The spread of English as a global language has sparked debate over how language should be taught and learned and the optimal connection between traditional and Global Englishes (GE) approaches to teaching English as a second/foreign language. According to the GE approach, teaching and learning English might focus more on different contexts than…

This article explores the management of multilingual mobile communicators at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) according to institutional requirements and the consequences on Arabic-speaking communicators' careers. Based on interviews complemented by institutional documents, I analyse the impact of "multiple languages",…

This paper examines the native/nonnative debate from an angle that is often disregarded: the challenges and difficulties faced by native English-speaking teachers who live and work abroad for an extended period of time. We argue that while they often stand a better chance in job application procedures, preferential treatment is secured by…

The Brazilian University for International Integration of the Afro-Brazilian Lusophony (UNILAB) was created to host students from Portuguese-speaking Africa and Brazil. In this article, we look at the aims and objectives of UNILAB, which include the social integration of these students at the university. We present results from interviews…

The study of social studies is an important subject especially if ESL students are to understand the world around them. To study social studies effectively students often need to read texts which are most often at a level only written for native speakers which can be daunting at times and this can often turn into a tedious task but also that they…

Suggests the outlines of a theory of how sociocultural and grammatical knowledge are integrated in the construction of personal names and how such knowledge can be retrieved from surface linguistic forms. Draws on anthropological and linguistic procedures to analyse the Yoruba personal naming system and the sociolinguistic principles that underly…

Reviewing the situation of literacy in the mother tongue, the article reports on projects in: (1) Africa--Mali and Nigeria, (2) the Amazonian jungle of Peru in Latin America, and (3) Papua, New Guinea. Psychological, sociological, and educational advantages of the mother tongue are discussed. (MW)

This book is designed to help Peace Corps volunteers continue to learn a language in the absence of a trained teacher. It consists of techniques intended to help volunteers build upon their daily contact with native informants. Seventeen techniques are presented, each consisting of a subject, objectives, technique, and procedures. The material…

This book is a collection of original essays on the practice of linguistic fieldwork and language documentation. Twelve leading linguistics have contributed chapters about the study of languages in a natural setting. They pass on lessons learned, best practices, and discuss a wide variety of topics including the attitude of the linguistic, the…

Two prose passeges (one English, one Yoruba) were used as reading texts in a study of 29 undergraduates in the University of Ibadan to determine whether native speakers of Yoruba read English texts faster and more efficiently than they read equivalent texts in Yoruba. Most read Yoruba more slowly than in English. (LBH)

The 1997 volume of "Notes on Literacy," numbers 1-4, includes the following articles: "Community Based Literacy, Burkina Faso"; "The Acquisition of a Second Writing System"; "Appropriate Methodology and Social Context"; "Literacy Megacourse Offered"; "Fitting in with Local Assumptions about…

Whether Anglophone and Francophone students evaluate the same teachers equally, or whether the language in which instruction is delivered affects the evaluation, was studied with 988 first- and third-year students in Cameroon. Results indicate that students did evaluate teachers using their own language more highly and third-year students were…

In the rapidly changing political, economic, and social life of West Africa, there is a renewed interest in cultural identity. This book describes the developments and the difficulties experienced by different West African countries in the use of mother tongues in multi-lingual society. The book was commissioned to give scholars, educators, and…

This paper presents a "natural" method of second language learning which stresses contact with native speakers and de-emphasizes textbook learning. The method described here is that used by Baptist missions in eastern Africa to teach Bemba, but is transferrable to any language. Some of the main principles of the method are: (1) language…

The materials status report for Lingala, a lingua franca spoken in central Africa, is one of a series intended to provide the nonspecialist with a picture of the availability and quality of texts for teaching various languages to English speakers. The report consists of: (1) a brief narrative description of Lingala, the areas where it is spoken,…