Antje Wilton | University of Siegen (original) (raw)

Papers by Antje Wilton

EXARC Journal, 2019

This book closes a gap both in the documentation of the history of the Roman army as well as the ... more This book closes a gap both in the documentation of the history of the Roman army as well as the history of archery in that it provides a very comprehensive overview on the use of bow and arrow in the Roman Empire. It collects and systematically discusses a wealth of information on a range of topics related to Roman archery in the imperial period and extends that discussion to previous and following periods and to cultural influences outside the Roman Empire where appropriate.

Handbuch Sprache in Organisationen, 2018

Handbook of Foreign Language Communication and Learning, 2009

... of the 19th century and became increasingly popular after the 1960s with the turn towards the... more ... of the 19th century and became increasingly popular after the 1960s with the turn towards the ... Many of those studies reveal that trilingual individuals often have one foreign language in their lin ... in Brussels in 1990, won by Derick Herning (Shetland) for his oral competence in 22 ...

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2012

This volume discusses several facets of English in today's multilingual Europe. It emphasizes the... more This volume discusses several facets of English in today's multilingual Europe. It emphasizes the interdependence between cultures, languages and situations that influence its use. This interdependence is particularly relevant to European settings where English is being learned as a second language. Such learning situations constitute the core focus of the book. The volume is unique in bringing together empirical studies examining factors that promote the learning of English in Europe. Rather than assuming that English is a threat to linguistic diversity and cultural independence, these studies discuss psycholinguistic factors such as the input, and sociolinguistic factors such as the type of English that is targeted in learning. The contributing authors are well-established specialists who have worked on multilingualism, English as a Lingua Franca and second language acquisition. The book will be of interest to applied linguists, sociolinguists and teachers of English as a foreign language.

AILA Review, 2011

In this paper, we focus on comments on language issues from a historical perspective. The concept... more In this paper, we focus on comments on language issues from a historical perspective. The concept of the layperson (non-linguist) is discussed to identify laypeople and lay comments in history when the modern concept of a linguist did not yet exist. Two studies show how the historical perspective complements modern research on folk linguistics.Firstly, historical comments about Latin will be put in relation to comments about English, focusing on their roles as linguae francae and exploring the potential and application of the ‘Latin Analogy’.Secondly, an analysis of language appraisal texts of French and Romanian from 1500 to the present shows that the topoi used are still reflected in today’s perception of the languages by their native speakers, affecting the attractiveness of the languages for second language learners.

Language Awareness, 2018

As already mentioned in our introduction, the disciplinary status of Language Awareness (research... more As already mentioned in our introduction, the disciplinary status of Language Awareness (research), especially its relationship to other subfields of (Applied) Linguistics or also nonlinguistic disciplines still seems rather vague. Even if disciplines never reach a definitive, crystallised, final status, and there is and has to be a perpetual dynamic in the social construction of the system of sciences and disciplines, a 'meta-disciplinary' discourse remains important for every (potential) discipline and its identity. In the previous conference special issue, Agneta Svalberg published an important overview 'Language Awareness research: where we are now' (Svalberg, 2016), where she presented the most prominent LA topics and most frequently used research methods in the contributions of this journal in the years 2010-2014. Her analysis and considerations concern however rather internal aspects of LA research and not disciplinary issues. As in the last years I have been personally involved not only in the LA, but also in the Folk Linguistics community (co-convening with Antje Wilton the AILA Research Network 'Folk Linguistics'; cf. Wilton & Stegu, 2011; AILA = Association Internationale de Linguistique Appliqu ee), I have been increasingly interested in the mutual relationship between Language Awareness, Folk Linguistics and Applied Linguistics. Therefore, I decided to organise at the Vienna conference a forum of experts from the different communities who would discuss the disciplinary issues mentioned above. The participants in this discussion were: Claire Kramsch, the (in the meantime: past) president of AILA, Dennis Preston, one of the most prominent researchers in 'Folk Linguistics' (cf. Niedzielski & Preston, 2000), Antje Wilton (see above) and myself, as moderator. Unfortunately, for reasons of time, Claire Kramsch was not able to compose a written version of her contribution, but we got texts from all the other participants. The oral and written versions were both reactions to an input text I had sent the participants before the conference, and at the beginning of the panel, as an introduction, I read the same text to the audience in order to present my questions. I will also copy the original text here before inserting the discussants' statements. At the end of these statements, I will sum up with a provisional conclusion.

International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2021

Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 2020

This paper presents a study investigating the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in media in... more This paper presents a study investigating the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in media interviews of a specific kind: the focus is on post-match interviews with football (soccer) players. Professional football with its dynamic and fluctuating transfer market is increasingly internationalised and thoroughly mediatised, frequently requiring athletes and journalists to use English when interacting in front of the camera for the benefit of the media audience. The study is based on a small corpus of videos and transcripts of post-match interviews conducted with German football players in English. It uses a conversation analytic approach to explore the mutual influence of language use and genre characteristics on a structural, linguistic, interactional and media level. Post-match interviews are a dialogic media genre with distinctive features that contribute to the genre’s essential functions of reporting, evaluating and collectivising, and differentiate it from other types of int...

Aptum, Zeitschrift für Sprachkritik und Sprachkultur

Space, Place and Autonomy in Language Learning

European Journal of Applied Linguistics

In the light of large-scale terrorist attacks such as 9/11, the concept of security is being rede... more In the light of large-scale terrorist attacks such as 9/11, the concept of security is being redefined and extended to cover the new dimensions of threats. From a discourse-analytical point of view, what is regarded as a threat and as an appropriate response to it in terms of security is discursively constructed by significant agents in discoursesthe most influential of them being parliamentary discussions in which national governments legitimise the introduction of security measures. The study investigates the parliamentary debates in three European countries, France, Germany and the UK with respect to 1) the ways in which security is talked about, 2) the ways in which new security technologyin this case, the body scanneris introduced as a response to such threats and 3) the ways in which national governments position themselves in the international security context. It is shown that the discursive treatment of all three aspects are linked to and based on cultural prerequisites originating in the historical, social and political traditions of each nation. Zusammenfassung: Vor dem Hintergrund verheerender Terroranschläge wie der des 11. September 2001 verändert und erweitert sich der Sicherheitsbegriff, um die Gefahrendimensionen erfassen zu können. Aus diskursanalytischer Perspektive werden sowohl das, was als Gefahr anzusehen ist, als auch die angemessenen Reaktionen im Hinblick auf Sicherheit von beteiligten Akteuren diskursiv hergestelltbesonders prägnant geschieht dies in den parlamentarischen Debatten, in denen nationale Regierungen die Einführung sicherheitsrelevanter Maßnahmen öffentlich legitimieren müssen. Die Studie analysiert Parlamentsdebatten in drei

Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice

Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 2015

In his enlightening article on Greek as a lingua franca Peter Trudgill (2014) makes reference to ... more In his enlightening article on Greek as a lingua franca Peter Trudgill (2014) makes reference to popular journalistic discussions about the decline of English as the world’s lingua franca. Indeed, many of those contributions about the future of the global linguistic situation apparently only know one solution to the problems inherent in linguistic diversity: a single world language for international communication. Currently this position is held firmly by English as the international lingua franca, and Trudgill’s view is that English is “so deeply entrenched that it is not going to change, barring some global catastrophe” (Trudgill 2014: 388). Nevertheless, some see (Mandarin) Chinese as a close runner-up to the position of the world’s next lingua franca. The contributions to the discussion do indeed construe the relationship between English and Chinese as competitive: one of the languages will “win”. Headlines such as “Is English or Mandarin the language of the future?”, “Will Chinese replace English as the global language?”, or “English dethroned as world language?” testify to this competitive view of the future relationship between English and Chinese. In my home country Germany, learners of Chinese are rapidly increasing in number; each year, I have more and more undergraduates who have already

Throughout European history, multilingualism has coexisted with one or more linguae francae. Toda... more Throughout European history, multilingualism has coexisted with one or more linguae francae. Today’s European lingua franca is English, and it, too, functions within a thoroughly multilingual context. This introduction to the volume English in Europe Today illuminates some of the sociocultural and educational contexts in which English and its manifestations in the European linguistic landscape play a shaping role. The contributions to the volume are set within these varied contexts. Together they bear witness to the challenging but enriching dynamics that are part and parcel of the use of English in multilingual Europe today.

Zeitschrift für angewandte Linguistik, 2013

Abstract This contribution explores the discursive practices employed in public discussion about ... more Abstract This contribution explores the discursive practices employed in public discussion about security in three European countries: Germany, France and the UK. Initiated by a thwarted terrorist attack on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, European parliaments as well as the media discussed the (re)introduction of body scanners as part of the airport security measures. The focus of attention in this study lies on the cultural and linguistic comparison of discursively constructed concepts of security and safety, the criteria and selection procedures for scanning air passengers and the representation of public checkpoints including the deployed new technologies based on ubiquitous computing.

Handbuch Sprache und Wissen, 2014