Conceptual fluency and the use of situation-bound utterances in L2

Recent research has found that L2 learners of high grammatical proficiency will not necessarily show concomitant pragmatic skills. Some scholars explained non-native-like production by the lack or low level of conceptual fluency and metaphorical competence in the target language. This paper, however, claims that this explanation is only partly acceptable because pragmatic skills in an L2 do not necessarily reflect conceptual fluency in the target language properly because individual variables rather than conceptual fluency play a decisive role in the selection and use of these pragmatic units. In order to investigate the validity of this hypothesis a survey was conducted with 88 Non-Native Speakers (NNSs) and 33 Native Speakers of English (NSs) who were given three types of tests: two discourse-completion tests, a problem-solving test and a dialog-interpretation test. Data were analyzed for two variables: cultural specificity of SBUs and individual learner strategies. The findings of the survey demonstrated the existence of three developmental stages which are characterized respectively by strong L1-culture transfer, false generalization, individual choice. Students in the third stage tend to choose SBUs on affective grounds and reject those pragmatic units which they find too culture specific

The role of salience in processing pragmatic units

The goal of the paper is twofold. Firstly, it explains the relevance of the Graded Salience Hypothesis (Giora 1997; 2003; Kecskés 2001) to pragmatics research, arguing that although this hypothesis is a psycholinguistic theory it may contribute significantly to our understanding of pragmatic processing. Secondly, it will be claimed and demonstrated through examples that the salient meaning of lexical units constituting utterances in conversation plays a more important role in comprehension than has been believed by the supporters of linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic theories that consider context to be the main source of actual contextual meaning

Context-dependency and impoliteness in intercultural communication

There has been a great deal of research on impoliteness focusing on one particular language or cross-cultural differences between languages (e.g. Bousfield 2008; Bousfield and Locher 2008; Culpeper 2005, 2009; Haugh 2007, 2011; Kienpointner 1997). However, much less attention has been paid to impoliteness in intercultural communication in which all or some speakers communicate in a language other than their native tongue

Three Questions for Community Engagement at the Crossroads

Unfortunately, a decade of “calls to action,” begun by the Kellogg Commission’s report on university engagement and the 1999 Wingspread Declaration on Renewing the Civic Mission of the American Research University, has not produced a flowering of transformed institutions….This is not because engagement does not work….And it is not for lack of knowledge on how it can be implemented….Rather, engagement is difficult work. It gets to the heart of what higher education is about and as such, it requires institution-wide effort, deep commitment at all levels, and leadership by both campus and community. (Brukardt, Holland, Percy, & Zimpher, N., 2004, p. ii) [T]he civic engagement movement seems to have hit a wall: [I]nnovative practices that shift epistemology, reshape the curriculum, alter pedagogy, and redefine scholarship are not being supported through academic norms and institutional reward policies that shape the academic cultures of the academy. There are limits to the degree of change that occurs institutionally, and the civic engagement work appears to have been accommodated to the dominant expert-centered framework. (Saltmarsh & Hartley, 2008, p. 12) Full participation incorporates the idea that higher education institutions are rooted in and accountable to multiple communities—both to those who live, work, and matriculate within higher education and those who physically or practically occupy physical or project spaces connected to higher education institutions. Campuses advancing full participation are engaged campuses that are both in and of the community, participating in reciprocal, mutually beneficial partnerships between campus and community….Yet, while higher education as a sector has publicly acknowledged that it has an important public mission, there remains a gap between intention and practice. The problem lies in the incongruity between institutions’ stated mission and their cultural and institutional architecture, which is not currently set up to fulfill that mission

Fits and Starts: Visions for the Community Engaged University

Good Morning. So, here we are in Alabama. You’ve all been here a few days. I just got here last night. And I’m again shocked. Eight o’clock in the morning and all of you had all these options and here you are. Now, I know it was the breakfast that probably pulled you in. But anyway, thank you for coming. Let’s acknowledge the folks here at the University of Alabama for their great work [applause]. Thank you so much. Special thanks go to Dr. [Samory] Pruitt, Dr. Heather Pleasants and Dr. Ed Mullins for organizing us and working with us over the past several months and working together. I’m now working with a new colleague half way across the country and we’re up to the challenge and we hope you are too. So, we hope you’ll come along with us on a journey today

Rubrics as a Foundation for Assessing Student Competencies: One Public Administration Program’s Creative Exercise

Since implementation of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) standards for accreditation in 2009, public administration programs have been developing programmatic competencies that reflect NASPAA’s universal standards. Likewise, myriad efforts have analyzed data related to student and program progress toward achievement of these competencies. This article adds to that conversation by recounting the approach to assessing competencies used in the Department of Public Administration at Portland State University. There, newly developed rubrics reflect each of the department’s 10 competencies to examine whether students are acquiring the desired knowledge and skills. This article discusses the development and design of the rubrics as well as elements of gaining faculty and student input in the process

The Heart of the Matter: Aligning Curriculum, Pedagogy and Engagement in Higher Education

This essay explores the themes of curriculum and pedagogy, as outlined by the editors of this special edition, in the context of Portland State University\u27s institutional transformation. We elucidate select mechanisms that support curricular-community interactions, known at PSU as community-based learning. In doing so we discuss how CBL and other civic engagement strategies relate to the disciplines, departments, and interdisciplinary work as well as how these various collaborative approaches affect pedagogy and epistemology at PSU

Beyond the University: An Initiative for Continuing Engagement among Alumni

In an effort to leverage students’ positive community engagement experiences as they transition to and become alumni, Portland State University (PSU) embarked on a pilot “Continuing Engagement Program.” This article provides a rationale for this effort, an overview of the programmatic elements, lessons learned, and future engagement strategies. The authors situate the Community Engagement Program (CEP) in the current alumni engagement literature, share findings from the PSU program, and hope to inspire additional creative thinking and action to support alumni and other community members’ persistent engagement for positive community change