The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Language Testing

The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Language Testing
Author: Paula Winke
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 543
Release: 2020-12-27
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1351034774

This Handbook, with 45 chapters written by the world’s leading scholars in second language acquisition (SLA) and language testing, dives into the important interface between SLA and language testing: shared ground where researchers seek to measure second language performance to better understand how people learn their second languages. The Handbook also reviews how to best measure and evaluate the second language (L2) learners’ personal characteristics, backgrounds, and learning contexts to better understand their L2 learning trajectories. Taking a transdisciplinary approach to research, the book builds upon recent theorizing and measurement principles from the fields of applied linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, psycholinguistics, psychometrics, educational measurement, and social psychology. The Handbook is divided into six key sections: (1) Assessment concepts for SLA researchers, (2) Building instruments for SLA research, (3) Measuring individual differences, (4) Measuring language development, (5) Testing specific populations, and (6) Measurement principles for SLA researchers.

Canadiana

Canadiana
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 720
Release: 1986
Genre: Canada
ISBN:

Diglossia

Diglossia
Author: Mauro Fernández
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 525
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027237492

Today, the notion of 'diglossia' occupies a prominent place in sociolinguistic research. Since the 1960s, when the dominant sense of 'diglossia' was the complementary sociofunctional distribution of two varieties of the same language, the term has been applied -- often controversially -- to a growing number of diverse sociolinguistic situations. As a consequence of this extension of the scope of the concept, in combination with an increasing interest in the relationship between the role of language and the social structure, the number of publications in this field has risen exponentially over the last decades. However, despite the growing importance of the notion, up till now there was no adequate bibliography devoted to diglossia, while coverage in other bibliographies does not do justice to the number of works actually published in this area. This first comprehensive bibliography of the subject includes almost 3,000 entries; although the time span covered is 1960-1990, the book includes several dozens of entries from before 1960 and also a substantial number of very recent publications from the period 1990-1992. The selection of items has not been restricted to a specific definition of diglossia: all available publications in which the term (or one of its offsprings) appears have been included; moreover, when considered appropriate, some material relevant to the subject has been added even though the term is not explicitly used. The usefulness of the bibliography has been enhanced significantly by six indexes: (1) index of languages, (2) diglossia in literature, (3) historically oriented works, (4) pedagogically oriented works, (5) theoretical works, and (6) theses and dissertations.

Linguistic Theories of Humor

Linguistic Theories of Humor
Author: Salvatore Attardo
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2024-07-22
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3111280330

Linguistic Theories of Humor appeared thirty years ago. It attracted a lot of attention and ended up being one of the most quoted books in the linguistics of humor. Partly due to its broad coverage which includes both theoretical and socio-pragmatic aspects and partly due to the depth of its bibliography it remained an indispensable reference in many areas, despite the growth of the field. The original fully corrected text is supplemented by a long essay, in which the author revisits the topics of the book to discuss how three decades have shifted the perspective of the field.

The Relationship Between the Use of Communication Strategies and Aspects of Target Language Proficiencies

The Relationship Between the Use of Communication Strategies and Aspects of Target Language Proficiencies
Author: Tahereh Paribakht
Publisher: International Center for Research on Bilingualism = Centre international de recherche sur le bilinguisme
Total Pages: 78
Release: 1984
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN:

Four hypotheses are addressed concerning the relationship of the types and proportion of strategies adopted by the subject groups to the proficiency levels, and the subjects' rate of success and effective use of communication strategies for conveying intended meaning as they relate to proficiency level in the target language. The subjects were 40 Persian students in Canada at two distinct proficiency levels, and 20 native English speakers as a comparison group. Communication skills were elicited by a concept-identification task using concrete and abstract nouns, and involving both oral production and interaction between members of the two groups. A taxonomy of communication strategies was developed, with classification into four communicative approaches (linguistic, contextual, conceptual, and mime) based on the type of knowledge used by the speaker for their adoption. Results also showed that differences between groups in the adoption of communication approach types were minimal except in the relative frequency of use of some strategies, and that the groups differed in success rate at getting meaning across and in their effective use of strategies to communicate abstract concepts. It is concluded that use of communications strategies and target language proficiency level are related, use of communication strategies is dynamic, and that differing surface realizations of speakers' communication skills cumulatively affect success in conveying meaning. (MSE)