Universitetet i Agder: UiA Journal System
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“Translanguaging” and the implications for the future teaching of English in Norway
No full textThis article explores the concept of translanguaging and its pedagogical implications. Specifically, I discuss how pedagogical translanguaging can be implemented in the teaching of English in Norway in light of the revised English curriculum presented in November 2019. I examine how the new English curriculum requires English teachers to value multilingualism as a resource and include students’ complete linguistic repertoire in their teaching of English. In 2018, researchers responded positively to the proposal for a revised English curriculum emphasising multilingualism, while teachers expressed that they did not understand the proposed competence aims involving students’ linguistic backgrounds. Despite teachers’ reservations, the final version presented in November 2019 continues to emphasise the inclusion of students’ multilingual resources as part of the subject’s “core elements” and competence aims. To address the issues raised by teachers, I explore how teachers can meet these requirements through pedagogical translanguaging. I present five facets of pedagogical translanguaging which can contribute to meet the requirements in the revised English curriculum: (1) raising students’ awareness of multilingualism, (2) appreciating linguistic diversity and positioning students as competent multilinguals, (3) encouraging students to compare English with other languages in their linguistic repertoires, (4) using literature that includes translanguaging as a teaching resource and (5) implementing tasks that require students to draw on their complete linguistic repertoires
Lyrics and language awareness
No full textCommercially successful pop lyrics are an important part of students’ lives, represent authentic language material, are easily accessible, and may thus constitute a helpful starting point for various aspects of foreign language education. Despite this, they seem to be underexploited,especially when topics such as grammar instruction are tackled. This may be due to their (traditionally ascribed) “low culture” status and the undesired presence of allegedly ungrammatical content, notably in terms of non-standard features. Based on a corpus of c. 550,000 words, this paper will present an analysis of the salience of such features in Englishpop lyrics. The results suggest that the material studied actually features a rich array of nonstandard grammatical phenomena, such as multiple negation, ain’t as auxiliary, me instead of I, copula deletion, etc. (as commonly proscribed in English language education). From a pedagogical perspective, it is therefore argued that using lyrics in the classroom may offer students a welcome opportunity to engage with various types of grammaticality, introducing them to authentic language in a naturalistic way. More specific issues to be addressed with the eventual aim of raising students’ language awareness through working with pop lyrics are that assessments of grammaticality are (i) very much context-dependent, for instance in terms of acceptability of certain structures and variants in different registers (e.g. lyrics vs. conversation vs. formal writing) and (ii) may also differ across varieties of English represented in the lyrics (e.g. various British dialects and sociolects, African American English as represented in rap, Jamaican Creoleas represented in reggae, etc.)
Hedging in spoken conversations by Norwegian learners of English
No full textHedging is an important aspect of pragmatic competence, but it is also a complex phenomenon that is difficult to master. This has resulted in underuse of hedging strategies by language learners, and many learners limit their hedging repertoire to a few strategies. This study compares the use of 10 hedging expressions commonly used in informal spoken English, a bit, I mean, I think, just, kind of/kinda, like, might, probably, thing(s), and you know, in data from LINDSEI-no, a corpus of Norwegian advanced learners, and LOCNEC, a comparable corpus of native English speakers. Norwegian learners typically show a high level of grammatical competence, but research on their pragmatic competence is limited. This study adds to the empirical research on Norwegian advanced learners by comparing the use of these expressions in native and learner language. The results indicate that as a group, Norwegian learners underuse hedging strategies, but when each expression and individual variation are considered, the picture is more nuanced. In fact, several of the Norwegian learners’ hedging practices partially overlap with several of the native speakers’ practices concerning hedging frequency and types of hedging strategies used
Digital Student Preferences: a study of blended learning in Norwegian higher education
No full textFor fall term 2020, institutions of higher education globally were preparing to run courses as online or blended learning due to Covid-19 restrictions. The ideal situation is for a relatively seamless transition from campus-based teaching to blended and/or online. The aim of this study is to examine the experience of a single cohort of students in order to identify trends in student preferences. The research model was mixed-method quantitative and qualitative analysis. The main research question is: What are student preferences for blended learning? The survey and interview results are from trainee teachers in a municipality in Norway in 2018 to 2019. The main research group consisted of 18 respondents from a group of 28 students with a response rate of 64 %. Four students were selected for semi-structured interviews. A clear majority of the students favor the use of blended learning. They experienced little difference in terms of teacher-centred practice and cooperative learning, i.e. traditional lectures and teacher-led tasks. In contrast, student-centred practice and collaborative learning were strongly favored as campus-based. The loss of social cohesion and more productive student-student dialogue and collaboration is clear. In addition, the data implies that lecturing could be effectively delivered online
’Un día normal en mi vida’ qué y cómo escribimos en la clase de español como lengua extranjera en Noruega
No full textDenne artikkelen tar for seg ulike aspekter ved utviklingen av skriftlige ferdigheter i spansk blant norske elever. Artikkelen starter med å beskrive fremmedspråkenes posisjon i norsk skole generelt og situasjonen for spansk spesielt. Videre presenteres de skriftlige tekstene som analyseres og metoden som anvendes. De skriftlige tekstene er autentiske elevtekster samlet inn som en del av korpuset TRAWL (Tracking Written Learner Language). Analysen besvarer to hovedspørsmål: Hva og hvordan skriver elevene i spansk? Analysen av hva elevene skriver, viser at det første året på videregående skole skriver elevene stort sett tekster som handler om elevenes umiddelbare nærhet og dagligliv, der de mest frekvente ordene er verb og pronomen i første person entall. Andre året på videregående forbereder elevene seg på eksamen, og fokus flyttes fra personlige beskrivelser til tema knyttet til den spansktalende verden. Språket blir mer komplekst med bruk av bindeordene que og porque blant de mest frekvente ordene. En analyse av bruk av verb i fortid viser videre at elevene er i ferd med å tilegne seg verb i ulike tider, selv om den foretrukne tiden er presens perfektum. Her er det behov for mer omfattende studier for å se i hvilken grad elevene har tilegnet seg riktig bruk av de ulike verbtidene
Contacto con el español en el tiempo libre en diferentes contextos: estudiantes de bachillerato noruegos en España y Noruega
No full textI presentasjonen legger jeg fram hovedfunnene fra tre kvalitative intervjuundersøkelser blant spanskelever i vg2 og vg3 i Norge og ved norske skoler i Spania. To av undersøkelsene ble gjennomført i 2016, mens den tredje finner sted skoleåret 2017/18. Hovedtemaer hvordan norske spanskelever eksponeres for og bruker spansk i fritida og på reiser, og hvordan de knytter sine erfaringer med spansk utenom skolen til det de lærer i spansktimene på skolen. Jeg ser spesielt på hvordan elevene eksponeres for spansk i digitale medier og gjennom deltakelse i muntlige og skriftlige kommunikasjonssituasjoner, både online og offline. Målet med undersøkelsene er å avdekke hva elevene foretar seg når de tilfeldigvis blir eksponert for spansk og når de bevisst oppsøker spansk på egen hånd. I intervjuene har elevene fortalt hvordan de går fram for å lytte til, lese, snakke og skrive spansk, delt egne språklæringserfaringer og reflektert over sammenhengen mellom læring på skolen og i fritida. Til slutt skisserer jeg noen muligheter for hvordan et utvalg tekster, som elevene har referert til i intervjuene, kan brukes i undervisningssammenheng, og hva man kan gjøre for å bevisstgjøre elevene på hvordan de kan utnytte egne språklæringserfaringer for å videreutvikle sin språk- og kulturkompetanse
Workplace innovation supports implementation of European Pillar of Social Rights
No full textThe implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights could be enhanced by stimulating workplace innovation. There is a reciprocal relationship between job quality and innovation capacity as well as between job quality and labour productivity. Whether these relationships are positive (higher job quality, more innovation capacity, higher productivity) or not depends to a large extent on management strategies and workers‘ involvement. Results of ‘participation & trust regimes’ are often better than results of ‘command & control regimes’. Fragmented changes are less beneficial for workers and organisations than joint optimisation of work organisation, technology and labour relations. This joint optimisation together with a ‘participation & trust regime’ is called ‘workplace innovation’ which was adopted in the EU2020 Strategy in October 2012.The European Commission funded the European Workplace Innovation Network (EUWIN) from 2013 to 2017. The concept of workplace innovation integrates (parts of) agendas such as innovation, digitisation, productivity, job quality, lifelong learning, wellbeing at work, skills and social dialogue. Activities of EUWIN have been successful in a number of countries and many organisations. However, continuous attention is necessary as well as extension to other countries. The market mechanism does not provide a ‘good jobs economy’ nor ‘upward convergence’ by itself. The policy action of the European Commission should be to continue support for workplace innovation (dissemination, capacity building, research). The partners of EUWIN pledge to do the same in their own countries and to continue international collaboration
Peer Feedback In Language Teacher Training: Students’ Pedagogic Approaches and Interpersonal Positioning
No full textAlthough peer feedback is increasingly used in English as a foreign language (EFL) courses within European higher education (HE), little research has been carried out to explore its efficacy within specific sociocultural contexts outside of the Asia-Pacific region, and much of the research into peer feedback has been limited to English as a second language (ESL) rather than EFL contexts. Students’ positioning of themselves relative to the authors of the texts they review and relative to the texts themselves reveals significant information about how culture and context impact their approach to peer feedback. This study examined 118 written peer response texts of first- and second-year undergraduate EFL teachers in training in a Norwegian HE institution, aiming to investigate both students’ pedagogic approaches to providing feedback on peer texts and the interpersonal stances they took toward each other while providing feedback. It found that students who take a collaborative approach to giving feedback are more likely to position themselves as professionals, while those who approach their peers’ texts in a prescriptive manner are more likely to view themselves as underqualified. Overall, the responses analysed indicated a preference for collectivist rather than individualistic approaches to peer response, perhaps resulting from low power distances between the students or the Nordic educational context.