ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics - Volume 147, Issue 1, 2004

Based on an expansive study of Irish university learners of French, this paper aims to illuminate the specificity of the role played by ‘learning context’ on the learners’ language development. Following discussion of the concept of ‘learning context’ in language learning, the paper compares the language development of classroom instructed learners in Ireland and ‘study abroad’ learners who are also instructed learners, but who have resided in France thanks to an international exchange programme. Given the differences in the type of intercultural encounter which each learning context permits, the paper collates results of a study which attempts to capture how such encounters might transform the learners’ language use on a particular aspect of their linguistic repertoire in French, namely the expression of past time reference. Whilst the results detail the highly beneficial effect of the study abroad context on the learners’language development, they none the less point to a number of similarities in the past time systems of both the study abroad learners and the instructed learners. The results are discussed in relation to previous findings and areas for future research.

A small number of studies have been pubished which examine the native speaker teacher (NST) versus non-native speaker teacher (NNST) debate. However, almost all of them are concerned with teachers’ opinions, whereas this paper considers the question from the point of view of the student, a perspective largely ignored so far.

The data for this study were compiled from the completed questionnaires of 76 undergraduate university students who agreed to take part. Special attention was paid to two independent variables: (1) students’ specialisation and (2) whether the student had been taught by an NST. Them participants were asked if they preferred a native or non-native teacher/lecturer with regard to the following: language skills, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, learning strategies, culture and civilization, attitudes and assessment. Within these areas, students were asked about their preferences concerning primary, secondary and tertiary education.

The results showed a clear preference for the NST, although the most voted option was that of the team-teaching approach (an NST and an NNST working together). Nevertheless, the independent variables (specialisation and previous learning experience of an NST) did not exert a significant effect. The results seem to suggest the need for further discussion of the issues surrounding the NST/NNST debate.

A variety of studies have reported that the order of Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy can be a valid predictor of difficulty of relative clauses, but it is unclear whether the difficulty of relative clauses should be attributed to the grammatical function of noun phrases (grammatical relation) or to configurational differences in the relative clause structure. A few articles have reported that learners of English are more sensitive to configurational distinctions than grammatical relation distinctions in relative clause production. However, not much research on this issue has been conducted. The results of a grammaticality judgment test conducted with 77 Japanese learners of English point toward a stronger sensitivity to configuration than to grammatical relation, favoring the configurational account.

This paper focuses on the ways in which misunderstanding occurs between two interlocutors with different cultural backgrounds. As such, its main concern is with sociolinguistic transfer (Chick, 1996). Based on a cross-cultural model, it aims to investigate certain socio-pragmatic issues, (i.e. terms of address, offers and request types) affecting Iranian and Australian interlocutors. The issues in question will be compared and contrasted to ascertain what types of culturally communicative transfers might be invoked in the interaction between the interlocutors from these two different sociolinguistic milieus. The analysis of data will be based mainly on ethnographical introspection. By providing a systematic analysis of the transfer types involved, the paper will also suggest some socio-pragmatic explanations regarding their possible sources. Moreover, it will be argued that understanding the miscommunication arising from such interactions will sheds some light on the process of potential negative stereotypes. All in all, the present study can be said to make some contribution in the areas of language teaching, crosscultural translation, and intercultural communication.

This work appears in the Applied Linguistics in Action Series, edited by Christopher Candlin and David Hall. So far, the series includes six Teaching and Researching titles – apart from Writing, there are books on Reading, Lexicography, Translation, Motivation and Autonomy in Language Learning – and aims to introduce readers to the research in the field and to “provide [them] with the tools they need to carry out their own practice related research” (o.c.: viii). This aim is mirrored in the overall structure of the books, which work their way through four stages: an analysis of the field, a survey of the different types of research, a number of research suggestions and an introduction to research resources.

Directions for the future. Issues in English for Academic Purposes is a collection of articles based on the 2001 conference of the British Association of Lecturers for Academic Purposes (BALEAP) held at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

The study reported in this book is concerned with “echoic” allusions in British national daily newspapers. Echoic allusions, such as “Gone with a very big wind”, “Here, many hands for once make heavy work” or “Bill shoots from the lip” remind the reader of a piece of language from another remembered context, e.g. the title of a novel (Gone with the wind), a proverb (Many hands make light work), an idiom (To shoot from the hip), etc. The aim of the study is to describe the occurrences of allusions in the corpus, to model the process by which the reader recognizes and understands them, and to deal with their function.