The role of translanguaging in ELF advice sessions for asylum seekers

This chapter explores the role of translanguaging in ELF advice practices at a UK charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers. Previous research has highlighted how multilingualism is an essential aspect of ELF (Jenkins 2015) and the role of multilingual resources has received increased attention in the latest conceptualizations and linguistic analysis. However, the contribution and nature of multilingualism in relation to ELF need to be further investigated. This study addresses the role of translanguaging in ELF high stakes environments, such as advice services for refugees and asylum seekers. In this chapter, I first explore the notion of translanguaging, and then explain the linguistic ethnographic approach taken to collect and analyze the data. The qualitative analysis of the data shows the complexity of advice practices in relation to the use of multilingual resources in ELF, and demonstrates how translanguaging can be used for at least three functions, i.e. pedagogical, explanatory and interpersonal

Special Section on Critical Pedagogy

The seven articles that constitute this Special Section relate to the area of critical pedagogy. Since Graham Crookes’s anniversary article on critical language pedagogy (2021) the number of submissions concerning this topic has increased exponentially. Given their common theme, I thought it would be a good idea to gather the submissions in a Special Section. Special Sections, unlike Special Issues, are not curated by guest editors and do not aim to be exhaustive representations of the field, but simply draw together studies that contribute in different ways to a certain area, and what follows is a very simple introduction to the area of critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy is an approach to teaching that aims to develop students’ critical understanding of the world and is based on values of social justice. In fact, most people would say that critical pedagogy is ‘teaching for social justice’. In this approach, teachers are not merely teaching skills, but are engaged in the political and social context and make this relevant for their students. Therefore, the role of the teacher is to raise critical questions, pose problems and facilitate students in addressing the issues that are relevant to them. Classroom content, teaching priorities, and curricula are negotiated anew between the students and the teacher, in a dialogue that is participatory and places the students at the centre. When used for languages, especially English, this approach then challenges the view of the ELT profession as the teaching of linguistic skills detached from reality and makes teaching something intrinsically political (Akbari 2008). Seeing English language teaching as a political activity also requires problematizing any form of dominant knowledge and discourse, even problematizing English and its power in relation to aspects of colonization, discrimination, and oppression. All the papers in this Special Section relate critical pedagogy in different ways—I hope you enjoy reading them

“English is the language of business”: An exploration of language ideologies in two European corporate contexts

The increased linguistic and cultural diversity of international workplaces challenges different understandings of corporate language, corporate communication and even language ideologies. The understanding, attitudes and ideologies towards language and language policies of members in culturally and linguistically mixed teams are an important aspect of business communication studies that so far has received little attention. Through an analysis of two case studies of MNCs in Switzerland and Italy in the banking sector, based on semi-structured interviews with employees in those companies, this paper aims to explore ideologies of multilingualism and English that dominate in the workplace and those that underpin the official and unofficial corporate policies adopted. The dominant discourse is that “English is the language of business” and it remains a fixed and unquestioned corporate language. However, the importance of collaborative, flexible and multilingual practices at all levels of professional communication has been highlighted in the experiences reported by business professionals interviewed. The use of BELF and other languages does not necessarily function, as companies’ policies would require, following the monolingual language separation mode, but in a mixed, fluid and flexible mode. Finally, the promotion of a translingual use of BELF in corporate communication may allow flexibility and equality in dealing with the diversity of repertoires and access to resources for plurilingual employees

Developing ELF Research for Critical Language Education

Research in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), that is the medium of communication between people who come from different linguacultural backgrounds, has created a rich body of work in various areas and this article focuses on a more recent development of this research for teachers and teacher educators in the perspective of critical language education (CLE). We explore how ELF research, both the linguistic/discourse-oriented one and the pedagogic-oriented one, can benefit from its links to CLE, with its understanding of teaching for social change. We then refer to aspects of critical transformative theory that become relevant in designing and implementing ELF-aware teacher education programmes, focusing especially on three recursive (non-linear) components, i.e. the phase of exposure, the phase of critical awareness and the phase of development of actions that teachers can implement in their teaching. We finish by exploring the critical role of assessment in language education and conclude by inviting teachers and educators to become involved in ELF research for CLE

English Language Hegemonies in the Internationalization of Two State Universities in Brazil: Unintended Consequences of English Medium Instruction

A larger qualitative study, which we draw upon here, investigated the perceptions of academics and students, in two state funded universities, regarding internationalization and the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI). In this article, we focus on their concerns about EMI policy, drawing on interviews and focus groups. The range of concerns that were identified during this study were: the negative impact on content learning, language hierarchization, the emotional impact (confidence in using English), low student enrolment, exclusion, (re) production of inequality, impact on identity and collegiality. Taking account of these findings, we argue that it is important for language policymakers in both institutions to consider the concerns of academics and students as part of their planning process, and to address them responsibly

Coinage Metal Compounds With 4-Methoxy-Diphenylphosphane Benzoate Ligand Inhibit Female Cancer Cell Growth

In the continuous effort to find new metal-based compounds as alternatives to platinum related anticancer drugs, 11th group metal phosphane compounds have been thoroughly considered. Tris-arylphosphane metal derivatives have been extensively considered heteroleptic metal compounds exhibiting remarkable cytotoxic activities. Functional groups in the aryl moieties modulate the activity reinforcing or eliminating it. Previous works have highlighted that the presence of hydrophilic groups in the phosphane ligands, such as COOH or OH, hampers the anticancer activity of gold azolate/PPh3 compounds. To increase the polarity of the triarylphosphane ligand without affecting the activity, we considered the preparation of esters starting from the 4-diphenylphosphanebenzoic acid. The resulting phosphanes are poorer donators than the PPh3, leading to poly-phosphane M(I) compounds, and they exhibit intense emissive properties. A homologous series of L3MX-type compounds (where M = Au and X = Cl, M = Cu and X = BF4, and M = Ag and X = PF6) were obtained with the 4-methoxy-diphenylphosphane benzoate. The homologous metal compounds have been characterized by analytical and spectroscopic methods and, remarkably, their formation was associated with high frequencies of 31P NMR chemical shift variations (5–35 ppm in CDCl3). The new complexes and the ligand were evaluated on sensitive and cisplatin-resistant human tumor cell lines. The ligand is ineffective on cells while the complexes exert a notable antiproliferative effect. The homologous series of the L3MX complexes were able to significantly reduce the cell viability of human triple-negative breast cancer cells (MDAMB- 231), representing the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, and of ovarian carcinoma (A2780). Among these coinage metal compounds, L3AgPF6 results the most interesting, showing the lowest GI50 values in all cell lines. Interestingly, this silver complex is more cytotoxic than cisplatin, taken as a reference drug. The investigation of the mechanism of action of L3AgPF6 in A2780 cells highlighted the induction of the apoptotic pathway, the depolarization of the mitochondrial inner membrane, and a significant accumulation in cells

Efficiency in ELF Communication: From Pragmatic Motives to Lexico-grammatical Innovation

The considerable demographic shift in the use of English worldwide, with the effect that L2 speakers outnumber L1 speakers, particularly as typified in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) communication, is now widely acknowledged in Applied Linguistics. To a certain extent the resulting impact this has in relation to key issues such as the ownership of English has also been recognised. Description of the linguistic consequences of this shift however is less established, and lingua franca corpora are still in their relatively early stages of development, though growing in momentum. This paper will contribute to the emerging body of work that does report on empirical studies in the field, drawing on two corpora of naturally occurring lingua franca interactions which have been gathered for PhD projects at King's College London. To date reported ELF research projects have tended to focus separately on one or other linguistic system, on phonology (e.g. Jenkins 2000; 2005), and to a lesser extent on pragmatics (e.g. House 1999), and on lexicogrammatical features (cf Seidlhofer 2004). The focus of this paper is to report on findings in both pragmatics and lexicogrammar, and in so doing to identify the interrelationship between the two systems and highlight ways in which they are mutually constitutive. The paper aims to show how pragmatic motives can lead to changes in the lexis and grammar, and in turn how lexicogrammatical innovations impact on pragmatic norms and strategies

ELF and Translanguaging: Covert and Overt Resources in a Transnational Workplace

This book systematically explores and discusses English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) research methods frequently deployed by ELF researchers in analysing their data. It mainly covers three different approaches: corpus-based, both written and spoken, conversation analytic and narrative approaches. In addition to exploring these different approaches to ELF data, the volume also introduces case studies that utilise them in analysing data in both academic and workplace settings, which facilitates not only the understanding of the ways in which research is conducted but also its findings. Furthermore, the book discusses theoretical underpinnings of ELF research and its recent development in its first part. It is comprehensive both in understanding theory and exploring research methods which can be deployed in conducting ELF research. The book, therefore, will be of great interest and use for both ELF researchers and educators as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students who are about to embark on their ELF and ELF-related research, and also to those who are new to the field