29.925, Review: Applied Ling; Lang Acquisition; Psycholing: Navracsics, Pfenninger (2017)

Tue Feb 27 19:14:04 UTC 2018

LINGUIST List: Vol-29-925. Tue Feb 27 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.925, Review: Applied Ling; Lang Acquisition; Psycholing: Navracsics, Pfenninger (2017)

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Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2018 14:14:00
From: Jose Aguilar [jose.aguilarrio at univ-paris3.fr]
Subject: Future Research Directions for Applied Linguistics

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/28/28-599.html

EDITOR: Simone E. Pfenninger
EDITOR: Judit  Navracsics
TITLE: Future Research Directions for Applied Linguistics
SERIES TITLE: Second Language Acquisition
PUBLISHER: Multilingual Matters
YEAR: 2017

REVIEWER: Jose Aguilar, Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III

REVIEWS EDITOR: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

‘Future Research Directions for Applied Linguistics’ is a 295 page long edited
volume that “provides an overview of current thinking and directions for
further research in applied linguistics” (Pfenninger & Navracsics, 2017: back
cover). The volume counts fourteen Chapters, distributed in three main parts.
Seventeen authors have contributed to the volume. Some of the chapters present
annexes, which often contain extended pieces of data. There is no unified
references section, each article contains its own. The volume ends with a
synthetic, useful index.

In Chapter 1, which is an introduction, the editors insist on the
multidisciplinary nature of applied linguistics. They also present an outline
of the twelve following contributions, which are regrouped into three main
themes: a) theoretical perspectives, b) methodological approaches, c) language
policy and education.

Part one is entitled “Future Implications for Bilingualism”. It counts four
chapters. Chapter 2, by Kees de Bot, is entitled “The Future of the Bilingual
Advantage”. The author presents a detailed discussion of the “bilingual
advantage” (BA), which accounts for the opposing views arising from the
scientific literature. Ultimately, the author states that research on BA has
achieved a stage where operating at the level of the individual seems more
appropriate that any attempts to generalize. Consequently, he seems to caution
Dynamic Systems Theory approaches (Lowie, 2017; Hiver & Al-Hoorie, 2016).

Chapter 3, by Valéria Csépe, is entitled “The Multilingual Brain: Implications
for the Future”. The author argues the appropriateness of characterising the
unity of conjoint functions located in specific brain areas, rather than
modular approaches. The author develops her discussion about the interplay
between language and the brain, around specific research objects in applied
linguistics, such as the bilingual advantage (again), and code switching.
Although the author explicitly seems to compare monolinguals and
bi-/poli-inguals her analytical approach reads as tailored to each individual.
This again, seems consistent with emergentist approaches (Miras, 2017). Csépe
ultimately argues that any future research in bilingualism should account for
behavioural and neuroscientific methods, measure the perception and the
production, and integrate both experimental and statistical data.

Judit Navracsics and Gyula Sáry wrote Chapter 4, which is entitled
“Phonological and Semantic Awareness of Bilinguals and Second Language
Learners: Potential Implications for Second Language Instruction”. This
chapter presents an empirical study, aiming at helping instructors compile
teaching materials coherent with the natural language processing schemes.
According to the authors, their study shows the different impact that
language-based interferences may have on  the processing of language abilities
at different linguistic levels. Taking latency as a measure, the authors
conclude that, for bilinguals, phonological processing seems a more demanding
cognitive task than semantic processing. Ultimately, the applicability of
these results for language instruction appears to be limited and indirect.

Chapter 5, by Vincet J. Heuven, is “Perception of Checked Vowels by Early and
Late Dutch/English Bilinguals – Towards a New Measure of Language Dominance”.
This is an empirical chapter, which aims at measuring if/to which extent do
highly advanced L2 speakers have mental representations of the L2 sounds that
may not coincide with those of L1 speakers. The author concludes that some
highly advanced adult Dutch L2 users of English may have mental
representations of RP English sounds that differ from those of monolingual
English speakers.

Part 2 is entitled “Future Implications for Second Language Acquisition and
Language Policy: Theoretical Considerations”. It counts five chapters. Simone
E. Pfenninger and David Singleton co-wrote Chapter 6, “Recent Advances in
Quantitative Methods in Age-related Research”. It discusses the
methodological, and consequently empirical, benefits of using multilevel
modelling (MLM) to field-based, second language acquisition (SLA) research.
The chapter also presents a thorough discussion of the age factor in
quantitative, SLA research.

Chapter 7, by István Csernicskó is “Language Policy in Ukraine: The Burdens of
the Past and the Possibilities of the Future”. The author states his intention
to critically highlight the influence and the responsibility that governments
have over language policy related issues. More precisely, the author shows how
politicians may use language policies in order to trigger a conflictual
situation, or feed an already existing one – namely the recent Ukrainian
historical events.

Lars Bülow and Rüdiger Harnisch are the authors of Chapter 8, which is
entitled “The Reanalysis of -end as Marker for Gender-sensitive Language Use
and What This Implies for the Future Expression of Gender Equality”. This
chapter presents a both sociological and ideological research question,
namely, to what extent may grammatical structures lead to perceiving the
exclusion of specific genres. A capital distinction is made by the authors
between “genus” and “gender”, which appears as structurally specific to the
German language. The resulting data allows the authors to call for cautious
standpoints as refers to the alleged exclusion that some generic masculine
language uses may bestow upon women.

The title of Chapter 9, by Gyöngyi Fábián, is “Analytic Framework of the
Critical Classroom: Language and Beyond”. It presents a discussion of critical
approaches within the education realm. The question brought to the fore is how
can critical approaches be integrated into teachers’ training programs.
Educational matters, rather than linguistic, seem central to this chapter.
Some considerations as to the link between critical approaches and
language-learning matters are suggested in broader terms, at the end of the
chapter.

Chapter 10, by Ulrike Jessner and Valentina Török, is entitled “Strategies in
Multilingual Learning: Opening New Research Avenues”. It discusses
multilingual proficiency, awareness and strategies, as elements likely to be
observed within any learning process that revolves around, or encourages,
multilingual practices. This discussion is illustrated with data that show
contextualised instances of decoding strategies. Ultimately, crosslinguistic
interaction (CLIN), crosslinguistic awareness (XLA) and metalinguistic
awareness (MLA) are highlighted as three promising objects for future research
on SLA.

Part three is entitled “Future Implications for Instructed Second Language
Acquisition: Empirical Evidence”, counts four chapters. Wouter Penris and
Marjolijn Verspoor wrote Chapter 11, which is entitled “Academic Writing
Development: A Complex, Dynamic Process”. By presenting a longitudinal case
study – over 13 years –, the authors show the different characteristics of
formal and academic writing. According to the authors, these differences have
implications for the assessment of linguistic development. Ultimately, the
development of writing is characterised as an erratic process, rather than
linear and cumulative.

Kristina Cergol Kovačević wrote Chapter 12, which is entitled “Lessons Learned
from the Integration of Findings from Identical and Semi-Cognate Visual and
Auditory Processing in Bilingual Cognate Studies: Implications for Future
Studies”. It studies longitudinally how, and to what extent, may partial
orthographic overlap between two language systems influence in the processing
of Croatian-English cognates. The authors conclude that phonological overlap
inhibits auditory lexical decision tasks.

Chapter 13, by Szilvia Bátyi, is “The Impact of Attitudes on Language
Retention of Russian as a Foreign Language in Hungary: Some Lessons to be
Learnt from Attrition Studies”. It presents a mixed-methods study on how, and
to what extent, may attitudes to the learning of Russian in Hungary, have an
impact on the retention (or loss) of lexicon. The authors data analyses
suggest a correlation between the learners’ attitudes and predictions of
vocabulary loss. The dynamic nature of both attitudes and attrition calls for
an extended array of data points.

The editors of the volume, Simone E. Pfenninger and Judit Navracsics, wrote
the concluding chapter, which is entitled “Concluding Thoughts: A Road Map for
Future Research in Applied Linguistics”. The authors suggest three main points
on the applied linguistics agenda: a) ideology awareness should be prior to
the presentation of initiatives emerging from research; b) a call for more
innovative, research methodologies; c) efforts should be made in order to
bring together applied linguistics and language policies.

EVALUATION

“Future Research Directions for Applied Linguistics” develops a considerable
variety of matters about research on applied linguistics. This reviewer found
some chapters remarkably more accessible than others. In effect, Chapter 7
appeared considerably less technical and demanding than other chapters, which
presented empirical approaches, as well as precise, statistical analyses and
procedures. With respect to this, a form of coherence emerges from the volume,
as a whole, since several chapters account for, as much as they illustrate,
the diversity of methods that is called for by the editors. This reader,
however, felt at times a certain lack of balance among the three parts.
Whereas part one came across as genuinely cohesive, since the main research
question is bilingualism, part two felt somewhat loose, due to the variety of
research objects and methods, grouped under the umbrella category “theoretical
considerations”. An impression remains that bilingualism, or multilingualism,
appeared as the main research concern within the volume. This reader felt that
this trend may not fully account for the possibilities of applied linguistics
as a research discipline. In effect, and contrary to the research agenda that
the editors present in their concluding chapter, social aspects of language
use and policy in particular, seem under represented. This reviewer did not
fully understand the scope and the perimeter that the authors set for applied
linguistics. Is it mainly about language teaching and learning? Another point
of disagreement felt by this reviewer revolves around what was felt as a
validation of the construct “native speaker” (Mondada, 1999, Dewaele, 2017),
which seemed to emerge from some authors’ analyses. In effect, in some of the
empirical chapters, the category “native” appeared associated with control
groups, whose assessment of production competencies seemed to be associated
with apparently implicit, or ideal goals for those in the position as
learners. Such a standpoint seems hardly compatible with multilingual
approaches such as Levine’s (2011), among others, for whom communication
prevails over accuracy. With respect to this question, this reviewer was
surprised to see little, virtually no references, being made to the “Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL)” (European Council,
2001), namely for studies dealing the measurement of aspects of language
perception and production. However incomplete some may find the CEFRL
(Wisniewski, 2017), and notwithstanding the abuses it may have suffered from
both editing houses and language policy makers (Barrault-Méthy, 2015), one may
agree that it also presents concrete, operative categories that may unify what
is understood by level, as concerns the mastery of specific, given languages.
As a final, constructively critical point, this reviewer felt that, for a
volume entitled Future Research Directions for Applied Linguistics, the
geographical area represented by the contributing authors, languages and
speakers under scrutiny, was rather circumscribed. This raises a final,
epistemological question, what does “applied linguistics” mean world-wide, as
a discipline? What connexions are possible, or even desirable, with other
completing, social and scientific disciplines?

Ultimately, this is a thought provoking, edited volume, which will appeal to
and interest a wide variety of readership, from undergraduate students to
scholars.

REFERENCES

Barrault-Méthy, A.-M. (2015). The micropolitics of success and failure in
languages for specific purposes. Recherche et Pratiques Pédagogiques En
Langues de Spécialité no XXXIV(2) [online], last accessed 21th September 2017.
URL: http://apliut.revues.org/5215

Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment.Strasbourg:  Language Policy
Division.

Dewaele, J.-M. (2017). Why the dichotomy ‘l1 versus lx user’ is better than
‘Native versus non-native speaker. Applied Linguistics. DOI:
10.1093/applin/amw055

Hiver, P., & Al-Hoorie, A. H. (2016). A Dynamic Ensemble for Second Language
Research: Putting Complexity Theory Into Practice. The Modern Language
Journal, 100(4), 741-756.

Levine, G. S. (2011). Code Choice in the Language Classroom. Bristol:
Multilingual Matters.

Lowie, W. (2017). Emergentism: wide ranging theoretical framework or just one
more meta-theory? RDLC [online], 14-1, last accessed 21th September 2017. URL:
http://rdlc.revues.org/1140

Miras, G. (2017). Emergentisme. RDLC [online], 14-1, last accessed 21th
September 2017. URL: http://rdlc.revues.org/1383

Mondada, L. (1999). L’accomplissement de l’ « étrangéité » dans et par
l’interaction : procédures de catégorisation des locuteurs. Langages 134,
20-34.

Pfenninger, S. E., & Navracsics, J. (2017). Future Research Directions for
Applied Linguistics. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Wisniewski K. (2017). Empirical learner language and the levels of the common
european framework of reference. Language Learning, 67(S1), 232-253.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Jose Aguilar (https://cv.archives-ouvertes.fr/jose-aguilar) is a Senior
Lecturer at Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3 University in France. He teaches
undergraduate, post-graduate and masters courses in education and applied
linguistics. His research interests are in classroom interaction, foreign
language teacher education and research methodology. He has presented papers
at international conferences in Europe. His works have been published in
international reviews. He has co-edited several volumes as well as special
issues, on applied linguistics and didactics, in France. He is a member and
board director of the non institutional, European research network on
multilingual education “Langscape” (URL:
https://blogs.hu-berlin.de/langscape/)

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