Ute Smit

Learner Attitudes and L2 Pronunciation in Austria.

In the context of pronunciation teaching, the relevance of a standard native accent as teaching model and norm needs to be reconsidered in view of the learners’ attainment as well as their wishes and expectations. In order to test attitudes to native and non-native varieties of English in Austria, a language attitude study was undertaken with 132 university students of English. In response to the modified matched-guise test, the subjects evaluated three native accents RP (Received Pronunciation), near-RP and GA (General American) and two Austrian non-native accents of English. The results confirm the low status the non-native accents have amongst their users and the overall preference for the three native accents. Generally, the respondents rate the accent best with which they have become familiar at school and/or during stays in English-speaking countries. Reflecting historical and geopolitical circumstances, the majority of the subjects support RP as their favourite model of pronunciation. Furthermore, the study sheds light on the importance of personal exposure to English in its native environments. While the evaluations of the students with EFL experience reflect rather rigid stereotypes, those students who have spent some time in English-speaking countries reveal more individualized, situation-linked attitudes.

English as a lingua franca in higher education : a longitudinal study of classroom discourse

The series Trends in Applied Linguistics aims to meet the challenges of the rapidly growing field of applied linguistics. Applied linguistics is understood in a broad sense, by focusing on the application of theoretical linguistics to current problems arising in different contexts of human society. Given the interdisciplinary character of applied linguistics the series includes cognitive, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and educational perspectives. The following topics are included in the series: Second language acquisition and the acquisition of additional languages Bilingual and multilingual education Language planning and language policy Literacy skills Second/foreign language pedagogy Translation and interpretation Language for specific purposes Discourse analysis Language testing and assessment Child language Language and gender Pragmatics and rhetorics Corpus analysis Critical pedagogies Research methodology in applied linguistics

The power of beliefs: lay theories and their influence on the implementation of CLIL programmes

Abstract Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is one of the most dynamic pedagogic trends in language teaching in Europe, and yet, the enthusiasm with which this innovation is implemented by stakeholders and ‘made a success’ is not fully understood. In this paper we argue for an investigation of CLIL implementation as a form of extended language policy, which relates language management, practice and beliefs, and so expands the notion of policy well beyond a top-down legislation. In this contribution, the suggested centrality of beliefs to CLIL policy analysis will be shown by a detailed investigation into the lay theories of teachers and learners involved in CLIL instruction in Austrian upper secondary colleges of technology, which traditionally attract students considered as relatively unsuccessful foreign language learners. The data consist of 48 in-depth interviews with teachers and students in this setting, covering a range of teacher specialisations and of student abilities. The discursive and content analysis of these interviews shows clear clusters of beliefs relating to language learning, the effects and benefits of CLIL and to the construction of success regarding CLIL. Findings suggest that the strength of beliefs and the relative absence of language management result in a construction of CLIL and of CLIL success that is partly at odds with those of experts or policy-makers, but which is linked directly to local CLIL practices. Issues arising of these mismatches are discussed.

Content and Language Integrated Learning: A research agenda

While Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has received a considerable amount of research interest lately, its increasing popularity as an approach to teaching content subjects in a foreign language requires concerted investigation that reflects and recognises its fundamentally contextualised nature. In this contribution, we sketch various tasks that require localised, often action research, covering a range of areas highly relevant to CLIL realities, but so far underrepresented in the literature. These are, firstly, policy issues, comprising policy statements as well as stakeholders’ perceptions of CLIL and its success; secondly, classroom discourse as the prime site for the investigation of CLIL practices and their implications for the learning process; and, thirdly, classroom pedagogy, with the focus on potential differences between CLIL and non-CLIL settings.

Motivational patterns in advanced EFL pronunciation learners

Pronunciation learning has a special status in foreign language learning: firstly, it seems to take place relatively independently and, secondly, it touches upon the learners identity most immediately. With the aim to uncover some of the reasons for pronunciation learning, a series of tests was undertaken with advanced EFL pronunciation learners of the University of Vienna, focusing on their attitudes towards various native and non-native accents of English, their evaluations of the target groups (British and American), and their more general motivational patterns and strategies for pronunciation learning. After describing the investigation, this paper presents the results and discusses the specific relevance of intrinsic motives and integrativeness for successful pronunciation learning.

Conceptualising English as a lingua franca (ELF) as a tertiary classroom language

This contribution draws on the notion of English as a lingua franca, especially as discussed in James (2006) and Smit (2010), to conceptualise English-medium tertiary education in settings where English functions as additional language and where tertiary education has a history of being undertaken in other, usually national languages. After briefly sketching the recent research undertakings into English as a lingua franca (ELF) as well as the specificities of English-medium tertiary education in mainland Europe, the paper argues for a conceptual framework of ELF as classroom language that combines sociolinguistic, sociocultural and discursive components. In conclusion, the empirical relevance of the proposed framework is substantiated by applying it to a specific case study of tertiary classroom discourse.

Language Policy and Education in South Africa

After 30 years of seemingly immutable, top-down language policy in education in South Africa, the early 1990’s and the dismantling of apartheid have brought considerable momentum into the language discussion. Since the first democratic and general elections in 1994, this has led to radically new suggestions and policy formulations for the ca. 40 million inhabitants of this multilingual country. The new Constitution of South Africa (Act No 200 of 1993) has given official status, formerly granted to English and Afrikaans only, to the 11 major languages (estimates of percentages of L1 speakers of the population given in brackets, cf. Webb ed. 1995: p. 16): isiZulu (22%), isiXhosa (17%), Afrikaans (15%), Sepedi (10%), English (9%), Setswana (8%), Sesotho (7%), Xitsonga (4%), siSwati (3%), Tshivenda (2%), and isiNdebele (1.5%). Concerning the language-in-education policy, the new developments have sparked off wide-spread interest, responses and involvement in South Africa, not only with the small group of expert policy makers, but also with a wide range of socio-linguistic, educational, and political interest groups. In accordance with the present government’s credo of grassroots’ involvement and consultancy, all of these interested parties have been asked for their input to the central governmental documents on language policy in education for the future

A sociolinguistic approach to the multifaceted Roles of English in English-medium education in multilingual university settings

Over the last twenty years, English-medium education in tertiary settings has turned into a global reality, with higher education institutions (HEIs) across the world aiming to become increasingly international. Yet this apparently uniform move towards English-medium instruction comes in such a variety of highly diverse local realisations that, when looked at in detail, the homogenising function of English turns out to be more complex and multifaceted than initially expected (Smit & Dafouz 2012). Within this context, the chapter draws on a recently developed conceptual framework for describing English-medium education in multilingual university settings (or EMEMUS), known by the acronym ROAD-MAPPING (Dafouz & Smit 2016) and focuses specifically on one of the six core dimensions, namely Roles of English (in relation to other languages). With the help of illustrative discursive examples from two different HEIs, we contend that well-established notions (such as EFL, EAP, ESP and ELF) while useful for initial categorizations of English language usage, are, firstly, complex in themselves and, secondly, adopt predominantly linguistic perspectives, potentially sidelining other relevant societal, institutional, pedagogical and communicational factors.

Negotiating Political Positions: Subject-Specific Oral Language Use in CLIL Classrooms.

ABSTRACT While research on CLIL suggests positive impacts on lexical proficiency and on spoken language, the crucial question of the effect of CLIL on advanced learners, both in terms of subject-specific language (SSL) proficiency and content knowledge, has received less attention. We argue that the ability to negotiate a factual position appropriately is a key element of SSL, relating to both content and to foreign language ability. As a theoretical framework for understanding these negotiations of generally opposing standpoints, we use argumentation theory. The study was conducted in upper-secondary CLIL classes on European economics and politics in Austria. From the data set of 16 hours of video-recording, comprising teacher-whole class interactions, group work, and role plays, episodes of argumentation were extracted and analysed. Two types of argumentation patterns emerge, with one focused on the joint construction and learning of new SSL and content knowledge, and the other on the enactment of such knowledge in interaction. Students’ engagement in these argumentations gives clear evidence of their SSL proficiency in prepared and unprepared oral production. As the type of classroom event has an effect on the specific argumentation patterns, the need for exposing students to a diversity of educational practice is underlined.