Change and Language: Papers from the Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics Held at the University of Leeds, September 1994 (British Studies in Applied Linguistics, 10)

361 Pages·1996·1.7 MB·English

by  Lynne Cameron

Change and Language : Papers From the
Annual Meeting of the British Association
title: for Applied Linguistics Held At the
University of Leeds, September 1994
British Studies in Applied Linguistics ; 10
author: Coleman, Hywel.
publisher: Multilingual Matters
isbn10 | asin: 1853593591
print isbn13: 9781853593598
ebook isbn13: 9780585195711
language: English
subject Linguistic change--Congresses.
publication date: 1996
lcc: P142.B74 1994eb
ddc: 306.4/4
subject: Linguistic change--Congresses.
Page i
Change and Language
Papers from the
Annual Meeting of the British Association for Applied Linguistics
held at the University of Leeds, September 1994
Edited by
Hywel Coleman and Lynne Cameron
British Association For Applied Linguistics
in association with
Multilingual Matters Ltd
Clevedon · Philadelphia · Adelaide
Page ii
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
ISBN 1-85359-359-1 (pbk)
Published by the British Association for Applied Linguistics in
association with Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Multilingual Matters Ltd
UK: Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Road, Clevedon, Avon
BS21 7SJ.
USA: 1900 Frost Road, Suite 101, Bristol, PA 19007, USA.
Australia: P.O. Box 6025, 83 Gilles Street, Adelaide, SA 5000,
Australia.
Copyright © 1996 British Association for Applied Linguistics
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any
form or by any means without permission in writing from the
publisher.
Typeset by Wayside Books, Clevedon.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the Longdunn Press, Bristol.
Page iii
CONTENTS
Change and Language: Editors' preface v
Hywel Coleman And Lynne Cameron
Section 1: Change, Language and Society at the End of the
Twentieth Century
Introduction 1
1 3
Border Crossings: Discourse and social change in
contemporary societies
Norman Fairclough
2 18
Language Change and Darwinian Principles
Michael Foster
3 28
'La Crême de la Crême': Coercion and corpus changeAn
example from recruitment advertisements
Chris Kennedy
4 39
Dialect as Metaphor: The use of language in Edgar Reitz'
Heimat films
Ulrike Hanna Meinhof
5 52
Modern Foreign Languages and Curriculum Policy at 16+:
Plus ça change
Margaret Rogers
6 64
Language Change at the British Sign Language/English
Interface
Graham H. Turner
Section 2: Change, Language and the Individual
Introduction 73
7 75
Change in Child Language and Child Linguists
Catherine E. Snow
Page iv
8 89
Crossing: Language across ethnic boundaries
Ben Rampton
9 103
Developing Grammars in Their Social Context: The L2
acquisition patterns of three Chinese learners of English
Christine Raschka and Lesley Milroy
10 116
The Oral Language Development of Instructed Second
Language Learners: The quest for a progress-sensitive
proficiency measure
Alan Tonkyn
11 131
Elaborating Elaboration in Academic Tutorials: Changing
cultural assumptions
Joan M. Turner and Masako K. Hiraga
Section 3: Change, Language Education and the
Developing World
Introduction 141
12 143
Change, Language and the Developing World
D. P. Pattanayak
13 153
Changes in Learning English Vocabulary in China
Martin Cortazzi and Lixian Jin
14 166
Winds of Change in Africa: Fresh air for African
languages? Some preliminary reflections
Clinton D. W. Robinson
Page vi
Kennedy's chapter is a study of a particular case of planned language
change in the UK which is intended to contribute to social change.
Meinhof's chapter, on the other hand, traces the subtle ways in which
language use in the films of Edgar Reitz mirrors social change in
Germany during the twentieth century. We return to the UK in Rogers'
chapter, where she identifies glaring examples of change failing to
take place in educational practice, despite superficial changes in
terminology. The final chapter in this section is Turner's study of the
interface between British Sign Language and English among British
Deaf people.
Change, Language and the Individual
The second sub-theme considered the twin issues of language and
change in the context of the individual. This permitted examination of
first, second and foreign language development in the individual
learner. It was concerned with investigation of language change within
the individual in the broadest sense: for example, to what extent and
in what ways do native speakers change in their use of their mother
tongue as they grow older and encounter change in life
circumstances? Five papers representing this sub-theme have been
selected for inclusion in this volume.
Catherine Snow's plenary paper opens this section with a meticulous
study of the ways in which approaches to development in child
language have themselves developed over recent years. Ben
Rampton's chapter examines the phenomenon of 'language
crossing'the use of Creole, Panjabi or stylised Indian Englishby
members of other ethnic groups and, in doing so, begins to challenge
some basic concepts employed in Second Language Acquisition
research. The chapter by Raschka and Milroy takes as its research
base members of another ethnic minority in the UK, the Chinese
community in Tyneside, and demonstrates that language development
is intimately connected with the social networks in which individuals
involve themselves.
Whilst Raschka and Milroy's subjects have been in the UK for
between 5 and 36 years, Tonkyn's chapter examines the English
language development of a small group of international students at a
British university. These are people who are exposed to English in
Britain for a matter of weeks only. Tonkyn uses this opportunity to
explore the suitability of a number of instruments in order to detect
whether change takes place even in such a short period.
The chapter by Turner and Hiraga concludes this section with a
comparative study of the assumptions regarding appropriate behaviour
in lecturer-
Page vii
student interaction in Japanese and British universities. Not
surprisingly, perhaps, they discover that these assumptions reflect
differing sociopragmatic principles. This finding is then related to the
theme of the volume by raising the question as to how individuals
who have to move from one academic context to another can be
enabled to become aware of the differing sociopragmatic assumptions
and so ensure that their behaviour continues to be contextually
appropriate.
Change, Language Education and the Developing World
This sub-theme explored the complex relationships between language
education and social change in developing countries. Issues raised
included the choice of national languages, the role of English as the
medium of contact in development activities, and the role of agencies
such as the British Council in language education in the developing
world. The focus of attention in this sub-theme, therefore, was on the
way in which language education and language policy influence,
support or hinder the planned or deliberate social change which
constitutes the essence of development activity. Three chapters in this
collection represent this sub-theme.
D. P. Pattanayak's chapter, based on his plenary presentation, argues
forcefully that the richness which linguistic and cultural pluralism
represents must be defended against tendencies to homogenisation.
Pattanayak's argument thus resonates with Fairclough's discussion
which opens this collection. Clinton Robinson's study picks up on
some of the same issues and examines them in the specific context of
Cameroon; he too argues that the variety of languages in Africa is a
resource which we are foolish to neglect. Finally, the chapter by
Cortazzi and Jin looks at a very particular aspect of the teaching of
English in China; although at first sight they may appear to be
upholding the hegemony of English which both Pattanayak and