Comment 4 on \u27Lingua Franca or Lingua Frankensteinia? English in European Integration and Globalization\u27

Phillipson’s paper Lingua franca or lingua frankensteinia? addresses key concerns of linguists and politicians in the Outer and Expanding Circles, especially in relation to the spread of foreign languages and their threat to local languages, national aspirations, culture, religion, and identity. As a native of Lebanon, a multilingual country where Arabic, French, and English add to the linguistic complexity of Lebanese society, I agree with Phillipson that language policy-makers need to be aware of the dangers of the uncritical promotion of English and what he identifies as linguistic imperialism (Phillipson, 1992). However, I am not convinced by specific arguments he makes with respect to identity, culture, and language. I will illustrate this by addressing Phillipson’s notions of lingua americana and lingua cucula

English Language Teaching in Lebanese Schools: Trends and Challenges

Like many other countries around the world, the foreign language teaching profession in Lebanon has been flourishing, with English being the forerunner. The new curriculum established by the Lebanese government in the 1990s mandates that in addition to their native language, Arabic, Lebanese children must learn two foreign languages at school, the first language in grade one, and the second in grade seven. Some private schools, however, begin teaching the second foreign language as early as grade four or five, and parents of young learners have to choose one of the foreign languages as a medium of instruction for their children. This policy has led to an increase in schools that teach both English and French as foreign languages, and to an increase in the number of students enrolled in schools that use English as a medium of instruction. With this demand on the teaching and learning of foreign languages, a number of issues have arisen. Using a foreign language as a medium of instruction entails a certain level of proficiency on the part of the teacher as well as the learner. If such a proficiency level has not been reached, then how can we expect learners to be successful in the different school subjects taught in the foreign language, and how can we fairly assess them? The issue of proficiency level leads to another related area of concern, which is teachers’ qualifications or professional preparation to teach a foreign language and to use it as a medium of instruction. This study explores the issues highlighted above, along with the ensuing challenges that some public and private school teachers face in their classrooms

The Status of ESL/EFL Writing in Lebanon

Research on writing in a second or foreign language has been growing rapidly, with around 2600 articles published in the past 15 years, an average of 170 per year (Silva, McMartin- Miller, Jayne, & Pelaez-Morales, 2011). While Lebanese scholars authored only about two percent of those publications, L2 writing research in Lebanon goes back to the 1960s, primarily in the form of MA theses. Since then, only one synthesis article had been published (cf. Bacha, 2007), but it remained narrow in its coverage. Thus, the aim of this chapter is to provide an overview and synthesis of scholarship on L2 writing1 in Lebanon. It presents findings based on a total of 72 sources from three major universities in Lebanon. The types of publications reviewed are categorized based on their focus, and they include journal articles, book chapters, and MA theses. The chapter provides a brief description of the context for and history of second language writing (SLW) studies in Lebanon and the infrastructure supporting L2 writing. Then, trends in scholarship with regard to teaching and learning challenges, characteristics of students’ writing, curricular and instructional developments and methods, error correction and types of feedback, WAC/WID studies, assessment practices, and writing centers are discussed. Finally, recommendations for future research are offered

Comment 4 on \u27Lingua Franca or Lingua Frankensteinia? English in European Integration and Globalization\u27

Comment on the article: Phillipson, Robert. Lingua franca or lingua frankensteinia? English in European integration and globalisation. World Englishes 27(2), May 2008. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2008.00555.

Working Paper: Spatial Deixis and Gesture in English: Adults vs. Children

This study explored first language acquisition of spatial deictic referencing, this/that, in English. Specifically, this study attempted to understand people’s ability to internalize and to refer to props in a certain communicative situation. Deictic referencing is reconceptualized into real world terms according to hard science linguistics (HSL) that was established by Yngve (1996). In this study, children were compared to adults in order to test age as a significant variable in the articulation of [ðΙs] and [ðæt]. This was investigated through an experiment that involved 148 subjects (62 adult and 86 child, ages 5 to 58) where verbal and nonverbal behavior was recorded. Subjects were prompted to use this and that in referring to three sets of objects. Findings revealed that native speakers of English do not use this and that according to the definitions provided by dictionaries and grammar rules. In addition, touching seemed to be the most preferred non verbal gesture for children whereas pointing was the preferred one for adults. The results also showed that age plays a significant role in the articulation of [ðΙs] and [ðæt]

Familiar Strangers: International Students in the U.S. Composition Course

This chapter presents selected findings from our study of a well-established ESL writing program at a U.S. university with a large population of international undergraduate students. The study was conducted in all 13 writing sections. The instruments included demographic data from university registrars; one instructor survey, administered at the end of the semester; and two student surveys, one administered at the beginning of the semester and one at the end. The instructor survey response rate was 100% (13 teachers); the student survey response rates were 82.5% (161 students) and 88% (171 students), respectively. The reported findings inform five areas: an ESL course in the university\u27s writing program, placement and student motivation, course structure and practices, instructor feedback, and writing lab (WL). A tripartite discussion of each area includes the observed processes, related findings, and potential implications

Familiar Strangers: International Students in the U.S. Composition Course

This chapter presents selected findings from our study of a well-established ESL writing program at a U.S. university with a large population of international undergraduate students. The study was conducted in all 13 writing sections. The instruments included demographic data from university registrars; one instructor survey, administered at the end of the semester; and two student surveys, one administered at the beginning of the semester and one at the end. The instructor survey response rate was 100% (13 teachers); the student survey response rates were 82.5% (161 students) and 88% (171 students), respectively. The reported findings inform five areas: an ESL course in the university\u27s writing program, placement and student motivation, course structure and practices, instructor feedback, and writing lab (WL). A tripartite discussion of each area includes the observed processes, related findings, and potential implications

Familiar Strangers: International Students in the U.S. Composition Course

Many will recognize this sketch of new international undergraduates at a U.S. university: Excited. Jet-lagged. Late to class because they got lost on a big campus. Overwhelmed by myriad things to do on the first days of the semester. Confused by the English language that sounds so different. Thrown into a first-year writing course instrumental to their academic success

Cosmological Implications of Gauged U(1)B−LU(1)_{B-L} on ΔNeff\Delta N_{\rm eff} in the CMB and BBN

We calculate the effects of a light, very weakly-coupled boson $X$ arising from a spontaneously broken $U(1)_{B-L}$ symmetry on $\Delta N_{\rm eff}$ as measured by the CMB and $Y_p$ from BBN. Our focus is the mass range $1 \; {\rm eV} \lesssim m_X \lesssim 100 \; {\rm MeV}$; masses lighter than about an ${\rm eV}$ have strong constraints from fifth-force law constraints, while masses heavier than about $100$~MeV are constrained by other probes. We do not assume $X$ began in thermal equilibrium with the SM; instead, we allow $X$ to freeze-in from its very weak interactions with the SM. We find $U(1)_{B-L}$ is more strongly constrained by $\Delta N_{\rm eff}$ than previously considered. The bounds arise from the energy density in electrons and neutrinos slowly siphoned off into $X$ bosons, which become nonrelativistic, redshift as matter, and then decay, dumping their slightly larger energy density back into the SM bath causing $\Delta N_{\rm eff} > 0$. While some of the parameter space has complementary constraints from stellar cooling, supernova emission, and terrestrial experiments, we find future CMB observatories can access regions of mass and coupling space not probed by any other method. In gauging $U(1)_{B-L}$, we assume the $[U(1)_{B-L}]^3$ anomaly is canceled by right-handed neutrinos, and so our $\Delta N_{\rm eff}$ calculations have been carried out in two scenarios: neutrinos have Dirac masses, or, right-handed neutrinos acquire Majorana masses. In the latter scenario, we comment on the additional implications of thermalized right-handed neutrinos decaying during BBN. We also briefly consider the possibility that $X$ decays into dark sector states. If these states behave as radiation, we find weaker constraints, whereas if they are massive, there are stronger constraints, though now from $\Delta N_{\rm eff} < 0$.Comment: 48 pages, 9 figure

World Englishes: Practical Implications for Teaching and Research

With the emergence of World Englishes (WE) and the continuous flow of international students into universities in the United States, issues surrounding the tolerance and acceptance of varieties of English, the notion of standards, and the concept of nativeness all come to the forefront of research and pedagogy. Since English is the dominant language of international academic publication and since it has been adapted and adopted by a number of countries for various instrumental, institutional, innovative/imaginative, and interpersonal functions (Kachru, 1984), it is essential for teachers and administrators to be aware of the pluricentricity of English and their students’ different sociolinguistic backgrounds as outlined in the WE paradigm (Kachru, Kachru, & Nelson, 2006). A key characteristic of the WE paradigm is the Concentric Circles model in which the world is divided into three circles that describe the spread of English in the world according to users, “patterns of acquisition, and the functional domains in which English is used across cultures and languages” (Kachru, 1985, p. 12). The three circles are the Inner Circle where English is the native language (e.g., the U.S. and the U.K.); the Outer Circle where English became an official/second language as a result of colonialization (e.g., India and South Africa); and the Expanding Circle where English is taught as a foreign language (e.g., France, Russia, and China). Another element of WE research includes the issues of nativeness and standards. “Who is a native speaker?” and “which standard should we teach?” are two questions that have been debated for the past 60 years. This paper addresses these issues in the classroom and beyond. It contextualizes and identifies the problem with English as a Second Language (ESL) composition classes in the Inner Circle context, specifically the U.S., and examines several methods for incorporating a WE perspective into an ESL composition program. It also challenges English language teacher requirements and an international publication culture that follows Inner Circle standards