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Intercultural Rhetoric Research on Chinese-English Persuasive Writing

The investigation was conducted in response to Connor's (1996) call for more cross-cultural studies on second language writing. Compelled by the notion of intercultural rhetoric (Connor, 2004), which allows researchers to find the differences between rhetorical conventions between/among languages from a cross-cultural point of view, the author aims to identify different perceptions of good persuasive writing in two languages (Chinese and English) and to explore how culture shapes individual writers' ideology. To achieve these two goals, she reviewed relevant research studies conducted by intercultural rhetoricians. The synthesis of those studies led to the finding of four major differences: 1) writer responsible versus reader responsible, 2) individual orientation versus group orientation, 3) appeal to rationality versus appeal to emotion, and 4) textual originality versus textual ＂borrowing＂. These differences appear attributable to the cultural values of each language. The different rhetoric conventions between English and Chinese persuasive writing have resulted in Chinese writers' confusion and English educators' frustration. At the end of the paper, the author provides some suggestions relevant to persuasive writing to EFL/ESL Chinese writers, EFL/ESL English educators, and the researchers who intend to further explore this domain.

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Towards Transculturality: English as a lingua franca in intercultural communication and in online language learning

With increasing social tensions in the world today from a variety of causes, one positive, pro-active measure educators (and others) can take is to bring together individuals from different cultural backgrounds in conversation or in common pursuits, in an effort to generate curiosity and encourage acceptance of cultural others. That in itself will not solve global crises, but it may ease divisions on a person-to-person scale. The approach advocated here is to leverage the worldwide network of English users and learners to create opportunities, especially online, for engaging with one another and with English language media. That process can lead to improving language skills and to students getting to know other English language speakers and communities. Furthermore, research in English as a lingua franca (ELF) has shown that interactions in that space make extensive use of negotiation and adaptation in regard to both language and culture, leading characteristically to a spirit of cooperation, accommodation, and solidarity. That outcome, however, is neither automatic nor universal. Nor are online exchanges without risk (Internet trolls, misinformation, addictiveness). Ideally, ELF English activities online can be mediated, if taking place in a formal instructional setting. In order to understand the unique position of English in today's world, it is helpful to place the use and study of ELF in the wider contexts of intercultural communication and of complex dynamics systems. Given the fluidity of people, language, and culture, it is asserted here that the term transculturality is today more appropriate than intercultural, as the latter implies a duality that belies today's cultural complexity.

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Effects of L1, and L2, and L1 + L2 Glosses on English Vocabulary Learning for Technology University Students at the Low-intermediate Level in Taiwan

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of L1, and L2, and L1 + L2 glosses on English vocabulary learning for technology university students at the low-intermediate English proficiency level in Taiwan. In this study, six gloss conditions were produced in terms of gloss language and position. Results showed that overall positive effects appeared in L2 English vocabulary learning for the students. However, the results of a delayed posttest showed that the effectiveness of L2 English glosses at the side of a page significantly faded over time. In addition, an opinion questionnaire indicated that the students preferred L1 Chinese glosses to L2 English ones. The findings suggest that a relaxed state of mind and a comfortable environment created by glosses be beneficial to L2 vocabulary learning. Also, they suggest that L1 glosses play a more important role than L2 glosses in enhancing L2 vocabulary learning for lower proficiency L2 learners. In this sense, material writers of English learning and English teachers in Taiwan should take it into consideration how to effectively and efficiently use Chinese glosses to improve English vocabulary learning for Taiwanese students at the lower English proficiency level.

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A Corpus-based Study of Popular English Song Lyrics

Recent corpus research has provided much evidence guiding the description of the English language and pedagogy. English song lyrics as a corpus have received limited attention among researchers (including older songs released only before 2015) in spite of the observation that they are a common source of pedagogical materials for language teaching. The current study aimed to conduct corpus analyses on song lyrics in order to offer pedagogical implications to English teachers. We adopted a corpus-based approach by compiling 479 song lyrics taken from Billboard as the collection (with sampling years 2007 to 2017, about 220,000 words), and classified them into eight types. Lexical coverage, phrasal units, informal contractions, writing conventions, and gendered nouns were also analyzed using a combination of automatic processing and manual examination. We found that the knowledge of 3,000 English word families based on vocabulary research of wordlists could reach 95.43% lexical coverage for comprehension in the song corpus, and with 8,000 words, the comprehension coverage would rise to 97.93%, slightly more difficult than Tegge (2017). More frequent three-word phrases were located in our song corpus (I don't, I can't, or you don't). Further, informal contractions (wanna, gonna) and writing conventions ('cause, *in') of top frequencies were also identified. Concerning lexical gendered nouns, our findings of frequency orders were similar to prior research, but the variety was not as many. Overall, the linguistic make-up of these 479 song lyrics shows the unique spoken corpus features of updated English songs.

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The Effectiveness of Integrating App Creation with Teaching and Learning L2 Indonesian

This study investigated how the integration of app creation into second language education has changed the landscape of Indonesian teaching and learning at a university in Taiwan. Drawing primarily on the TPACK model and a combination of frameworks from trans-disciplinarity, heutagogy, and cognitive load, we analyzed the quantitative and qualitative data collected from a digital humanities course to explore to what extent teaching students to use App Inventor 2 to document their own learning in Indonesian could enhance L2 learning. Our findings showed that participating instructors and teaching assistants all required very high level of interdisciplinary training to achieve real trans-disciplinarity. The participating students who demonstrated good Indonesian language proficiency seemed to welcome the additional opportunity of making their own apps. However, for the students who were still struggling with L2 learning, the extra burden of creating apps was deemed overwhelming and distractive. If the assignments had been better integrated with the vocabulary and the contents of the textbook and if the software had been compatible with their iPhones, the students would have appreciated it more. As students are getting increasingly sophisticated in digital technology, we need to be prepared to provide a better L2 teaching package, fully integrating content knowledge, pedagogy, and technology in a tightly knit trans-disciplinary model to better serve our future students.

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＂Learning by making＂ Eine empirische Beobachtung über die Videoproduktion als konstruktivistisches Lernkonzept im Chinesischunterricht

Im Fremdsprachenunterricht fördert die Videoproduktion als eine Form von ＂learning by making＂ (Boeckmann 2008: 115) die Lernautonomie und -motivation der Studierenden. Allerdings berichten Lehrende manchmal von fehlender Motivation der Studierenden bei der Videoproduktion, oder die Lehrenden bzw. die Lernenden scheuen sich vor den technischen Herausforderungen bzw. dem hohen Arbeitsaufwand. Die Lehrenden bevorzugen nach wie vor die Instruktion als effiziente Unterrichtsform. Konstruktion und Instruktion sind seit langem in der Unterrichtspraxis als gegensätzliche Unterrichtsformen dargestellt worden. (vgl. Möller 2012: 37) Es bleibt eine spannende Frage in der Unterrichtspraxis, wie man trotz begrenzter Kapazität im Unterricht den Studierenden zu möglichst viel Output verhelfen kann. Anhand eines erfolgreich durchgeführten studentischen Videoprojekts der Verfasserin im Sommersemester 2018 werden hier die Herausforderungen und das Potenzial der Videoproduktion im Chinesischunterricht erörtert.

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ポストモダン文学にみる「愛」と「家族」のかたち―江國香織『きらきらひかる』論―

恋愛小説のカリスマと呼ばれる江國香織は、恋愛や家族をテーマにした日常の中に漂う非日常を紡ぐ作品で、多くの女性読者を魅了し、現代文学において特異な位置を占めている。だが、表向きは無難な表現であるが、様々な価値や制度にひそかに亀裂を入れ、何食わぬ顔で常識的な価値観への抵抗や叛逆を企てようとしているという二重性を備える江國文学の深層には、容易には消せない深い闇や閉鎖感を隠し持っている。本稿では、江國香織の代表作『きらきらひかる』を中心に、テクストの考察と作品モチーフを解明しながら、作者の問題意識及び作品の深層世界を考察していく。とりわけ、作者がいかにパロディー、アイロニー、メタファー、間テクスト性などのポストモダン的な手法を用いて、強制的異性愛体制を中核とする家族制度という「大きな物語」や「メタ物語」を終焉させ、オールタネイティヴ的な語り方で女性の恋愛観を築こうとするかをも明らかにする。