined in the usage-based approach (e.g. Tomasello, 2003). The data suggest that partially schematic constructions play an important role in the code-mixing of this child. In addition, we find, first, that the code-mixing was not mainly the result of lexical gaps. Second, there was more mixing of German function words than content words. Third, code-mixed utterances often consisted of the use of a partially schematic construction with the open slot filled by material from the other language. These results raise a number of important issues for all theoretical approaches to code mixing, which we discuss.


Modern Italy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Noson

This article discusses recent academic and theoretical approaches to disability in Italy, situating them in relation to Anglo-American disability studies as well as within the Italian academic context, and sketches out the contours of an emergent Italian disability studies. The discussion centres on three terms that have emerged recently in Italy:superabilità(implying both ‘ability to overcome’ and ‘exceptional ability’);diversabilità(being ‘differently abled’); andtransabilità(the desire for, or identification with, a disabled body by a non-disabled subject). The article considers the role of narrative in each of these categories, as well as the way that each deals with the question of limits. While discourses in each category construct or confirm a strong disabled identity, the article argues thattransabilitàmight also be understood as the transcendence of identity on the basis of ability. This alternative understanding puts pressure on the question of identity itself and challenges the very need for narrative (re)construction.


Author(s):  
N. Toganova

The author analyses the methodology of comparative studies used by the English and German speaking specialists in the 1950-1980th. With the collapse of the Communists block it seemed that such studies could become outdated because, as some scholars reasoned, economic systems started to lose their peculiarities and to drift in the same direction. Two decades after it can be stated that this didn’t really happen. Comparative studies still have the reasons to be continued. At the same time, there still remain questions concerning their methodology. That is why a review of the methodology approaches is of prime interest of the article. The author starts from consideration of the question of the interaction between comparative studies and economic theory. This analysis is vital not only for the whole research field. It also helps to better understand the difference in Anglo-Saxon and German research approaches to comparative studies. The scholars from USA and Great Britain never paid special attention to this topic. On the contrary, some prominent German researchers attempted to produce a working theory of international comparisons. Further, the author reviews the evolution of the main approaches. The following phases are found: the conceptualization of theoretical approaches how different economic systems were set and how they could be compared; inter-comparison of existing and ideal systems drawn by the theorists; development of the institutional approach and the growing popularity of comparisons through quantitative indicators and later through institutions (rankings and top lists of countries). The final part of the article provides a detailed analysis of German approach to the comparisons of economic systems.


2016 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sören Becker ◽  
Antje Otto

Abstract. This editorial introduces different theoretical strands in political ecology both in English and German speaking contexts. Comparing Marxist with more relational and "new materialist" approaches, it is argued that the various theoretical approaches chosen induce different ways of how the relationship between society and nature, between material and culture is conceptualized. The dialectical perspective derived from Marxism is thereby contrasted with the more emergent, and relativist understandings of actor network theory and assemblage thinking. Besides, the six single contributions in this Special Issue are introduced and five areas for further research are laid out: (1) the multiplicity of materiality, (2) the opposition between dialectic and relativist thinking, (3) the tension between elements and entire socio-material configurations, (4) materiality in the production of space and (5) issues of materiality and power.


Author(s):  
Markus Spöhrer

The paper focuses on the man-machine relationships between the cochlear implant and its wearers as a contemporary form of cyborgization. The research object will be Michael Chorost's biographical account of his implantation and adaption to the implant. In a theoretical section an effort is made to argue that Actor-Network Theory can function as a “cyborg perspective,” which allows for describing the symbiosis between the implant and Chorost as a practice of reciprocal “tuning” and the processual production of perception as a complex relationship between technical object, human body and environment. Based on Actor-Network theory's concept of “symmetry,” technical object, the biochemical activities of the human body and their relation to a presumed “outside” environment are equally involved and constituted. Finally, the chapter suggests that this specific relationship can be paralleled with the concept of mediality as it has been discussed in the German-speaking academic context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25
Author(s):  
Jean Philippe Décieux ◽  
Philipp Emanuel Sischka ◽  
Anette Schumacher ◽  
Helmut Willems

Abstract. General self-efficacy is a central personality trait often evaluated in surveys as context variable. It can be interpreted as a personal coping resource reflecting individual belief in one’s overall competence to perform across a variety of situations. The German-language Allgemeine-Selbstwirksamkeit-Kurzskala (ASKU) is a reliable and valid instrument to assess this disposition in the German-speaking countries based on a three-item equation. This study develops a French version of the ASKU and tests this French version for measurement invariance compared to the original ASKU. A reliable and valid French instrument would make it easy to collect data in the French-speaking countries and allow comparisons between the French and German results. Data were collected on a sample of 1,716 adolescents. Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a good fit for a single-factor model of the data (in total, French, and German version). Additionally, construct validity was assessed by elucidating intercorrelations between the ASKU and different factors that should theoretically be related to ASKU. Furthermore, we confirmed configural and metric as well as scalar invariance between the different language versions, meaning that all forms of statistical comparison between the developed French version and the original German version are allowed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Hagemann

Abstract. The individual attitudes of every single team member are important for team performance. Studies show that each team member’s collective orientation – that is, propensity to work in a collective manner in team settings – enhances the team’s interdependent teamwork. In the German-speaking countries, there was previously no instrument to measure collective orientation. So, I developed and validated a German-language instrument to measure collective orientation. In three studies (N = 1028), I tested the validity of the instrument in terms of its internal structure and relationships with other variables. The results confirm the reliability and validity of the instrument. The instrument also predicts team performance in terms of interdependent teamwork. I discuss differences in established individual variables in team research and the role of collective orientation in teams. In future research, the instrument can be applied to diagnose teamwork deficiencies and evaluate interventions for developing team members’ collective orientation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Wolfgang Lichtenthaler ◽  
Andrea Fischbach

Abstract. This research redefined the job demands–resources (JD-R) job crafting model ( Tims & Bakker, 2010 ) to resolve theoretical and empirical inconsistencies regarding the crafting of job demands and developed a German version of the Job Crafting Scale (JCS; Tims, Bakker, & Derks, 2012 ) in two separate studies (total N = 512). In Study 1 the German version of the JCS was developed and tested for its factor structure, reliability, and construct validity. Study 2 dealt with the validity of our redefined JD-R job crafting model. The results show that, like the original version, the German version comprises four job crafting types, and the German version of the JCS is a valid and reliable generic measure that can be used for future research with German-speaking samples. Evidence for the redefined JD-R job crafting model was based on findings relating job crafting to work engagement and emotional exhaustion.


2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Becker ◽  
Stefan Höft ◽  
Marcus Holzenkamp ◽  
Frank M. Spinath

As previous meta-analyses have focused almost solely on English-speaking regions, this study presents the first systematic meta-analytical examination of the predictive validity of assessment centers (ACs) conducted in German-speaking regions. It summarizes 24 validity coefficients taken from 19 studies (N = 3,556), yielding a mean corrected validity of ρ = .396 (80% credibility interval .235 ≤ ρ ≤ .558). ACs with different purposes and different kinds of criterion measures were analyzed separately. Furthermore, target group (internal vs. external candidates), average age of the assessees, inclusion of intelligence measures, number of instruments used, AC duration, as well as time elapsed between AC and criterion assessment were found to moderate the validity.


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