Facilitative effects of learner-directed codeswitching : Evidence from Chinese learners of English

This study examines the interaction between learner-oriented codeswitching (CS) practices and the degree to which intermediate Chinese L2 learners of English engage in classroom interaction. The guiding questions are whether the teacher's CS use facilitates classroom interaction at moderate L2 proficiency, and if so, at which specific stages of the lesson, and to what extent. A systematic comparison of two classroom types was carried out in the same Chinese secondary school, with English-only instruction versus with English–Chinese CS. A combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses was based on class observations (two classes per type) and subsequent teacher interviews. CS behaviour was analysed in relation to the particular teaching focus of the task at hand. Interviews included a stimulated recall technique using selected CS extracts to enrich insights from the teachers' perspective. The results showed a higher student response frequency as well as a longer mean utterance length in CS classes. Overall, codeswitches were systematically distributed across lesson stages and were closely related to changes in the teaching focus. These findings call for an optimal use of CS in instructed environments so as to maximise its benefits via a sensitive adjustment to specific pedagogic aims

Assumptions behind grammatical approaches to code-switching: when the blueprint is a red herring

Many of the so-called ‘grammars’ of code-switching are based on various underlying assumptions, e.g. that informal speech can be adequately or appropriately described in terms of ‘‘grammar’’; that deep, rather than surface, structures are involved in code-switching; that one ‘language’ is the ‘base’ or ‘matrix’; and that constraints derived from existing data are universal and predictive. We question these assumptions on several grounds. First, ‘grammar’ is arguably distinct from the processes driving speech production. Second, the role of grammar is mediated by the variable, poly-idiolectal repertoires of bilingual speakers. Third, in many instances of CS the notion of a ‘base’ system is either irrelevant, or fails to explain the facts. Fourth, sociolinguistic factors frequently override ‘grammatical’ factors, as evidence from the same language pairs in different settings has shown. No principles proposed to date account for all the facts, and it seems unlikely that ‘grammar’, as conventionally conceived, can provide definitive answers. We conclude that rather than seeking universal, predictive grammatical rules, research on CS should focus on the variability of bilingual grammars

Corpus Based Approaches to Figurative Language

Since the inception of the biennial Corpus Linguistics Conferences in 2001, we have held an accompanying work-shop/colloquium on Corpus-Based Approaches to Figurative Language, with the exception of 2007. We are continuing the tradition in 2009 with the 5th Corpus Linguistics Conference at the University of Liverpool, UK, 20th-23rd July. The theme of the colloquium this year is variation and variability in metaphor. This is a broad topic that is intended to encompass matters such as, but not limited to: variation in particular types of metaphor, such as temporal metaphors, across different genres such as news items or personal blogs; degrees of entrenchment or conventionality in metaphor, again possibly across different genres/registers; the nature of mixed metaphors; and how to use corpora to get at such types of information. The colloquium was also open to contributions examining any aspect of figurative language from a corpus-based perspective, since we believe that, for example, participants who have undertaken good corpus-based studies of a particular topic, but who have used only a single genre or corpus, may find fruitful interaction with other participants who have investigated similar topics but used different genres. Such interaction is by itself an important contribution to the theme of variety and variability