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- Volume 18, Issue, 1995
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics - Volume 18, Issue 1, 1995
Volume 18, Issue 1, 1995
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The applied linguist and the foreign language teacher
Author(s): Claire Kramschpp.: 1–16 (16)More LessApplied linguists invent their domain of inquiry as much as they investigate it and so do language teachers. Several factors make true intellectual dialogue between them difficult. The paper reviews briefly the reasons for the emergence of a discourse problem in language study and then examines the nature of this problem and suggests ways in which applied linguists and foreign language teachers can engage in intellectual dialogue. It is argued that applied linguists and language teachers can understand one another by engaging together in an intellectual exploration of the historical and social forces that have shaped their respective discourses. Ultimately what is important for each to understand is not the different answers they give but the different questions they ask.
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Critical literacy, genre and the National Curriculum dilemma
Author(s): Winifred Crombiepp.: 17–34 (18)More LessAt one time or another most of us have probably been involved in processes we dislike whose outcomes we fear simply to subvert what we assume to be someone else’s agenda. We become involved, for example, in national curriculum planning because we believe we might be able to alter outcomes for the better. We might even believe we can subvert attempts to reinforce cultural norms in the name of ‘standards’ by ensuring that ‘access’ includes access to the ‘genres of power’. If, however, there is no direct relationship between stylistic control and access for marginalised groups to real power, if current approaches to ‘genre literacy’ actually tend to reinforce traditional pedagogical practices and even, in doing so, threaten to reconstitute the cultural deficit model our participation may actually reinforce the agendas we seek to subvert. Is there a possible, positive response to this sort of dilemma? It is argued here that in seeking a healthy fusion of power, applied linguistics is in a position to discover the appropriate response.
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Canadian experiences of training linguistically diverse populations for the workplace
Author(s): Jill Sinclair Bellpp.: 35–51 (17)More LessIt has increasingly become apparent that multicultural workplace programs which focus exclusively on teaching English to immigrant employees are inadequate. This paper draws on recent Canadian research in j o b training programs to question whether the development of English language proficiency has a positive impact on the career prospects of most workplace learners. Some recent research suggests on the contrary that increasing English use can actually have a negative impact on an employee’s work life. The paper goes on to describe some of the newer workplace programs which include anti-racist training and cross cultural awareness for all members of the workplace.
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The French CAT
Author(s): Jack L. Burston, Jeannette Harfouch and Monique Monville-Burstonpp.: 52–68 (17)More LessThis paper investigates the empirical validity of the Monash-Melbourne computer adaptive test for French (French CAT), a single parameter Rasch model measurement of underlying morphosyntactic proficiency. It focuses, in particular, on the accuracy of the French CAT as a tool for streaming incoming university students into three levels of a first year (post high school) French course. Psychometric ability estimations of the Rasch model are compared against instructors’ assessment of students’ overall linguistic competence. A comparison is also made between the theoretical confidence interval of predicted abilities and the actual distribution of testee scores. Finally, individual student French CAT scores are correlated with end-of-semester language examination results. In all instances, Item Response Theory, upon which the French CAT is based, is shown to provide a highly valid means of determining linguistic ability for the purposes of course placement. Moreover, given the significant correlation between initial streaming and end-of-semester results, the French CAT is also demonstrated to be a good predictor of short-term achievement.
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Membership categorization devices under construction
Author(s): Pam Nilanpp.: 69–94 (26)More LessThis paper draws upon the sociological tradition of language analysis, specifically Sacks’ work on membership categorisation devices. The paper argues that processes of evaluating and assigning membership of categories within given collectivities may be identified as operating across diverse social contexts. The contexts selected for analysis here include a formal written text, an interview, and a cabaret performance. The participants range from senior University academics to drag queens. It is concluded that the maintenance of social identity boundaries is not just dependent on ‘knowing’ the status of one’s own category membership, but upon accomplishing this membership through the interactional work of hierarchical categorisations in writing and talk.
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Factors influencing elective language choice
Author(s): Judith McGannon and Anna Medeirospp.: 95–108 (14)More LessFactors influencing the decision of secondary school students to continue or discontinue the study of French beyond the compulsory years were investigated in a government secondary college in an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne. Six classes of year 8 French students were surveyed. The results of the study indicate that gender, perceived ability in French, encouragement from parents and teachers, peer group preference, and beliefs about the career relevance of French influence the decision of students to opt in or out of the language programme.
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The development of spelling and word knowledge in older students (Years 5 – 11)
Author(s): Peggy W. Goldsmithpp.: 109–128 (20)More LessLanguage standards in the community are a recurrent theme of public debate and concern. They are rarely said to be rising, rather, to be falling. However, those in the classroom with the task of assisting students to learn to read and write are not the ones likely to pass judgment or attempt generalisations about standards. The writer investigated older school students’ (Years 5 – 1 1 ) word knowledge in a large scale empirical study. The development of 280 students across the seven grades in spelling and word knowledge was explored and the pattern of use of lower to higher order strategies by those students in their attempts to spell words, write derivations and display syntactic knowledge . There was confirmation that older students gradually make less and less use of lower order strategies in spelling, writing derivations and in use of homonyms in syntactic frames.
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Setting/interlocutor-related variation in oral performance of adult ESL learners
Author(s): Zofia Cholewkapp.: 129–146 (18)More LessThe performance of six adult intermediate second-language learners on an oral task was examined. The subjects, sharing a number of characteristics, e.g. the source language (Polish), performed the same task twice, with two different interlocutors, in two different settings (familiar vs. ‘real-life’). The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of the familiarity of the setting/ interlocutor factors on the subjects’ performance. To analyse the surface structure errors obtained from the two interviews, Selinker’s (1972) error taxonomy was employed, thus yielding five error categories: language transfer, overgeneralization, simplification, communication based and teaching induced errors. The findings revealed that the unfamiliar, ‘real-life’ setting elicited significantly higher proportion of language transfer errors than the same task performed in the familiar environment. It is argued that adult, intermediate second-language learners, in a new, ‘real-life’ social setting, when confronted with an unfamiliar native speaker of the target language, revert to their native language, fall back on their prior knowledge to facilitate the task demands.
Volumes & issues
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Volume 47 (2024)
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Volume 46 (2023)
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Volume 45 (2022)
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Volume 44 (2021)
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Volume 43 (2020)
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Volume 42 (2019)
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Volume 41 (2018)
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Volume 40 (2017)
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Volume 39 (2016)
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Volume 38 (2015)
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Volume 37 (2014)
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Volume 36 (2013)
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Volume 35 (2012)
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Volume 34 (2011)
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Volume 33 (2010)
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Volume 32 (2009)
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Volume 31 (2008)
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Volume 30 (2007)
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Volume 29 (2006)
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Volume 28 (2005)
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Volume 27 (2004)
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Volume 26 (2003)
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Volume 25 (2002)
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Volume 24 (2001)
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Volume 23 (2000)
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Volume 22 (1999)
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Volume 21 (1998)
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Volume 20 (1997)
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Volume 19 (1996)
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Volume 18 (1995)
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Volume 17 (1994)
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Volume 16 (1993)
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Volume 15 (1992)
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Volume 14 (1991)
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Volume 13 (1990)
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Volume 12 (1989)
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Volume 11 (1988)
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Volume 10 (1987)
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Volume 9 (1986)
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Volume 8 (1985)
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Volume 7 (1984)
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Volume 6 (1983)
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Volume 5 (1982)
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Volume 4 (1981)
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Volume 3 (1980)
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Volume 2 (1979)
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Volume 1 ([1978, 1977])
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Volume 1 ([1978, 1977])
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