147 research outputs found
Review of “Marked Identities. Narrating lives between social labels and individual biographies”
No full textThis is a book review of the volume edited by Roberta Piazza and Alessandra Fasulo, and entitled Marked Identities. Narrating Lives Between Social Labels and Individual Biographies, Palgrave Macmillan, London-New York, 2015.
The book consists of various interviews with individuals whose lives, mainly because of the group to which they belong, could be viewed as ‘marked’. The difference between the idea of ‘stigma’ and the notion ‘marked identity’ is underlined, together with the idea of ‘diversity’, which today is not necessarily something that one should hide but, quite the opposite, something one can be proud of. One of the main ideas of this text is that identity is not a rigid reality but a process, by which individuals negotiate the version of who they are with others
Language and Identity in the English Version of Italian University Webistes:Preliminary Research Results
No full textThis study presents the preliminary results of a corpus-based research concerning the promotional language of the English version of some Italian university websites. One of the assumptions of this
work is that, as many scholars have pointed out, the role of institutional and educational websites today goes well beyond the strict objective of providing information. In fact, universities in
particular have clearly adopted promotional strategies to attract students. The present analysis deals with the introductory sections of 14 university websites which vary in their headings, length and focus. These introductory sections are typically entitled “About us”, “The University of...”, “The History of the University of...”, “Our History”, or that may even present a “Welcome” message by the Rector. They intend to reach out, in particular, to foreign students, and as such
contribute to the construction of the university’s identity. Data are being subdivided on the basis of
region: North, Center, South of Italy and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, and are analyzed on the basis of a quantitative and qualitative approach. Through a comparison of different universities’ introductory sections, it was possible to detect noteworthy differences. For instance, while for some universities the information is rather concise as it mainly presents figures and descriptions, others present long historical accounts of the institution, and even mention well-known alumni characters who studied there. What emerges is a lack of uniformity that reveals the fact that these university websites are a genre in transition caught, so to say, between a traditional approach of providing information and a clearly promotional one in constructing their own identity
Farrell, Thomas S. C.. Reflective language teaching: from research to practice
No full textIl testo presenta una combinazione di suggerimenti pratici, gli ultimi risultati nell’ambito della ricerca e molti casi studio che riguardano la didattica linguistica riflessiva. Ciascuno dei 14 capitoli che compongono il volume sviluppa e discute i vari aspetti della didattica linguistica riflessiva e fornisce una visione completa del tema. I primi sette capitoli descrivono ciò che la didattica linguistica riflessiva comporta, con la presentazione di numerose tecniche utili, che possono essere vantaggiosamente adottate per aumentare l’autocoscienza di un singolo insegnante e per migliorare la propria pratica di insegnamento. I restanti capitoli discutono la didattica linguistica riflessiva presentandola come un valido strumento che può essere utilizzato in collaborazione con altri docenti per garantire un miglioramento generale delle pratiche d’insegnamento. Tale miglioramento includerebbe, tra i vari aspetti, il monitoraggio dello stile d’insegnamento, la condivisione di idee su episodi critici e problematiche.This book presents a combination of practical suggestions, the latest research findings, and an abundance of case studies
concerning reflective language teaching. Moreover, each of the fourteen chapters in the volume develops and discusses
various aspects of reflective language teaching, providing a well-rounded and comprehensive view of the topic. The first seven
chapters illustrate what reflective language teaching entails by means of a number of useful techniques that can be profitably
adopted to enhance an individual teacher’s self-awareness and to improve his or her teaching practice. The remaining
chapters discuss reflective language teaching as an effective tool that can be adopted at an institution-wide level in an effort to
guarantee overall improvement in teaching practices, which include monitoring one’s teaching style, sharing ideas on critical
classroom events and issues, being informed about the latest teaching techniques, and overcoming a sense of isolation
The linguistic landscape and its potential for english language teaching
No full textThis paper provides a short exploration of the possibilities offered by the Linguistic Landscape to enhance students’ language awareness and to act as a tool for language teachers. After briefly introducing the main features that characterize the Linguistic Landscape in urban spaces, namely its multilingual aspect, the informational and symbolic functions and the differences between top-down and bottom-up messages, the article describes the roles of English both as a lingua franca and as a symbol of prestige. A review of studies on the use of the Linguistic Landscape for teaching English is then presented. What is argued is that the Linguistic Landscape can be fruitfully employed to teach English – or another foreign language – at the university level. The proposed teaching approach will help students both to become more aware and also to be more active language learners.Sommaire
Cet article présente une brève exploration des chances de la notion du paysage linguistique (Linguistic Landscape) afin
d’améliorer la conscience linguistique des étudiants et de servir d’instrument pour les enseignants de langues. Après
une introduction des traits caractéristiques du paysage linguistique urbain, à savoir son aspect polyglot, les fonctions
informationnelles et symboliques ainsi que les différences parmi les messages top-down et bottom-up, l’article décrit les
rôles de l’anglais comme lingua franca aussi bien que comme symbole de prestige. Suit un compte-rendu des études sur
le paysage linguistique pour l’enseignement de l’anglais. La contribution suggère que l’on emploie, au niveau
universitaire, le paysage linguistique pour enseigner l’anglais – ou bien une autre langue. La technique proposée aidera
les étudiants à devenir des apprenants plus conscieux et plus actifs.Zusammenfassung
Dieser Beitrag bietet eine kurze Erörterung der Möglichkeiten des Konzepts der Sprachlandschaft (Linguistic
Landscape) bietet, um das Bewusstsein von Sprachlerner zu steigern und als Instrument in den Sprachunterricht
integriert zu werden. Nach einer Einführun in die Merkmale der Sprachlandschaft, nämlich der Aspekt der
Mehrsprachigkeit, die Informations- und Symbolfunktionen sowie die Unterschiede zwischen Top-Down- und Bottom-
Up-Nachrichten, beschreibt der Artikel die Rolle des Englischen als Lingua Franca und als Prestige-Symbol. Hierauf
folgt ein Blick auf die Studien zum Nutzen der Sprachlandschaft im Englischunterricht. Es wird argumentiert, dass man
im universitären Bereich die Sprachlandschaft fruchtbringend in das Englisch-Lehren – oder das Lehren jeder anderen
Fremdsprache – einbauen kann. Der vorgeschlagene Lehransatz wird Lernern helfen, sowohl bewusstere als auch
aktivere Sprachlerner zu werden
TV News Broadcasting and the Iraq War: a Preliminary Comparison of CBS and TG5
No full textThis essay represents a preliminary comparative, quantitative, and qualitative analysis of the language used in TV news reporting in Italy and in the US at the time of the 2003 Iraqi war. The analysis centers on March 21, 2003, which marked the second day of the 2003 Iraqi war. The two subcorpora analyzed are the American CBS Evening News and the Italian 8 o’clock TG5. These subcorpora are part of a larger TV news corpus made up of a whole month of TV news reports (the broader research project is the CorDis corpus of political and media discourse, relating to the 2003 conflict in Iraq, financed by MIUR 2004-2005). After a concise introductory section, including a definition of television news reporting as a genre, and outlining the advantages of the use of corpus linguistics methodology and of computer software, like WordSmith Tools 4 (Scott 1998), the essay describes the main war events of the day and the way they were dealt with by the two TV broadcasters. One of the most striking differences between the two TV news broadcasts, is that on TG5 there were three newsreaders in the studio together. Enrico Mentana stands out as the main newsreader supported by two other journalists, creating a ‘collaborative mode’ of news reporting. Whereas, in typical American TV news tradition, the CBS Evening News is conducted by a solo anchor, who in this case was the well-known journalist and Managing Director of CBS, Dan Rather. The main focus of the linguistic analysis is how the news of the massive bombing of Bagdad on the second day of the war was reported by journalists in the studio and by correspondents in the war zone. Recurrent word occurrences such as war, missiles, fire, bombs, Pentagon, etc. used in the CBS corpus, and words such as guerra, bombardamenti, fronte, attacco, soldati, etc. in the TG5 corpus are counted and analyzed with concordance lines and collocates. The main differences in the ‘preferred reading’ that emerges from the two TV news programs lies mainly in the distinct role held by the two main newsreaders in the presentation of the news. Dan Rather holds the role of a traditional newsreader, who provides his audience with a seemingly objective and reliable picture of the war; his main sources being the Pentagon, the White House correspondent, and the embedded journalists, with a focus on the US forces. On the other hand, Enrico Mentana plays the role of a commentator of the images and of the information provided by the reporters from the war zone. The main sources of information come from footage, war zone correspondents, and news agencies. Thus, the endeavor of TG5 is to provide an interpretation of the facts in a more rounded way, rather than to inform the audience objectively; this leads to a greater effort at audience involvement in the attempt to share information and make sense together of the war events. In conclusion, what clearly emerges is that both CBS and TG5 are culturally determined products and that linguistic analysis, and corpus linguistics in particular can prove to be useful tools in unveiling the ‘preferred reading’ behind TV news programs
English in the Urban Linguistic Landscape from Lingua Franca to Lingua Symbol
No full textThe main aim of this article is to offer a brief overview of various recent studies that have dealt with multilingualism in the urban linguistic landscape (according to Landry/Bourhis), in Europe and in the rest of the world, with special emphasis on the results regarding English. English is today considered the quintessential lingua franca, in that it is almost constantly and variously present in the linguistic landscape in many cities in the world, from store signs to directions for tourists, from messages in shop windows to commercial billboards. The studies discussed, in addition to confirming this role as lingua franca, highlight the growing use of English as a language symbolic of globalization, multiculturalism and prestige
A book review of G. Thompson and S. Hunston (eds.), System and Corpus. Exploring Connections, London-Oakville, Equinox Pub. Ltd., 2006. In Englishes.Letterature Inglesi Contemporanee.
No full textLanguage Varieties in the US: The Case of Hawaiian Creole English
No full textThis paper describes Hawaiian Creole English (HCE), also knows as Pidgin. It outlines its origins and development, from a pidgin language that favoured communication among plantation workers of various ethnic origin to a creole language that acts as a native tongue for many speakers. Since around 1875, Hawaiian Pidgin experienced crucial transformations due to the introduction of English as the official language in Hawaii; thus, while the first pidgin was mostly made up of Hawaiian words and the labourers’ native languages (Chinese, Portuguese, etc.), the second kind of pidgin was also influenced by English. Pidgin vocabulary and syntax are briefly described, so as to underline the creative and colourful aspects of some expressions. From a sociolinguistic point of view, the use of Pidgin has been characterized by ambivalence, mainly due to the fact that Standard English is the language of education, government and business, while Hawaii Creole English is usually associated with low socio-economic status and lack of education. Notwithstanding this shared perception, in the fall of 1987, there was a strong protest against the decision of the Hawaii’s Board of Education to ban the use of HCE in schools. The outcome of the public protest was the full recognition of HCE as a language, which started to be used also in literary works. Its use, from the basilect to the acrolect variety, marks its crucial role in forming local identity
Recensione di: Developments in English for Specific Purposes. A Multi-Disciplinary Approach, un libro di T. Dudley-Evans e M. Jo St John
No full text- …
