Marcelyn Oostendorp | Stellenbosch University (original) (raw)
Papers by Marcelyn Oostendorp
Applied Linguistics
The discourse of mastery is prominent in applied linguistics. The idea of mastery, however, does ... more The discourse of mastery is prominent in applied linguistics. The idea of mastery, however, does not remain only on the discourse level: curricula and policies are meant to be implemented, and therefore mastery and all that is associated with it (near perfection, dominance over something, etc.) is also practiced. In this paper, I argue that we might survive mastery by recuperating other ways of being, thinking, and learning. By drawing on examples from the South African higher educational context, I show glimpses of other ways of doing and thinking about language. Drawing inspiration from decolonial theory, I extend the notion of linguistic citizenship by showing that, for applied linguists, vulnerability, relationality, and failure could be points of focus as productive as mastery.
Applied Linguistics
This special issue responds to an increasing interest in decolonial and Southern thinking in appl... more This special issue responds to an increasing interest in decolonial and Southern thinking in applied linguistics. In this Introduction, we first discuss some basic historical facts about colonization, and we highlight some key concepts. We then present the six contributions in the special issue. Three contributions compellingly expose the pervasiveness of coloniality and give reason to doubt that it can ever be overcome; the other three contributions open spaces for the decolonial possibilities of healing, hope, and futurity. We then discuss some key issues in decolonial and Southern scholarship, including the role of non-conventional writing in decolonial research, the differences between decolonial and social justice projects, the difficulties of decolonizing Eurocentric knowledge through Euro-Anglo-Northern tools, and deep inequities in the geopolitics of knowledge. We hope that the special issue will enable readers to re-see long-standing applied linguistics questions through de...
Routledge eBooks, Apr 26, 2023
Language Learning, Nov 9, 2022
Journal of Multicultural Discourses
Multilingual Margins: A journal of multilingualism from the periphery
Stroud (2015: 36) recently emphasized the utopian dimensions of linguistic citizenship as “where ... more Stroud (2015: 36) recently emphasized the utopian dimensions of linguistic citizenship as “where encounters can be reconstituted as an arena for the negotiation of difference rather than the imposition of commonality (in language, speech norms, or social identity).” A prominent feature of this utopic view of linguistic citizenship is agency and voice and the imagining of a different way of living through language. In this paper I want to draw not on examples of agency and voice, but on silence. This paper reports on a project that used an arts-based approach to investigate narratives of two groups of African migrants living in South Africa. This paper will investigate linguistic citizenship from a particularly dystopian perspective, in the sense of “a utopia that functions only for a particular segment of society” (Gordin, Tilley & Prakash 2010). Thus, the paper focusses on a lack of voice, not silence out of resistance, but the kind of silence that comes from an inability to speak....
Multilingual Margins: A journal of multilingualism from the periphery
This paper reports on the linguistic repertoires and language ideologies of a small group of Busi... more This paper reports on the linguistic repertoires and language ideologies of a small group of Business Studies teachers at a high school in Cape Town, South Africa. Using language portraits and focus group interviews to collect data, we found through a thematic analysis that teachers talked about their own repertoires as performative, playful, and innovative. By contrast, the repertoires of their students are not described in the same manner. Instead, the teachers either erase big parts of their students’ linguistic repertoires or see “accents” and African languages as deficient. African languages are seen as not suitable to use as a language of teaching and learning and is constructed as hampering rather than facilitating educational progress. We use the notion of chronotope to explain how the school as an institution shapes the different narratives evoked around repertoires. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for teacher pedagogy.
Multilingual Matters eBooks, Dec 31, 2023
Speaking Subjects in Multilingualism Research
Struggles for Multilingualism and Linguistic Citizenship
Critical period hypothesis • Interaction hypothesis • Interlanguage • Nativist theories of SLA • ... more Critical period hypothesis • Interaction hypothesis • Interlanguage • Nativist theories of SLA • Sociocultural theories of SLA Chapter Preview As we have seen in earlier chapters, language is a complex array of many different components, ranging from individual sounds to whether a particular utterance or sentence is appropriate in a given situation or culture. In this chapter we will look at the issues involved in learning or acquiring a second language as an adolescent or adult learner. The main question with regard to second language acquisition (SLA) is: Why do people acquire a first language with little conscious effort while it is so difficult to master all of the aspects of a second language and speak it like a native speaker? This chapter will first discuss the main linguistic issues with regard to how second languages are acquired (e.g., phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon/vocabulary, pragmatics). It will then describe some of the influences from the field of psychology on the study of second language acquisition and will examine the cognitive processes that differ between first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) learning. Thirdly, the chapter will consider how social and affective issues of L2 learning have come to the forefront in the last decade of the 20 th century and into the 21 st century. Finally, interspersed throughout the chapter are discussions of the 2 relationship between current knowledge about how second languages are acquired and the practice of language teaching, including some of the current issues in language teaching, especially those arising from increased globalization. List of Aims At the end of this chapter, students should be able to: • Explain the "nature vs. nurture" argument in terms of second language acquisition • Explain why learning pronunciation of a second language is more difficult than learning that of one's first or native language • Describe what developing vocabulary knowledge in a second language involves beyond word definitions • Explain the distinctions between form, meaning and use in acquiring grammatical competence • Give examples of sociolinguistic/pragmatic/cultural differences in a second language that would make the same utterance that one might use in one's native language inappropriate
Arte, ilustración y cultura visual: diálogos en torno a la mediación educativa crítica dentro y fuera de la escuela, 2018, ISBN 978-84-9082-799-4, págs. 319-327, 2018
This paper argues that in order to gain a more informed perspective on emotions and HIV/AIDS, cro... more This paper argues that in order to gain a more informed perspective on emotions and HIV/AIDS, crosslinguistic differences in emotion language need to be taken into account, particularly in a multilingual context. The paper reviews four published academic articles with the aim of illustrating how more consideration of the crosslinguistic and multilingual aspects of emotion language could have contributed to better theoretical understanding of HIV/AIDS and emotions as well as aiding the development of practical interventions in HIV/AIDS counselling and care. Finally, this paper argues that a lack of engagement with language and multilingualism around HIV/AIDS and emotions will stifle the development of a theoretical account of emotions as multi-semiotic and embodied, as well as the development of locally based, community-driven practical interventions.
Book synopsis: In this complete survey of the theories, methods, and key findings within applied ... more Book synopsis: In this complete survey of the theories, methods, and key findings within applied linguistics, students are introduced to core research questions and the various approaches to tackling these. • Provides a comprehensive introduction to this interdisciplinary field of research and practice, dealing with practical issues of language and communication • Takes a problem-solving approach, introducing students to key research questions and guiding them through the various ways of tackling these • Features additional study aids throughout, including chapter outlines, learning objectives, key terms, research questions and answers, study questions, and recommended further readings • Enables students to identify every-day language and communication issues, and to draw on their own personal experiences • Edited by a leading figure in the field, heading up an experienced and interdisciplinary team of contributors from the renowned department of applied linguistics at Birkbeck Coll...
Applied Linguistics
In this article, the central argument is that research on the semiotic repertoire should also foc... more In this article, the central argument is that research on the semiotic repertoire should also focus on how repertoires are racialized, and race is evoked through the semiotic repertoire. The article uses data from the South African educational context to advance a position in which semiotic repertoires simultaneously give and restrict access, evoke evaluation and construct identities in particular ways because of their entanglement with (racialized) bodies. I propose that this simultaneity can be theorized by viewing the black body as ‘intercorporeal’ and ‘grotesque’ (Bakhtin 1984). By drawing on such an approach, processes of racialization are explicitly connected to how semiotic resources are evoked in discourse. This article thus theoretically contributes to the recent movements in applied linguistics that view language as embodied, re-examine repertoires, and view language as multiplex and entangled. In addition, it also offers a framing that can theoretically challenge discours...
CITATION: Oostendorp, M. 2016. Giving voice : studies in honour of Christine Anthonissen. Stellen... more CITATION: Oostendorp, M. 2016. Giving voice : studies in honour of Christine Anthonissen. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 49:i-v, doi:10.5842/49-0-708.
RELC Journal
The transformation of higher education has been a pressing concern for policy makers and practiti... more The transformation of higher education has been a pressing concern for policy makers and practitioners. This article provides examples of the transformative potential of assessments designed within the framework of a multi-literacies and heteroglossic pedagogy in an Applied English Language course at a South African university. These assessments, which used multiple semiotic resources and created spaces for contesting voices, allowed students to bring their own expertise into the learning experience. This, it is argued, ultimately led to enhanced student voice and agency, two crucial components in transformative practices.
Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 2015
This article reports on the ways in which the rape of women by men is constructed in the advice c... more This article reports on the ways in which the rape of women by men is constructed in the advice column Dear Dolly, published in the South African periodical Drum Magazine. The data collected for the study spans from 1984 to 2004, encompassing both 10 years before and 10 years after the onset of democracy in South Africa. The article uses critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2003) as main analytical tool, but also draws on critical feminist theory (Bourke 2007). The findings suggest that there has been a decrease in explicit victim blaming after 1994, but that subtle and opaque victim blaming is still evident in readers' letters and in the responses. These rape discourses presented in Drum after 1994 are, as Bakhtin (1981) suggests, made up of multiple voices articulating different gendered discourses. In this article, we argue that even though the use of less explicit victim blaming might seem like a positive move in the representation of rape and gender, this is not always the case. The more subtle forms of victim blaming avoid contestation and consequently often go unchecked (Fairclough 2003: 58). Additionally, new rape myths are created to mitigate the responsibility of males. These processes of subtle victim blaming and new myth-making manufacture consent and make it more difficult to counteract dominant discourses.
Applied Linguistics
The discourse of mastery is prominent in applied linguistics. The idea of mastery, however, does ... more The discourse of mastery is prominent in applied linguistics. The idea of mastery, however, does not remain only on the discourse level: curricula and policies are meant to be implemented, and therefore mastery and all that is associated with it (near perfection, dominance over something, etc.) is also practiced. In this paper, I argue that we might survive mastery by recuperating other ways of being, thinking, and learning. By drawing on examples from the South African higher educational context, I show glimpses of other ways of doing and thinking about language. Drawing inspiration from decolonial theory, I extend the notion of linguistic citizenship by showing that, for applied linguists, vulnerability, relationality, and failure could be points of focus as productive as mastery.
Applied Linguistics
This special issue responds to an increasing interest in decolonial and Southern thinking in appl... more This special issue responds to an increasing interest in decolonial and Southern thinking in applied linguistics. In this Introduction, we first discuss some basic historical facts about colonization, and we highlight some key concepts. We then present the six contributions in the special issue. Three contributions compellingly expose the pervasiveness of coloniality and give reason to doubt that it can ever be overcome; the other three contributions open spaces for the decolonial possibilities of healing, hope, and futurity. We then discuss some key issues in decolonial and Southern scholarship, including the role of non-conventional writing in decolonial research, the differences between decolonial and social justice projects, the difficulties of decolonizing Eurocentric knowledge through Euro-Anglo-Northern tools, and deep inequities in the geopolitics of knowledge. We hope that the special issue will enable readers to re-see long-standing applied linguistics questions through de...
Routledge eBooks, Apr 26, 2023
Language Learning, Nov 9, 2022
Journal of Multicultural Discourses
Multilingual Margins: A journal of multilingualism from the periphery
Stroud (2015: 36) recently emphasized the utopian dimensions of linguistic citizenship as “where ... more Stroud (2015: 36) recently emphasized the utopian dimensions of linguistic citizenship as “where encounters can be reconstituted as an arena for the negotiation of difference rather than the imposition of commonality (in language, speech norms, or social identity).” A prominent feature of this utopic view of linguistic citizenship is agency and voice and the imagining of a different way of living through language. In this paper I want to draw not on examples of agency and voice, but on silence. This paper reports on a project that used an arts-based approach to investigate narratives of two groups of African migrants living in South Africa. This paper will investigate linguistic citizenship from a particularly dystopian perspective, in the sense of “a utopia that functions only for a particular segment of society” (Gordin, Tilley & Prakash 2010). Thus, the paper focusses on a lack of voice, not silence out of resistance, but the kind of silence that comes from an inability to speak....
Multilingual Margins: A journal of multilingualism from the periphery
This paper reports on the linguistic repertoires and language ideologies of a small group of Busi... more This paper reports on the linguistic repertoires and language ideologies of a small group of Business Studies teachers at a high school in Cape Town, South Africa. Using language portraits and focus group interviews to collect data, we found through a thematic analysis that teachers talked about their own repertoires as performative, playful, and innovative. By contrast, the repertoires of their students are not described in the same manner. Instead, the teachers either erase big parts of their students’ linguistic repertoires or see “accents” and African languages as deficient. African languages are seen as not suitable to use as a language of teaching and learning and is constructed as hampering rather than facilitating educational progress. We use the notion of chronotope to explain how the school as an institution shapes the different narratives evoked around repertoires. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for teacher pedagogy.
Multilingual Matters eBooks, Dec 31, 2023
Speaking Subjects in Multilingualism Research
Struggles for Multilingualism and Linguistic Citizenship
Critical period hypothesis • Interaction hypothesis • Interlanguage • Nativist theories of SLA • ... more Critical period hypothesis • Interaction hypothesis • Interlanguage • Nativist theories of SLA • Sociocultural theories of SLA Chapter Preview As we have seen in earlier chapters, language is a complex array of many different components, ranging from individual sounds to whether a particular utterance or sentence is appropriate in a given situation or culture. In this chapter we will look at the issues involved in learning or acquiring a second language as an adolescent or adult learner. The main question with regard to second language acquisition (SLA) is: Why do people acquire a first language with little conscious effort while it is so difficult to master all of the aspects of a second language and speak it like a native speaker? This chapter will first discuss the main linguistic issues with regard to how second languages are acquired (e.g., phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon/vocabulary, pragmatics). It will then describe some of the influences from the field of psychology on the study of second language acquisition and will examine the cognitive processes that differ between first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) learning. Thirdly, the chapter will consider how social and affective issues of L2 learning have come to the forefront in the last decade of the 20 th century and into the 21 st century. Finally, interspersed throughout the chapter are discussions of the 2 relationship between current knowledge about how second languages are acquired and the practice of language teaching, including some of the current issues in language teaching, especially those arising from increased globalization. List of Aims At the end of this chapter, students should be able to: • Explain the "nature vs. nurture" argument in terms of second language acquisition • Explain why learning pronunciation of a second language is more difficult than learning that of one's first or native language • Describe what developing vocabulary knowledge in a second language involves beyond word definitions • Explain the distinctions between form, meaning and use in acquiring grammatical competence • Give examples of sociolinguistic/pragmatic/cultural differences in a second language that would make the same utterance that one might use in one's native language inappropriate
Arte, ilustración y cultura visual: diálogos en torno a la mediación educativa crítica dentro y fuera de la escuela, 2018, ISBN 978-84-9082-799-4, págs. 319-327, 2018
This paper argues that in order to gain a more informed perspective on emotions and HIV/AIDS, cro... more This paper argues that in order to gain a more informed perspective on emotions and HIV/AIDS, crosslinguistic differences in emotion language need to be taken into account, particularly in a multilingual context. The paper reviews four published academic articles with the aim of illustrating how more consideration of the crosslinguistic and multilingual aspects of emotion language could have contributed to better theoretical understanding of HIV/AIDS and emotions as well as aiding the development of practical interventions in HIV/AIDS counselling and care. Finally, this paper argues that a lack of engagement with language and multilingualism around HIV/AIDS and emotions will stifle the development of a theoretical account of emotions as multi-semiotic and embodied, as well as the development of locally based, community-driven practical interventions.
Book synopsis: In this complete survey of the theories, methods, and key findings within applied ... more Book synopsis: In this complete survey of the theories, methods, and key findings within applied linguistics, students are introduced to core research questions and the various approaches to tackling these. • Provides a comprehensive introduction to this interdisciplinary field of research and practice, dealing with practical issues of language and communication • Takes a problem-solving approach, introducing students to key research questions and guiding them through the various ways of tackling these • Features additional study aids throughout, including chapter outlines, learning objectives, key terms, research questions and answers, study questions, and recommended further readings • Enables students to identify every-day language and communication issues, and to draw on their own personal experiences • Edited by a leading figure in the field, heading up an experienced and interdisciplinary team of contributors from the renowned department of applied linguistics at Birkbeck Coll...
Applied Linguistics
In this article, the central argument is that research on the semiotic repertoire should also foc... more In this article, the central argument is that research on the semiotic repertoire should also focus on how repertoires are racialized, and race is evoked through the semiotic repertoire. The article uses data from the South African educational context to advance a position in which semiotic repertoires simultaneously give and restrict access, evoke evaluation and construct identities in particular ways because of their entanglement with (racialized) bodies. I propose that this simultaneity can be theorized by viewing the black body as ‘intercorporeal’ and ‘grotesque’ (Bakhtin 1984). By drawing on such an approach, processes of racialization are explicitly connected to how semiotic resources are evoked in discourse. This article thus theoretically contributes to the recent movements in applied linguistics that view language as embodied, re-examine repertoires, and view language as multiplex and entangled. In addition, it also offers a framing that can theoretically challenge discours...
CITATION: Oostendorp, M. 2016. Giving voice : studies in honour of Christine Anthonissen. Stellen... more CITATION: Oostendorp, M. 2016. Giving voice : studies in honour of Christine Anthonissen. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 49:i-v, doi:10.5842/49-0-708.
RELC Journal
The transformation of higher education has been a pressing concern for policy makers and practiti... more The transformation of higher education has been a pressing concern for policy makers and practitioners. This article provides examples of the transformative potential of assessments designed within the framework of a multi-literacies and heteroglossic pedagogy in an Applied English Language course at a South African university. These assessments, which used multiple semiotic resources and created spaces for contesting voices, allowed students to bring their own expertise into the learning experience. This, it is argued, ultimately led to enhanced student voice and agency, two crucial components in transformative practices.
Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 2015
This article reports on the ways in which the rape of women by men is constructed in the advice c... more This article reports on the ways in which the rape of women by men is constructed in the advice column Dear Dolly, published in the South African periodical Drum Magazine. The data collected for the study spans from 1984 to 2004, encompassing both 10 years before and 10 years after the onset of democracy in South Africa. The article uses critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2003) as main analytical tool, but also draws on critical feminist theory (Bourke 2007). The findings suggest that there has been a decrease in explicit victim blaming after 1994, but that subtle and opaque victim blaming is still evident in readers' letters and in the responses. These rape discourses presented in Drum after 1994 are, as Bakhtin (1981) suggests, made up of multiple voices articulating different gendered discourses. In this article, we argue that even though the use of less explicit victim blaming might seem like a positive move in the representation of rape and gender, this is not always the case. The more subtle forms of victim blaming avoid contestation and consequently often go unchecked (Fairclough 2003: 58). Additionally, new rape myths are created to mitigate the responsibility of males. These processes of subtle victim blaming and new myth-making manufacture consent and make it more difficult to counteract dominant discourses.