AILA Review - Volume 34, Issue 1, 2021

This issue of the AILA Review focuses on transdisciplinarity as the key to developing shared languages in and across domains and professional settings. The relationship and collaboration between researchers and practitioners have long been discussed within and across applied sciences and theoretical disciplines, mainly in the framework of transdisciplinarity (see AILA Review 31, 2018, for a recent overview). However, research approaches that claim to combine theoretical and practical needs and expectations often lack either solid grounding in empirical data or thorough reflection from theoretical perspectives. This special issue aims to take the discussion further by rethinking transdisciplinarity systematically from theoretical and practical angles. In so doing, we focus on developing shared languages that facilitate communication and mutual learning in multistakeholder discourses – with the ultimate goal of sustainably solving socially relevant problems. In the introduction, we present working definitions of our topic’s key terms (Part 1). We then go through the topics, results, and main interconnections of the six approaches examined in the papers included in this issue (Part 2). Based on the insights from the discussion so far, we set up a framework to systematically analyse three dimensions of developing shared languages: negotiation process, interplay of key drivers, and seizing opportunities (Part 3).

This contribution researches various translation dictionaries – mobile apps with Latvian that are available for free on the Google Play Store and sets out the experience of developing specialised translation dictionaries at Ventspils University of Applied Sciences (VUAS). The results encounter three different dictionary models that are compiled for the acquisition of Languages for Special Purposes (LSPs) to support vocabulary (term) learning, translation, reading, listening and writing skills during the foreign language-learning process. Dictionaries with grammatical information and rich, supportive data or encyclopaedic information added are more useful for understanding specific domain concepts and content, as well as for the translation practice. Thus, the dictionary user does not have to look for another application or other source to get this additional information. Each new app takes up some space on the user’s smart device; therefore, it is important to maximise the support provided by a single dictionary. The research provides insight into the range of dictionaries with Latvian available on the Google Play Store, gives a brief description, and explains the practical experience of VUAS when working on developing such dictionaries and applying them for language-learning purposes and specialised terminology courses for students. The study also provides an overview of challenges, problems and lexicographic and information technology solutions for mobile applications. The goal of the research is analysing and characterising those free-of-charge dictionaries in the form of mobile apps with Latvian as one of the translation languages. Surveys were used to gather and analyse research data. A survey of dictionary users and a survey of language learners using dictionary apps were carried out after the development of the specialised dictionaries.

Medical researchers are ethically and legally required to inform participants and get written permission before enrolling them into a human research project (Informed Consent). Accordingly, information and consent represent a complex procedure, and the participant concerned “must receive comprehensible oral and written information” (Swiss legislation: Human Research Act (HRA) Art. 16). A triangle of stakeholders is involved in the procedure: ethics committees that review and approve research projects and Informed Consent (IC) documents, medical researchers who produce the documents and discuss enrolment with patients, and patients who have to be informed comprehensibly. From a linguistic point of view, the question arises as to which perceptions of comprehensibility form the basis of the IC process and how shared language can be established considering the complex relationship between these stakeholders. This contribution presents findings from two perspectives (ethics committees and researchers) while considering the needs of all three stakeholders. Firstly, the conceptualisation of comprehensibility among three ethic committees is presented, and steps toward harmonisation are outlined. Secondly, limitations of how researchers conduct oral IC information are analysed, and the measures that were implemented to improve patient information are discussed. A transdisciplinary approach is key in establishing these solutions because they do not stem from linguistic analysis alone but have been developed in close collaboration with members of ethics committees and medical researchers. Thus, the project shows how the expertise of applied linguistics in cooperation with practitioners can deliver an important impact in both academic analysis and optimisation of professional procedures.

Our contribution maps the journey towards setting up a transdisciplinary, interprofessional collaboration between coaching practitioners and coaching researchers from the fields of Applied Linguistics and Applied Psychology. The goal of such a project is to build a community of interest around a common cause, i.e., a practically relevant, language-based coaching problem (in our case, questioning practices in executive coaching), and to collaboratively solve the problem on the basis of assembling and integrating the various epistemes. The purpose of our contribution in the form of a travel report is twofold: firstly, to theoretically and conceptually discuss the challenges and affordances of aligning perspectives and assembling epistemes for such a transdisciplinary research project; Secondly, to present the available epistemic bases and offer first empirical results from our applied linguistic research and our cooperation with Applied Psychology that served as the basis for conceptualising the project Questioning Sequences in Coaching (Graf, Spranz-Fogasy, & Künzli, 2020). We end this travel report by critically assessing the transdisciplinary character of the current project and by envisioning another kind of cooperation between coaching practice and coaching research as the future destination of our research journey.

Transdisciplinary collaboration has become one of the most important agendas in the field of Applied Linguistics and professional communication. Investigation into transdisciplinary collaboration has been conducted at the interface of both fields through knowledge transformation and multimethod action research. In Japan, however, investigation into transdisciplinary collaboration or transdisciplinarity still holds great potential for development. As the first step to investigate transdisciplinary collaboration, the author conducted in-depth interviews with eight Japanese business professionals who are also engaged in academic collaboration. The purpose of this study is to understand the challenges and opportunities they are currently facing in transdisciplinary collaboration and to identify shared goals that both applied linguists (academics) and business professionals can explore by focusing on shared language and knowledge transformation in business practice. The whole interview data were analysed using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach (M-GTA) (Kinoshita, 2003), in which nine basic concepts were obtained in the Open Coding Stage. These were then categorised into four larger groups in the Selective Coding Stage: (1) the current barriers for transdisciplinarity, (2) integration of theory and practice, (3) sensitivity to common ground, and (4) contribution to Japanese society. After presenting these concepts, the construction of shared language as a theme of collaboration is highlighted in the Discussion section.

The contribution seeks to apply the principles of J. L. Austin’s speech-act theories to the study of local business segregation in the Jim Crow South. In particular, it borrows the notions of illocutionary and perlocutionary force when examining the seemingly bland and prosaic statements that are often used to normalise segregation within the business of commercial entertainment. For purposes of expanding the complexity of typical Manichaean (i.e., Black vs White) ethnic studies, this analysis was developed within the context of tri-racial segregation as applied to rural moviegoing within Robeson County, North Carolina during the first half of the twentieth century. Notably, the development of Robeson’s historical cinema-exhibition spaces eventually resulted in a highly unusual venue – i.e., the three-entrance theatre – whose physical architecture reflected tensions between local ethnic demographics and desired social hierarchies. Yet even in the face of these unusual physical constructs, this study contends that seemingly everyday objective/descriptive and non-demonising language remained an essential component in enforcing segregation.

The increasing digitalisation of communication has not gone unnoticed by the US military. The teaching of communication takes place at the Defense Information School (DINFOS), providing professional instruction to US military members, civilian personnel and allies from around the world. With the emergence of social media and the increasing significance of user-generated content, the teaching of communication, even more so than previously, prioritises the collaboration of academic researchers, practitioners and industry leaders in digitalised media for professional development. Viewing the collaboration as an example of transdisciplinary practice (McGregor, 2014), this paper seeks to gain insight into their thoughts on social media messaging and management for developing themes (Perrin & Kramsch, 2018) for research and practice, as well as for teaching language learners to be language workers (Koller, 2018) in a digitalised mediated world. The analysis of the social media workshop from 2017 is inspired by content analysis (Krippendorff, 2004). Through the analysis, the themes of “Community”, “Content” and “Conduct” are created based on a series of 23 lectures for practitioners by senior officers, academic researchers and persons from social media companies like Twitter and Instagram. The analysis shows, among other things, that the technological dimension of social media may constrain and enable language use in unpredictable ways. For research, practice and learning, the themes may function as a “shared language” for more effective language use towards the increasing digitalisation of communication. The paper concludes by reflecting on two concerns within transdisciplinarity, specifically transdisciplinary identity (Augsburg, 2014) and the link between process and impact (Hansson & Polk, 2018).