Transnational mobility and cross-border family life cycles:A century of Welsh-Italian Migration

During the late nineteenth century, Italian immigrant settlement in Wales took the form of chain and clustered migration, based on origin-centred networks of extended family members. The original migrants’ reliance on transnational family support networks endured and evolved through descendant generations. Family formation and the progression of lifecycle care exchanges served as key drivers of transnationalism between Wales and Italy. Many families established catering businesses in Wales that relied on staff recruitment from kin in Italy. Migrants’ heritage and affective anchorage to Italy were maintained through ‘circular’ mobility premised on endogamy and shared language. In recent decades, despite a decline in endogamous marriage, transnational family interaction has continued on the basis of the ease of European Union cross-border mobility. Changing modes and motives for cyclical and return migration encompass new forms of marriage, professional and retirement migration. Based on etnographic research with three generations of Italian migrants in Wales, this article explores the relation between family social networks and local attachment in supporting transnational practices, positive integration and heritage maintainance, tracing the cultural and social change in the generational process of migration

Autochthonous heritage languages and social media:writing and bilingual practices in Low German on Facebook

This article analyses how speakers of an autochthonous heritage language (AHL) make use of digital media, through the example of Low German, a regional language used by a decreasing number of speakers mainly in northern Germany. The focus of the analysis is on Web 2.0 and its interactive potential for individual speakers. The study therefore examines linguistic practices on the social network site Facebook, with special emphasis on language choice, bilingual practices and writing in the autochthonous heritage language. The findings suggest that social network sites such as Facebook have the potential to provide new mediatized spaces for speakers of an AHL that can instigate sociolinguistic change

Using a digital library as a Māori language learning resource: Issues and possibilities

The development of electronic language learning resources, founded on digital library technology, is a capability that, to date, is largely unrealised. The Flexible Language Acquisition (FLAX) project is a digital library initiative at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. The current FLAX activities provide practice for students who are learning English as an additional language. The prospect of extending this resource to include te reo Māori is as exciting as it is groundbreaking. The outcomes of this research inform the issues and possibilities involved in creating such resources. The World Wide Web has allowed an everyday access to the Internet, but finding and retrieving pertinent information is often a convoluted and time-consuming exercise. The normal outcome is that users are unable to take full advantage of the available resources. Digital libraries have an unprecedented power in terms of organising and storing vast amounts of information and, with built-in retrieval functionality, serve as ideal repositories. The ability to focus the information within these repositories is extremely significant because there is no longer the chaff that normally results from Internet searches. Purposeful learning activities can be presented exploiting an assortment of media and drawing on stored information that can be assembled in a range of formats. Such capacity, flexibility and diversity is normally only encountered at traditional, physical libraries. The research includes an overview of digital libraries and some of the language learning resources that are currently available on the Internet. Since the target language is te reo Māori, a critical review on the features of kaupapa Māori theory, pedagogy and Māori pedagogy is undertaken. Using the concepts discussed in this review, the language learning activities associated with the FLAX project are analysed to determine their suitability for learning te reo Māori. Further feedback was provided by a sample group following their testing of a selection of activities that were based on text written in te reo Māori. The analysis suggests the current range of FLAX activities have more benefit to students as tools that allow practice of the learning that has been delivered in face-to-face classroom settings, rather than as a standalone language learning resource. In their present form, the main benefits of the activities predominantly rest in the way they were performed rather than in the activities themselves. Furthermore, commentary from the testing group regarded the activities as more beneficial for practicing sentence structures, grammar and punctuation, rather than actual language learning. The group generally agreed, however, that combining the activities with methods of oral and aural transmission, in te reo Māori, would certainly result in more effective language learning outcomes. The legitimacy of digital library-based language learning activities lies in designs that promote learner-centred interaction that is consistent with best practice communicative learning theory. When the target language is te reo Māori, it is of the utmost importance that the activities are tailored to embrace a Māori world view in ways that promote the learning rather than the activity or the content

Audiences' willingness to participate in Welsh-language media

PhDContemporary media audiences expect to be able to interact with content, but in a minority language context, audience participation presents challenges related to audiences’ linguistic confidence. This thesis focuses on Wales, where media producers have suggested that audiences are often reluctant to interact with broadcast and online content in Welsh. To begin to understand this unwillingness, and how it might be overcome, the concept of willingness to participate (WTP) is coined as an extension of willingness to communicate (McCroskey & Baer 1985). First, interviews with producers are analysed qualitatively to identify potential influences on audiences’ WTP. The analysis aims to assess the relative importance of various factors: audiences’ feelings of apprehension, self-perceived competence, language background and Welsh language ability, as well as the modality of participation (oral/written) and the level of demand placed on the audience. Second, a questionnaire is designed and administered to 358 Welsh speakers, to examine audiences’ perceptions of different opportunities to participate in media content. A path model of WTP is proposed and tested using quantitative data from the survey. The results support the hypothesis that audiences’ apprehension and self-perceived competence predict WTP and that audience response varies according to the media context. While audiences’ Welsh language skills are important in explaining their WTP, other aspects of language background, such as Welsh language acquisition context, are found to be less important. Third, the survey sample is grouped according to common patterns of WTP, to test whether the above effects are consistent across the population or whether different ‘types’ of audience exist. Using a combination of cluster analysis and thematic analysis of audience comments, four types of audience are proposed and described in detail. Finally, implications for sociolinguistic theory, language maintenance and media production practice are considered and recommendations made.Arts and Humanities Research Counci

An Investigation into the Adoption, Implementation and Utilisation of Campus Portals: A Comparative Case Study of Saudi and U.K. Universities.

Enterprise Information Portals (EIPs) have become crucial components in contemporary organisations, including universities. Campus portals (CPs) have found their way into the academic environment and universities are increasingly implementing these technologies. While there are many studies concerning EIPs in organisations, there are few studies that touch this issue in the academic environment. This study investigates factors affecting the adoption, implementation and utilisation of CPs from the implementers’ and users’ perspectives. It adopts a comparative approach based on multiple case studies in some Saudi and UK universities. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and documentation, which was analysed using hermeneutics and other qualitative data analysis techniques. Findings show that adoption and implementation of CPs are affected by factors including: technological, organisational, environmental, financial, innovation and user-related factors. Results from the users perspective reveal that although CPs are perceived to be useful in terms of accessing information and services, there are many concerns related to system, content and service quality. Moreover, the study has identified two main gaps between users and the implementers: a communication gap and an expectations gap. Consequently, users complained about a lack of user involvement and poor communication. Findings are interpreted using elements from institutional theory. Development of CPs is affected by many institutional factors such as coercive, mimetic, normative and competitive pressures. Furthermore, the introduction of CPs could lead to a clash of institutional logics among various stakeholders. Institutional arguments are likely to arise between portal teams and other campus constituents such as service providers and users. This study has three major contributions. First, it used institutional theory to investigate CPs adoption and implementation. As a result, it extends the line of research on the use of this theory to study IS in organisations. Second, it responds to calls from other IS researchers to study portals by conducting in-depth field investigation using qualitative research. Third, it addresses issues related to the development of bilingual portals in universities.Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabi

Self-esteem and Social Media Dependency: A Comparative Analysis of Welsh- and English-Medium Pupils’ Perceptions

Despite not being officially recognized as an addiction, studies suggest social media dependency [SMD] retains similar traits as substance-based addictions and that adolescents are a group particularly at risk. Studies have shown significant positive correlations between SMD and depression, loneliness, and social anxiety. SMD has also shown a significant negative association with self-esteem. Research has yet to explore these relationships within a minority versus majority language comparative context, which is the objective of the thesis. The thesis used cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses (three equally-spaced timepoints over nine-months) incorporating quantitative and qualitative designs. There were 1,709 participants (Welsh/Bilingual-medium schools = 844; English-medium schools = 865) aged 12- to 15-years with a mean age of 13.61 years (standard deviation ±.933). All schools were State-maintained and located within Wales. At timepoint one, five Welsh/Bilingual- and four English-medium schools took part. Two Welsh/Bilingual-medium schools dropped out after timepoint one. SMD analysis (Chapter Four) showed a difference between school types but no difference between Welsh/Bilingual-medium attending first language Welsh- [FLWs] and English-speakers [FLEs]. The suggested reason for the difference between the school types was a marginalization of Welsh/Bilingual-medium FLWs’ and FLEs’ first languages within the social media and school environments, respectively. A difference in self-esteem (Chapter Five), depression, loneliness, and social anxiety (Chapter Six) scores was shown for FLWs and FLEs, also, with FLEs showing the poorer scores. The suggested reason was FLWs benefiting in terms of social identification processes and close affiliation to the Welsh language, culture, and community. Structural equation modeling [SEM] (Chapter Seven) indicated that first language mattered whenever SMD predicted self-esteem, depression, loneliness, and social anxiety. Longitudinal analyses (Chapter Eight) showed no difference in FLWs’ and FLEs’ SMD representation at low, medium and high levels over time, but a greater number of FLEs were represented at low self-esteem levels over time. Qualitative analysis (Chapter Nine) suggested FLWs identified a greater array of technical barriers to using Welsh on social media. In conclusion, the suggestion is an individual’s first language matters regarding self-esteem, depression, loneliness, and social anxiety, but not SMD. However, whenever SMD acts as a predictor variable, an individual’s first language appears to play a pivotal role