Pr\ue9cis du Plurilinguisme et du pluriculturalisme

This handbook is organized around linguistic and cultural plurality. The French concept of \uab plurality \ubb has different political connotations than the Angloamerican term \uab diversity \ubb. While \uab diversity \ubb is the ideal of a neo-liberal democracy, \uab plurality \ubb is the ideal of a republican society committed to the tenets of the French Revolution. Following Bourdieu (1977), it defines language as an \uab instrument of action (or of power) \ubb and aims to reconstruct the complexity of social and linguistic practices that constitute our relationship to the foreign. Plurality here is not defined as the mere coexistence of various languages, but rather as a specific social activity characterized by the circulation of values across borders, the negotiation of identities, and the inversions\u2013indeed, the inventions\u2013of meaning that are often masked by the shared illusion of successful communication. Plurality is approached in this book: - as a complex aggregate, rather than as the simplified object of a communicatively oriented language pedagogy primarily concerned with intelligibility - as a coherent system of relationships whose description cannot be reduced to a series of mechanical operations - as a socio-historical construct, observable from many simultaneous, spatiotemporal points of view, such as that of everyday interactions or that of institutions whose symbolic force cannot be accounted for from one point of view alone

Negotiating topic changes:native and non-native English speakers in conversation

There is a tendency to view conversations involving non‐native speakers (NNSs) as inevitably fraught with problems, including an inability to handle topic management. This article, in contrast, will focus on effective topic changes made by non‐native speakers during informal conversations with native speakers of English. A micro‐analysis of ten conversations revealed several ways of shifting conversational topics; however, the article concentrates on those strategies which the participants used to effect a particular type of topic move, namely ‘marked topic changes’, where there is no connection at all with previous talk. The findings show how these topic changes were jointly negotiated, and that the non‐native speakers’ contributions to initiating new topics were competently managed

Translating culture in global times: dialogues

As a way of concluding this thematic issue, we have created a space for our contributors to read each other’s articles and to reflect on the main theme, i.e. translating culture in global times. We invited their response to four questions that we believe are not only central to the aims of the special issue, but also encourage further dialogues on the role of translation in applied linguistics and translation as mission and practice. • How does the distinction between cultural difference and cultural diversity help us understand the way culture and translation are conceptualized and operationalized? • How does the translanguaging perspective help to understand cultural translation and what are the limitations or issues for future exploration? • What are the ethical challenges in cultural translation and how do we as applied linguists address ethical issues in cultural translation? • What implications do the new ways of understanding cultural translation debated in the special issue have for the field of applied linguistics

International education: a force for peace and cross-cultural understanding?

This paper discusses the notion that the international sojourn has the potential to transform sojourners into cultural mediators who carry the power to improve global relations. A year-long ethnographic study of the adjustment experiences of international postgraduate students in England revealed a universal early enthusiasm for cross-cultural contact that was matched by a widespread adoption of segregated patterns of interacting. The most common friendship networks were described by bonds with conationals, and yet all students attested to an increase in their cultural learning and mindfulness by the end of the sojourn. Nevertheless, intercultural competence was maximised only in those few students who pursued a multicultural strategy of interaction, leading the researcher to call on Higher Education Institutions to instigate policies to encourage lasting cross-cultural contact

Catalan Teenagers’ Identity, Literacy and Language Practices on YouTube

This chapter addresses the interconnection between identity building and the use and learning of language and literacy online. We will do so through a case study that investigates the specifics of three Catalan teenage language users and learners who use YouTube as a multimodal space of confluence for making meaning. We will particularly address three research questions: 1. How do teenage language users and learners in Catalonia appropriate YouTube? 2. What means of performing identity do teenagers in Catalonia employ on YouTube? 3. How do teenagers in Catalonia as youtubers develop such means of identity representation and performance in relation to language and literacy practices?This research was supported in part by a postdoctoral grant from the autonomous government of Galicia (Xunta de Galicia, Spain) awarded to Boris Vazquez-Calvo (ED481B 2017/007). This research was also supported by the research project ForVid (Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities—National Research Agency, Spain: Video as a language learning format in and outside schools, RTI2018-100790-B-I00). There is also collaboration with the research project CDEPI (FEDER/Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities—National Research Agency, Spain: Competencia digital y e-inclusión del alumnado de educación primaria de Galicia: el papel de la escuela, la familia y el entorno próximo, EDU2015-67975-C3-1-P)

The potential of a mobile group blog to support cultural learning among overseas students

We explored the use of mobile social software, in the form of a mobile group blog, to assist cultural learning. The potential of using this technology for cultural adaptation among overseas students was examined as those students adapted to the everyday life of studying abroad. Two pilot studies and a successful field study of a mobile group blog as used by UK overseas students are reported. A further study with prospective overseas students witnessing this ‘moblogging’ in China revealed the advantages of communicating through this technology as a form of peer-supported preparation for cultural adaptation. Potential advantages for learning a second language via this system, were highlighted as communication was interweaved with cultural adaptation and exercised in the blog entries. Given mobile internet, the language experience together with cultural observation impressively supported these students' growing confidence with time, space and imagination

Language and anxiety: an ethnographic study of international postgraduate students

This paper presents some findings from an ethnographic study of international postgraduate students at a university in the South of England, which involved interviews and participant observation over a twelve-month academic year. One of the major themes that emerged from this research was students’ anxiety over their level of English language. Although all students entered their course with a minimum level of IELTS 6, the majority felt disadvantaged by particularly poor spoken English, and suffered feelings of anxiety, shame and inferiority. Low self-confidence meant that they felt ill-equipped to engage in class discussion and in social interaction which used English as the medium of communication. A common reaction to stress caused by language problems was to retreat into monoethnic communication with students from the same country, further inhibiting progress in language. Whilst some linguistic progress was made by nearly all students during the academic sojourn, the anxiety suffered by students in the initial stage must not be underestimated, and appropriate support systems must be put in place to alleviate their distress