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This study traces the evolution of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) by investigating published research articles (RAs) in four major CALL journals: ReCALL, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Language Learning & Technology, and CALICO Journal. All 2,397 RAs published over four decades (1983-2019) were included in the pool of data, and the Google Scholar citation metric was adopted to assess the impact of the papers. By selecting the top 15% of widely cited papers from each individual year, we minimized the time bias between years, enabling a balanced narration of the history of CALL through a representative dataset of 426 high-impact RAs. To identify the evolution of research trends, the contexts, methodologies, theoretical underpinnings and research foci of all 426 RAs were investigated using NVivo 12 and AntConc. The analysis of the data yielded encouraging results such as the upward trend in the number of publications and the international reach of CALL in the last two decades, the physical or virtual presence of language learners with diverse language profiles, and the growing tendency to triangulate methodology for increased complexity. However, long-standing issues such as the heavy reliance on traditional research contexts, poor reporting practices of basic demographic information, the large number of atheoretical papers and the concentration on a limited number of research foci continue to pose challenges in CALL research. Based on the findings, the paper suggests solutions for the controversies and addresses key issues for future research in CALL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this conceptual work, we describe cross-disciplinary meaning and language related to the innovation phenomenon located in a business context. Our work attempts to find common meaning and language for innovation that can be applied across all business innovation projects irrespective of the business discipline, and to synthesize these common terms into an innovation communication and planning tool. The objective of providing a common meaning and language for innovation is to give practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders a shared communication platform, and common language and meaning that assist incumbents to discuss and collaborate during innovation projects without the boundaries created by siloed, nuanced, and discipline-specific understandings. The outcome of the paper is a conceptual framework and canvas tool constructed from universal meaning and language for business innovation with the aim of providing a set of common questions that business practitioners could ask during times of innovation. Furthermore, the Business Innovation Canvas provides new directions for future study and the development of tools that take advantage of common meaning and language to aid innovation practitioners and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to outline the initial pilot use of the client complexity matrix (CCM), an outcome measure developed for an NHS Adult Intellectual Disabilities Intensive Support Team (IST) in the West Midlands of England. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed method approach was used to report the results and evaluate the use of the CCM within this IST. The CCM was trialled for six months between January 2022 and June 2022. CCM scores pre and post IST intervention were analysed via t-test, and qualitative feedback from clinicians is detailed. Findings: Analysis suggests the CCM captures service success showing a significant decrease in complexity and risk post-intervention. Qualitative comments from clinicians were generally positive; however, there were requested changes regarding specific presentations, use of labels/language and for a digital version. Research limitations/implications: The tool is not co-constructed with the client. Because of this IST's caseload, the sample size was small. Only one clinician was asked to complete the CCM pre and post intervention. Future use of the measure will encourage two clinicians to complete the measure to evidence its inter-rater reliability. Each client's specific presentation was not explicitly analysed here. Practical implications: The CCM will be updated using the feedback from clinicians and from the peer review process. Research that examines the generalisability of this measure to other IST services would be beneficial. Originality/value: The CCM appears to fill a gap in outcome measurements for this IST service which looks at breadth and depth of client complexity and risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embodied theories of cognition consider many aspects of language and other cognitive domains as the result of sensory and motor processes. In this view, the appraisal and the use of concepts are based on mechanisms of simulation grounded on prior sensorimotor experiences. Even though these theories continue receiving attention and support, increasing evidence indicates the need to consider the flexible nature of the simulation process, and to accordingly refine embodied accounts. In this consensus paper, we discuss two potential sources of variability in experimental studies on embodiment of language: individual differences and context. Specifically, we show how factors contributing to individual differences may explain inconsistent findings in embodied language phenomena. These factors include sensorimotor or cultural experiences, imagery, context-related factors, and cognitive strategies. We also analyze the different contextual modulations, from single words to sentences and narratives, as well as the top-down and bottom-up influences. Similarly, we review recent efforts to include cultural and language diversity, aging, neurodegenerative diseases, and brain disorders, as well as bilingual evidence into the embodiment framework. We address the importance of considering individual differences and context in clinical studies to drive translational research more efficiently, and we indicate recommendations on how to correctly address these issues in future research. Systematically investigating individual differences and context may contribute to understanding the dynamic nature of simulation in language processes, refining embodied theories of cognition, and ultimately filling the gap between cognition in artificial experimental settings and cognition in the wild (i.e., in everyday life). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to embodied theories (including embodied, embedded, extended, enacted, situated, and grounded approaches to cognition), language representation is intrinsically linked to our interactions with the world around us, which is reflected in specific brain signatures during language processing and learning. Moving on from the original rivalry of embodied vs. amodal theories, this consensus paper addresses a series of carefully selected questions that aim at determining when and how rather than whether motor and perceptual processes are involved in language processes. We cover a wide range of research areas, from the neurophysiological signatures of embodied semantics, e.g., event-related potentials and fields as well as neural oscillations, to semantic processing and semantic priming effects on concrete and abstract words, to first and second language learning and, finally, the use of virtual reality for examining embodied semantics. Our common aim is to better understand the role of motor and perceptual processes in language representation as indexed by language comprehension and learning. We come to the consensus that, based on seminal research conducted in the field, future directions now call for enhancing the external validity of findings by acknowledging the multimodality, multidimensionality, flexibility and idiosyncrasy of embodied and situated language and semantic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intersubjectivity is the proposition that human experience occurs in a world of shared and embodied understandings, mediated by culture and language. Nursing is fundamentally relational, and nursing research stems from an exchange between participants and researchers and indeed around the transaction of the patient and the nurse in the intersubjective space of clinical settings. Through the philosophical standpoints of Husserl, Merleau‐Ponty, Heidegger, and Gadamer we examine these differing philosophical constructs of intersubjectivity and the contribution of these positions to phenomenological nursing inquiry. Particular framings of intersubjectivity should influence the way researchers interact with their participants and data so that the chosen philosophy sits coherently within a research plan and methodology. This exploration of philosophical standpoints is extended through examples of, and reflections upon, the authors' experiences of intersubjectivity in our published phenomenological nursing studies and through dynamic interactions that characterise interpretive activities within a research team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: So far, many studies have investigated the extent and nature of the grammatical deficit in aphasia. However, to the best of our knowledge, this research is the first in the Persian language to inspect the comprehension of patients with Broca’s aphasia on diverse syntactically complex structures. Materials and Methods: To scrutinize the impact of task on aphasics’ performance, four age-, education- and gender-matched Persian-speaking patients with Broca’s aphasia were compared with their healthy matched controls regarding the two different tasks of grammatical judgment and figurine act-out task. The structures used to examine the subjects’ performance included agentive passive, subject cleft, object cleft, object relative clause, and object experiencer psychological verbs. Results: Our results which supported the trade-off hypothesis, showed that our subjects generally performed better in grammatical judgment task than in figurine act-out task (P≤0.05). Particularly in the second task, as our inner task comparison, the patients’ problems were more severe in object cleft, object experiencer, and object relative clauses: all structures whose interpretations need more cognitive load. Conclusion: Our findings put more weight on the interactive or constraint-based model of language processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Expressive vocabulary plays a vital role in child language development, and its assessment can be one of the essential indicators to identify language developmental delay, especially in children with Down syndrome. We developed a list of expressive vocabulary and compared the size and class of expressive vocabularies between typically developing and Down syndrome children. Materials and Methods: Expressive vocabulary of 150 children was examined in this study. A total of 120 typically developing Farsi-speaking children (in four age Groups, with a 6-month interval) and 30 children with Down syndrome (aged 24-48 months) participated in this study. The parents of the children filled out the form that included 636 words from different vocabulary classes. These classes were based on studies that investigated language development in Farsi-speaking children. Results: The expressive vocabulary size in Farsi-speaking children was significantly higher than in Down syndrome children (P≤0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between boys and girls regarding expressive vocabulary size in two Groups of children. The size of nouns in all age Groups is more than other classes, and the size of conjunctions in all age Groups is less than the other ones. A direct correlation was found between age and the size of expressive vocabulary. Conclusion: According to the study findings, the list of expressive vocabulary can detect delays in developing expressive vocabulary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the following questions: What is reading all about, as our technical milieu becomes increasingly digital and our reading increasingly automated? What is entailed in closely reading a book, in studying and handling the book as an object? And what is the role of philosophy—and in reading philosophy—as we grapple with new technical modes of reading? Guided by philosopher Gilbert Simondon, this paper compares the language heuristics of large language models (LLM) with human reading practices, revealing parallel and diverging technical tactics, with the aim of increasing our understanding of how and why these algorithms are part of our technical reality. This comparison moves beyond concerns with automation and alienation, using Simondon's notions of technicity and transindividuality to philosophically analyze the nature of collaborative reading in a distraction economy, and the extent to which transformer neural network models achieve an implicit embodied or grounded sense of language-use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has asked whether European integration leads to the formation of a new kind of 'transnational class' or 'elite' in and around the European institutions in Brussels. This paper focuses instead on intra‐group distinctions and symbolic boundaries between EU professionals from different countries. Drawing on Bourdieu's notion of language as a marker of distinction, it argues that language continues to be a resource for symbolic boundary making. Empirically, this paper builds on in‐depth interviews with officials of the European Commission, who are at the heart of an emerging transnational elite of EU professionals. It shows that while Commission officials are multilingual and use multilingualism to construct themselves as a transnational group, intra‐group symbolic boundaries continue to be drawn based on competence in the Commission's two main working languages, English and French. Overall, this paper points out the overlooked importance of language differences for transnational professionals' symbolic boundary making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is relativism a coherent thesis? The paper argues for a new view of relativism that opposes both classic and contemporary views. On this view, the thesis of relativism is coherent even if the key notions in the standard apparatus of relativism—of alternative conceptual schemes, relative truth, perspectival content—are all incoherent. The view defended here highlights issues about attitude attribution and explanation in formulating the thesis of relativism and it proposes a surprising connection between relativism and nonsense. The paper argues further that the thesis of relativism, so understood, is coherent, by considering different accounts of the semantics of attitude attributions in their application to the attribution of nonsensical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Gibraltar in a state of linguistic transition. This transition is feared by many to culminate in the loss of Llanito among younger generations. Llanito is a local variety made up of code-switched Gibraltar-Spanish, Gibraltar-English, Genoese, culturally specific words, and loanwords from other Mediterranean varieties. To evaluate the scope of this loss, this paper presents interviews with Gibraltarian politicians, as elected representatives who can influence the language situation, and grandparents who have contributed to the generational replenishment of Llanito. Llanito reflects Gibraltar's culture of hybridity, and this paper interrogates why Llanito is in decline among younger generations. Gibraltar has the ability to transform this situation: educational policy, community effort, and oral and written preservation of Llanito can help to maintain Llanito and save its linguistic loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the sources and literary function of references to the ancient Greeks and Romans in the Japanese author Natsume Sōseki's first novel, I am a Cat, written and published from 1905 to 1907. It places Sōseki and his work in the context of Meiji Japan and its renewed engagement with the West. The paper shows how Sōseki was uniquely placed to reflect on this engagement, particularly its intellectual and literary aspects. Despite his personal familiarity with Greek and Roman materials as demonstrated in his scholarly works and notes, the references in his novel are mediated, drawn primarily from other (mainly English) texts rather than ancient sources. This reflects the most common manner of encountering this material for Sōseki's contemporary readership and therefore sheds some light on the diffusion of Greek and Roman material among the 'educated elite'. The paper further demonstrates that Sōseki's use of this material has literary and thematic point: it contributes to his satire of the emerging class of intellectuals in the Meiji period by critiquing the social weaponization of such knowledge, especially in instances where it is not backed by true understanding. The mediated nature of the Greek and Roman material in the novel also raises questions about the efficacy of language as a means of communication as it contributes to the destabilization of meaning. This is most noticeable in Sōseki's discussion of Greek and Latin language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africans' voices and contributions to communication scholarship are of interest to many Africanists. Some discourses have explored reasons for this interest. This article continues this conversation. It recognizes the challenges contributing to the limited influence of the African voice in global communication scholarship and contributes to the theorizing of the African media. There are a range of factors impeding robust African engagement in global communication scholarship. These factors are explored in this paper. However, African scholars should look beyond these factors. The first part of the article explores reasons for the lack of active African input in this discussion. The second part of the paper explores the peculiarities of Africa that should form building blocks for the emergence of African media typologies. The extant normative media theories fail to consider the realities of African governance structures and philosophies. These should lead to a media framework more reflective of the realities of Africa. Indeed, the article proposes a conversation of four media typologies that closely match the continental conditions: pragmatic authoritarianism, pragmatic progressive, pragmatic libertarianism, and civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the investigation and analysis of speech accommodation effects in data obtained from Spanish learners of German with varying proficiency levels. The production data were recorded during a collaborative map task of the Spanish learners of German among each other and with a native speaker of German. The map task was designed to target words and phrases with specific segmental and suprasegmental characteristics. These characteristics were derived from contrastive analyses of Spanish and German. The main objectives of the paper were to investigate whether segmental and suprasegmental characteristics of the target language German are affected by phonetic accommodation to varying degrees and whether these differences depend on the proficiency level of the speaker or the interlocutor. The statistical analysis, using regression analyses, revealed inconsistent accommodation effects across learners of different proficiency levels as well as different linguistic phenomena. In line with previous findings the results can best be accounted for by an adaptation of a dynamic system approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a languaging perspective, this paper considers how kindergarten students and their teacher are relationally and intellectually responsive to one another in authoring conversations by constructing a sense of copresence. Copresence is defined by Goffman (1966) as being "uniquely accessible, available, and subject to one another" (p. 22). In this paper, I make Goffman's construct visible by showing how students and their teacher discursively align with each other. Microethnographic discourse analyses of sharing time events in writing workshop reveal that copresence is performed as playfulness, empathy, and disagreement. Implications include using the construct of copresence to assess the relation between the performance of authoring and the social life of the classroom as well as drawing upon the dialogic, improvisational nature of copresence as a point of pedagogical leverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore Michel Serres' approach to issues of text, writing and language. In a first step, his own textual parasitism—his use of other texts without adhering to the academic conventions of citational practices—shall be assessed on grounds of the notion of intertextuality, comparing his position to Roland Barthes and Julia Kristeva. It shall be shown that Serres—understanding writing as an act of invention—seems to return to a traditional author position by conceiving of himself in terms of a creative writing subject. A second step of the paper will explore Serres' search for a language of the natural, material world by discussing his critique of the anthropocentrism of language. Serres' own project of reconnecting language with the material world shall be discussed within the context of his own intertextual dependency on other authors and his interest in information theory as connecting different signifying systems. The paper will end with observations on Serres' experimental style of writing, which attempts to bring the body and nature into language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good communication makes it easier for us to connect with the community and other individuals with various backgrounds. Language is also a catalyst for us to understand ourselves and others, and is the key that opens the window of our world’s view. Every aspect on human life is very dependent on the proficiency of language skills. The goal of this paper was to see how the use of Instagram improved the students’ EFL writing ability. The method used to conduct this paper was Systematic Literature Review. There are 10 articles from various journals that are analyzed and synthetized to extract the data from. Based on the authors finding, the use of Instagram brought forth positive improvement on the students’ writing ability, as well as their motivation in language acquisition study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the editors offer information on how to submit articles for the October 2023 issue of the journal on the topic of child language teaching and therapy.

In recent years, the so-called „new literacies”, or 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication, have been increasingly developed in the foreign language classroom through the integration of language knowledge, cross-cultural skills and digital competences. These complex perspectives put greater demands on foreign language teachers and learners and raise their awareness of the fundamental changes in the educational setting. PURPOSE: This study seeks to identify university students’ perceptions of the challenges faced by 21st century foreign language teaching and learning. METHODS: A survey among 31 first- and third-year students in Primary School Pedagogy and Foreign Language at St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Turnovo was conducted through anonymous pen-to-paper questionnaire in 2022. RESULTS: The results shed light on students’ beliefs, opinions and awareness of the high-order skills that have reshaped the English language classroom in the 21st century. Though students have scarce knowledge on 21st century skills, they are positive about the implementation of these skills in foreign language teaching and learning. CONCLUSION: The paper concludes that there is a pronounced need to raise the students’ awareness as to the potential of the „new literacies” in the foreign language classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of digital technologies has frequently been hailed as a 'game-changer' in education. However, like previous technological innovations, such as television, these recent developments have failed thus far to demonstrate any significant large-scale improvement in the quality of educational provision or in educational outcomes. The papers in this special issue suggest that there is potential to change this scenario. Digital platforms such as Binogi have been able to exploit technological advances such as vastly improved crosslinguistic machine translation ushered in by artificial intelligence to make curriculum content much more accessible to multilingual students. Drawing on the papers in this special issue, I highlight three dimensions of digital learning environments that have demonstrated pedagogical credibility to enhance multilingual learners' development of literacy and their acquisition of academic content in the target language: (a) they provide extensive access to and promote engagement with written (and oral) input in the target language, (b) they provide instructional scaffolds within the digital environment to promote both awareness of how language works and intentional learning of academic concepts and subject matter content, and (c) they encourage and enable students to become autonomous learners who are capable of self-regulating and evaluating their own learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A separate Alberta Pension Plan (APP) has recently gained renewed attention. In this paper, I assess the long-run viability of such a plan by using both a detailed quantitative model and simple, intuitive approaches. I find only modest scope for changes in benefit levels and contribution rates relative to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Specifically, I estimate an APP minimum contribution rate of 8.2 percent, compared to the base CPP's 9.5 percent. With the same 0.4 percentage point cushion as in the CPP, the APP legislated contribution rate would then be 8.6 percent. This figure is in sharp contrast to a recent government-commissioned report (LifeWorks 2023), which found a contribution rate of 5.9 percent. I explain this disparity and show that much depends on how one interprets imprecise language in the Canada Pension Plan Act. I also explore several relevant risks. Alberta's positive net migration flows, for example, account for nearly two-thirds of its pension advantage. And, depending on the time horizon, investment risks may eliminate its entire advantage. Overall, this paper provides an updated foundation not only to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of an APP but also to understand pension sustainability more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to test negotiation outcomes when bilinguals negotiate in a foreign rather than their native language. Decision research on the foreign language effect indicates that bilingual individuals may be less susceptible to framing bias when using a foreign language because they make less emotional and biased choices. With increasing international business activity, there is a pressing need to examine the effect of language on bilingual negotiators. Design/methodology/approach: The authors tested the hypotheses using a two (task frame: gain vs loss) × 2 (language: foreign vs native) factorial design recruiting 246 Korean–English bilinguals. A negotiation simulation with three issues was used, and participants exchanged offers with a preprogrammed computer they believed to be a real counterpart. Findings: There was no significant interaction effect between framing and language on the offers made, but the framing effect was mitigated and nonsignificant for negotiators who used their foreign language. The interaction between framing and language conditions significantly affected negotiators' positive emotions and satisfaction with the negotiation. Originality/value: The uniqueness of this paper is related to its effort to investigate the effect of negotiation language on a negotiator's decision-making. Considering globalization and the increasing prevalence of international negotiations, this paper has implications for researchers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-oppressive global citizenship education (GCE), a specific strand of critical GCE, is a new field, especially concerning empirical studies within English classrooms. Based on an anti-oppressive GCE framework and the research question, "what does anti-oppressive theory look like in practice in English classrooms and how can this be woven into GCE?", this paper explains the results of a project which used a portraiture methodology to collect and analyze approximately 6 hours of semi-structured interviews, detailed impressionistic records, and several lessons collected with one secondary school English teacher in Ontario, Canada. The portrait showcases how the educator implements a three-pillar approach to anti-oppressive GCE language education and the need to shine light on minoritized identities, create healthy soil for the foundation of learning about systemic oppression, and give the proper amounts of water/support to each student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the widespread view that the diachronic processes of grammaticalization and of subjectification go hand in hand, and that highly subjectivized meanings typically correlate with highly grammaticalized forms, should be revised. The point is made on the basis of the case of the diachrony of the Dutch modal verbs. Corpus data show that four of these verbs recently got involved in a process of collective re-autonomization, while the two other modals in the language do not. This correlates with differences in the semantic development of the verbs: the four re-autonomizing verbs do, but the two outliers do not show a regular process of (inter)subjectification. The paper unravels through which mechanisms the grammatical and the semantic developments may correlate, hence why highly subjectivized meanings do not necessarily like a grammatical status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilingual education that incorporates a local language alongside the official language has become an increasingly common approach in sub-Saharan Africa for improving literacy rates and learning outcomes. Evidence suggests that bilingual instruction is largely associated with positive learning and literacy outcomes globally. However, the adoption of bilingual education does not guarantee positive learning outcomes. This paper reviews bilingual programs in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on programs in six Francophone West African countries (Niger, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon). We identified factors critical to high-quality and effective bilingual programs. Implementation factors, such as teacher training and classroom resources, and socio-cultural factors, such as perceptions of local languages in education, constrain and contribute to the quality of bilingual education. These insights may help inform policy-makers and other stakeholders seeking to improve bilingual education programs in Francophone West Africa and other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated that immediate effects of language interventions tend to fade, but has also suggested that differentiating language skill types may be essential for understanding fade-out processes. This paper examines the longer-term effects of participating in a shared-reading intervention. The study included 464 dual-language learners (DLLs) (49.6% girls) in Norway with a mean age of 52.60 months when the intervention started. They were randomly assigned to an intervention condition receiving a shared-reading program in preschool and at home or a business-as-usual control condition. The children spoke a number of first languages and were second-language speakers of Norwegian. Children's second-language skills were assessed seven months following the completion of the intervention. We asked whether the developmental advantages induced during the intervention faded or remained when the intervention conditions were no longer present, using autoregressive structural modelling and second-order latent growth modelling to answer the question. While some immediate intervention effects disappeared (grammar) or showed tendencies to fade (vocabulary and perspective taking), second-order latent growth modelling suggested that narrative skills emerged. The results demonstrate the need to consider skill type in future research on fade-out and offer a longer-term perspective on how DLLs respond to shared-reading interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore how social work students can support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) young people in schools. Drawing on the reflective practice portfolio documents of four students who worked with LGBTQ+ young people in a school as part of a social workers in school (SWIS) student placement project, the article uses thematic analysis to identify how the students were able to support young people identifying as LGBTQ+. The article subscribes to a poststructuralist theoretical framework which sees gender and sexual identities as multiple, fragmented and constructed in relation to others and within the systems of knowledge and power that exist in schools. The article demonstrates the benefit to schools of having social work students on practice placement. The students' own reflections critically contemplate the way in which they were able to spend more prolonged periods of time with young people than the teachers could, both with individuals and LGBTQ+ groups. The students' reflective portfolios show the value of the school placements to their own development of knowledge and skills [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is at present much focus in ELT on describing and promoting teacher and learner agency. However, ELT as a professional field is concurrently characterised by an increasing orientation toward authoritative texts, particularly those imbued with authority at the transnational level. Global textbooks are a notable example, since they, along with global language testing and language policy, play an increasingly important role in determining teaching and learning practices across a range of different settings. Our focus in this paper is on how the authoritativeness of global textbooks is upheld in online promotional materials. Examining websites of three contemporary ELT textbook series, we analyse discourse strategies employed to legitimise the authoritative position of the textbooks and their publishers. We find that publishers legitimised their authority through strategic links to external forces (policy, testing), in this way foregrounding the universality of the textbooks. In contrast, the websites represented the agencies of teachers and learners only minimally, primarily as subordinate to the agency attributed to textbooks themselves. We conclude with a reflection on the need for applied critical scholarship in ELT that can offer practical alternatives and thus disrupt dominant notions of universality and the hierarchization of knowledge these are based on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research in social psychology underscores the role of language and its intersection with other identity markers, including ethnic visibility, in exploring social perceptions and biases. This paper examines the physical visibility of people of Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) descent in the U.S., and the linguistic visibility of a concentrated MENA American community in Dearborn, Michigan. Relying on headshots, Study 1 shows that MENA could be an ambiguous ethnic community based solely on physical appearance, while religiously affiliated attire proves to be a significant ethnic marker for MENA. Using audio cues, Study 2 shows that the English variety spoken in Dearborn is a recognizable variety with masculinity associations. As such, Dearborn English is argued to be an ethnolinguistic repertoire that can be used to project ethno-local visibility. The results highlight the importance of the linguistic visibility of Dearborn and future research on language attitudes towards this variety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A regular unranked tree folding consists of a regular unranked tree language and a folding operation that merges (i.e., folds) selected nodes of a tree to form a graph; the combination is a formal device for representing graph languages. If, in the process of folding, the order among edges is discarded so that the result is an unordered graph, then two applications of a fold operation are enough to make the associated parsing problem NP-complete. However, if the order is kept, then the problem is solvable in non-uniform polynomial time. In this paper, we address the remaining case, where only one fold operation is applied, but the order among the edges is discarded. We show that, under these conditions, the problem is solvable in non-uniform polynomial time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people that offend evidence higher rates of trauma and post-traumatic distress than non-offending peers. Effects of post-traumatic distress also parallel research on some young people that participate in restorative justice (RJ) meetings who struggle with communication, emotionally withdraw, become agitated or defiant, evidence poor understanding of harms they have caused, or fail to demonstrate empathy or remorse. In this paper I suggest post-traumatic distress may explain some variation in RJ process and outcomes hitherto ignored in existing research. I also suggest research on trauma in young people raises four areas of concern for thinking about RJ as a "trauma-informed" practice, including impacts of trauma and post-traumatic distress on (1) oral language proficiency and non-verbal communication; (2) the experience and expression of emotions; (3) offender perceptions of fairness and respect; and (4) difficulties in behavioural changes following participation in RJ meetings. I conclude with discussion of challenges to and suggestions for using RJ as a trauma-informed practice in youth justice settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives Chronological age is invariably used as a categorizing tool for spaces, collections, and programs in public libraries. With age-based conceptions of human experience in library practice, education, and scholarship primarily focused on those under the age 18, little is known how age-based classifications are implemented in public libraries, and with what impacts, for older library patrons. Research Design and Methods Stemming from a larger project that seeks to bring attention to the ways in which public libraries engage with community-dwelling older adults, this paper explores 51 older patrons' perspectives on the numbers and language (e.g. 55+, older adult, seniors, adult) assigned to older adults in library programs and which label best (or least) suits their sense of identity and, in turn, what language encourages or deters their engagement with library programs. Results Findings illustrate that age-based language describing older adult library programs is often at odds with patrons' perceptions of how library programming relevant to them ought to be labeled. Common to all participants was a clear dislike for the term "elderly." While most participants preferred "older adult" to "senior," others voiced no preference, as long as they felt heard and valued. Many participants linked the use of language used to describe library programs to being excluded from and treated differently from other (younger) library patrons. Discussion and Implications The language used to group and describe different library populations directly shapes feelings of belonging (or exclusion) in library programs. Insights from this research contribute to our evolving understandings of the ways in which language connected to age can shape one's sense of identity. Results also serve to cultivate a more sensitive and critical approach to the question of age within library science, and, by extension, the experiences of older adults who frequent the library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the determinants of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) adoption using the Technology-Organizational-Environment framework. This framework explains how the process of adopting and implementing XBRL is influenced by the technological context (country's firm-level technology absorption and technological capacity), organizational context (education) and environmental context (level of economic development; degree of external economic openness; investor protection; accounting system and the burden of government regulation). Using a sample of 78 countries during the period 2009–2017, we find that countries with high levels of technology absorption, higher levels of economic development and strong investor protection are more likely to adopt XBRL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of language in the scientific study of politics. Conceding that politics is naturally an arena of heated disputation, it examines linguistic manifestations of factional polarisation by interpreting words, phrases, and sentences used by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) politicians during the party's acrimonious splits of 2005 and 2014 and subsequent re-union of 2017. I contend that the use of vituperative, exclusionary and inflammatory language fuelled personality clashes; ethnic chauvinism; sexism; racism; ideological discord and intraparty violence. This often derailed attempts to reconcile the party's bickering factions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Even though monitoring and control enactment are key aspects of self‐regulated learning (SRL), Adaptive learning technologies (ALTs) may reduce the need for learners to monitor and control their learning. Personalized dashboards are effective in supporting learners' monitoring and can potentially support control behaviour. Allowing learners to enact control over their learning process, seems to hold potential for increasing their motivation. Objectives: Therefore, this study's aim was to investigate the relation between control enactment and motivation. We examined how learners enacted control while learning with an ALT with personalized dashboards and examined the relation between learners' enactment of control and their motivation. Methods: Seventy‐eight primary school learners (Grade 5) participated. During the lesson, learners worked on mathematics in the ALT and concurrently were shown personalized visualizations that supported monitoring and enacting control over their learning process. Learners could enact control to change problems' difficulty to easy, medium, or hard. Motivation was measured before and after learning. Results: The SEM analyses showed that how learners enacted control was related to their motivation. Choosing difficult problems was related to more enjoyment and competence while choosing easy problems related to more pressure and tension. Learners who complied with the suggested difficulty level experienced less choice, but also less pressure/tension and more enjoyment and competence. Conclusions: These results provide avenues to account for broader learner characteristics like SRL and motivation to optimize learning. This way, hybrid systems in which control enactment is a shared responsibility of the system and learner, can be improved to support SRL development. Lay Description: What is currently known: Monitor and control enactment are key aspects of self‐regulated learning (SRL).Adaptive learning technologies may reduce the need for learners to monitor and control their learning.Personalized dashboards support learners' monitoring behaviour and can potentially also support control enactment.Enactment of control could positively affect learners' motivation. What does this paper add: There is a large variation in how learners enact control and whether they comply with the scaffold.Learners who chose more difficult problems experienced more enjoyment, while learners choosing easy problems, experienced more pressure.Learners complied with the scaffold, experienced less choice, but also less pressure and more enjoyment.This study provides avenues to account for broader learner characteristics like SRL and motivation to optimize learning. Practical implications: Support control enactment by actively involve learners in choice during the learning process.Offer monitor and enactment in conjunction, as learners can only make well‐founded choices if they can monitor their learning process.Intrinsically and extrinsically motivated learners showed different choice patterns and learning experience.It is important to have an understanding and monitoring of learners' motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Learning Through Practice: On How Kemyt Contributed to Crafting and Transmitting Scribal Knowledge" by Aurore Motte examines the practices of ancient Egyptian scribes and how they transmitted their knowledge. It analyzes the structure of the Kemyt text and the choice of ink and writing direction used. It is determined that there was a complex network of scribes who contributed to the development and transmission of written knowledge. The Kemyt text has been found in various materials and regions of Egypt and describes different features of the Kemyt specimens found in Deir el-Medina. Various types of corrections and revisions in Egyptian literary texts are also described. The texts demonstrate the changes in literary culture during the New Kingdom. Various aspects of Egyptian script and language are also addressed. [Extracted from the article]

The combination of prompt learning and contrastive learning has recently been a promising approach to few-shot learning in NLP field. However, most of these studies only focus on the semantic-level relevance and intra-class information of data in the class level while ignoring the importance of fine-grained instance-level feature representations. This paper proposes a joint contrastive learning (JCL) framework that leverages instance-level contrastive learning to learn fine-grained differences of feature representations and class-level contrastive learning to learn richer intra-class information. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed JCL method is effective and has strong generalization ability. Our code is available at https://github.com/2251821381/JCL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children with phonological impairment present with pattern‐based errors in their speech production. While some children have difficulties with speech perception and/or the establishment of robust underlying phonological representations, the nature of phonological impairment in children is still not well understood. Given that phonological and lexical development are closely linked, one way to better understand the nature of the problem in phonological impairment is to examine word learning abilities in children. Aims: To examine word learning and its relationship with speech perception, speech production and vocabulary knowledge in children aged 4–5 years. There were two variables of interest: speech production abilities ranging from phonological impairment to typical speech; and vocabulary abilities ranging from typical to above average ('lexically precocious'). Methods & Procedures: Participants were 49 Australian‐English‐speaking children aged 48–69 months. Children were each taught four novel non‐words (out of a selection of eight) through stories, and word learning was assessed at 1 week post‐initial exposure. Word learning was assessed using two measures: confrontation naming and story retell naming. Data were analysed by group using independent‐samples t‐tests and Mann–Whitney U‐tests, and continuously using multiple linear regression. Outcomes & Results: There was no significant difference in word learning ability of children with and without phonological impairment, but regardless of speech group, children with above average vocabulary had significantly better word learning abilities than children with average vocabulary. In multiple linear regression, vocabulary was the only significant predictor of variance in word learning ability. Conclusions & Implications: Children with phonological impairment can be lexically precocious and learn new words like their peers without phonological impairment. Contrary to expectations, vocabulary knowledge rather than expressive phonological ability explained variance in measures of word learning. These findings question an assumption that children with phonological impairment have underspecified phonological representations. They also highlight the heterogeneity among children with phonological impairment and the need to better understand the nature of their difficulty learning the phonological system of the ambient language. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject: There is limited research examining the word learning abilities of children with phonological impairment. Most previous research focuses on word properties such as phonotactic probability and neighbourhood density. Within the existing literature there are different reports and conclusions regarding the word learning abilities of children with phonological impairment and whether their word learning differs from that of children with typically developing speech. What this study adds to existing knowledge: This study found that vocabulary was the strongest predictor of word learning across children with and without phonological impairment. There was no significant difference in word learning ability between children with and without phonological impairment. However, children with lexically precocious vocabulary abilities were significantly better at word learning than children with average vocabulary abilities. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: Findings from this study support the importance of assessing and considering measures of word learning—including vocabulary—when working with children with phonological impairment. This study indicates that it is possible to use stories coupled with measures of confrontation naming and story retell to gain deeper insight into children's word learning abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a focus on an under-studied group of immigrants in the UK, this paper examines Iranian families' language ideologies and practices at home in relation to Persian acquisition and maintenance for their children. Working within a family language policy (FLP) framework, we draw on sociolinguistic data from semi-structured interviews with eighteen mothers to understand how parental beliefs, their everyday language practices and the attempts they make to maintain, improve, or alter their language use will lead to their children's heritage language acquisition and maintenance. The results of the study suggest that the success in heritage language development and maintenance boils down to parental pro heritage language ideologies and their everyday small-scale practices. It was also found that the interrelationship between language and cultural values and a successful FLP was further reinforced by the parents' migration trajectory and proficiency in English as the societal language. This research also showed that the large size of this diaspora in the UK (particularly in London), their close-knit social network, availability of heritage language weekend schools and the possibility of frequent visits to the home country create a conducive situation for the Iranian diaspora to raise their children bilingually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the procedural meaning of the Spanish adverb apenas , proposing that it carries the procedural meaning of right-hand APPROACHING. This procedural meaning effectively accounts for various interpretations and argumentative orientations of apenas in different contexts. The analysis demonstrates that apenas consistently implies a closeness or minimality, whether in quantitative or temporal domain. The procedural meaning also explains the negative argumentative orientation of apenas. Therefore, the different meanings of apenas can be analyzed in a holistic way. Through this analysis, the study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of adverbial usage in Spanish and potentially guide analogous investigations in other languages. • The Spanish adverb apenas carries a procedural meaning. • The procedural meaning can offer a holistic analysis of this adverb. • The procedural meaning also explains the negative argumentative orientation of apenas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities have the right to access appropriate and comprehensive sexuality and relationship education (SRE), but face a long history of exclusion from SRE in the USA due to myths about the sexuality of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, biases against people with disabilities, and segregationist educational policies. Additionally, people with autism/autistic people are more likely to report having an LGBTQIA+ identity, and need comprehensive SRE content to become socially competent members of their communities. Teachers and other practitioners are often placed in the uncomfortable position of addressing many SRE topics while feeling unprepared, trying to stay aligned with educational policies, managing caregiver expectations, and providing scientifically accurate fact-based information in an increasingly politicised social climate. This paper provides recommendations on how to teach about LGBTQIA+ issues to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities including recommendations for modifying existing SRE curricula, identifying effective instructional strategies, and outlining a process for including LGBTQIA+ identities in SRE content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper deals with “The Impact of the Conditional Style Denotation on the Context Formation in the Debt Verse—Surah al-Baqara 282”. The significance of this study arises from the reasons for choosing it which are based on: first, demonstrating the effect of the conditional style patterns in constructing the denotation of the debt verse context, keeping in mind the diversity of the conditional style, i.e. direct or indirect, and the immediate connection of the debt issue with the life of the individual and the society; second, showing the achieved impact of the conditional style on the structures of this verse and its denotations and the consequently implied legislative provisions that regulate the life of the Muslim society. The paper is divided into three sections of two parts each and a conclusion. The first section discusses the syntactic and semantic functions of the conditional style and the value of the debt verse in the context of its surah, focusing on the denotation of the verse’s internal structure within the framework of its relationship with the general context of the surah. The second section explores the effect of the direct conditional style in the construction of the verse’s context denotation, especially the effect of the two if devices, itha and en, in the denotative construction of this context. The third section explains the contextual effect of the indirect conditional style in the construction of the verse’s context denotation, especially those patterns which are based on request to construct the condition denotation in the context of the verse in question. The most important findings of the paper can be summarized in the following three points: • The conditional style with its variant patterns fits semantically in the context of the general meaning of the debt verse (Surah al-Baqarah 282) which makes it denotatively very miraculous. • The semantic integration between the patterns of the conditional style created a semantic harmony within the context of the debt verse (Surah al-Baqarah 282) which helps to communicate the legislative semantic purpose to the addressees. • The intense presence of the conditional style denotation in the structural context of the debt verse (Surah al-Baqarah 282) came to serve the basic goal for which its context was built. This is integrated with the reciprocal serving of the structures connotations that serve the legislative purpose for which the Wise Lawgiver, Glory be to Him, revealed this verse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the concept of "terminological gaps" and strives to identify suitable methods for dealing with them during translation. The analysis begins with an investigation of the contended notion of gaps in terminology based on empirical examples drawn from a German-Italian terminological database specifically designed for translation purposes. Two macro categories of gaps are identified, conceptual and linguistic level gaps, which only partially correspond to previous observations in the literature. The paper uses examples to explore the advantages of ontological representations for detecting conceptual terminological gaps and identifying appropriate translation strategies. However, limitations are also observed and an attempt is made to resolve these using a frame-based approach. A frame-based analysis reveals that while certain designations may appear to refer to convergent conceptual units with matching distinctive features, differences also emerge due to the way the two language systems build designations. Examples from the corpus make it evident that a frame-based approach is helpful for identifying both kinds of terminological gaps, and then resolving them during translation. An important presupposition for this approach is that larger units of analysis need to be addressed rather than just terms themselves. There is confirmation of the existing idea that methods embracing entire segments or paragraphs as units of investigation are preferable during translation, and this is also seen to apply in terminological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A majority of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Oman, and internationally, have adopted English as the language of education, driven by its power and its globally accepted status as the language of knowledge and communication. Such an internationalisation policy has been inadequately evaluated to examine its actual effects. This paper aims at analysing the existing literature with a view to hypothesise the effects of adopting English as a medium of instruction (EMI) on establishing intellectual capital in the Omani context. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs a case study design that draws on data generated through a systematic review of 94 peer-reviewed papers that are synthesised using thematic analysis. Findings: The findings indicate that EMI negatively affects the optimal creation of intellectual capital through limiting access to HE, hindering knowledge transfer, impeding Omanis' employability and hindering faculty's professional growth. EMI leads HEIs to mirror the supplying countries' cultures in terms of materials, ideologies and standards. It affects teaching and research quality, training and communication, the sense of equity, belonging and self-worth amongst students and the relationships amongst faculty members. It also increases reliance on external stakeholders. Research limitations/implications: The paper highlights the interconnection between the forms of intellectual capital and how some components are antecedents to the creation of the intellectual capital forms. It establishes the moderating role the language of instruction plays in relation to the three sub forms of intellectual capital in higher education. Practical implications: The paper calls for maximising higher education intellectual capital through adopting bilingual rather than monolingual higher education. It calls upon policymakers to revisit the assumptions underlying higher education systems in order to optimise their outcomes. Originality/value: The paper is the first one that sheds light on the role of language in intellectual capital construction. Such a moderating role has received almost no attention in the higher education literature that is largely busy quantifying its outcomes rather than ensuring they are actually sustainably generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children with Tourette syndrome (TS) have historically experienced problems in academic and social settings, yet their language and communication abilities have not been extensively researched. Aims: This scoping review maps the literature on the oral language and social communication abilities of children with TS in order to describe the nature of the current literature, present a summary of major findings and identify where gaps exist. Methods: A scoping review was completed to identify studies measuring the oral language or social communication abilities of children with TS. A systematic search of six electronic databases was conducted to obtain published and unpublished literature. All English studies measuring the oral language or social communication abilities of children with TS were included. Information was extracted from records and knowledge was synthesised in a narrative summary. Main Contribution: We identified 56 records for inclusion. Almost all records were located in journals within the fields of psychology and psychiatry. Skills most often studied were verbal IQ and verbal fluency. The literature suggests an increased prevalence of language disorders and social communication problems in children with TS; however, literature comprehensively detailing these challenges was scarce. Language strengths were identified in verbal intelligence, story/sentence recall, categorisation and performance on tasks at the single‐word level. Conclusions: Oral language and social communication skills are important for academic and social success. This review brings scattered literature together to provide up‐to‐date information about language in children with TS and highlights that there are considerable gaps in our knowledge about language and communication in this population. This scoping review can inform future research and support speech language pathologists in the assessment of young people with TS. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject: Speech‐language pathologists (SLPs) working in various contexts (e.g., schools, mental health teams) are likely to encounter children with Tourette syndrome (TS); however, the description of this population and potential communication characteristics is not well represented in the SLP literature. Previous literature reviews have reported strengths in verbal fluency and morphological processing. Challenges in expressive language, higher order language, social cognition and a propensity towards autistic traits have also been identified. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: This review differs from previous narrative reviews by employing a systematic approach to searching for literature. As a result, we identified 25 additional studies that had not been cited in previous reviews and additional relevant findings in 23 previously reviewed studies. This review confirms several previous conclusions about language in children with TS and extends or clarifies several others, thereby providing the most current information on oral language and social communication abilities. The use of current taxonomies of language and social communication helps to organise this literature for clinicians and researchers in speech‐language pathology and identifies a need for further research from the SLP perspective. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: These results imply that SLPs should screen children with TS for language disorders and investigate social communication and social interaction development. Clinicians can expect greater challenges in language and communication development for children with complex forms of TS (i.e., those who exhibit co‐occurring conditions such as attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder). The multidisciplinary nature of the current literature implies that clinical collaboration with other disciplines will be of particular benefit to serving this group of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language ideologies are a powerful way of perpetuating inequalities, as peripheralized speakers who have internalized the lack of legitimacy attributed to them often end up reproducing censure rather than resisting it. Foregrounding the affective dimension, this paper explores the role of shame as a fulcrum articulating the individual with the collective in the perpetuation of linguistic stigma. To do so, it presents excerpts of autobiographies written by university students that reveal the impact of language idealization on the subjectivities of those who, by deviating from the norm, forge subaltern identities. As victims of language shaming are often unaware that their suffering is due to ideologies, but instead blame it on personal failings, rather than challenge the linguistic vigilantes who harass them, they silence themselves. The paper discusses how the inherently social nature of the construction of otherness and stigma is obscured by the individuality of shame and presents an educational intervention with which to scaffold students to overcome language shame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of research papers in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) report on primarily quantitative studies measuring the effectiveness of pedagogical interventions in relation to language learning outcomes. These studies are frequently referred to in the literature as experiments, although this designation is often incorrect because of the approach to sampling that has been used. This methodological discussion paper provides a broad overview of the current CALL literature, examining reported trends in the field that relate to experimental research and the recommendations made for improving practice. It finds that little attention is given to sampling, even in review articles. This indicates that sampling problems are widespread and that there may be limited awareness of the role of formal sampling procedures in experimental reasoning. The paper then reviews the roles of two key aspects of sampling in experiments: random selection of participants and random assignation of participants to control and experimental conditions. The corresponding differences between experimental and quasi-experimental studies are discussed, along with the implications for interpreting a study's results. Acknowledging that genuine experimental sampling procedures will not be possible for many CALL researchers, the final section of the paper presents practical recommendations for improved design, reporting, review, and interpretation of quasi-experimental studies in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]