Investigating Language Attitudes


Book Description

This is a systematic and critical appraisal of the variety of ways in which people's attitudes to language have been researched internationally over recent decades. The authors explain this complex field through clear reviews and commentary on previous work, while also offering a demonstration of language attitude research in one specific and important context, the English language in Wales. In addition to discussing different ways of expressing attitudes, from teenagers' and teachers' attitudes to regional and subcultural variation in attitudes, the book also considers issues such as degrees of authentic Welshness, the impact of rapid social change in Wales.




Investigating Tasks in Formal Language Learning


Book Description

This book brings together research that makes use of tasks to examine oral interaction, written production, vocabulary and reading, lexical innovation and pragmatics in different formal language learning contexts and in different languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish). It will be of interest to professionals and students working in SLA research and language pedagogy.




Investigating Language Attitudes


Book Description

This is a systematic and critical appraisal of the variety of ways in which people's attitudes to language have been researched internationally over recent decades. The authors explain this complex field through clear reviews and commentary on previous work, while also offering a demonstration of language attitude research in one specific and important context, the English language in Wales. In addition to discussing different ways of expressing attitudes, from teenagers' and teachers' attitudes to regional and subcultural variation in attitudes, the book also considers issues such as degrees of authentic Welshness, the impact of rapid social change in Wales.




Authority in Language


Book Description

This influential and widely used book has been extensively revised and includes a new chapter on linguistic discrimination on the basis of class, race and ethnicity.




Corpus Linguistics


Book Description

An investigation into the way people use language in speech and writing, this volume introduces the corpus-based approach, which is based on analysis of large databases of real language examples stored on computer.




Language Online


Book Description

In Language Online, David Barton and Carmen Lee investigate the impact of the online world on the study of language. The effects of language use in the digital world can be seen in every aspect of language study, and new ways of researching the field are needed. In this book the authors look at language online from a variety of perspectives, providing a solid theoretical grounding, an outline of key concepts, and practical guidance on doing research. Chapters cover topical issues including the relation between online language and multilingualism, identity, education and multimodality, then conclude by looking at how to carry out research into online language use. Throughout the book many examples are given, from a variety of digital platforms, and a number of different languages, including Chinese and English. Written in a clear and accessible style, this is a vital read for anyone new to studying online language and an essential textbook for undergraduates and postgraduates working in the areas of new media, literacy and multimodality within language and linguistics courses.




Investigating Language as Social (Inter-)Action


Book Description

This volume consists of papers presented during the 15th Conference on British and American Studies, held at Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania. It reflects the work conducted by senior and junior researchers on a range of interesting topics falling into the wider scope of cognitive linguistics, language contact, translation and lexicography. The investigations reported here are streamlined into three chapters. The first, “Native Language Explorations and Acquisition”, has Romanian as its central theme. The second chapter, “Aspects of English – Insights into its Impact, Structure, and Descriptive Potential”, centres around the English language considered both as an object of academic inquiry in its own right, and against a larger cultural backdrop. The final chapter, “Translatability of Language, Translatability of Culture”, looks into matters concerning intra- and inter-linguistic translation, and their impact on intercultural communication.




Investigating English Discourse


Book Description

In this challenging and at times controversial book, Ronald Carter addresses the discourse of 'English' as a subject of teaching and learning. Among the key topics investigated are: * grammar * correctness and standard English * critical language awareness and literacy * language and creativity * the methodological integration of language and literature in the curriculum * discourse theory and textual interpretation. Investigating English Discourse is a collection of revised, re-edited and newly written papers which contain extensive contrastive analyses of different styles of international English. These range from casual conversation to advertisement, poetry, jokes, metaphor, stories by canonical writers, public notices and children's writing. Ronald Carter highlights key issues for the study and teaching of 'English' for the year 2000 and beyond, focusing in particular on its political and ideological inflections. Investigating English Discourse is of relevance to teachers and students and researchers in the fields of discourse analysis, English as a first, second and foreign language, language and education, applied and literary linguistics.




Investigating Pragmatics in Foreign Language Learning, Teaching and Testing


Book Description

The book focuses on investigating pragmatic learning, teaching and testing in foreign language contexts. The volume brings together research that investigates these three areas in different formal language learning settings. The number and variety of languages involved both as the first language (e.g. English, Finnish, Iranian, Spanish, Japanese) as well as the target foreign language (e.g. English, French, German, Indonesian, Korean, Spanish) makes the volume specially attractive for language educators in different sociocultural foreign language contexts. Additionally, the different approaches adopted by the researchers participating in this volume, such as information processing, sociocultural, language socialization, computer-mediated or conversation analysis should be of interest to graduate students and researchers working in the area of second language acquisition.




English in Speech and Writing


Book Description

Rather than giving the student a list of facts to assimilate this book offers a selection of standard and non-standard pieces of spoken and written English that the reader uses to formulate opinions on structure and lexis for further self-study.