Review of Lettres d'Australie by Anselme Ricard, edited by Peter Hambly

Review of Lettres d'Australie by Anselme Ricard, edited by Peter Hambl

[BOOK REVIEW] Marie Emmitt, Linda Komesaroff and John Pollock (2006). Language and Learning: An Introduction for Teaching.

This book [Language and Learning: An Introduction for Teaching. 4th ed.]provides a foundation for understanding language in the classroom. It clearly appeals to a well-defined audience of language educators who are practising teachers of English or of another language, in any context, or involved in pre-service teacher education. It claims to “support teachers in expanding their knowledge about language and the implications for teaching” (p. x), and to oblige them to reflect upon and evaluate their practices. The authors are very explicit about enhancing their targeted readers’ “understanding of the nature and function of language and language learning in order to assist [their] decision-making in the classroom”, but, as they are quick to remark, “[t]his is not a ‘how to’ book” (p. xi)

Smiling and teasing as strategies masking anger among French and Australian cultural groups

This paper reports on an ongoing project that is concerned with the interpretation and processing of emotion in communication, particularly anger, within an interactional dynamics perspective (Holtgraves, 1990). In a previous publication (Strambi & Mrowa 2007), we presented an analytical model and some preliminary analyses of ‘processing’ strategies for managing the communication of anger among friends across three cultural groups: Anglo-Australian, French and Italian. In this paper, we are presenting further elaborations on this model, and analyses from a non-verbal perspective of how smiling and teasing function in the construction and negotiation of anger scenarios among French and Anglo-Australian groups

Socialising learners into emotion communication in a L2: Establishing a link between research data and classroom-based activities. [abstract].

In this paper, we explore ways in which the results of our studies on emotion communication across cultures can be used as a starting point for material and activity design, within a language socialization approach. Starting from theoretical and pedagogical considerations, we will illustrate our rationale for material design, demonstrate some sample activities and suggest implementation strategies, as well as methods for evaluation

How angry can you be in French and Italian? Integrating research and teaching for the development of pragmatic competencies in L2 classrooms

In recent years, discourse analysis has contributed to raising language practitioners’ awareness of the pragmatic aspects of culture in language and communication. However, the application of research data to teaching has often been limited to ESL contexts. On the other hand, the need to use research data in teaching cross-cultural pragmatic competence has been strongly advocated in the literature on SLA (Kasper, 1997), in view of the well-documented absence of the socio-pragmatic aspects of language/culture from foreign language textbooks (Liddicoat, 1997). In this paper we illustrate the rationale, as well as the main theoretical and practical aspects, of a research project designed to allow closer interaction between our research and teaching activities. In 2003, we initiated a cross-cultural investigation of emotion display and self-disclosure by Anglo-Australian, French and Italian speakers, based on the observation and analysis of non-verbal behaviour displayed in contemporary feature films. Following a discussion of issues that pertain to our research, we suggest ways in which our results can be brought into the classroom, with a view to provide opportunities for the development of socio-pragmatic competence in learners of French and Italian

La dimension émotionnelle de la communication en situation interculturelle

Notre étude s’inscrit dans une perspective à la fois interrelationnelle et interculturelle et porte sur la dimension émotionnelle de la communication entre locuteurs de groupes culturellement différenciés. La démarche que nous avons adoptée s’articule autour d’une réflexion théorique plus large portant sur le comportement non verbal dans l’expression et la communication des émotions dans les relations interpersonnelles impliquant divers degrés d’investissement de soi et de distanciation. Notre attention se portera en particulier sur les manifestations de la colère, et les différences observées entre les trois groupes culturels sélectionnés dans notre étude

Une réalisation de l’apprentissage partagé dans un environnement multimédia Une réalisation de l’apprentissage partagé dans un environnement multimédia

Dans la mesure où l’utilisation des technologies nouvelles est adaptée aux besoins d’un apprentissage individualisé, les enseignants de langues sont contraints de réévaluer leur propre savoir-faire pédagogique. Il convient de se demander dans quelle mesure la dynamique sociale qui caractérise les échanges dans un climat de travail en collaboration autour de l’ordinateur peut être plus enrichissante pour l’apprentissage des langues. Plus particulièrement, en ce qui nous concerne, dans quelle mesure cette dynamique peut favoriser la performance orale par rapport à un travail de groupe dans une classe traditionnelle. Le présent article offre une perspective nouvelle sur le potentiel d’apprentissage que peut apporter l’utilisation des technologies de l’information et de la communication.<br>This paper attempts, firstly, to document the nature of the linguistic exchanges between pairs of intermediate and advanced students of French who engage in interactive tasks in a CALL environment; and, secondly, it examines the extent to which that interaction is relevant to second-language learning by way of comparison with a small-group, task-based, interaction in a traditional oral class, involving students of the same level of competence. In a search for methods for describing and evaluating CALL use, this exploratory investigation provides support for the adoption of an ’interactionist’ perspective which claims that the language of the participants is central to learning, and that the use of discourse analysis methods is helpful. It is anticipated that computer-mediated interaction shares with a traditional face-to-face contact many of the same interactional features which are believed to make oral negotiation beneficial to learning. However, as this small-scale study suggests, the potential of computer-mediated interaction to facilitate language learning is seen as stemming from a combination of the interactive features of conversation with reflective aspects of learning as participants co-construct knowledge with their more or less experienced peers

Paris-Match: Study on the representation of a cultural identity

Canberra, AC

Silence in Second Language Learning. Colette A. Granger (2004) [review]

A review of 'Silence in Second Language Learning' by Colette A. Granger published by Multilingual Matters LTD, Series: Second Language Acquisition 6 2004. ISBN 1-85359-697-3. The fundamental question that the author attempts to elucidate is: “What is the significance of silence in the process of learning to speak” (p. 5) in a second language? This puzzling question sits uneasily within the common sense view that speaking a language is helpful for learning it, and within the more theoretical view of the second language learning process as an apprenticeship into new discourse practices. This title may even seem unsettling, if not downright paradoxical, from a language pedagogy perspective entrenched in a Western tradition that requires classroom participants to engage in some kind of dialogic exchange. A further difficulty rests with the methodological issue of how to analyse the meaning of silence when the content is absent. Finally, one might question the usefulness of such an exploration. The author genuinely acknowledges these conflicting issues from the start and clearly states her intention to address them systematically. To this effect, she adopts a psychoanalytic theory as an interpretive framework for her study