Linguistic accommodation in online communication: The role of language and gender

[ES] Este estudio forma parte de una investigación en curso centrada en analizar el papel de la cultura y el género en cómo se moldea la participación en la comunicación electrónica. El objetivo de este artículo es determinar en qué medida participantes femeninos y masculinos en grupos de ayuda en línea para hombres y mujeres adaptan su comportamiento lingüístico a los demás miembros de la comunidad buscando aprobación social, gustar a los demás e integración. En un corpus formado por interacciones de adultos en grupos de ayuda se observa acomodación lingüística a nivel estructural. Además, un análisis del discurso comparando interacciones en español peninsular e inglés tratará de determinar si esta acomodación, un fenómeno bien documentado en inglés, es una práctica común en español peninsular, donde no se han realizado investigaciones sistemáticas en este campo. Los resultados muestran que, en general, las mujeres convergen más que los hombres en la estructura del foro de discusión. Sin embargo, existen diferencias interculturales en cuanto a la acomodación. Los participantes en español, tanto hombres como mujeres, convergen más destacadamente en los elementos estructurales que en inglés. El estudio sobre acomodación lingüística se complementa con un análisis del discurso que resalta el estilo íntimo, personal y emocionalmente expresivo de los mensajes escritos por mujeres y que favorece las buenas relaciones en lugar del mero intercambio de información, tendencia ya identificada por Tannen (1991) en las conversaciones cara a cara entre mujeres.[EN] This study forms part of an ongoing line of research that aims to contribute to our understanding of the role of culture and gender in shaping participation in computer-mediated communication (CMC) environments. The objective of this paper is to determine to what extent female and male participants in online support groups for men and women adapt their linguistic behaviour to that of the other members of the community in their desire for social approval, attractiveness, and integration. By focusing on a diverse sample of adult users of online support groups, we investigate linguistic accommodation at the structural level. Moreover, a comparative discourse analysis between interactions in English and Peninsular Spanish will seek to determine whether this accommodation behaviour, a well-documented phenomenon in English, is common practice in Spanish, where research in the field has not yet been systematically undertaken. In general, the findings show that women converge more to the structure of the forum than men. However, there exist cross-cultural differences in accommodation. The participants writing in Spanish, both men and women, converge more overtly in their use of structural elements than those writing in English. The study on accommodation is complemented by a comparative discourse analysis which reveals that messages posted in women's fora present an intimate, personal, and emotionally expressive linguistic style which favours 'rapport' rather than 'report', a tendency already identified by Tannen (1991) in women's face-to-face conversation.Pérez-Sabater, C. (2017). Linguistic accommodation in online communication: The role of language and gender. Revista Signos. Estudios de Lingüística (Online). 50(94):265-286. doi:10.4067/S0718-09342017000200265S265286509

Investigación sobre el lenguaje sexista en libros de texto de inglés como lengua extranjera: Hacia una aproximación no sexista

Centred on studies on language and gender, this article presents the results of a discourse analysis that examines the discourse practices of some of the most representative EFL textbooks published in the last decades in Spain. The analysis shows that women were subrepresented in the textbooks published in the last decades of the 20th century. On the contrary, a very different situation occurs in the materials of the corpus calibrated to The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages since they reveal a balanced representation of sexes, favouring, in some cases, a positive discrimination approach towards women.Centrado en los estudios sobre lenguaje y género, este artículo presenta los resultados de un análisis del discurso que examina las prácticas discursivas de los libros de texto más representativos de las últimas décadas usados en las clases de inglés en España. El análisis señala que las mujeres han sido discriminadas en los libros de texto publicados en las últimas décadas del siglo XX. Por el contrario, los materiales del corpus que siguen el Marco Común Europeo de Referencia para las Lenguas muestran una situación muy diferente dado que representan a ambos sexos de forma igualitaria, favoreciendo, en algunos casos, una discriminación positiva hacia las mujeres

Managing identity in football communities on Facebook: Language preference and language mixing strategies

[EN] In this article, we examine language choice and code-switching in two different social media multilingual communities: comments posted on the official Facebook pages of the most important football clubs in Cameroon and Spain. In these two cases, non-standardised languages like indigenous Cameroonian languages or "minority" languages like Catalan have to compete with other languages. By means of a quantitative and Computer-mediated Communication Discourse Analysis (CMCDA), our results show that translingual written exchanges are frequently adopted and serve to establish local and global identities in these highly multilingual environments. Specifically, the results of this case study demonstrate that language mixing strategies are vital to create distinct in-group language style and alignment. However, the article concludes that multilingual interactions are constructed differently by the two communities. The language mixing strategies in the Cameroonian comments are more varied and provide richer examples of language mixing phenomena than the texts from the Spanish clubs. We argue that this is likely because language mixing and lexical creativity are deeply embedded in Cameroon's daily communicative practices. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors would like to thank the editor of Lingua, Marta Dynel, and the anonymous reviewers for their help and suggestions. Their work has led to significant improvements to this article.Pérez-Sabater, C.; Maguelouk-Moffo, G. (2019). Managing identity in football communities on Facebook: Language preference and language mixing strategies. Lingua. 225:32-49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2019.04.003S324922

Online Multilingualism in African Written Conversations: Local, Global Identity and Alignment

[EN] The objective of this research is to analyse current written practices within the global South. Specifically, we examine language mixing phenomena in written online texts publicly displayed on the official Facebook page of one of the two most important football players in the history of Cameroon, Samuel Eto¿o. By means of a quantitative and languaging analysis proposed by Androutsopoulos (2014), we see that indigenous Cameroonian languages are now being written in public spaces. Instances of lexical items in these languages are sometimes inserted in Facebook comments to establish local/national identity, to emphasise the fact that the player is a Cameroonian. However, Cameroonian national identity still is usually constructed through the exclusive use of English and French. Interestingly, the study shows that code-switching (CS) to a particular language may function as a distancing technique, an impoliteness strategy towards the player.Pérez-Sabater, C.; Maguelouk-Moffo, G. (2020). Online Multilingualism in African Written Conversations: Local, Global Identity and Alignment. Studies in African Linguistics. 49(1):141-159. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/176178S14115949

Breaking gender stereotypes in technology education: Developing strategies in the English classroom

[EN] Recent research on gender issues has highlighted the scarcity of women in technology education. The need to close the gender gap in these university studies has been addressed by administrations and professionals in the field. In this line, this article presents the results of a project carried out in two learning environments: a university ESP course and a general English language class in secondary education. First, in order to observe gender bias, a discourse analysis of textbooks for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) was undertaken, focusing on the specific topics of science and technology to observe the representation of women and sexist language in written discourse. Then, as a speaking exercise, some simulation activities were devised and carried out in the English class aiming at helping students to be aware of gender imbalance in the field of technology. These activities gave rise to a discussion on gender stereotypes in the media as well. The article concludes with theeducational value of these learning strategies and their implications for society. The debriefing sessions carried out suggest that the project has served to motivate learners of English and has promoted gender bias awareness in different branches of engineering. The novelty of the project consists in interacting language skills, mainly speaking, with strategies developed to promote the incorporation of females in higher technological education, both in an ESP university course and in secondary education.Pérez Sabater, C.; Pérez Sabater, ML. (2013). Breaking gender stereotypes in technology education: Developing strategies in the English classroom. English for Specific Purposes World. 14(38):1-14. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/46947S114143

A Pioneer Study on Online Learning Environments Following the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

This paper shows the results of a pioneer study on how technology is used to complement face-to face teaching in universities following the directives of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL). The paper examines the students¿ and teachers¿ perception of the effectiveness of autonomous language practice. Findings reveal that while teachers value the incorporation of autonomous learning in traditional university classrooms, students don¿t seem to agree unanimously on the positive benefits of autonomous learning as an add-on to face-to-face teaching. The role of teachers in technological environments is also a controversial issue discussed in this paper.Pérez Sabater, C. (2012). A Pioneer Study on Online Learning Environments Following the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Elsevier. 46:1948-1955. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.05.409S194819554

The Linguistics of Social Networking: A Study of Writing Conventions on Facebook

Scholarly research on computer-mediated communication discourse has mainly centred uponnthe linguistic characteristics of emails, focusing on the formal and informal features and the orality involved in this form of communication. This paper presents a new insight into the study of computer-mediated communication (CMC) by analysing a fairly recent genre of computer-mediated communication, comments posted on the new social networking websites. The research undertaken examines the comments published on the official Facebook sites of some universities to observe the level of formality/informality of online communication in English. The distinction between online writings by native and non-native speakers of English has been considered as well. The study focuses on the formulae of etiquette and protocol used for salutation, opening, pre-closing and closing as an indicator of the degree of orality and informality in online writing. Data reveal that, in the specific context of the university, the use of Facebook is not conventionalised, as the comments posted on Facebook present important stylistic variations. Moreover, in most instances non-native speakers of English display more formal traits than native speakers when communicating electronically on social networking sites in the academic world.Pérez Sabater, C. (2012). The Linguistics of Social Networking: A Study of Writing Conventions on Facebook. Linguistik Online. 56(6):81-93. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/43403S819356

Cartas por Internet: Las implicaciones lingüísticas y estilísticas de los mensajes de correo electrónico y los comentarios del sitio de redes sociales FACEBOOK

En los últimos años, el uso de la correspondencia electrónica está reemplazando la carta tradicional. Este estudio analiza las implicaciones lingüísticas y estilísticas que esto supone teniendo como objetivo observar las características de los nuevos cibergéneros que equivaldrían a la carta tradicional. El corpus de esta investigación está formado por correos electrónicos intercambiados en entornos académicos y comentarios enviados al sitio de redes sociales Facebook, plataforma de gran impacto en el mundo académico en la actualidad. Los postulados de que el correo electrónico y toda comunicación por Internet conllevan estrategias discursivas encaminadas a un texto eminentemente oral e informal serán cuestionados con los datos del análisis del corpusPérez Sabater, C. (2011). Cartas por Internet: Las implicaciones lingüísticas y estilísticas de los mensajes de correo electrónico y los comentarios del sitio de redes sociales FACEBOOK. RESLA. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada. 24:111-130. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/37476S1111302

Discovering language variation in WhatsApp text interactions

This paper reports the process and outcomes of an instructional project to familiarise postgraduate students with research. The study presents Mobile-Var, a project which complies with the philosophy of the Bologna Declaration regarding students acquisition of research competences. By studying language variations in WhatsApp text interactions, participantswere encouraged to develop innovative ideas to make a tangible contribution to the field of language and Computer-mediated Communication. Specifically, the research undertaken consisted in analysing new trends in digital communication by observing if the language used in WhatsApp text interactions constituteda new language variety. Authentic messages in Catalan, English and Spanish were studied from the perspective of the strategies of oralised written texts addressed by Yus (2011) and other scholars. The debriefing session revealed that age is a determining factor in the pervasive use of non-standard language. From an educational perspective, students involvement in a project for research purposes allowed them to develop the strategies needed to carry out research in tertiary education, such as critical thinking, data collection and interpretation, and collaboration with others. Consequently, the relevance of the study is twofold: on the one hand, it increased the competence of postgraduate students in discourse studies research; on the other hand, it connects with Baron s (2013) proposal regarding the fundamental role of mobile communication in the way written and spoken language is used today, given the current profusion of mobile communication technologies.Pérez-Sabater, C. (2015). Discovering language variation in WhatsApp text interactions. Onomázein : revista semestral de lingüística, filología y traducción. 31(1):113-126. doi:10.7764/onomazein.31.8S11312631

Research on sexist language in EFL literature: towards a non-sexist approach

[EN] Centred on studies on language and gender, this article presents the results of a discourse analysis that examines the discourse practices of some of the most representative EFL textbooks published in the last decades in Spain. The analysis shows that women were subrepresented in the textbooks published in the last decades of the 20th century. On the contrary, a very different situation occurs in the materials of the corpus calibrated to The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages since they reveal a balanced representation of sexes1, favouring, in some cases, a positive discrimination approach towards women.[ES] Centrado en los estudios sobre lenguaje y género, este artículo presenta los resultados de un análisis del discurso que examina las prácticas discursivas de los libros de texto más representativos de las últimas décadas usados en las clases de inglés en España. El análisis señala que las mujeres han sido discriminadas en los libros de texto publicados en las últimas décadas del siglo XX. Por el contrario, los materiales del corpus que siguen el Marco Común Europeo de Referencia para las Lenguas muestran una situación muy diferente dado que representan a ambos sexos de forma igualitaria, favoreciendo, en algunos casos, una discriminación positiva hacia las mujeres.Pérez-Sabater, C. (2015). Research on sexist language in EFL literature: towards a non-sexist approach. Porta Linguarum. Revista Internacional de Didáctica de las Lenguas Extranjeras. 23(1):187-203. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/63096S18720323