bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Is there a field of social work?: Trainees evaluating social problems and social work
Authors: Walls G.
Published: April 2007

My aim was to study the experiences and priorities of two age groups of social work students practicing in client‐centered social work. This article is based on the research on rationality and language games in social work. The target groups of the research project as a whole were the actors: the heads and social workers or activists in public social welfare and health care agencies and institutions and in voluntary associations and action groups, and finally, two subsequent classes of students from a school of social work, during their practicing periods. This article concentrates on the trainees. At first, the trainees wrote essays and kept diaries. Secondly, they marked their standings on graphs visualizing different types of information contents and social relation structures. Thirdly, they made their choices of reasons for and solutions to social problems on a problem wheel. The trainees' study, using different data gathering techniques, partly confirms the results of the research of the other actor groups, in which the data were derived using questionnaires and interviews. The trainees' study shows variation in the respondents' priorities within and between specified social problem categories. Qualitatively analyzed, however, the characterizations of social work, both those who currently act in and those aiming to enter this field, resemble one another.
A social history of human immunodeficiency virus infection in Swedish hemophiliacs
Authors: Blomkvist V. , Theorell T. , Morfedt J. O.
Published: April 2007

One third of all hemophiliacs in Sweden were infected with human immunodeficiency virus via their medicines during 1979 to 1985. This was a major disaster to this small group of patients. On the basis of documents collected from official and unofficial sources, a description of the events following the disaster was made. Unexpected social tensions arose in the patient association. During spring 1986, almost one year after the testing of every patient in the country, a nationwide psychosocial exploration took place. The main objective was to study needs for psychosocial services. The atmosphere was very charged at the time of the survey. The patients were more or less isolated and many people, both old and young, described their feelings of anxiety as terrifying and as a hardship they were unable to bear. Later the group gradually was to adopt a more open attitude that also changed their attitude to both the need of treatment and support. In time this led to a need to turn to each other for advice and support.
Drug addiction as a lifestyle
Authors: Berg J. E. , Andersen S. , Brevik J. I. , Alveberg P. Ø.
Published: April 2007

Drug addict rehabilitation programs receive a small proportion of the funds made available through the social welfare system. Emphasis has traditionally been placed on the pathological rather than the salutogenic elements of an addicted lifestyle. A new test of a person's sense of coherence in life (Antonovsky's 9‐item Sense of Coherence scale) may be of interest in rehabilitation work with drug addicts, and in focusing more attention on this aspect of addiction treatment. Thirty drug addicts in treatment and rehabilitation and 10 former drug addicts were interviewed using the 9‐item Sense of Coherence scale. The results obtained were compared to a well known test of distress, the 24‐item Symptom Checklist. Drug addicts in treatment facilities had significantly lower mean scores on the 9‐item Sense of Coherence scale (2.3) and higher scores on the 24‐item Symptom Checklist (2.3) than both drug addicts in rehabilitatively oriented institutions (3.3 and 1.6) and the long‐term rehabilitated non‐using former drug addicts (4.2 and 1.5 respectively). The differences between the group in rehabilitation and the former drug addicts were also statistically significant. The levels of the two psychometric tests suggested a gradual movement towards normal values and an increased sense of meaning in life among the former drug addicts, contrary to findings by other researchers. The length of time before these tests return to normal values may exceed the observation period often used in follow‐up at treatment facilities. Increased social welfare may follow if a disclosure of salutogenic possibilities in drug addicts is obtained. Further prospective research is, however, necessary to confirm our findings.
Need, allocation and justice — on priorities in the social services
Authors: Bergmark Å.
Published: April 2007

Cuts in public spending and financial constraints faced by Swedish municipalities have led to an increased interest in issues concerning priorities. This interest reflects a practical need to meet current rationing with accurate allocative decisions, where the interests of different areas and categories of users are dealt with in a well‐considered way. In social work, these needs today are obvious. The article raises issues concerning priorities with relevance for social work in the Swedish social services. The purpose is to develop a conceptual and theoretical framework regarding how priorities on different levels of decision‐making are made, where the main focus is on different principles as grounds for and forms of prioritizing. Central are the following questions: What actors can be identified in the process of shaping priorities in social work? What are the principles behind allocative decisions made on different levels of the municipal organization? Which categories of potential and actual users gain advantages or suffer disadvantages from different allocative principles? A theoretical division into first‐ and second‐order decisions and of allocations from notions of efficiency, justice and self‐interest offer the main structure for the article. First‐order decisions are political decision‐making concerning the total amount of resources distributed to various sectors or programs. Second‐order decisions deal with the issue of how to allocate given resources among claimants or possible users. Efficiency is discussed from the aspects of productivity, marginal utility and longterm effects. Material principles of justice dealt with are the principles of need, increment, contribution and merit. Self‐interest is discussed in terms of self‐serving bias, group‐oriented interests and professional gain.
Bureaucracy or professionalism?
Authors: Egelund T.
Published: April 2007

This study analyzes how the work tools of child protection services influence social work with child abuse. The article is empirically based on records, observations of the daily social work and interviews with families. The work tools include 1) rules and 2) professional knowledge and methods. The results show a complicated picture of how work tools are mixed. People‐processing, i.e., the transformation of families to administrative categories, can only be achieved by professional diagnosis because of the complexity of family conflict. The diagnostic discourse, however, is rarely theoretically argued, but mixes loose diagnostic categories with narratives of actual events and moralistic statements. It is argued that the treatment of families is politically determined. Nevertheless, there is a room for maneuver for professional ideals and skills. The study suggests that this freedom of discretion does not seem to be used extensively. Solutions seem to be chosen within the narrow repertoire of legislative recommendations.
Mutual aid in the welfare system in the Republic of Korea
Authors: Son A.
Published: April 2007

For the past two decades, in many Western industrialized states, problems of their welfare systems have become more and more obvious. Three common complaints about welfare systems are high taxation, minimal effectiveness and impersonal bureaucracy. Various measures (such as budget cuts, decentralization and privatization) have been undertaken in order to overcome these problems by many welfare states. In any case, public welfare systems in many Western industrialized states do not cover the affective element which is inherent in the Korean welfare system. In Korea, where the public welfare system is in the formative stage, mutual aid, which is based on a long tradition of personal and voluntary networking, has played an important role in meeting citizens' welfare needs not only by material aid but also by psychological support. To understand welfare in society, it is necessary not only to study the welfare provided by the state and the market but also to consider the welfare provided by mutual aid networks.
Personal financial situation during unemployment and mental health
Authors: Underlid K.
Published: April 2007

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the personal financial situation during unemployment and the connection between financial situation and mental health in a sample (n=213) of unemployed Norwegians. The results indicate that the unemployed suffered high financial deprivation compared with their own subjective standards, their situation when working, their neighbors and friends, and the average population. However, the unemployed did not constitute a homogeneous group in financial terms. In particular, the young unemployed experienced substantial financial problems. Among men, the reduction in income, few leisure facilities and many financial adjustments were closely related to mental health problems. Women who experienced that their income was substantially reduced compared with that of neighbors and friends and women who had carried out many financial adjustments were in poorer mental health than the other women in the sample. The findings are discussed in relation to relevant aspects of the life situation of the unemployed and other research results.
Unemployment, shame and ill health — an exploratory study
Authors: Rantakeisu U. , Starrin B. , Hagquist C.
Published: April 2007

Unemployed young people in six Swedish municipalities were studied in respect of the degree of shaming elements experienced by them in their social environment and in respect of mental ill health. The nature of the investigation was exploratory. The study shows that experience of shaming elements in the environment owing to unemployment is relatively frequent. A larger proportion of the long‐term unemployed and men account for more shaming elements than do the short‐term unemployed and women. It seems as if the factor of shaming elements in the environment is important in order to understand the adverse health‐related consequences of unemployment. A greater proportion of those who live in a more shaming environment show mental disorders, deteriorated health, changes in living habits, activities and social relations, than do those living in a less shaming environment. This report discusses possible explanations of the results in the light of existing moral concepts of work and unemployment, as well as of shaming attitudes towards the unemployed.
The production of “criminals” in Finland in the 1980s
Authors: Kääriäinen J.
Published: April 2007

The article describes from the constructionist starting‐point the quantitative development of people sentenced to prison for the first time in the 1980s in Finland. The reasons for and consequences of this development are also examined. The data consist of a register that covers all the decisions given by the Finnish lower courts of justice for the period 1977–1991. The basic observation is that the number of Finnish people defined for the first time as “criminals” decreased by about 20% in the 1980s. However, at the same time the penal system has increased its efficiency: the number of registered crimes and sentences has grown considerably. This has led to a more rapid circulation of “criminals” between prison and the outside. At the same time, the death rate of those labeled as criminals has increased in all age groups, which indicates the growing marginalization of that diminishing group.
Generational equity and the reformulation of retirement
Authors: Johnson M. L.
Published: April 2007

Starting from an examination of the essential components of the long‐established contract between the generations, the analysis moves on to examine public policy responses to the aging of populations. Observing an international inclination to panic at the growth of old age and to restrict expenditure on services to older people, the article addresses practical questions of political economy within the generational contract. On the one hand, cuts to pensions and services are seen not to be economically inevitable. On the other, it is argued that modern retirement breaches the compact between the generations and will need to be reformulated, enabling more people to earn income well beyond current retirement ages.
Enriching the professional repertoire of social workers: locus of control as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool
Authors: Suri K. B.
Published: April 2007

This article examines the locus of control construct and its utility from a social work perspective. For an overview, the background and evolution of the locus of control concept and the characteristics of internally and externally controlled individuals are provided. How this construct is relevant to social work is treated in relation to social work functions, areas of application, as well as relevant social work treatment issues. The article concludes by examining common criticisms of the locus of control construct and argues for a formal inclusion of this concept in the education and treatment process in social work.
Social work research and its dependence on practice
Authors: Nygren L. , Soydan H.
Published: April 2007

The state of the art in social work research indicates major difficulties concerning the knowledge basis of the discipline. This article aims to contribute to the discourse on the nature of social work research as a scientific activity. The starting‐point is the philosophy of science developed within the realist approach. It is argued that knowledge is primarily gained through activity in attempting to change social reality and through communication with other people. Knowledge is also recognized as knowing how to do something. The character of the social work knowledge may particularly be understood within the frame of reference presented by the realist approach. The history of the ideas of social work demonstrates the importance of understanding the interplay between theory and practice in social work. The article attempts to delimit the provisional borders of social work research. A model of social work research fields is presented.
Attitudes towards the welfare state in the Scandinavian countries
Authors: Nordlund A.
Published: April 2007

The current trajectory of the Scandinavian welfare states is unclear. However, social policy in the Scandinavian countries is, undoubtedly, in a period of transition. This article's main purpose is to analyze whether Scandinavians' support for the welfare state has played a critical role in this transition. Based on surveys from Sweden. Norway and Denmark, two conclusions are reached. Firstly, at the highest aggregated level, the Scandinavian welfare states had solid support in the beginning of the 1990s. Secondly, this support was characterized by significant cleavages between social groups. This article also attempts to further the research on the relationship between institutional characteristics and attitudes. The conclusion is that institutional characteristics provide a reliable guidance for an understanding of attitudes toward social policy in the Scandinavian countries.
Abscondence and duration of treatment of compulsorily committed alcoholics on a locked ward: effects of changes in the treatment program and the law
Authors: Gerdner A. , Furuholm P.‐E. , Berglund M.
Published: April 2007

The study concerns 124 alcoholics compulsorily committed to a locked ward at Runnagården, a coercive treatment setting in mid‐Sweden. Three groups are compared: 57 patients were admitted before and 29 were admitted after the implementation of an introductory Alcoholics Anonymous‐oriented program on the ward. Another 38 patients were admitted after the changes in legislation, which resulted in a longer duration of compulsory care. The groups were compared as to the number of days spent on the locked unit and the number of times they absconded. With the implementation of the program, a significant reduction was observed in the time needed on the locked ward, while the number of abscondence incidents showed a weaker tendency to decrease. After the legislative changes were made, the same factors increased. Multivariate regression was used to check confounding background factors. In conclusion, the introduction of an Alcoholics Anonymous‐oriented program in a coercive treatment setting reduced the time spent on a locked ward without increasing the number of times patients absconded. Increase in length of coercion increased both the time spent at the locked ward and the number of times absconded.
Ethics in program evaluation
Authors: Stake R. , Mabry L.
Published: April 2007

As is the general practice, the evaluation of social work is fitted with ethical structures, some of them encoded, most of them implicit in the activities, rationales, and compassions of the profession. It is useful to have multiple codes, expressing ethical concern from different perspectives, for each reaches into different shadows. Ethical behavior is not so much a matter of following principles as of balancing competing principles. Realization and resolution of ethical conflict come largely from within the individual social worker and evaluator. We describe three program evaluation situations to illustrate these points.
From the discourse of “the other” to the other discourse: stakeholder‐based models of evaluation and the human side of social welfare
Authors: Lincoln Y.S.
Published: April 2007

Stakeholder‐based evaluation models, like predecessor models, respond to issues and concerns identified as evaluation practice has matured. The characteristics of such models are outlined, and the relationships between stakeholder models, social work values, liberal political goals, and feminist theorizing are explored.
Evaluation and public service quality
Authors: Rieper O. , Mayne J.
Published: April 2007

Public service quality is a recent trend in the context of new public management. During the 1990s, public service quality initiatives have been launched in numerous countries at various levels of government. These initiatives have involved a variety of approaches: professional standard setting, service excellence based on users' perception of quality, government granted rights and choice for consumers, and the activity of consumer movements. Public service quality is considered on three levels: the micro level related to the output of the service delivery, the meso level related to the outcome of the service, and the macro level related to public values. Various stakeholders of evaluations of service quality efforts are identified and their expected use of evaluation is discussed. Three roles of education are described: one in the implementation of public service quality, another in evaluation of the success of service quality initiatives, and a third role of evaluating higher levl outcomes. It is argued that even if evaluation techniques are necessary tools for improving service quality at the micro level during implementation, it is even more important to evaluate these initiatives against higher level policy goals and social values.
Linking the university and the social agency in collaborative evaluation research: principles and examples
Authors: Mullen E.J.
Published: April 2007

This paper presents an analysis of components of successful social work evaluation research practice. Among the key obstacles to successful evaluations of social work intervention are the impoverished knowledge base on which many social work interventions are based, the isolation of researchers and practitioners in the conduct of evaluations, and during research implementation failure to cope with the changing field context. To remedy this situation social work needs to invest in university and social agency partnerships focussed on knowledge building for the profession. In such partnerships the traditional roles of the researcher and the practitioner are altered so that shared responsibility for knowledge development is possible. In addition, to deal with changing field contexts the research team needs to be continuously engaged in problem solving and redesign. An initial example of such a partnership is described together with a case study illustrating implementation of a multi‐site field experiment evaluation.
Women in Denmark ‐ why do they die so young? Risk factors for premature death
Authors: Helweg‐Larsen K. , Knudsen L.B. , Petersson B.
Published: April 2007

In Denmark the life expectancy of women has been declining since 1980, and is now the lowest of all OECD countries. Based upon analyses of the different trends in mortality of 35–64‐year‐old women in Denmark compared to women in Norway and Sweden, national differentials in external determinants of morbidity and premature mortality are described. The excess mortality of women in Denmark is linked to lifestyle factors: tobacco smoking, alcohol and drug consumption. We discuss the possible impact of other external factors: full‐time employment, work load, job insecurity, unemployment, single motherhood, and social isolation. The main hypothesis is that the daily life of women in Denmark has deteriorated over the years, and that changes in lifestyle and behaviour in part can be explained by evolved strategies in order to cope with anxiety and strain. Contrary to conditions in Sweden, the welfare system in Denmark has not facilitated the combination of child‐bearing and paid work. The analysis points to the importance of including data of external stressors in discussions of national variances in lifestyle factors linked to premature mortality.
Attitudes to prioritization in selected health care activities
Authors: Ryynänen O‐P. , Myllykangas M. , Niemelä P. , Kinnunen J. , Takala J.
Published: April 2007

The aim of this study was to measure attitudes to health care prioritization in various Finnish population groups. Three study groups were established: 1) the general public (n=4260); 2) politicians (n=1427); and 3) medical and social work professionals (n=1055).

The following background data were obtained: sex, year of birth, marital status, number of children, education, profession, personal income, self‐perceived health, and how subjects viewed their own future and whether they were satisfied with their lives. Information on activities involving prioritization of health service was elicited by presenting a list of 16 health care activities. Respondents evaluated these activities as 1) more important than average, 2) of average importance, or 3) less important than average (indicated as numbers 1‐3).

The response rate was 59.3%, and 57.2% (n=3858) of the original sample was accepted for analysis. The politicians and profes‐sionals showed almost identical attitudes. All groups prioritized treatment of life‐threatening diseases among children. The general public prioritized high‐tech surgery more highly than professionals or politicians. Alternative medicine and cosmetic surgery were the two least important activities. All groups agreed about prioritization of serious diseases among children, care of dying patients, prevention, surgery which helps people to perform their everyday tasks, and home care for the disabled elderly. Professionals and politicians prioritized mental health more highly than the population. The general public prioritized intensive care for premature babies with a low birth weight (less than 800 g). Professionals prioritized family planning more highly than politicians and the population. The results resemble those obtained in Britain, indicating that attitudes towards priorities in health are similar between Britain and Finland, and that the respondents' professions determine attitudes more strongly than does cultural background.
Social crisis and the formation of medico‐social service in Russia
Authors: Shchepin O. , Sidorov P. , Vyazmin A.
Published: April 2007

Socio‐economic reforms have changed the social life of Russia. A large number of social problems in the transition period has negatively affected the social well‐being and health of the nation. The critical situation of the health care system does not allow for the maintenance of the public health of the Russian population at the required level. To solve this problem, it is necessary to improve social services in Russia. The training of medico‐social workers is currently being conducted within the system of higher medical education in Russia with the support of the Swedish universities.
Social workers and significant others as collaterals of non‐responding alcoholics in follow‐up studies using mail questionnaires and telephone interviews
Authors: Gerdner A. , Söderfeldt B. , Berglund M.
Published: April 2007

The subject of this study is non‐response to mail questionnaires and supplementary telephone interviews in evaluation of outcome of treatment for alcohol dependence. The study is based on two clinical populations (n= 121 and 603) from Runnagården, Sweden, a coercive care setting with both voluntary and compulsorily committed patients. The populations differed regarding size, treatment and background factors. Replies were obtained from two‐ and one‐third of the patients in the two populations respectively. Replies from social workers were obtained in 67% and 57% of the cases respectively, and from significant others in 59% of a smaller sub‐sample of the second population. With respect to the combination of patient and collaterals, we received at least one questionnaire reply concerning 96% and 79% of the two populations respectively. In this study we analysed non‐response and evaluated two methods to remedy this, i.e., prediction of the outcome in non‐responders from additional telephone follow‐up and questionnaires to collaterals. About two‐thirds of patients who replied had improved, compared with about one‐third of non‐responders. Significant others replied more often if patients had improved, while social workers replied more often if patients had not improved. Patients who did not reply to mail questionnaires, but answered the same questions in a telephone interview, differed in drinking outcome from non‐responders, but not from mail respondents. The method of using questionnaires addressed to social workers as an additional source of data can be used in countries with a general system of social welfare services and is better than the use of significant others as collaterals. In conclusion, replies obtained by additional telephone interviews were not representative for patients who did not return mail questionnaires. Non‐response groups were highly selected in each of the three questionnaires (addressed to patients, significant others and social workers). Since the selectivity had opposite tendencies, the combination of questionnaires to patients and to social workers seems to be the most representative.
The Barcelona/Karlstad study ‐ a comparative study of female nursing staff
Authors: Sundgren Grinups B. , Sundh M. , Renck B.
Published: April 2007

The aim of this descriptive and exploratory study was to compare the female nursing staff's subjectively experienced health and well‐being in two different types of welfare system. This is achieved through demonstrating the possible differences between Swedish and Spanish female nursing staff with regard to living environment, health and satisfaction with general social conditions. For data collection we used a questionnaire answered by 293 nurses and assistant nurses in Spain and 464 in Sweden. The results show significant differences in health. In all aspects Swedish women experience a better health situation. For Spanish women dissatisfaction with their work situation and leisure is strongly significant (p<0.001) and correlates negatively with their health. For Swedish women dissatisfaction with home and family situation, social intercourse, work situation and leisure (p<0.001) has a negative influence on their health.
Applying linguistics for peace education
Authors: Janicki Karol
Published: April 2007

This paper is in three sections. The first one — conceptual essentialism—discusses the philosophical question of essentialism and offers a brief criticism of it. Essentialism is understood here as involving the view that meaning resides in words rather than having it assigned to them by human beings (as is the case with non‐essentialism). The second section — essentialism and politics — attempts to show how essentialism leads to, among other things, intolerance, conceitedness, a sense of power, and eventually war. The final section — education against essentialism — identifies a few sources of essentialism. It also expresses scepticism over the feasibility of education against essentialism in the near future.
Intercultural communication in multilingual settings
Authors: Oksaar Els
Published: April 2007

This study, the theoretical part of which is based on a longitudinal cross‐linguistic and cross‐behavioral project with Estonian and German immigrants, demonstrates that communication in multilingual settings demands more than the knowledge of several languages. It also demands the control of socio‐culturally conditioned rules of behavior which regulate language use and may vary with the choice of language. In the methodological and theoretical part, it will be shown that the explication of how languages function in different communicative acts requires, instead of the usual language‐oriented approach, an individual‐centered one in which it is necessary to analyze all communicative elements ‐ verbal, paralinguistic, nonverbal and extraverbal ones ‐ from an integrative perspective. The paper further elucidates multilingualism and multiculturalism, interactional competence, models of multilingual communicative behavior, and sources of misunderstanding in intercultural communication and presents cultureme theory as an appropriate research paradigm in this field.
A two‐step sociolinguistic analysis of code‐switching and language choice: the example of a bilingual Chinese community in Britain
Authors: Wei Li , Milroy Lesley , Ching Pong Sin
Published: April 2007

The main concern of this article is an analysis of patterns of language choice (at the community level) and of language mixing (at the interactional level) in a Chinese/English‐speaking bilingual community in the northeast of England. The social network concept is used as a tool for analysing both the informal social organisation of the community and the manner in which language choice patterns are related to the different types of social relationships contracted by speakers. Particular attention is paid to inter‐generational differences in both informal social organisation and language choice. The analytic framework provided by conversation analysis is adapted to illuminate code‐switching and language mixing practices at the interactional level, which is also seen as associated with inter‐generational differences in personal network structure. Finally, the relationship of social network structure with larger‐scale social and political organisation is discussed.
What is applied linguistics?
Authors: James Carl
Published: April 2007

Applied linguistics in one of its manifestations can be defined as that knowledge of language that can be used to influence language performance. Yet it is an ill‐defined and underdefined discipline. Earlier definitions have been of two principal kinds: the ostensive and the expository. These are assessed here. The key to a meaningful definition lies in the dual articulation of applied linguistics: it is an interface between linguistics and practicality. While this interface has traditionally been a human expert, it is suggested here that, following other disciplines, applied linguistics might illuminatingly be viewed as an ‘expert system’where two forms of expertise, value‐free and value‐added, inter‐react in the form of a transdiscipline.
Language, metalanguage, and language use: a cognitive psycholinguistic view
Authors: Dakowska Maria
Published: April 2007

The problem addressed in this paper concerns a possible relationship between metalingual knowledge in the form of rules and communicative knowledge of language as demonstrated in second/foreign language production. This paper looks at: 1) the validity of the conviction that second/foreign language production involves the application of rules in the light of insights available from first language development; 2) a conceptual analysis of key terms; 3) some empirical evidence about the role of metalinguistic knowledge in second language use; 4) two explanations from second language acquisition research of the relationship between metalinguistic knowledge and language production; 5) and a currently emerging psycholinguistic monolingual production model. The article concludes with a section on the implications of the analysis for the formal context of language learning and teaching.
Vocabulary learning and instruction in a second or foreign language
Authors: Kang Hee‐Won , Golden Anne
Published: April 2007

This article discusses major issues concerning vocabulary learning and instruction. The different “knowings” that constitute knowledge of a word are discussed, with the point made that students should develop a depth as well as a breadth of knowledge of vocabulary. Different ways that vocabulary is taught in the classroom are briefly reviewed. Though direct vocabulary teaching methods play an important role, students are the best judges of which words are useful for them to learn. The main point of the article is that, in order to help intermediate and advanced learners develop a depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge, it is important to help them develop the skills and abilities to understand and learn vocabulary on their own. As learning through exposure to vocabulary in oral and written contexts is a major source of vocabulary development, helping students develop strategies and knowledge to use internal and external contexts to infer meanings is a major step towards helping them become independent learners.
English in Europe: whose language, which culture?
Authors: Berns Margie
Published: April 2007

In the context of European integration, language and culture generally are discussed with reference to the individual languages and cultural identities of the European Community (EC) member states. Often implicit and explicit in these discussions is concern with the spread of English and the impact of American culture on the cultures of the EC. This paper approaches these issues from a broad sociolinguistic perspective. Rather than identify English solely with speakers from Great Britain or with artifacts of American culture, it is argued that English belongs to those who use it and therefore has the potential to be a means of expression of European identity. It is further suggested that these social and political issues are related to communicative competence and models of language, central concerns in the decisionmaking of English language teaching specialists in Europe.
Second language acquisition of the Chinese particlele
Authors: Wen Xiaohong
Published: April 2007

This study investigates English speakers' interlanguage constructions using the Chinese perfective aspect and the sentence‐final modal particle. The speech data produced by two different levels of learners were collected, compared and analyzed. The results show that although the surface forms of the perfective aspect ‐leand sentence‐finalleare identical, they are learned differently, with the perfective aspect ‐leacquired first. Furthermore, at the early stage of acquisition of sentence‐finalle, English‐speaking learners experience acquisition difficulties and transfer their Ll‐based default value to their L2 Chinese. The explanation for the variation in the acquisitionleis due both to syntactic and semantic/functional sources. Structural markedness and functional and pragmatic complexity are important factors in accounting for the variation in acquiringlefor Chinese L2 learners.
Syntax and morphology in language attrition: a study of five bilingual expatriate Swedes
Authors: Håkansson Gisela
Published: April 2007

This paper explores the attrition of different aspects of Swedish grammar. Empirical data from five bilingual expatriate students, who have lost parts of their first language due to a deactualization of Swedish, are compared to data from monolingual Swedish aphasic patients. The results indicate that some aspects of the grammar may be more affected than others in language attrition. The bilingual students' noun phrase morphology had undergone attrition, but not their word order. The examples from the aphasics displayed the opposite pattern: for them, word order attrition was combined with unaffected noun phrase morphology. Attrition of Swedish grammar is also discussed in relation to markedness conditions.
Control from the background: a study of information structure in native and non‐native discourse
Authors: Bülow‐Møller Anne Marie
Published: April 2007

This study argues that information structure management is an important and problematic part of the competence sought by nonnative speakers, particularly for goal‐related discourse types where clarity and argumentative power play a role. As negotiation activity is an important case in point, simulated negotiation material is used to show how certain non‐native structures hamper the process. Non‐natives find difficulties in condensing given information and in grounding it with the building of anaphoric relations, the placing of focus and the establishing of more global links. Conversely, natives use these categories to achieve control over the emergent negotiation process.
A proposed method for analysing severely agrammatic speech
Authors: Bookless Tom , Mortley Jane
Published: April 2007

This article proposes a method of analyzing the spontaneous speech of severely agrammatic patients. Such speech typically contains few verbs, articles and pronouns and, in the absence of verbal predicates, lacks normal sentence structures, yet a sympathetic interlocutor can often understand the gist of his/her speech. The method employed here involves the description and analysis of a male patient's video‐recorded conversation with a speech therapist. By studying the output as the result of a desire to communicate with limited syntactic resources, it has been possible to highlight strategies evolved by the patient to compensate for his non‐standard speech. While further research is required into the speech of similarly affected patients, preliminary conclusions seem to point to there being some linguistic mechanisms underlying normal syntactic processing which can be resorted to in such cases.
Intonation and the differentiation of syntactic patterns in English and German
Authors: Tench Paul
Published: April 2007

This study presents a contrastive statement of the potential that intonation has for differentiating identically worded syntactic patterns in English and German. The descriptive apparatus for intonation is Hallidayan; the description of syntax is based on Quirk et al. (A comprehensive grammar of the English language). The primary focus is on tonality, the segmentation of spoken discourse into discrete intonation units. The study rehearses some well‐known, but also introduces some less well‐known, examples of tonality contrasts which realise syntactic distinctions that are concealed in the written form. A full listing of such contrasts is given for English, followed by an enquiry into the use of intonation in German in corresponding cases and in additional cases, leading to a full listing of such contrasts for German. Comparisons are noted, particularly in view of consequences for learning and teaching these languages.
“There's nothing so practical as some good theories”
Authors: Roberts Celia
Published: April 2007

This paper airs some of the issues around the practical relevance of applied linguistics and in particular the relationship between researchers and the institutions and practitioners with whom they work. I suggest that applied linguistics needs to constitute its intellectual base within practical work outside the academy rather than simply applying theory to practice. This entails a more reflexive turn to applied linguistic research, and ethnography and teacher research provide useful models. When practical social linguistics is applied to settings other than education, how does it address the scientism which tends to dominate the discourses of these institutions? Some of the contextually sensitive conceptual and analytical tools developed in social linguistics are relevant, but many questions are still to be answered. For example, at what point does participant observation turn to consultancy or other forms of practical action? Such questions imply a reconstituted applied linguistics with a research community which includes both those in the academy and professionals and practitioners outside it.
Apply within, apply without?
Authors: van Lier Leo
Published: April 2007

This commentary on the field of applied linguistics (AL) focuses on the tensions that exist between theory and practice, on the one hand, and homogeneity and diversity on the other. It is argued that theory and practice need not be seen as separate activities, and that diversity is an inevitable – and desirable – consequence of the interdisciplinary nature of AL. The paper examines the institutional and social context of AL, as an academic entity with its own degree programs and so on, and suggests that its independence must be balanced by an interdependence with many other relevant fields. It notes that the relationship between AL and linguistics is a problematic one, particularly in view of the definitions of science, theory and language that many linguists adopt. It is suggested that these definitions are not immutable. As an example, the author proposes that a ‘paradigm’ need not be seen as Kuhn's ‘closed box’, but can profitably be construed as an open system, or an ecology. Finally, the article comments briefly on the role of the generalist, seen as someone who can find a common language with which to represent the diversity of perspectives and specialized projects which inevitably characterize a healthy AL.
‘Legal language’: varieties, genres, registers, discourses
Authors: Kurzon Dennis
Published: April 2007

The paper deals primarily with the classification of what is known in LSP as ‘legal language’. Despite considerable consensus concerning the topics included under this label, there is a substantial amount of terminological uncertainty. An analysis of the use of terms such as ‘variety’. ‘genre’, ‘register’ and ‘discourse’ clarifies the issues that are prevalent in works on legal language. Such an analysis may also clarify issues in LSP in general, for this is relevant to medical, engineering, and any other professional language. The term ‘legal discourse’, it is argued, is the most accurate term to describe the phenomenon under discussion, since not only does it include legal register, but it involves the various legal genres, too. In fact, legal register as such, in terms of special words and expressions, may be of secondary importance today, even in LSP teaching, and any study of legal discourse should perhaps become mainly a study of legal genres.
Comparing learner and teacher views on the usefulness and enjoyableness of materials
Authors: Peacock Matthew
Published: April 2007

Although many authors have asserted that learner opinions about materials should be incorporated into lesson planning, little has been done to measure and then ascertain the correlation between learner and teacher views on the appropriacy and enjoyableness of the materials utilised in class. This article reports on a classroom research project undertaken to check this correlation. Two South Korean university EFL classes took part in the study. Somewhat disturbingly, results indicated that there was a very low negative correlation between learner and teacher views on the usefulness of the materials. The correlation for enjoyableness was also low. It was concluded that these results raise the issue of whether teacher and learner views of materials diverge to the same extent in other EFL classes around the world.
One writer two languages: a case study of a 15‐year‐old student's writing process in Danish and English
Authors: Albrechtsen Dorte
Published: April 2007

Results from studies of the L2 writing process are often dismissed by teachers doing in‐service training because most such studies report on the writing process of university students. The focus of this descriptive study is a comparison of the writing processes of a 15‐year‐old girl (grade 9) writing essays in Danish (L1) and English (L2) in an uncontrolled setting. The two essays were homework assignments; as a result. the amount of time spent on the tasks was entirely up to the student. A think‐aloud procedure was used for data collection. The analysis of the protocols was based on four behaviours identified in both protocols: commenting, reading aloud, writing, and verbatim verbalizations of text prior to putting pen to paper. A sub‐categorization of the comments revealed certain differences between the protocols. The Danish protocol contained more explicit comments on planning and evaluation of content and organization, which was interpreted as arising mainly from differences between the two assignments. Reading aloud was a predominant strategy which served a number of purposes, and very similar reading patterns emerged in the two protocols. Overall the analysis revealed very similar methods of working in the two languages. The findings are related to the concept of knowledge transforming and to results of other comparative studies.
Self‐reports on silence as a face‐saving strategy by people with hearing impairment
Authors: Jaworski Adam , Stephens Dafydd
Published: April 2007

The main assumption in this paper is that silence, defined here as avoidance or termination of talk in problematic and face‐threatening situations, is used by hard‐of‐hearing people as a face‐saving strategy in communication with hearing people. One hundred hearing‐impaired people were asked to list any situations in which they refrain from conversation due to embarrassment. The situations which were mentioned by the subjects can be summarized as follows: (a) avoid talk in group situations, in public, noisy or open spaces; (b) avoid talk while concentrating; (c) avoid talk through impossible channels (e.g. telephone) or with other physical obstacles (inadequate positioning); (d) avoid talk when it is uninteresting or irrelevant; (e) avoid talk for socializing; with strangers and with people in a hurry. We argue that, given the wide range situations/reasons elicited in this study, avoidance of conversation in communication by hearing‐impaired people cannot be uniformly viewed as a negative or maladaptive strategy of communication.