Language Competence

Nello studio si analizza la "leadership" durante conversazioni Teletandem, realizzate da parlanti di differenti L1 che adoperano in modo alternato la loro L2, a sua volta lingua nativa dell'interlocutore. I dialoghi avvengono tramite un software di messaggistica istantanea e VoIP (es. Skype). In particolare, la ricerca mira a evidenziare l'impatto della competenza linguistica (nativo/non-nativo) e del grado di conoscenza relativo ad un determinato argomento sul ruolo assunto dai parlanti nel processo di strutturazione della conversazione. I soggetti sono quattro studentesse universitarie che compongono due diverse coppie Teletandem. Due partecipanti sono parlanti native di italiano, una di lingua inglese ed una di lingua tedesca. Per ogni coppia i dati, video-registrati e trascritti, sono raccolti durante 3 incontri differenti, in due dei quali la scelta dell'argomento di discussione è effettuata dalla parlante non-nativa. I risultati mettono in evidenza una struttura della conversazione in cui: a) le parlanti non-native hanno l'opportunità di gestire la conversazione in termini di mosse forti (es. domande alle quali il partner risponde) e di spazio interazionale (ossia lunghezza media dei turni di parola); b) le parlanti di L1 producono più mosse forti e lasciano parlare gli interlocutori in L2 offrendo così l'opportunità di praticare la lingua obiettivo in turni lunghi.

Drawing on an ethnography in regional employment offices in a French-German canton in Switzerland, it is the aim of this article to articulate the complexities involved in the practices revolving around and geared towards the role of language competences in the process of professional reintegration, particularly so with regards to migrants who speak a different language. When comparing two cases of unemployed migrant job seekers and the variable treatment by their respective consultants, we will discuss the logics, ideologies, and discourses underlying the institutional regulation of the diverse body of unemployed migrants. We argue that in particular two discourses emerged in our fieldwork that seem to frame the variable approaches: the discourse of integration and the discourse of investment. It is in the interplay, tension, and confluence of the two discourses where " language " appears as a specific point of contestation. In other words: the consideration of language competences as productive for someone's employability finally appears as highly variable and contingent on individual factors.

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) requires that European univer- sities become professional-approach institutions where students receive competence- based training. Within the context of the Translation and Interpreting Studies, the key competence students must develop is translation competence. On the one hand, language competence reinforces translation competence since language competence facilitates both the comprehension phase and the reformulation phase of the trans- lation process by applying the appropriate translation strategies according to the translation assignment and the communicative context. On the other hand, translation competence strengthens language competence since the translation process requires both the comprehension of the source text and the appropriate use of lexis, syntax and discursive structures within a given context.

Im Kapratenbecken gibt es 17 archaeologische Forschungspunkte wo sich unter den Funden Gegenständen mit Rowaschinschriften (Kerbinschriften) be-finden. Eine wichtige Aufgabe ist diese Inschriften zu entziffern. Im Mittel-punkt der Forschungen stehen die Inschriften des Goldschatzes von Nagys-zentmikós (Großsanktnikolaus, jetzt Sannicolau Mare, Rumänien), dessen Buchstaben mit denen des Nadelbehälters von Szarvas und der Bogengriffplat-te von Kiskundorozsma übereinstimmen. Die Versuche um diese Inschriften in irgendwelchen türkischen Sprachen zu interpretieren, sind nicht überzeugend. GÁBOR VÉKONY (1987) hat die Mehrheit der Inschriften Ungarisch gelesen. Seine Lesungen wurden korrigiert (HOSSZÚ 2013, HOSSZÚ – ZELLIGER 2014). Es gibt einige Schwierigkeiten bei der Forschung: diese Sprachdenkmäler sind sehr kurz, sie sind nur selten länger als 2-3 Wörter. Man kann nicht außer Acht halten, dass der Forscher wegen der zeitlichen Entfernung nur über eine sehr begrenzte sprachliche Kompetenz verfügt. Die sprachgeschichtlichen Kenntnis-se können diese Hindernisse lindern, aber nicht überwinden. Um erfolgreich zu handeln, werden die folgenden Schritte gemacht: Rekonstruktion der Wortge-stalt durch Ergänzung mit der Vokalen, Kontrolle durch Etymologie, morpho-logische Analyse der Wortgestalt. Dazu kommt die syntaktische Analyse. Schließlich ist es nützlich den Text mit dem schrifttragenden Gegenstand se-mantisch zu vergleichen. Diesbezüglich wirkt der Gegenstand als „Textumge-bung“ – wie die Lateinischen bzw. Griechischen Texte zur Erklärung unserer frühen Sprachdenkmale.

Standardized tests are a reality in a globalized world and, consequently, in the Spanish system. Language test developers have already claimed that the current model of assessment has little to do with real language use, as factors such as the shift from paper to computer, information search and other uses of language or multimodal communication are not being considered (García Laborda & Fernández Álvarez, 2021). This theoretical paper proposes (1) a novel construct for testing that incorporates new functionalities which have been shown able to test appropriately language performance in academic settings; and (2) the proposal and design of an online multimodal exam that adapts to the new needs for language assessment in the University Entrance Examination. It begins with an analysis of current research to show the need for a change in the construct, and concludes by proposing a model for this high-stakes exam, based on a new construct of language proficiency and multimodal interaction for computer-based exams. The paper concludes that this model can change the way we understand technology-based exams and could be applicable to most current exams.

By examining young students from Northeastern Ontario, depending on whether they belong to the linguistic minority or majority, the article covers three interrelated themes: perception of linguistic competency, usage of a language depending on the speaker, and cultural representations. After having described a series of quantitative analyses, the article concludes that: 1) francophones and anglophones tend to favourably assess their aptitude to speak their own language, but that francophones criticize themselves slightly more than anglophones; 2) young francophones, when moving away from the family circle, use their mother tongue less; 3) francophones are more pessimistic than anglophones when it comes to French culture.

Résumé
En se penchant sur les jeunes du Nord-Est de l'Ontario selon qu'ils appartiennent à la minorité ou à la majorité linguistique, cet article s'interroge sur trois thématiques interreliées : celle de la perception de la compétence linguistique, celle de l'usage de la langue en fonction des interlocuteurs et celle des représentations culturelles. Après avoir décrit une série d'analyses quantitatives, il conclut : 1) que francophones et anglophones tendent à porter un jugement favorable sur leur aptitude à parler leur propre langue, mais que les francophones se font un peu plus critiques que les anglophones ; 2) que le jeune francophone, en s'éloignant de la sphère familiale, réduit son recours à sa langue maternelle ; 3) que les francophones s'avèrent plus pessimistes à l'égard de la culture française que ne le sont même les anglophones. Mots clés : minorité linguistique, usage de la langue, bilinguisme, autoévaluation de la compétence, représentations culturelles

Previous research on classroom interaction in international university
contexts tended to focus on individual speakers’ language (in)competence. This paper adopts a translanguaging and spatial orientation to intercultural classroom interaction and highlights the role of situated assemblages of linguistic, semiotic and multimodal resources embedded in the environment of learning activities for successful communication. The study provides a close multimodal conversation analysis of the interaction between a Chinese instructor and an international student in a music classroom in an international university adopting English medium in China. The findings illustrate how diverse resources beyond the official language of instruction congregated at a particular time in the classroom, interacted with one another and worked collaboratively to allow the two participants, with language barriers between them, to communicate smoothly and accomplish the teaching/learning tasks efficiently. We thus call for an expanded conceptualization of communicative competence in intercultural (classroom) interaction in international higher education, which moves beyond the linguistic-centered view and incorporates the value of spatial repertoires in generating individuals’ situated ‘language ability’ for achieving communicative, teaching and learning goals. Implications for language policy and pedagogy in international universities are discussed.

Purpose This paper highlights the forensic implications of language impairment in 2 key (and overlapping) groups of young people: identified victims of maltreatment (abuse and/or neglect) and young offenders. Method Two lines of research pertaining to oral language competence and young people’s interface with the law are considered: 1 regarding investigative interviewing with children as victims or witnesses in the context of serious allegations of sexual abuse, and the other pertaining to adolescent offenders as suspects, witnesses, or victims. The linguistic demands that forensic interviewing places on these young people are also considered. Literature concerning the impact of early maltreatment on early language acquisition is briefly reviewed, as is the role of theory of mind in relation to the requirements of investigative interviewing of children and adolescents. Implications High-risk young people (i.e., those who are subject to child protection orders because of suspected or...

Muchas técnicas de atenuación lingüística están estrechamente ligadas a estrategias de cortesía verbal. Un clásico en este contexto son las preguntas del tipo ¿Puedes pasarme el pan, por favor? que funcionan como petición cortés. La cuestión central es cómo esta conocida técnica de la petición cortés puede ser situada en el sistema de la competencia lingüística según Eugenio Coseriu. Resulta preciso aclarar si se trata de tradiciones idiomáticas que pertenecen al saber lingüístico o si se trata de una tradición discursiva y cultural que se realiza en una o varias lenguas, pero que no forma parte de estas lenguas. En el campo de la atenuación lingüística y de la cortesía verbal esta diferenciación abre una perspectiva metodológica esclarecedora que permite describir de manera precisa la interacción entre el saber lingüístico y el saber cultural.

Prispevek temelji na podatkih, pridobljenih med dijaki dvojezičnih šol na avstrijskem Koroškem. Raziskava izhaja iz Bourdieujeve teorije prakse, dodatno pa jo osvetljujejo podatki psiholoških testov respondentov (petfaktorski model osebnosti). Analiza njihovih odgovorov na vprašanje, kateri jezik uporabljajo na šolskih hodnikih, ponuja širok nabor dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na govorce na dvojezičnem področju pri samozavestni rabi manjšinskega jezika v javnih govornih položajih, pri čemer je izpostavljena jezikovna (ne)zmožnost v knjižni slovenščini.

The contribution is based on data collected from students at bilingual schools in Austrian Carinthia. The underlying research draws on Bourdieu's theory of practice, and additional insight is provided by data from psychological tests completed by the respondents (The Big 5 personality test). An analysis of responses to the question about the language students use at school with their peers reveals a wide range of factors that impact the confident use of the minority language in formal settings. The factor that I focus in this paper is language competence.

Foreign language departments with the goal of advanced literacy require optimizing student learning, especially at the initial stages of the program. Current practices for admission and placement mainly rely on students’ grades from previous studies, which may be the main reason why intra-group language proficiency often varies dramatically. One essential step for creating an environment that enables students to progress according to their skill level is the development of assessment procedures for admission and placement. Such assessment must prominently include proficiency in the target language. This article promotes the incorporation of an automated C-test into gateway and placement procedures as an instrument that ranks candidates according to general language proficiency. It starts with a review of the literature on aspects of validity of the C-Test construct and contains an outline of the functional design of such an automated C-Test. The article highlights the economic benefits of an automated C-Test platform and the central role of proficiency-based student placement for the success of programs aiming to develop advanced literacy in a foreign language. The findings implicate that developing and using the outlined C-Test platform has the potential to increase student achievement in advanced foreign language instruction significantly.

El concepto de tradición discursiva desarrollado por la lingüística románica es central para una lingüística de enfoque cultural. Este concepto se basa en el modelo coseriano de la competencia lingüística, del cual se deduce la definición de las tradiciones discursivas. Una cuestión central de la lingüística con enfoque cultural es saber según qué principios, reglas y tradiciones se rigen los hablantes al realizar tareas comunicativas. El modelo de Coseriu abarca la sistematicidad lingüística de estas reglas y tradiciones. Como es sabido, Coseriu define el hablar como actividad humana universal que siempre se realiza en una lengua histórica particular y que tiene lugar en una situación comunicativa concreta en la que los hablantes actúan como individuos (Coseriu, 1992, pp. 87, 91).

This research represents an experiment, conducted with Bulgarian stu­ dents in International Relations at the Law Faculty of Sofia University "St.KlimentOhridski ". During their four years of study, they have German as first or second foreign language instruction. The study aims to find the position of diminutives in the foreign language learning. It is further analyzed the language competence of the students in regards to the use of diminutives in the written foreign speech. Concerning the German, during the experiment, the peculiarities in the foreign language perceptions from the perspective of specific and general linguistic pattern are demonstrated. The final outcomes would enrich the methods of foreign language instruction in theoretical and practical perspective.

Textkompetenz als Fähigkeit, Texte mit unterschiedlicher sprachlicher und kultureller Komplexität in verschiedenen Sprachen verstehen zu können, ist ein zentrales Ziel des Fremdsprachenunterrichts. Damit Lehrerinnen und Lehrer diese Kompetenz in der Schule weitergeben können, muss im Studium eine professionalisierte Textkompetenz vermittelt werden, die Textlinguistik und Didaktik verbindet. Am Beispiel des Spanischen als Fremdsprache wird in einer interdisziplinären Hochschullernumgebung eine Textkompetenz entwickelt, die die Fähigkeit umfasst, die Komplexität von Texten zu beurteilen, Verstehensschwierigkeiten zu antizipieren, zielgerichtet Texte für heterogene Lerngruppen und Prüfungen auszuwählen, entsprechende Aufgaben zu erstellen und darauf bezogene Schülerarbeiten zu evaluieren.

Discourses and texts follow patterns and have their own traditions. The concept of discourse tradition as a form of cultural knowledge that is linked to dimensions of textuality and cooperation is, on a theoretical level, combined with current models of discourse and text linguistics and put into practice by analyzing a corpus of Argentinian press texts.

The situation in many spheres today is changing very rapidly therefore the labour market requires creative specialists with a good command of English and excellent cooperation skills who are able to make decisions and think strategically. The paper presents the results of evaluation research conducted in the largest tertiary education institution of Latvia during the five-year period (2003-2007). The goal of the present study was to develop tourism students' English for Special Purposes (ESP) competence. This report presents the designed ESP curriculum for tourism students, the created definition of ESP competence, the components of ESP competence and its levels and the model for the development of students' ESP competence. ESP competence consists of communicative, intercultural and professional competence, which develops in action and is based on students' experiences. It can be analyzed according to competence levels, based on ESP competence criteria – language for professional duties, professional thinking and abilities of intercultural communication. Students' ESP competence develops more productively if the ESP course is created taking into an account the results of the needs analysis; the studies are based on students' experiences; if cooperation and mutual trust between the students as well as the students and the educator are provided.

Tourism has become one of the most flourishing businesses in the country. It requires creative, educated specialists with a good command of several foreign languages who are able to use the language in different socio-cultural contexts. The aim of the conducted qualitative evaluation research is to study the efficiency of the English language learning model in the development of tourism specialist’s English for Special Purposes (ESP) competence. To attain the aim a needs analysis has been conducted; an ESP competence for tourism specialists and its components have been defined; ESP competence criteria, indicators and the description of ESP competence levels have been created; an ESP syllabus has been designed; a model for the development of tourism students’ ESP competence has been created, tested and introduced into tourism studies. The Synopsis of PhD Thesis is in 2 languages: Latvian (pages 1-31) and English (pages 33-66).

En las lenguas románicas una función central de los gerundios consiste en crear vínculos o junciones (Raible 1992) entre acciones diversas en el marco oracional. El concepto de junción implica que dos acciones - la actividad expresada por el gerundio y la actividad de la oración matriz - se agrupan para formar una unidad estructurada. El punto de partida de nuestro estudio es el análisis del gérondif en francés, cuyo perfil semántico-pragmático se elabora en primer lugar y constituye la base de un estudio contrastivo interrománico con el gerundio español e italiano, basado en un corpus trilingüe y que recurre al método de la traducción comparada. Los análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos del corpus demuestran que los gerundios como formas de junción pueden describirse en francés, español e italiano mediante dos modelos: la junción-encuadre, que proporciona un marco contextualizador, y la junción especificadora, que verbaliza una especificación. El estudio contrastivo muestra que el gérondif y el gerundio italiano pueden cumplir ambos conceptos de junción, mientras que el gerundio español está sujeto a fuertes restricciones en el caso de la junción-encuadre. Uno de los enfoques del estudio son los efectos de sentido, que el gerundio logra en interacción con sus entornos del hablar. La fundamental cuestión metodológica de la interacción semántica entre el significado y sus entornos se plantea con especial urgencia en el caso de las formas gerundiales, ya que son formas semánticamente abiertas e infradeterminadas y, por lo tanto, generan un espectro particularmente amplio de efectos de sentido, que a su vez proporcionan un material particularmente rico y complejo para el análisis de esas interacciones. La base teórica y las diferenciaciones necesarias para este análisis son proporcionadas por el sistema de competencia lingüística según Eugenio Coseriu (1992) con su distinción de tres niveles, tres contenidos y tres juicios sobre el hablar.

Les études sur les minorités linguistiques au Canada posent communément la question de la reproduction, question à laquelle est attachée celle de l’assimilation, phénomène qui se révèle dans des faits qui vont des tendances démographiques aux représentations psycho-culturelles, et l’essentiel des travaux porte sur la francophonie hors Québec. Dans ces études, certains chercheurs font valoir l’importance de la densité de la population et des mariages monolingues; ils soutiennent que plus les minoritaires sont nombreux sur un territoire donné, plus il est probable qu’ils s’unissent conjugalement entre eux
et qu’ils pérennisent ainsi la collectivité...

The topicality of the present evaluation research is marked by the changes in teaching-learning process, which is shifting from teaching to learning. The study implementing a mixed method research design was conducted from 2003 to 2007 in the fourth largest tertiary education institution of Latvia, which among other programmes provides well-acknowledged higher education in tourism. The goal of the research was to study the efficiency of the English language learning model in the development of tourism specialist’s English for Special Purposes (ESP) competence. ESP competence components, criteria and indicators were defined; the description of the competence levels was made. Based on the ideas derived from action theory and social constructivism theory, and the results of the analysis of curriculum and syllabus theories and competence theories, the model for the development of tourism students’ ESP competence was constructed and validated in the studies, suggestions for ESP educators were elaborated. The created model promotes students’ language competence and educator’s professional activity, the language becomes a means of acquiring one’s profession.

In content and language integrated learning (CLIL), as in any other type of bilingual education, two languages are used to promote cognitive and language learning. Whereas in the bilingual classroom the two languages are always present, in CLIL they may appear together or be used in totally separate circumstances. Although the relationship between languages is different, in CLIL, where the

The article aims at presenting a few neuroanatomical models and neuroanatomically based theories (the Maturational State Hypothesis, the Aging Hypothesis, the Fragile Rote Hypothesis and the Entrenchment Hypothesis, among other things,) inherent in the concept of fossilization. The models will be considered from the point of view of the advanced users of language, an emphasis being put on an interplay of factors
responsible for the fossilized language competence.

In linguistic pragmatics norms can be seen as traditions that guide verbal interaction. In order to pin down the notion of tradition, we use a model of linguistic pragmatics that goes back to Eugenio Coseriu’s system of linguistic competence and to the concept of tradition elaborated by Ramón Menéndez Pidal, thus bringing together
linguistics and philology. The functioning of norms as traditions is illustrated with two examples: with a routine of verbal politeness and with a narration style that is based on the aspect system of Romance languages and functions as a cultural tradition.

Im Spannungsfeld von Sprachwandel, Diskurstraditionen und einzelsprachlichem Wissen untersucht der vorliegende Beitrag narrative Techniken im Französischen und Spanischen und beschreibt, wie bei diesen Verwendungstypen einzelsprachliche Traditionen und Diskurstraditionen zusammenwirken. Als theoretische Basis dient ein Modell der linguistischen Pragmatik, das auf Coserius Systematik der allgemeinen Struktur der Sprache und der Sprachkompetenz aufbaut. Die verbalen Kategorien, die hier mit unterschiedlichem Effekt in narrativen Strukturen zum Einsatz kommen, sind zum einen die imperfektiven Aspektformen der Vergangenheit – das französische imparfait bzw. das spanische imperfecto – und zum anderen die beiden Präsensformen des Französischen und Spanischen, présent und presente. Die vergleichende Untersuchung dieser Verwendungen aus Sicht der linguistischen Pragmatik geht der Frage nach, worin die Traditionalität und Historizität dieser narrativen Techniken bestehen und wie deren Geschichte zwischen Diskurstraditionellem und Einzelsprachlichem erfasst werden kann.

Based on an Old Spanish text, the Libro de Apolonio, the study analyzes riddles as a cultural technique using a methodological framework which distinguishes three types of pragmatics and offers a clear-cut distinction between language change and cultural change within the realm of discourse traditions.

It has been known that the right hemisphere is contributed to language processing, especially in macro level, including macrostructure or discourse processing. This research is aimed at evaluating the students’ ability in language processing concerning macrostructure and the right hemispher brain function. This research is based on Dharmaperwira-prins method “Right Hemisphere Communication Assessment” (Pemeriksaan Komunikasi Hemisfer Kanan/PKHK). Research on students’ ability in macrostructure processing is important to conduct since students nowadays are regarded lack of ability in well being communication. The research is conducted toward 38 students of English Department of Andalas University. The data are taken by paper test which is designed to evaluate the students’ ability in macrostructure.

The result of research shows that most students have problems in providing important information, adjective, and feeling. By this result, it can be assumed that the participants have problem in right hemisphere competence concerning to language processing. These problems evoke not by accident or lesion in right hemisphere, yet it is caused by brain development which is focused on left hemisphere only.

Standardized tests are a reality in a globalized world and, consequently, in the Spanish system. Language test developers have already claimed that the current model of assessment has little to do with real language use, as factors such as the shift from paper to computer, information search and other uses of language or multimodal communication are not being considered (García Laborda & Fernández Álvarez, 2021). This theoretical paper proposes (1) a novel construct for testing that incorporates new functionalities which have been shown able to test appropriately language performance in academic settings; and (2) the proposal and design of an online multimodal exam that adapts to the new needs for language assessment in the University Entrance Examination. It begins with an analysis of current research to show the need for a change in the construct, and concludes by proposing a model for this high-stakes exam, based on a new construct of language proficiency and multimodal interacti...

La tradición discursiva como concepto es un saber cultural que rige la configuración de textos y, por esta razón, es un componente esencial de la competencia textual. Las tradiciones discursivas son un concepto cultural, textual y pragmalingüístico y comprenden tres dimensiones: la culturalidad, la textualidad y la cooperatividad. Como estas tres dimensiones implican diferentes grados de complejidad, la tradición discursiva es por tanto un concepto que aúna la competencia textual con el concepto de la complejidad textual. Este artículo desarrolla el concepto de tradición discursiva para, posteriormente, discutir a través de ejemplos dados, las tres categorías y complejidades que se desprenden de este saber discursivo-cultural.

The purpose of the article is to study the didactic functions of MOODLE using the example of teaching English in the second year of a language university; highlight the basic principles of organizing foreign language teaching and independent work of students in the MOODLE system; to show the possibilities of developing the skills of listening, reading, and writing.