Ripensare la ricerca italiana in linguistica educativa

This is not a research essay, it is a survey of the characteristics of present-day research essays in Italian educational linguistics. Many weak points are pointed out, most of which concern ‘borders’, such as the fuzzy epistemological borders between educational linguistics and other scientific areas; the frequent overlapping of different research typologies, which require different methodologies and have different rhetorical structures; confusion as far as implied readers are concerned. The consequence is that sometimes edulinguistic research allows amateurish trips outside educational linguistics, and allows for non educational linguists to take amateurish trips (and sometimes jobs) in the field of educational linguistics. A tentative list of parameters that can be used by referees, editors and evaluators is provided, in order to define the quality of studies before they are accepted in journals and conferences.

Martin on discourse semantics, genre, educational linguistics

J. R. Martin is a leading scholar who has greatly developed the theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) over the past four decades. Some of these contributions, such as the systems of discourse semantics, the appraisal framework and genre relations have been widely applied in various areas of linguistic studies and language education. The educational linguistic model he and his colleagues have cultivated and developed has attracted the attention of more and more educators from different disciplines around the globe. In this interview, he firstly elaborates on the significance of the concepts of discourse semantics, grammatical metaphor and genre. Then he continues with applications of genre theory in secondary school education, language maintenance, the relation and collaboration between Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and SFL, and how the two paradigms complement each other. Finally, he introduces some of his recent collaborations with grammarians of different languages.

Research on the Trends and Hot Topics of American Applied Linguistics: Analysis of the Changes of Strands and High-Frequency Words in AAAL Annual Conferences from 1999 to 2019

This paper aims to explore the trends and hot topics of American applied linguistics by the content analysis of AAAL annual conferences’ handbooks. Making a diachronic research on topical strands of AAAL Conference from 1999 to 2019, the paper studies the dynamics and the trends of American applied linguistics by analyzing the changes of the strands in the conferences under study in 20 years. Based on self-built corpora of titles and abstracts of the presented papers in 2019 AAAL Annual Conference, high-frequency vocabulary and their collocations are detected by TagCrowd and AntConc in order to find the current hot topics of applied linguistics research. The conclusion is that the development of applied linguistics has speeded up in the past four years. Educational linguistics, corpus linguistics, research methodology, teacher education, lexical research, phonetics/phonology and oral communication are the new trends in this field. The hot words of applied linguistics in 2019 include academic writing, teacher education, Chinese and translanguaging. Finally, the study found that retrospective review study of international conferences could be a new research method in the field of review study, providing scholars with a comprehensive understanding of the discipline dynamics over a period of time

Teaching English to Arab learners

Both ‘Educational Linguistics’ and ‘Pedagogical Linguistics’ have demonstrated the importance of linguistic knowledge in teaching/learning second/foreign languages. More recently, there have been concrete proposals that insights from formal linguistics and theoretical acquisition research may also play a role in pedagogy. Indeed, many observed difficulties in L2 can be traced back to lack of knowledge, on the part of teachers, of certain abstract linguistic concepts. In this paper, two English constructions (constructions with Object pronouns and DP-internal concord) claimed to be problematic for the learner/teacher in the absence of any linguistic knowledge will be investigated in terms of their abstract properties. The implication is that such linguistic knowledge will speed up the process of learning. This will be supported by previous findings on aspectual contrasts in English and Arabic where such knowledge clearly obtains, causing the learning process to be relatively rapid. Evidence for the presence of this knowledge in the learners comes from observation of the transitional stages in the learning process which indicate that the learner is on the right track to learning. The research hypothesis will be argued to have significant implications for teaching, and thus, if correct, will corroborate some recent findings.

Inclusione, valutazione e plurilinguismo: concetti inconciliabili?

The aim of this paper is to define the relationships between three fundamental dimensions of educational linguistics: inclusion, assessment and plurilingualism, reflecting in particular on the intersections between these three dimensions. It then describes the EVAL-IC project, an example of a tool for the assessment of plurilingual competencies in intercomprehension, and shows the results of a preliminary analysis of some data from the EVAL-IC test. This proposal for plurilingual assessment represents an important step towards the integration of plurilingual education, inclusion and assessment.

Linguistica Educativa e bisogni speciali Origini e stato dell’arte della ricerca italiana

This chapter provides an overview of the studies on Special Educational Needs (SEN) conducted in Italy in the field of Educational Linguistics (EL). The first part analyses the papers produced between 2008 and 2019. The results show that EL research on SEN has grown quantitatively and diversified the types of SEN being studied, ranging from sensory and intellectual disability to socio-cultural disadvantages. The second part discusses early studies within the field of EL, dating back to 1970s, including some pioneering experimental reports whose results are in line with recent trends in cognitive linguistic research. Overall, data show that EL research on SEN is neither a recent phenomenon nor a marginal area of studies. Therefore, since general research on SEN has been promoting an interdisciplinary approach, EL should play a major role when the issues of language learning in formal education are taken into consideration.

Perkampungan Bahasa Arab dalam Mendukung Pembelajaran Mahasiswa di IAIN Parepare

This study aims to reveal a description of learning in the Arabic village program implemented by IAIN Parepare as a reinforcement for Arabic learning. As a field research, this study is classified as a qualitative descriptive study under the approach of psycholinguistics, applied psycholinguistics and educational linguistics. The sample is students listed in the Arabic Language Village Program at IAIN Parepare. Data were collected using participatory observation methods, interviews, questionnaires, documentation and reference tracing. The results of this study reveal that the Arabic language village program at IAIN Parepare has a position as an amplifier for Arabic learning that students will face in formal courses at IAIN Parepare. The description of the learning in the program is formulated into learning methods supported by the media and learning objectives. The method used in the Arabic language village program at IAIN Parepare is a combination of several methods that focus on language learning, not language.

Introduction

The International Journal of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education (IJLCLE) was born out of the peer-reviewed Working Papers in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education (WPLCLE) published virtually in five volumes from 2012 to 2017. IJLCLE is an open-source, peer-reviewed international journal dedicated to publishing research in the field of literacy, culture, and language education from multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary perspectives. Its mission is to promote the academic exchange of ideas and dissemination of research among scholars and researchers from diverse fields of study worldwide. Authors are invited to submit manuscripts describing scholarly research on a wide range of topics related to language, literacy, and culture in education. Theoretical and conceptual study, empirical and applied research using qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies, critical papers, special issues, and book reviews are all invited. Contributions from a host of disciplines such as sociolinguistics, sociology of language, psycholinguistics, educational linguistics, applied linguistics, linguistic anthropology, raciolinguistics, literacy studies, cultural studies, language and gender studies, language and political economy, media and technology, language education, teacher education, educational policy, semiotics, pragmatics, language policy and planning, language revitalization, and linguistic landscapes are very welcome. The intended audience of IJLCLE are researchers, scholars, educators, and graduate students from around the world.