Takwīn al-Bīah al-Lughawiyyah Litarqiyah al-Mahārah al-Intājiyyah fī al-Ma’āhid al-‘Aṣriyyah bi Ponorogo

This qualitative research aimed to find out: 1) the formation of formal and natural language environment to improve students' speaking skills in various modern Islamic boarding Schools at Ponorogo. 2) the formation of formal and natural language environment to improve students' writing skills in various Modern Islamic Boarding Schools at Ponorogo. The results indicate that: 1) Students' speaking skills are improved through the following Arabic language environmental activities: using Arabic in daily conversation, Arabic learning, the use of language laboratory, adding new daily vocabulary, annual language competition, listening to foreign language news, language error correction, speech competition, poetry reading, debate, and Arabic storytelling. 2) Students' writing skills are improved through the following Arabic language environmental activities: writing foreign-language articles, speeches, debate, English storytelling, poetry, songs, drama texts, and Arabic news texts, weekly writing exercises, and writing Arabic articles competition.

Georgian and Language Competition in the Diaspora (Emigrant community)

At the End of the XXth and at the beginning of the XXIst Century the population of Georgia has decreased by 9,1% . This decrease has been influenced by demographic processes as well as by those connected with long-term emigration. In terms of numbers, the largest emigration occurred bertween 2003 and 2010 when approximately 1,5 mln people left Georgia. Emigration has decreased in recent years; however, every year several tens of thousands of Georgian nationals leave Georgia. For an extended period of time Georgia lacked any systematic studies grounded in statistics regarding the lives of those Georgian nationals who had emigrated; however, in recent years, the number of researchers studying the Georgian Diaspora continues to extand. One of the most extensive studies devoted to researching the life of the diaspora is the study the Georgia’s emigrant communities: national identity, translational relationships and the politics of the diaspora, which has conducted in 2014-2016 by a research group from the Ministry of Foreign affairs of Georgia. The Georgian languuage situation in the diaspora is analyzed based on the statistics from this study.

Georgian and Language Competition in the Diaspora (Emigrant community)

At the End of the XXth and at the beginning of the XXIst Century the population of Georgia has decreased by 9,1% . This decrease has been influenced by demographic processes as well as by those connected with long-term emigration. In terms of numbers, the largest emigration occurred bertween 2003 and 2010 when approximately 1,5 mln people left Georgia. Emigration has decreased in recent years; however, every year several tens of thousands of Georgian nationals leave Georgia. For an extended period of time Georgia lacked any systematic studies grounded in statistics regarding the lives of those Georgian nationals who had emigrated; however, in recent years, the number of researchers studying the Georgian Diaspora continues to extand. One of the most extensive studies devoted to researching the life of the diaspora is the study the Georgia’s emigrant communities: national identity, translational relationships and the politics of the diaspora, which has conducted in 2014-2016 by a research group from the Ministry of Foreign affairs of Georgia. The Georgian languuage situation in the diaspora is analyzed based on the statistics from this study.

A behavioural model of minority language shift: Theory and empirical evidence

Natural languages with their speech communities tend to compete for speakers, very much like firms compete for market shares. As a result, some languages suffer a shifting pressure which might lead them to their extinction. This work studies the dynamics of language shift in the context of modern bilingual societies like the Basque Country, Ireland and Wales. They all have two official languages, linguistically distant: A, spoken by all, and B, spoken by a bilingual minority. They also have a bilingual education system that ensures a steady flow of new bilinguals. However, a decay in the use of B is observed, signalling that shift processes are at work. To investigate this apparent paradox, we use a novel approach in the literature of language competition. We build a behavioural game model with which bilinguals choose either language A or B for each interaction. Thus, they play repeatedly the game. We present a theorem predicting that under reasonable assumptions, any given population of bilinguals will converge into a linguistic convention, namely into an evolutionary stable equilibrium of the game, that always embeds a proportion of bilinguals shifting to A. We validate this result by means of an empirical version of the model, showing that the predictions fit well the observed data of street use of Basque and daily use of Irish and Welsh.

LANGUAGE COMPETITION IN THE CONDITIONS OF SUBORDINATIVE BILINGUALISM

Bilingualism is the main indicator of the current language situation in Kazakhstan. The article deals with the Russian-Kazakh bilingualism of representatives of the autokhon ethnos with the Russian language (first language) and the Kazakh language (second language). The main object of the analysis in this article is the errors that appear in the speech of bilinguals due to interference and long-term language contacts. The article describes various approaches to the study of the theory of language contacts, the phenomenon of bilingualism and interference. The paper provides an overview of the linguistic processes that have shaped the linguistic situation and linguistic policy of modern Kazakhstan, aimed at promoting the Kazakh language as the state language in the 21st century, which served as an impetus for the emergence of a new type of interference in both individual and group bilingualism. The results of a pilot paradigmatic survey are presented in the practical part of the article that demonstrates the presence of errors of an interference and conventional nature.

A systematic and interdisciplinary review of mathematical models of language competition

During the last three decades, scientists in formal and natural sciences have been proposing models of language competition. Such models could prove instrumental in informing efforts made towards preserving the world’s linguistic diversity but have yet to gain significant interest among linguists. This situation could be due to a lack of overlap between the concepts and methods used in those models and those used by linguists. In an effort towards promoting interdisciplinary dialogue on the topic of language competition, this study describes the concepts and methods used in mathematical models of language competition and assesses whether these concepts and methods are becoming more similar over time to those used by linguists. To this end, studies that proposed mathematical models of language competition were systematically retrieved and analysed. Change over time in those models was first assessed concerning the way they are specified, including the parameters they contain. Next, it was checked whether models were increasingly fitted to empirical data. Finally, change in the disciplines covered by the journals where those models were published was evaluated. Results show that overall, models have been including few sociolinguistic parameters, have been relying little on empirical data, and have been mostly published in journals covering the fields of mathematics and physics. However, the last years have seen an important turnaround along each of these three axes. A common language seems to be emerging between fields regarding mathematical models of language competition, which should prove instrumental in informing efforts made towards preserving the world’s linguistic diversity.

Modern Language Olympiad: Unleashing Potentials for 21st Century Skills

The challenge of becoming employable 21st century graduates to meet current industry demands was the basis of this innovation. With the aim to equip a group of students with soft skills on one hand, and another with industry-specific communicative abilities on the other, the Modern Language Olympiad (MLO) was established under Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, UiTM Shah Alam, as the first multi-language competition held internationally that is fully student-led. Five categories of competitions were designed with close engagement with the industry, which were strategic storytelling, idea pitching, versatile presenting, and radio drama across three languages (English, Bahasa Melayu, and Arabic) from 29 October to 2 November 2019. Preparations to conduct this international competition commenced a year before that. In total, 330 participants from 11 public universities, 6 private universities and 4 foreign universities and 10 UiTM branch campuses participated in the event, which was run by 40 student committee and 100 student volunteers, guided by 30 academic advisors. A total of 40 judges from the industry were involved in the competitions. The event, which amassed a total profit of RM58,416.45, managed to develop the student committee’s critical thinking, problem solving, time management, project management, and budgeting skills, while the participants gained immeasurable benefits in enhancing their communication skills through feedback from the industry and by observing others. This innovation is a step forward to improve students’ soft skills and communication skills using the two-pronged approach through running a student-led, student-driven, wide-scale international event.

Creating Language Environment at Al-Mashduqiah Islamic Education Center Patokan Kraksaan Probolinggo

Purpose - This research aims to know the programs for creating the language environment at Al-Mashduqiah Islamic Education Center Patokan Kraksaan Probolinggo, and describe the supporting and the obstacle factors in creating the language environment at Al-Mashduqiah Islamic Education Center Patokan Kraksaan Probolinggo. Design/methodology/approach - The researcher uses a qualitative research approach with a case study research design. The techniques that used for collecting data are observation, interview and documentation. Findings - The result of this research, the programs for creating the language environment at Al-Mashduqiah Islamic Education Center Patokan Kraksaan Probolinggo there are delivering of vocabularies, repeating of vocabularies, language clubs, language court, public speaking, conversation, language month, language competition, and repairing. The Supporting and the obstacle factors in creating the language environment at Al-Mashduqiah Islamic Education Center Patokan Kraksaan Probolinggo consist of internal factors and external factors. Originality/value – Depend on the results of this research that to creat the language environment needs some efforts such as doing the language programs, practising, implementing an effective language teaching method, and implementing the language games to reduce boredom and to motivate students in learning a foreign language. Paper type – Research Paper