Principles for language tests within the 'discourse domains' theory of interlanguage: research, test construction and interpretation

This article considers an alternative framework for handling the language testing enterprise and proposes some tentative theoretical hypotheses concerning principles of language testing. It is the writers' view that taking account of the perspective of interlanguage domain engagement and contextualization in testing research, production and interpretation allows for a richer conceptualization of the language testing process.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69012/2/10.1177_026553228500200208.pd

Contexting Koreans: Does the High/Low Model Work?

South Korea is assumed to be a high-context culture with extensive shared information and an emphasis on relationships in doing business. The follow ing study reported here tests this assumption and illustrates similarities and differences between Korean and American writers in an attempt to document language differences between high- and low- context societies. Data in the texts studied did not confirm the high/low contextfeatures expected. South Korean texts showed more similarities to than differences from the American texts, and the language features found suggest a more complex context situa tion than the high/low context model may be able to accommodate.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66563/2/10.1177_108056999806100403.pd

Perspectivization and modes of quoting in Hungarian

This paper examines modes of quoting with special regard to the organization of perspective. Due to the pragmatic interest of the study, our focus is on the functioning of two context-dependent vantage points, the subject of consciousness and the referential centre. Our key question about the former is to whom speaking as a sign of active consciousness is attributed and how this is linguistically marked. As regards the latter, the central issue is from where and how the spatio-temporal and interpersonal relations of the quoted discourse are represented.Further problems to be discussed include the questions of how and to what extent quoting is associated with pragmatic or metapragmatic awareness, and how various quoting modes may differ along this dimension.Although the paper is mostly concerned with a ‘universal pragmatic’ characterization of the functioning of perspective in quotations, it also highlights some language-particular features of Hungarian quoting strategies and touches on their evolution in the history of the language