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Papers by Tarmo Ahvenainen

Tässä artikkelissa selitetään lingua-franca lähestymistapaa kieleen ja pohditaan miten se muuttaa... more Tässä artikkelissa selitetään lingua-franca lähestymistapaa
kieleen ja pohditaan miten se muuttaa käsityksiä kohdekielestä, kielitaidosta, arviointikriteereistä
ja niiden soveltamisesta, erityisesti englannin kielen kannalta. Artikkelissa onyhteen sulautuneina kohdekielen uudelleen määrittelyn, opetuksen sisältöjen valinnan ja
arvioinnin näkökulmat. Lyhennettä ELF käytetään käsitteestä ”englanti lingua francana”. Lingua franca -tutkimuksessa kielenkäyttöä lähestytään siitä näkökulmasta, mitä tapahtuu
kielenkäyttäjien välillä, ja mikä tekee viestinnästä toimivaa ja tehokasta, ei siitä miten eisyntyperäisen
tuottama kieli poikkeaa syntyperäisen kielenpuhujan käyttämästä kielestä. Monet kokeneet englanninopettajat ovat sanoneet, että ELF pukee sanoiksi ja käsitteiksi
sen ajattelutavan, jota he ovat vaistonvaraisesti toteuttaneet muutenkin. Silti ELF-ajattelun omaksuminen kielitaidon arviointiin ei ole ongelmatonta. Itselläni ELF-tutkija ja
normiajatteluun tottunut kielenopettaja/kielitaidon arvioija käyvät pään sisällä raivokasta kamppailua siitä, mikä on tärkeää kielenkäytössä – tai mikä se englannin kieli kohdekielenä oikeastaan on.

Many of us have experienced a situation when we have felt the need to take the interlocutor into ... more Many of us have experienced a situation when we have felt the need to take the interlocutor into account in a situation when we have perceived insecurity in her language use. Similarly, many of us have experienced a situation where we have
been unwilling to use a foreign language in public. Partly this unwillingness has been connected with the feeling of loss of face. A Finnish tourist in France, attempting to
speak French, may be delighted when the interlocutor swi tches to English – or is frustrated for the idea that her French has not been good enough. These phenomena can be studied from the point of view of proficiency face, i.e. the public
image of the person as the language user that she wishes others’ to acknowledge. This popularized article introduces the concept of proficiency face as a part of interaction and briefly discusses consideration of proficiency in foreign language
instruction.

In a R&D project involving people and organizations in the different disciplines or fields of bus... more In a R&D project involving people and organizations in the different disciplines or fields of business and industry, participants can be seen to represent various professional cultures, functional cultures and organizational. On the other hand, a project of long duration with fairly permanent leadership and key members may have a specific project culture, which in itself may be inter- or transdisciplinary (Remington 2011). Components of these cultures may include such elements as the motives, values, beliefs, identities, interpretations and meanings of significant events and social practices (Lumpé 2008: 71). In a transdisciplinary project, novel concepts and modes of working emerge, while if the project stays at the interdisciplinary level or multidisciplinary level, such innovations do not appear.

In this light, web-based survey answers of eight R&D projects (see Lindeman & Veistilä, in this publication) where several Finnish universities of applied sciences (UAS) had participated, were approached with a cultural focus. Further, three focus-group interviews with participants from four projects enabled more in-depth views of participants on these matters. In this article, two phenomena that emerged from this cultural focus are discussed, negotiation of meaning of concepts, and sharing and changing of field-specific practices.

Kieliverkoston verkkolehti, Dec 5, 2012

Useimmat meistä ovat kokeneet tilanteen, jossa olemme olleet haluttomia puhumaan vierasta kieltä.... more Useimmat meistä ovat kokeneet tilanteen, jossa olemme olleet haluttomia puhumaan vierasta kieltä. Monet meistä ovat olleet myös tilanteissa, joissa meillä on ollut tarve ottaa puhekumppani jotenkin erityisellä tavalla huomioon, koska olemme vaistonneet hänessä epävarmuutta käyttää sitä yhteistä kieltä, jolla olemme puhuneet. Kun suomalainen ranskaa innokkaasti puhuva turisti saa Ranskassa vastaansa englanninkielisen vastauksen, hän voi ilostua koetusta vastaantulosta – tai harmistua koska hänen kielensä ei tunnu kelpaavan. Näitä tapauksia voidaan tarkastella kielitaitokasvojen kannalta, eli sen kuvan kannalta, jonka me koemme muiden näkevän meistä kielenkäyttäjänä. Tässä artikkelissa valotetaan kielitaitokasvoja osana vuorovaikutusta, sekä pohditaan lyhyesti kielitaitokasvojen huomioon ottamista kielen opetuksessa. Osa esimerkeistä on työn alla olevan väitöstutkimukseni empiirisestä aineistosta, jossa tutkin AMK-opiskelijoita kansainvälisessä workshopissa.

The use of English as a lingua franca, non-native language for all participants involved, is a re... more The use of English as a lingua franca, non-native language for all participants involved, is a relatively new field of research. The use of problem-solving mechanisms (or communication strategies) has been little studied empirically with a lingua-franca approach, i.e. treating communication between non-natives in its own right, without using the native-speaker communication as a model. The objective of this predominantly qualitative study was to explore use of problem-solving mechanisms in information exchange dialogues, which is a typical discourse type in working life. In addition to the description of the use of PSMs, the aim was to study how the lingua-franca setting affects the relationship between the problem and the PSM in the model adopted, and how the interlocutors perceive the reasons for the use of PSMs and choices between various PSMs. The theoretical framework consisted of the study of lingua-franca English on the one hand, and the theory of problem-solving mechanisms (PSM, or communication strategies) on the other hand. The framework adopted is chiefly based on the model suggested by Dörnyei and Scott. The material consisted of elicited videotaped interviews. The PSMs used in the dialogues were identified and classified on the basis of the adopted framework, and understanding problems were sought through the analysis of the dialogue and by comparing it to both reports written by the information -seekers and post-dialogue commentary. In addition, participants were interviewed. The results indicate that participants tend to use PSMs that are economical, co-operative and do not threat the face of either participant. The model suggested by Dörnyei and Scott proved to work on general terms, but there was some evidence that production mechanisms in LF interaction can be used to address the limitations of the interlocutor's proficiency, either experienced or anticipated. The interviews of the participants revealed that the choice of PSMs was experienced to be based on a complex interplay between various factors. These factors include the perceived importance of the communicative goal, face consideration (especially as a language-user), time pressure, and both one's own and the other's (perceived) level of proficiency. The interplay of these factors affected the speaker's choice between clarity approach and quality approach in the choice of a PSM. In addition, it was found that occasionally a misinterpretation of the problem source can result in the use of such PSM that made the original understanding problem even worse. The results support the demands presented in earlier studies that language learners would benefit from a lingua-franca point of view in both the curriculum design and instructional materials of English. In addition, a point is made on the negligence of lingua-franca aspect in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment.

Books by Tarmo Ahvenainen

Language proficiency facework and perceptions of language proficiency face in L2 interaction, 2021

A fundamental feature of human existence is that we are concerned with what others think of us, a... more A fundamental feature of human existence is that we are concerned with what others think of us, and we are aware of similar concerns in others. In foreign or second language (L2) communication, this concern may include what others think of us as a skillful user of that language. These concerns have been studied in communication anxiety studies earlier, but face theory has been little deployed to explore this, despite its inherent explanatory potential. Face theory provides a theoretical concept to address both the sensitivity of participants in an interaction to their image as users of L2 and the similar sensitivities that they assume their interlocutors have. This study aims to shed light on how language proficiency face, the vulnerable image of an L2 speaker, is noticeable in interaction as facework. Another aim is to find out how L2 users perceive this language proficiency face. The theoretical framework introduces face theories, the concepts around language self, and language concepts around language self, and language concepts as underpinnings of language proficiency face claims. The data consist of authentic video-recorded interaction material with English-as-a-lingua-franca speakers in study and work settings and audio-recorded interviews with the same participants. In addition, the author used his own introspective autobiographical material. Marked Selected extracts where facework could be detected from the interaction were analyzed using discourse analysis. The findings were triangulated with content analysis of the interviews, which included post-commentary on the interaction. Further triangulation was sought through the author’s introspective autobiographical data. The findings show that proficiency facework includes co-construction of turns and non-verbal communication, which enable participants to treat language problems similarly to content negotiations. As for the perception of proficiency face, the findings suggest that participants may view the face relevance of features of language use and interaction differently. Participants had different perceptions of the seriousness of communication problems, the origin of these problems, and the resulting consequences for proficiency face. Features of proficiency faces of participants are illustrated in facework postures, which are based on individuals’ beliefs and attitudes related to language proficiency, and their facework preferences

Kieliverkoston verkkolehti, Dec 5, 2012

Language proficiency facework and perceptions of language proficiency face in L2 interaction, 2021