3. Tool(s) – Toolkit (after Virginie Mamadouh)

Conventional understandings of languages as separate entities, and of language speakers as, either mother tongue (L1) speakers, or foreign language (L2) speakers, are too simplistic to provide a proper account of the diversity of observed encounters in multilingual contexts.

When individuals are labelled as plurilingual individuals or linguistic situations as multilingual encounters, misconceptions are common and outdated. While it used to be common (and often still is among monolinguals) to expect a bilingual person to speak both languages as L1, it is now widely acknowledged that competences in the two languages might be partly overlapping and complementary and asymmetrical. Likewise multilingual encounters are more diverse than the stereotypical interaction between a L1 speaker and a L2 speaker. They include also encounters of speakers with different L1 using a common language of communication and users with differentiated competences in a language.

The linguistic tools available to individuals include not only different languages (like English or German) and different styles or genres (appropriate for different situations), but also different modes. Beyond the formal mode of a standardized language (these are generally languages supported by state institutions and formal education as national and/or as foreign languages, NL and FL), modes of communication include lingua franca (LF), code switching (CS) and lingua receptiva (LaRa).

In the LF mode, the common language is negotiated between interlocutors according to their linguistic background and to the situation, and language norms are neglected (whether norms transmitted/imposed through foreign language formal education or through formal and informal interactions with L1 speakers). In the CS mode, speakers switch between different languages to convey content, assuming their interlocutor(s) can understand these elements. In the LaRa mode, speakers speak different languages and have enough passive knowledge of the other language(s) to understand each other.

Other tools include auxiliary languages (like Esperanto), the aid of mediators (human ones like translators and interpreters, or manufactured ones like dictionaries and automatic translating devices), cognitive resources regarding (intercultural and interlingual) communication in general and the cultural and linguistic background of one's interlocutor in particular (for example if one knows of typical pronunciation deviance, different ways of using tenses or unfamiliarity with prepositions or with gendered names), as well as attitudes towards multilingualism (such as flexibility, open mind).

The Toolkit aims at developing scientific and public knowledge about the use of these different tools of communication and focuses especially on (combinations involving) two types of languages of wider communication (these are languages with sizeable numbers of L2 speakers): English and Languages of (cross-border) Regional Communication (ReLan), and three types of modes: LF, CS and LaRa.

Subsequently it aims at raising awareness among interlocutors potentially involved in multilingual encounters and organizations that have to depend on multilingual encounters and regulate them (businesses, universities, EU institutions and agencies, civil society transnational organizations, translation and interpreter companies, etc.) regarding the possibilities of modes other than standardized foreign languages. Finally, it aims at drawing conclusions for the improvement of language teaching in formal education and beyond, to enable individual EU citizens to use more creatively and effectively their linguistic resources (or repertoire).

Instruction: Making inferences and understanding indirect information given in the text. There are questions that require you to make inferences. The answers to these questions are not directly provided in the passage – you must "read between the lines." In other words, you must make conclusions based indirectly on information in the passage. Many text readers find it difficult to infer why the author of a text mentions some piece of information, or includes a quote from a person or a study, or uses some particular word or phrase.

Sample questions:

Read the following paragraph:

Territorial modern states have also regulated linguistic practices in their bounded territory, and linguistic characteristics have often been used as key markers to mobilize people as a nation within an existing state or alternatively to secede from an existing state and establish a separate state. As a result, state borders often coincide with linguistic boundaries and they reinforce each other. In multilingual states, language arrangements are often territorial, delimitating juxtaposed monolingual regions. In those cases administrative borders might reinforce linguistic boundaries.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

(A) National governments impose titular languages upon the population.

(B) People are forced to speak the official language within the state borders.

(C) In multilingual states, local languages are limited by regional borders.

(D) Administrative borders coincide with linguistic boundaries.

Sample questions:

Read the following paragraph:

The linguistic tools available to individuals include not only different languages (like English or German) and different styles or genres (appropriate for different situations), but also different modes. Beyond the formal mode of a standardized language (these are generally languages supported by state institutions and formal education as national and/or as foreign languages, NL and FL), modes of communication include lingua franca (LF), code switching (CS) and lingua receptiva (LaRa).

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

(A) Languages supported by state institutions and formal education present a formal mode.

(B) Lingua franca (LF), code switching (CS) and lingua receptiva (LaRa) are available to individuals as speech styles.

Which of the following would be the right guess about ReLoC?

(A) German is a Regional Vehicular (ReLoC) when it is used as a language of communication by a Dutch, Czech, Pole or Hungarian or other L2-speakers of German in the Central European macro region.

(B) French is a Regional Vehicular or ReLoC in former Czechoslovakia or former Yugoslavia.

Sample purpose questions

• Why does the author propose a typology of ReLan?

• Why does the author refer to boundaries, borders, and borderlands?

Sample Answer Choices:

The author refers to ... / The author describes ... / The author uses the phrase ... / The phrase ___proves that ... /The phrase ___is mentioned to illustrate that ...

to indicate that

to strengthen the argument that

to provide an example of

to challenge the idea that

to contradict

to support the proposal to

to illustrate the effect of

to make it easy for the reader to understand how

Unit 2-6. ENGLISH IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Guidelines for extensive reading ESP texts

There are good reasons for using the extensive reading procedure much more than it has been used before. One could argue that students "learn to read by reading"' and that "comprehension will take care of itself". In other words, students with a certain level of ability in English can learn to read by extensive reading alone. Reading ability can improve as much with extensive reading as with skills training. At present, we cannot claim that extensive reading is sufficient for most ESP students to learn to read special English. Most likely, skills/strategies training is also necessary. However, current reading instruction centering on skills/strategies training also is not sufficient, because students do not spontaneously apply the skills presented in skill lessons: instruction and activities to encourage the development and automatic use of comprehension skills must be incorporated into daily learning routine.

The extensive reading procedure comprises just this kind of activity. In the ESP situation in particular, students do not have much opportunity to use English outside of class. Assignments of reading special texts will increase exposure to the target professional language greatly, probably much more than translation or skills assignments, which, in any case, involve much mental effort in the native language. In addition, extensive reading provides an excellent means of laying foundation for professional experience. With this procedure, teachers can expect that their students will come to skillfully read and enjoy ESP texts.

Text 2-6. ENGLISH IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND GLOBALISATION

(Based on Dr. Robert Phillipson’s interview to Ana Wu in the NNEST – ”Non-Native English Speaking Teacher in TESOL of the Month” Blog)

Dr. Phillipson: Thank you for contributing questions, all of which are important. They are also, unfortunately, ‘big’ questions that need rather detailed answers, which time does not permit. Anyone working in our professional field is likely to suffer from information overload. I definitely do: I’m rather stretched both professionally and in my home life, since my wife, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, and I live in the country, grow most of our own vegetables and fruit, and have sheep. We enjoy working with nature, and feel this complements our intellectual activities. Both involve interaction with ‘the real world’, in our view.