Annual Review of Applied Linguistics - Current Issue

Volume 27

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics reviews research in key areas in the broad field of applied linguistics. Each issue is thematic, covering the topic by means of critical summaries, overviews and bibliographic citations. Every fourth or fifth issue surveys applied linguistics broadly, offering timely essays on language learning and pedagogy, discourse analysis, teaching innovations, second language acquisition, computer-assisted instruction, language use in professional contexts, sociolinguistics, language policy, and language assessment, to name just a few of the areas reviewed. It provides over 500 new citations each year. The theme for Volume 26 (2006) is 'Lingua franca languages'.

AUDIENCE, AUTHORSHIP, AND ARTIFACT: THE EMERGENT SEMIOTICS OF WEB 2.0

Research Articles
Mark Warschauer, Douglas Grimes,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 1-23

Abstract
The second-generation Web has amplified and extended new ways of online communication. Millions of people now interact through blogs, collaborate through wikis, play multiplayer games, publish podcasts and video, build relationships through social network sites, and evaluate all the above forms of communication through feedback and ranking mechanisms. This article analyzes the emergent semiotics of what has been called Web 2.0 by focusing on three critical elements of language use and communication: audience, authorship, and artifact. Drawing on recent theoretical and empirical work, this article considers the significance of transformations in these three areas for both research and teaching.

ASSESSING LANGUAGE USING COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

Research Articles
Dan Douglas, Volker Hegelheimer,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 115-132

Abstract
In this article, we propose to follow up on the most recent ARAL survey article on trends in computer-based second language assessment (Jamieson, 2005) and review developments in the use of technology in the creation, delivery, and scoring of language tests. We will discuss the promise and threats associated with computer-based language testing, including the language construct in relation to computer-based delivery and response technologies; computer-based authoring options; current developments; scoring, feedback, and reporting systems; and validation issues.

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY DEVELOPMENT IN COMPUTER-MEDIATED CONTEXTS AND COMMUNITIES

Research Articles
Steven L. Thorne, Rebecca W. Black,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 133-160

Abstract
This article describes second language uses of Internet communication tools, Web environments, and online gaming, and critically reviews existing research and emerging technologies representing diverse pedagogical conditions in three distinct computer-mediated configurations: (1) instructed and institutional intraclass discussion and interclass partnerships, (2) transcultural partnerships and structured participation in Internet environments, and (3) interaction in ongoing Internet-mediated environments that include popular culture blogs and Web sites, fanfiction communities, language and/or culture communities, and online games. We propose that a critical-and-constructive appraisal of existing and emerging digital media, communicative genres, literacy practices, and the communities made possible through them, can help to forge more responsive, and more ecologically responsible, language-learning opportunities for students who are expected to navigate increasingly mediated social and professional worlds.

PLAGIARISM AND SECOND LANGUAGE WRITING IN AN ELECTRONIC AGE

Research Articles
John Flowerdew, Yongyan Li,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 161-183

Abstract
It has been observed that plagiarism is a problem across specialities and professions, and it is probably becoming more rampant than ever in this electronic age. Based on a body of literature primarily in applied linguistics, this review focuses on textual plagiarism and antiplagiarism in second language academic writing. Following a conceptualization of plagiarism and an examination of some terminology employed in the literature to address the complexity of the issue, a number of perspectives taken upon plagiarism in the literature are examined. These include a cultural interpretation, a developmental perspective, a disciplinary perspective, student beliefs and practices, faculty perceptions, and a focus upon antiplagiarism pedagogy. The challenge and opportunity involved in dealing with plagiarism is then highlighted by reviewing work that has analyzed the problem in connection with the Internet, by exemplifying some antiplagiarism detection devices, and by relating these to John Sinclair's of linguistic structure. The article ends by suggesting a few lines of future research on plagiarism.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING AND RESEARCHING PRONUNCIATION

Research Articles
John Levis,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 184-202

Abstract
Pronunciation, long on the periphery of applied linguistics research and pedagogy, continues to grow in importance because of its central roles in speech recognition, speech perception, and speaker identity. Pronunciation-related issues such as comprehensibility, accent, and the mutual intelligibility of varieties of world Englishes are central to many questions in applied linguistics. This calls for a sophisticated understanding of how technological tools that have long been used to shed light on phonological categories can be applied to teaching. Research into computer-assisted pronunciation teaching (CAPT) suggests that both researchers and pronunciation teachers increasingly make use of technology to answer key questions, to ensure that claims are defensible, and to develop theories and practices that more closely match acoustic reality. This article reviews three key areas where computer technology and pronunciation intersect: (1) appropriate pedagogical goals and the measurement of improvement; (2) the ability of CAPT to give useful, automatic feedback; and (3) the use of technology in diagnosing pronunciation errors. This article concludes with recommendations for key technological competencies needed by any researcher or teacher who examines pronunciation-related issues.

WHY THE TAIL WAGS THE DOG: THE PERNICIOUS INFLUENCE OF PRODUCT-ORIENTED DISCOURSE ON THE PROVISION OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT

Research Articles
James P. Witte,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 203-215

Abstract
Instructors and instructional technologists who promote the adoption of educational technology commonly participate in a discourse pattern focused on technology products, software, and services. Considered in terms of Rogers's (2003) diffusion of innovations model, the technologist works as a change agent, and the innovations in question are the adoption of technology products. When pressed, most instructors and technologists acknowledge that the innovations of interest more properly revolve around changes in our instructional designs, yet the vocabulary of common discourse remains product-oriented. This article describes the pernicious influences of this product-oriented pattern of discourse on the organization and provision of educational technology support services, as well as some of the driving forces that make it hard to talk about educational technology in terms of innovations in teaching.

USING ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING AS A RESOURCE FOR INCREASING EMPIRICAL AND INTERPRETIVE ACCOUNTABILITY IN CONVERSATION ANALYSIS

Research Articles
Numa Markee, Jon Stansell,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 24-44

Abstract
Conversation analysis (CA) emerged as a form of microsociology in the 1960s at the same time that audio (and later, video) recording technologies became widely available to consumers. The development of these technologies made it relatively easy for analysts to record, transcribe, and analyze how members collaboratively coconstruct social order in naturally occurring talk-in-interaction. A key feature of the intellectual discourse of CA work has always been that analysts make their data available for public inspection. In this way, readers of this research may judge for themselves whether the original analyses are well-founded. This methodological practice also allows readers to propose alternative interpretations of the data if they disagree with the original writer's analyses. Now, recordings of the talk-in-interaction that is being studied have always been considered to be the primary data in CA. However, in practice, written transcripts have until recently been the most widely available sources of information in conventional, paper-based publishing. With the development and rapid diffusion of computers from the 1980s onward, it is now possible to integrate video and audio recordings with text and graphics in a single electronic environment. In this article, we argue that for CA the advent of the digital publishing era is not an intellectual luxury such as eye gaze, gesture, and embodied actions are incorporated into an analysis. We also suggest that readers will be able to engage in electronic data sessions that complement, and possibly transcend, what can be achieved by their older, face-to-face siblings as a means of building electronic communities of scholars. This article illustrates how these trends are likely to play out in practice by developing a conversation analysis of exophoric deictic reference that is based on data that are organized and presented in a native electronic format. A companion Web site at https://segue.atlas.uiuc.edu/index.php? action=site site=virtualdata also demonstrates how electronic data sessions might be conducted.

THE ROLE OF COMPUTER MEDIATION IN THE INSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF L2 PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

Research Articles
Julie A. Belz,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 45-75

Abstract
This article provides a selective review of the role of computer mediation in the instruction and development of second language (L2) or interlanguage pragmatic competence within foreign and second language education. Both researchers and practitioners have noted consistently that several aspects of the teaching and tutored learning of L2 pragmatics have been reported as problematic and/or underexplored in the published knowledge base to date, including the availability and authenticity of instructional materials, the provision of opportunities for the performance and practice of L2 pragmatic competence in meaningful interactions, the relative lack of developmental data documenting the precise (and varied) pathways of L2 pragmatic competence over time, and the efficacy of particular pedagogical interventions in classroom-based L2 pragmatics instruction. The role of computer mediation in each of these underexplored areas is examined with a special emphasis on the teaching and learning of L2 pragmatics in Internet-mediated partnerships and on the use of (learner) corpora in L2 pragmatics instruction and research.

NEW TRENDS IN USING TECHNOLOGY IN THE LANGUAGE CURRICULUM

Research Articles
Robert J. Blake,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 76-97

Abstract
Language teachers actively seek to provide their students with classroom opportunities to engage in collaborative interactions. Similar opportunities for such interactions can also be created within the context of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and, in particular, in the area of computer-mediated communication (CMC) working together with other nonnative- (NNS) or native-speaker (NS) partners. Recent advances in intelligent CALL (iCALL) are also beginning to empower students to engage in online activities with computer applications that provide at least limited levels of feedback, if not some palpable degree of interactivity. This article will review the reported benefits of online language study with particular emphasis on the importance of providing a sound pedagogical framework for the tasks and activities that students are asked to accomplish. In pursuit of effective CALL, researchers have previously stressed the role of online negotiations of meaning via CMC, intercultural communicative competence, and electronic literacy and identity. Although these topics continue to be of great interest for the CALL field, other areas are attracting attention as well: iCALL, distance learning, and teacher training. CALL researchers are increasingly finding that teachers' lack of experience with using technology can often present the most serious barrier to its successful integration into the language curriculum.

TECHNOLOGY AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Research Articles
Carol A. Chapelle,
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, Volume 27 , pp 98-114

Abstract
Computer technology provides learners with new and varied options for language learning through interactive tasks delivered through CD-ROMs, Web pages, and communications software on the Internet. Researchers need to reconsider any approach to second language acquisition (SLA) concerned with explaining how language development is prompted by exposure to the target language in view of the dramatic differences in language experience learners engage in due to computer technology. Virtually all theories are concerned with the role of linguistic input or the environment (VanPatten Williams, 2007), and therefore technology needs to be considered.