gibson ferguson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by gibson ferguson

This study is the first stage of a wider enquiry into alternative ways of assessing the readabili... more This study is the first stage of a wider enquiry into alternative ways of assessing the readability of specialist texts. The interest in assessing these texts arose from the need to grade 60 medical journal articles for an individualized English-as-a-Foreign-Language reading scheme for doctors. The study reports on an investigation of subjective judgements of difficulty by "expert" raters. This involved the identification of possible components of difficulty and their independent assessment and scoring by five raters. Subsequent analysis focused on the structure and reliability of these judgements. Preliminary results of the data analysis indicate that four out of the seven components possessed satisfactory levels of inter-rater reliability and that syntactic and lexical difficulty as assessed by the raters may be the best predictors of overall difficulty. Finally, there is statistical evidence that the putative judgement by the raters of seven discrete components may be m...

Attitudes towards English in Europe, 2015

The status of English in Europe is changing, and this book offers a series of studies of attitude... more The status of English in Europe is changing, and this book offers a series of studies of attitudes to English today. Until recently English was often seen as an opportunity for Europeans to take part in the global market, but increasingly English is viewed as a threat to the national languages of Europe, and the idea that Europeans are equally at home in English is being challenged. This book will appeal to anyone interested in global English.

International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2008

I would like to thank Alan Firth for his thoughtful and broadly positive review of my book on lan... more I would like to thank Alan Firth for his thoughtful and broadly positive review of my book on language planning and education, and I am grateful too to IJAL both for publishing a review of my book in the first place and for offering this opportunity to respond to the review. It is perhaps inevitable that author and reviewer will not see eye to eye on every aspect of a book and this is the case here, so I begin by taking issue with Firth on some matters of fact and interpretation before commenting briefly on a wider issue. Referring to Chapter 1, Firth suggests that I mount 'a post-structural, critical sociolinguistic critique of conventional language planning (LP) scholarship, where it is contended that LP had, until very recently, become preoccupied with: (a) the European context, which has led to (b) the rise of Eurocentrism'. The comment takes me somewhat by surprise since, while I find aspects of post-structuralist thinking illuminating, I am unconvinced by certain of the tenets of the post-structural position, and my intention in the chapter was to report on rather than endorse these 'post-structural, critical sociolinguistic' critiques. More puzzling still, however, is the attribution to me of the proposition that LP had been preoccupied with the 'European context'. It is puzzling because near the beginning of the first chapter I make clear that in its early years academic LP was very much focussed on the language problems of newly emergent post-colonial states, but that the solutions to these problems often drew, inappropriately, on European models of the nation-state. Moving on to Chapter 2, Firth complains that the focus is 'placed solely on the European context' (my emphasis). Here I have to differ, for on pages 27 and 28 I mention, and discuss the work of, language academies in Latin America, in Malaysia (Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka), in Tanzania (Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa) and in South Africa (PanSALB); I give examples of lexical elaboration from Indonesia on page 30; on pages 30-32 I illustrate the operations of linguistic purism with a discussion of the 1930s Turkish language reform, and on page 33-in an exegesis of the term 'status planning'-I draw on examples from Quebec and Singapore. It is true that in the first part of the chapter, where I discuss language standardization and nation-building, I focus on Europe, but this is for a straightforward historical reason, namely that the concept of the nation, the ideology of nationalism, and the foundational role assigned to language in the definition of the nation have peculiarly European roots going back to the early 19th century and the writings of German Romantics such as Fichte and Herder. As Kedourie (1960: 9) has remarked, 'Nationalism is a doctrine invented in Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century.' At the same time, Haugen's (1959; 1966) early and seminal identification of the component processes of standardisation

Ibérica, 2007

The emergence of English as the international language of scientific communication has been so am... more The emergence of English as the international language of scientific communication has been so amply documented (e.g. see Sano, 2002; Ammon, 2003) that its dominance is hardly disputed empirically even by those most critical of this state of affairs. More contested, however, are the effects of this dominance: with two sets of concerns particularly salient: (i) the potential detrimental impact on other languages-even standardised national languages, which are at risk, so it is argued, of being relegated to a lesser role in an incipient global diglossia and of losing domains; and (ii) the communicative inequality produced by the dominance of English between, in particular, native-speaking scientists/academics and non-native scientists, the latter experiencing relative disadvantage, it is sometimes claimed, when it comes to placing their work in high prestige international journals. This paper investigates both these concerns drawing on a combination of bibliometric data, literature survey and conceptual analysis, the purpose being to determine the extent which criticisms relating to domain loss and inequity can be sustained. The paper argues that the risk of domain loss is very real, but that recent language planning interventions may help avert the danger. As regards inequality, we argue that while language is still a barrier for some scholars, it seems to be diminishing in importance, with non-language factors surpassing them as sources of disadvantage. At the end of the paper some tentative suggestions are made for the amelioration of language-based disadvantage in academic publication.

AILA Review, 2003

Code-Switching in the classroom across a range of curricular subjects is a widespread phenomenon ... more Code-Switching in the classroom across a range of curricular subjects is a widespread phenomenon in multilingual, language contact settings in Africa and, indeed, world-wide; yet it is not infrequently regarded unfavourably by educational policy-makers. This paper reviews the literature on classroom functions of code-switching in post-colonial contexts, commenting on the merits and limitations of recent research. It also examines some of the conceptions of language underlying official and lay attitudes. Finally, as befits a paper examining classroom codeþswitching from the somewhat unusual perspective of language planning in education, it evaluates a number of policy proposals addressing the issue of how code-switching might more effectively be exploited as a communicative and pedagogic resource in instruction. The paper overall is constructed so as to inform the attitudes, practices and policies of policy-makers, teacher educators and teachers.

English Today, Nov 21, 2013

Applied Linguistics, Mar 1, 2007

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Feb 1, 2010

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Mar 13, 2006

... had a somewhat dated resonance, eliciting unfavoured images of manipulation, positivist socia... more ... had a somewhat dated resonance, eliciting unfavoured images of manipulation, positivist social engineering, and ... 3. A third set of global developments reshaping the context of LP may be ... That said, and reﬂecting no doubt its multiple material, cultural and cognitive dimensions ...

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Apr 9, 2018

The Routledge Handbook of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) provides an accessible, authoritative ... more The Routledge Handbook of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) provides an accessible, authoritative and comprehensive introduction to the main theories, concepts, contexts and applications of this rapidly developing field of study. Including 47 state-of-the art chapters from leading international scholars, the handbook covers key concepts, regional spread, linguistic features and communication processes, domains and functions, ELF in academia, ELF and pedagogy and future trends. This handbook is key reading for all those engaged in the study and research of English as a Lingua Franca as well as Global Englishes more broadly, within the fields of English language, Applied Linguistics, and Education.

Discourse & Society, Mar 1, 2017

Language Policy, Sep 11, 2008

In a recent article, Ndhlovu (2006) claims that ‘‘...the issue of English hegemony in former Brit... more In a recent article, Ndhlovu (2006) claims that ‘‘...the issue of English hegemony in former British colonies is now an old and exhausted question...’’ (p. 305). The hyperbole of these remarks is exposed, however, in Williams’s necessary and important book. It is necessary because language factors continue to play a significant, though difficult to calibrate, role in the poor quality of much primary education in Africa. And, it is important because it goes well beyond the usual exhortatory discourse to assemble cross-national empirical evidence of the effects of contrasting language education policies on reading performance in English and an African language. The first three chapters provide, by way of background to the empirical study, helpful, if inevitably brief, reviews of literature on education and development (Chapter 1), on language in Malawi and Zambia (Chapter 2), and on reading and reading research (Chapter 3). Particularly illuminating here is the account given of classroom reading practices, a salient feature of which—in both Malawi and Zambia—is the lack of attention given to comprehension of meaning and the emphasis on choral repetition. As Williams notes, one factor underlying literacy practices of this kind is the severe shortage of textbooks. The background chapters lead us into the core of the book (Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7), where the empirical study is reported in detail. The reader will find that the methodology is sound and clearly explained, taking account of potential pitfalls. The same is true of the statistical reporting of results. These may be somewhat dense for readers with an antipathy for numerical tables and box plots, but the results are of great interest and worth summarising here very briefly.

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Mar 1, 2012

John Benjamins Publishing Company eBooks, Dec 11, 2002

Language Learning and Language Teaching The LL&LTmonograph series publishes monographs as wel... more Language Learning and Language Teaching The LL&LTmonograph series publishes monographs as well as edited volumes on applied and methodological issues in the field of language pedagogy. The focus of the series is on subjects such as classroom discourse and ...

ELT journal, 2003

... Roberts (1998) estimates that only about 10% of CELTA/CTEFLA graduates actually go on to obta... more ... Roberts (1998) estimates that only about 10% of CELTA/CTEFLA graduates actually go on to obtain the Diploma. ... Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign language to Adults) which, in turn, became the CELTA ( Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) in 1996. ...

This paper begins with an outline of some desirable properties of a communicative-pedagogical gra... more This paper begins with an outline of some desirable properties of a communicative-pedagogical grammar. This serves as a theoretical point of reference for the subsequent description of a narrowly bounded semantic area, that of regret and rzlief. Conceptual analysis reveals a systematic relationship between these two emotions, which is grammaticalized through the so-called 'unreal conditional.' The paper then investigates the pragmatic and discoursal circumstances that encourage the selection of conditional exponent for the expression of regret. There is, finally, a brief discussion of pedagogical implications arising from the preceding description. (Contains 28 references.) (Author)

INTRODUCTION 2.4.4.2 Language Planning from the Perspective of Language Spread 2.4.5 Evaluation 2... more INTRODUCTION 2.4.4.2 Language Planning from the Perspective of Language Spread 2.4.5 Evaluation 2.4.5.1 The Application of Cost-Benefit Analysis to Language Planning 2.4.5.2 Curriculum Evaluation in Language Planning 28 2.5 Conclusion: The Identity of the Language Planner