Defining 'Speech': Subtraction, Addition, and Division

In free speech theory ‘speech’ has to be defined as a special term of art. I argue that much free speech discourse comes with a tacit commitment to a ‘Subtractive Approach’ to defining speech. As an initial default, all communicative acts are assumed to qualify as speech, before exceptions are made to ‘subtract’ those acts that don’t warrant the special legal protections owed to ‘speech’. I examine how different versions of the Subtractive Approach operate, and criticise them in terms of their ability to yield a substantive definition of speech which covers all and only those forms of communicative action that – so our arguments for free speech indicate – really do merit special legal protection. In exploring alternative definitional approaches, I argue that what ultimately compromises definitional adequacy in this arena is a theoretical commitment to the significance of a single unified class of privileged communicative acts. I then propose an approach to free speech theory that eschews this theoretical commitment

Situating Grammar Instruction in the World Language Classroom: Four Content-Enriched Strategies

The role of grammar instruction in promoting communicative competence continues to be a controversial issue for the world language classroom teacher. Second language acquisition research suggests that critical to sustained progress in language use is a focus on form, which we define as attention to linguistic form in the context of performing a communicative task. We therefore offer here four content-enriched strategies for situating grammar in a communicative context: textual enhancement, input flood, structured input, and dictogloss. We present these tasks and activities within the framework of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (SFLL, 2006) to illustrate how a standards-based approach that integrates form-focused instruction with content increases student achievement in the target language

The sustainability of communicative packaging concepts in the food supply chain. A case study: part 1. Life cycle assessment

Purpose In recent years, a new perspective for food packaging has emerged as a result of several issues like quality, safety, competitive prices or providing of useful information to consumers. This new perspective is called communicative packaging. Communicative packaging may influence consumers/companies on purchasing decisions. Since the environmental evaluation of such systems has not yet been performed, this paper is focused on the environmental evaluation of a flexible best-before-date (FBBD) communicative device on a packaging consumer unit and its implications on reducing environmental impacts related to fresh products. This consumer unit consists of a nanoclay-based polylactic acid tray filled with pork chops. Methods The environmental assessment of the consumer unit was made through life cycle assessment (LCA) using a cradle-to-gate approach. Environmental impacts were assessed according to the Eco-Indicator 99 v 2.1 methodology in Individualist (I) perspective. Results and discussion Several results were obtained from the LCA. With regard to environmental impacts of the FBBD, most of them were due to the paper substrate used for the manufacture of this communicative packaging concept as well as to the transports for delivering the components of the FBBD communicative device. On the other hand, when environmental impacts of packaging system with and without FBBD were compared, a large environmental load was detected for the system that has the communicative device affixed as a result of the higher weight of the package. However, the environmental load caused by the use of the FBBD was minimal in comparison with the total environmental load of the whole packaging system. On the contrary, the consumer unit that has the communicative device affixed showed less environmental burden than the consumer unit that has not affixed the device. This was due to the environmental benefits that the communicative device provides by reducing the amount of out-of-date packaged products at retailer outlets. Conclusions The use of a FBBD contributes to minimize environmental burdens related to the production, packaging and delivery of pork chops since it facilitates a dynamic control of out-of-date products even though the consumer unit with FBBD weighs 1 g more than the consumer unit that does not use the communicative device. Recommendations The results presented in this paper are estimated results of a specific case study for a prototype of communicative packaging device. Consequently, these results must be considered as a first approach according to future developments on communicative packaging

Examining the cultural appropriateness of the communicative approach to language teaching in Japan.

The communicative approach has been one of the most successful and widely-used second language teaching approaches in the latter part of the twentieth century and the early stages of the twenty-first century. Yet despite its tremendous influence, some have questioned its universal applicability, particularly in Asian learning contexts. Ellis (1996) is one such critic, who argues that the communicative approach ought to be adjusted to fit what he claims are collectivist, form-focussed Asian learning contexts. This paper aimed to evaluate Ellis’s (1996) claims, particularly in relation to English language teaching in Japan. In doing so, it was shown that the ‘one-size-fitsall’approach adopted by Ellis (1996) in relation to categorising Asian learning contexts is overly simplistic. In fact, despite the prevalence of what he refers to as a contentoriented approach in many formal language learning contexts in Asia, many nonformal learning contexts – such as eikaiwa (English conversation classes) in Japan–successfully utilise the communicative approach. Moreover, this paper demonstrated that the notion of Western English teachers acting as ‘cultural mediators’ in Asian language learning settings is fraught with difficulty. Not only is it problematic trying to isolate what culture or cultures a person is said to represent, but also many Western English teachers teaching in countries such as Japan may not be in a position to truly claim to have an in-depth understanding of the culture in which they find themselves living and working

Communicative Actions

Communicative actions in the broad sense of communicationattempts ­ are special cases of instrumental actions, i.e. actions by means of which one tries to achieve some ends, their differentia specifica being that in the case of communicative actions the speaker expects to achieve her primary (communicative) aim iff this aim is recognized by her addressee. In short, from the speaker's viewpoint communication coincides with understanding, where understanding is to be identified with recognition of the relevant speaker's intentions. This idea is, using some elementary formal machinery from intentional logic, expounded in more detail, related to proposals of Paul Grice's (speaker's meaning), and compared to the alternative approach of classical speech act theory

The Implementation of Communicative Language Teaching Approach in a Secondary School in Surabaya

This study is a qualitative study aimed to know the principles of CLT implemented and problems faced by a teacher in an English conversation class of eighth grades in S Secondary School. The data was taken through observation and interview. It was analyzed using Larsen-Freeman' (2000) and Brown's (2001) theories and supported by Li (1998) as cited in Ozsevik (2010). The findings revealed that out of sixteen principles, five principles were unachievable, namely using discourse language, being a facilitator, setting social context, having communicative interaction, and producing different utterances. Moreover, the main problem in implementing CLT comes from students' side, such as students' low English proficiency, passive style of learning, resistance to participate in communicative classroom activities, and lack of motivation for developing communicative competence. It can be concluded that CLT is a suitable approach in promoting communicative competence for learners as long as the teacher and the students are prepared

ENCOURAGING CHILDREN IN LEARNING ENGLISH COMMUNICATIVELY BY USING SOME FUN ACTIVITIES IN THE CLASSROOM

This paper is talking about the interesting and fun way in teaching children as the young learner in English. It refers to an approach that is called the functional approach that focusesin the method of communicative language teaching. In this method children are not onlytaught English structurally, but also the communicative aspect of learning English for secondlanguage. By using this method it is really hoped that the children will not only learningEnglish and practicing in the classroom. Later, the children are asked to practice theirEnglish in real life situation, therefore, the material and the atmosphere of teaching andlearning English must be fun and bring the children as if they face it in the real life. So, theEnglish teacher must give some task and activities that support this method, it can be in theform of games, role play, projects, and telling stories