Fiona Farr

Engaged listenership in spoken academic discourse: the case of student–tutor meetings

Abstract This article uses a corpus of spoken English from an Irish university setting to examine how engaged listenership is signaled in meetings between tutors and graduate students. The various linguistic devices employed by both parties for this purpose are quantified and functionally analysed. The three strategies examined include minimal response tokens, for example, mm hm, mm, yeah, non-minimal response tokens e.g. really, right, fine, good, and simultaneous speech and interruptions. These items are found to differ quantitatively and functionally and are shown to be highly relevant for the effective functioning of students in such a spoken EAP context. Pedagogic implications are presented.

Religious references in contemporary Irish English: 'For the love of God almighty .... I'm a holy terror for turf'

Abstract This article examines the nature and use of religious references across a range of contexts, and also age and gender groups to establish their patterning and functioning in contemporary English, with particular reference to Irish English. The examination is carried out by using quantitative and qualitative corpus-based tools and methodologies, such as relative frequency lists and concordances, as well as details of formulaic strings, including significant clusters. The paper highlights that religious references are high frequency items in informal spoken discourse and that they are predominantly used in non-religious contexts. In terms of age, their use seems to be characteristic of the discourse of the older speakers, while a gender-based analysis underlines their elevated use by male speakers. The analyses conclude that religious references are so commonplace in Irish English that their use, as a means of emotional expression, now seems almost ubiquitously acceptable among the represented groups, and when used, these items do not seem to cause offense.

Tracing the Reflective Practices of Student Teachers in Online Modes.

During the course of pre- and in-service teacher education programmes, reflection can happen in a number of ways, for example: reflective journals, personal stories and pair/group co-operative discussions, professional development portfolios, and blogs and electronic portfolios. The aim of this paper is to examine various technologies such as online chat, discussion forums and blogs, in terms of their suitability and affordances as reflective media. It begins by examining positional survey data gathered from student teachers (STs) who have used these social media over a period of time. Following this it focuses on one of the desired outcomes of Reflective Practice (RP), the construction of teacher identity as part of the process of becoming a professional. The construction of identity through the mediational tool of language used across these modes is examined through a corpus linguistics lens. Collections of language produced around RP activities are analysed as a corpus in quantitative and qualitative ways. These complementary sources of data in a mixed-methods approach provide some insights into the technologies and their potential in a Language Teacher Education (LTE) context. To this end, our findings suggest that blogs, in particular, foster narration, RP and the expression of identities, while chat and forums promote emotional and affective engagement, all of which can be useful to STs at the initial and continuing stages of their career.

Language teachers with corpora in mind: from starting steps to walking tall

Although the use of corpus data in language learning is a steadily growing research area, direct access to corpora by teachers and learners and the use of the data in the classroom are developing slowly. This paper explores how teachers can integrate corpus approaches in their practice. After situating the topic in relation to current research and practice in ICT and language learning, we examine some easily available resources, suggesting how they can provide examples of naturally occurring discourse for use in the language classroom. Beginning with easily available online corpus resources with built-in concordancers which require no prior technical training, we continue by discussing the challenges which more advanced use of corpora presents. This is illustrated by examples from corpora of business communication and casual conversation. We conclude by emphasising that there is considerable scope for both research and dissemination in relation to corpus applications in language learning.

Students’ engagement in reflective tasks: an investigation of interactive and non-interactive discourse corpora

Reflective learning, a practice carrying relatively high educational value, has been with us for some time. Its popularity has grown to the extent that it is often adopted unquestioningly by educational practitioners. However, there are some important questions to be asked in relation to reflective practice. In reality, its impact on improved and enhanced learning and practice, and ultimately its educational value, cannot be known without further examination, research and consideration. This paper uses evidence from a range of spoken and written corpora to gain some insights into the discourse of reflectivity as it is used by students and educators. The data, collected in a third-level educational context, involve students performing tasks widely believed to promote reflection. The spoken data come from student teachers discussing practice language lessons and their general studies, and the written data come in the form of student essays, online blogs and online discussions from student teachers, language students, and computer science multi-media gaming students. The corpora are firstly examined for engagement in reflection using levels of contribution and interactivity (quantitatively measured through word counts and utterance length). Secondly, comparative frequency lists are used to generate key lexical items (verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns) suggestive of reflective discourse. The analyses suggest that the amount and type of reflection is influenced by the discourse mode, the task, the participants and power dynamics. Ultimately, the objective of this paper is to take a first step towards suggesting a more tangible framework for examining the relatively elusive practice of reflection for educational purposes. In an attempt to do this, it raises some questions and generates further hypotheses for follow-up research investigation.

Reflecting on Reflections: the Spoken Word as a Professional Development Tool in Language Teacher Education

The struggle for English Language Teaching (ELT), and by default language teacher education (LTE), to become recognized as a fully-fledged profession is a continuing one (Wallace, 1991: 4–6). However, increased professionalism in LTE has contributed greatly to its quest for independent disciplinary status in recent years. Some of these professional practices have occurred as a result of emerging philosophies, others because of empirical findings, and yet more due to technical advances. The present chapter firstly provides an up-to-date profile and contextualization of LTE. This includes brief discussions of theoretical and practical issues such as reflective practice, action research, critical approaches, the role of language and genre, and participation in language teaching communities of practice (Wenger, 1998). It then examines in detail how a spoken language corpus is vital for the successful critical reflection on one component of LTE programmes; teaching practice reviews, one of the most crucial aspects of what we do on teacher education programmes. As part of this discussion it will consider the part that computerized spoken language corpora can play in supporting and advancing some of the emerging paradigms. The focus is on the use of spoken corpora for professional development and introspection for those attending and conducting LTE programmes.