En el actual contexto B2C (Business to Consumer, de negocio a consumidor), y pese al auge de los nuevos medios de comunicación, las empresas optan por gestionar las reclamaciones de manera individual a través del correo electrónico y originan, de esta manera, un género de comunicación profesional único. En este estudio, analizamos los rasgos pragma-discursivos de este género para facilitar su aprendizaje en el aula de español como lengua extranjera para fines profesionales. Examinamos tres aspectos de un corpus de español peninsular: la estructura discursiva específica de estos mensajes de respuesta; las estrategias defensivas y acomodativas o complacientes que se usan en ellos y la realización lingüística de la Voz Humana Conversacional. Presentamos una propuesta didáctica que aborda estas particularidades mediante ejercicios que incrementan el espíritu crítico del alumnado su conocimiento de la lengua así como de la cultura que transmite. Así, se les capacita para tomar decisiones comunicativas adaptadas a la situación lingüística y cultural, sin limitarse a una mera traducción automática desde su primera lengua.
Generation Z L2 learners, who are immersed in English audiovisual content from an early age, might feel more comfortable with the pronunciation of English than their Generation X or Millennial non-native EFL teachers. This paper explores how Gen Z L2 learners in Northeastern Europe use English extramurally, how they rate their own and their teachers’ English pronunciation, and whether they aspire to sound native-like. The data was collected from 140 college-level first year students through questionnaires and interviews. The main findings are that, first, Gen Z students rate their own pronunciation as fairly advanced, reporting extramural English as a greater influence than their English teachers’ input, and second, view their non-native English teachers’ pronunciation as less native-like than their own, yet generally rate their teachers as acceptable models of English pronunciation. Consequently, this paper proposes that Gen Z students might benefit from an alternative type of pronunciation teaching.
This paper sets out to study the use of passive forms, first person pronouns, and process types in the biological research article. Recent studies carried out on a small sample of articles in the physical sciences have suggested that in physical sciences research articles, there are two available models: one using many passive forms and avoiding first person pronoun subjects; and the other using few passives but first person pronoun subjects readily. The object of this study is to consider a similar sample from the biological sciences, and to compare them with the previously studied physical sciences articles. The six biological research articles that have been studied here, show restrained use of passives and a significant use of first person pronoun subjects. Overall, the relational process is the most common type, but the material process is the most frequent in some articles. Relational process is the most common type overall, but material process is the most frequent in some articles. Within mental process, cognitive process is the most common type, followed by processes of a mathematical nature. Most first person pronoun subjects occur with mental process verbs.
El volumen reseñado ofrece una exposición clara y bien fundamentada de los principios que subyacen a la moderna didáctica de idiomas, dirigida principalmente a estudiantes de didáctica de lenguas y a quienes se ocupan de su formación. El autor presenta la materia dentro de un marco cognitivo que integra la investigación académica con la práctica en el aula. La obra destaca por su enfoque en los principios modernos de la enseñanza de lenguas, como la importancia de proporcionar un input de calidad y actividades significativas. Sin embargo, presenta ciertas limitaciones en el tratamiento de los factores afectivos en el aprendizaje de lenguas y carece de referencias bibliográficas directas que faciliten una profundización autónoma. A pesar de algunas limitaciones editoriales, el libro se valora como un recurso útil para la formación inicial en didáctica de idiomas.
The study investigates conversational closings in conversations between italian and international university students, and lecturers. To close a conversation is crucial for the handling of social image and interpersonal relations. Although previous studies have explored this issue in different languages, formal Italian, particularly in the academic context, has been less investigated. The aim of this study is to identify the strategies used by learners to end conversations and to compare the closing patterns between native and non-native Italian speakers. The study is based on a corpus of oral interactions between Italian-speaking and international university students and their teachers. The results indicate that both university students tend to organize closings with a similar structure, including a pre-closing phase, a transition phase and a final exchange. However, there is variability in the use of expressions and strategies, influenced by linguistic competence and knowledge of sociopragmatic norms specific to the academic context.
This study investigates the impact of Immersive Educational Environments (IEEs) on English vocabulary acquisition among university students with Specific Learning Disorders, particularly dyslexia. Grounded in Universal Design for Learning and the Italian Framework for Inclusive Language Education, the research combines inclusive pedagogical theory with innovative technological tools. A mixed-method case study was conducted at the University of Genoa, involving 92 students in an experimental online English course. Results revealed that IEEs enhanced learners’ motivation, engagement, and lexical performance—particularly in vocabulary retention and contextual usage. Compared to traditional methods, immersive and multisensory environments provided higher accessibility and supported both receptive and productive vocabulary development. The study also highlights SpLD students’ specific needs, including preferences for visual, interactive content and structured, transparent instruction. While limitations exist, findings support IEEs as promising tools for inclusive language education, offering new pathways for addressing diverse learner needs in higher education.
This review looks at Multimodal Literacies Across Digital Learning Contexts, edited by Maria Grazia Sindoni and Ilaria Moschini with a focus on how it might be useful for language educators working in digital classrooms. The review takes the volume as a starting point for thinking through teaching practices, especially how educators might make better use of digital tools and multimodal approaches. This review highlights ideas that can help teachers reflect on their roles not just as instructors, but as people who shape learning experiences that value students’ voices, agency, and different ways of making meaning. The volume offers examples of how multimodal thinking plays out in real educational settings from early childhood to university, touching on topics like digital storytelling, translanguaging, and assessment with multiple modes in mind. This review highlights how the book can support language teachers, teacher trainers, and curriculum designers in rethinking what counts as learning and how to support it in more inclusive and creative ways. In doing so, it underscores the volume’s value not only as a contribution to multimodality research but also as a resource for reimagining language learning environments.
Questa recensione ha l’obiettivo di descrivere la struttura e i contenuti del volume Native-Speakerism and Trans-Speakerism. Entering a New Era di Takaaki Hiratsuka, edito nel 2024 dalla Cambridge University Press, e di porre in rilievo aspetti salienti della ricerca effettuata dall’autore. In particolare, vengono fatte emergere le ragioni che hanno dato modo all’interesse di ricerca nei confronti delle nozioni di nativismo e di antinativismo di farsi strada, e vengono poste in evidenza le proposte avanzate per far progredire la ricerca e la pratica nel campo dell’educazione linguistica, liberando le persone che operano in questo campo (future/i insegnanti e ricercatrici/ricercatori, insegnanti di scuola secondaria in servizio, docenti d’università) dalla visione dicotomica “parlante nativa/o” vs “parlante non nativa/o”. La recensione si conclude con alcune riflessioni di chi scrive sui pregi del volume, sulle potenziali criticità e sui possibili gruppi destinatari dei contenuti dell’opera.
Designing Learning with Digital Technologies, edited by Fei Victor Lim and Mercedes Querol-Julián (2024), is an insightful contribution to the ever-evolving conversation about how digital tools shape and influence teaching and learning practices. Grounded in multimodal and socio-semiotic theory, the volume centers the role of educators and teachers as empowered designers of learning. With a specific focus on post-pandemic teaching realities teaching realities, yet not limited by them, it offers empirical studies, theoretical insights, and practical tools to support innovative, inclusive, and sustainable digital pedagogy across a range of educational and cultural contexts.
The multiple mixed-method case studies approach responds to the need for multimodal literacy and multiliteracies assessment in higher education to address the current digital workplace communication gap. The 4ML theoretical model for digital multimodal communication provided the basis for a scoring rubric and an analytical framework for multimodal content analysis. The model was an effective tool for diagnosing multimodal composers’ literacy levels in digital literacy, multimedia skill literacy, multimodal design literacy, and rhetorical literacy. Additionally, the visual analysis of undergraduate multimodal slide decks provided qualitative insight into multiliteracies’ strengths and gaps. The findings support the use of the 4ML model in business and professional communication classrooms to enhance digital multimodal communication competencies.
The digitization of the world is continuously developing, with corporate genres migrating to the web. Annual Corporate Reports (ACR) now appear in digital formats ranging from static PDFs to interactive websites. This shift significantly impacts report narratives, which are often enhanced by corporate videos, as they represent a versatile communication tool. This is particularly relevant for students, who are naturally digitally literate and accustomed to visual and auditory content. Our study has two objectives. From a research perspective, we aim to identify key multimodal features of Video CEO Statements (VCS). From a pedagogical standpoint, we will demonstrate how these videos enhance students' multimodal literacy within corporate digital genres. This, in turn, could improve essential business communication skills, including leadership, audience engagement, and digital communication strategies, thus equipping students with competencies that are vital for today’s corporate landscape.
Rapid cultural and digital transformations are disrupting higher education. Focusing on unique areas referred to as “human intelligence” (HI) is critical to meet students’ changing needs. This paper explores the design, pedagogy, and outcomes of an international business communication course integrating a blended mobility model. This study investigates student outcomes in a blended mobility format combining a COIL course with a brief study abroad experience, culminating in a cross-cultural team presentation to a real business client. Content analysis of student reflections identifies core learning outcomes, comparing and expanding upon blended mobility “employability skills”. Five additional skills emerged, consistent with intercultural competency communication research as well as ten sub-themes related to belonging. Findings highlight the potential of blended mobility to foster “HI” professional skills as well as a sense of belonging among student participants.
Despite the rise of new means of communication, in the current B2C (Business to Consumer) context, businesses opt to individually handle complaints via email, thus giving rise to a unique professional communication genre. In this study, we analyze the pragma-discursive characteristics of this genre to facilitate classroom learning of Spanish as a foreign language for professionals. We examine three aspects of a corpus of Peninsular Spanish: the specific discursive structure of these response messages; the defensive, accommodating, or helpful strategies that are used in them; and the linguistic production of the Conversational Human Voice. We present a didactic proposal that approaches these aspects through exercises that increase the critical attitude of learners and their knowledge of the language and culture that it conveys. In this way, they will be prepared to make communication decisions that are adaptable to linguistic and cultural situations and not limited to a mere automatic translation from their first language.
Introduced in 2009, YouTube’s autocaptioning technology allows users to automatically provide intralingual subtitles for the videos uploaded on the platform. As YouTube is owned by Google, this so-called “automatic caption timing”, uses Google Automatic Speech Recognition system (Google Voice) to automatically synchronize the subtitles with the speakers’ utterances. In order to go one step further and produce automatic interlingual subtitles in an extremely wide range of foreign languages, Google decided to combine its ASR system with its Machine Translation system (Google Translate). However, it is generally acknowledged that, despite the improvements in technology and the vast resources of Google and YouTube, automatic captioning can fail to convey the message accurately. This can cause a series of cascading errors, leading the Machine Translation system to mistranslate or to affect overall accuracy. This paper intends to present the results of a practice-based study conducted with a group of students at the University of Turin on the topic of marketing, to focus on the potentiality of the use of YouTube’s automatic subtitles in order to enhance various skills.
This paper describes a course in English Language and Linguistics addressed to MA students majoring in English for International Communication at the University of Turin Italy). The course was especially designed for this degree program and integrated the use of language corpora, principles of multimodality, visual and verbal communication in company websites, as well as the analysis of corporate crises. The study draws on feedback gathered from students through an end-of-course questionnaire during the academic year 2023-24. The findings reveal that students appreciated active participation through a hands-on approach and group work on selected case studies. Their responses indicate an openness to new learning methods, though they remain attached to traditional content-based approaches, particularly in assessment. As established models make students resistant to change, this study demonstrates that educational innovation requires student active involvement and an engaging approach.
Several investigations have explored the effects, on teacher cognition, of language teacher education regarding multilingual approaches. However, the impact of teacher training in using plurilingual education to develop language learning strategies in and across two or more third languages while promoting teachers’ collaboration is scarcely researched. This article explores the changes in a group of pre- and in-service teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices during a university course regarding language learning strategies in both Italian and Spanish as third languages and multilingual approaches. The study aims at understanding teachers’ perceived impact of course participation on the development of their multilingual language awareness. Data were collected through teachers’ diaries and the teaching materials they produced. Results confirm the efficacy of teacher training in language learning strategies and plurilingual education by stimulating teachers’ reflections, making them carry out operative tasks, and promoting their collaboration.
This interview explores the intersection of social mobility and inequalities in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) through a dialogue with Peter Sayer, an Associate Professor at The Ohio State University. His research focuses on the complexities of TESOL within multilingual contexts, particularly in Mexico and the Philippines. He challenges the myth of international English, questioning its role in alleviating poverty and promoting social change, and highlights the hidden curriculum in working-class schools, which emphasizes repetitive tasks to prepare students for working-class jobs. He discusses the implications of Human Capital Theory on English education, critiquing its focus on skills acquisition over social justice. Moreover, he advocates for a plurilingual approach through translanguaging, emphasizing the importance of leveraging students’ linguistic repertoires in the classroom. Peter envisions future research directions in TESOL to be grounded in practice, aiming to bridge theory and practice while addressing the challenge of making English education more relevant and accessible to students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
Meeting the Needs of Reunited Refugee Families: An Ecological, Multilingual Approach to Language Learning" by Sarah Cox analyses the situation of refugees in Scotland, with a focus on newly arrived women. Drawing from the experience of two previous case studies in Wales and Germany, the research explores the linguistic and practical challenges faced by newly arrived refugee women in the UK following family reunification. The volume demonstrates how the combination of an ecological, decolonial approach, and translanguaging strategies can be effective and appreciated by refugee families in their early days in a new country. The volume constitutes an exploration of what it truly means to start from "day one," delving into integration, language learning, and solidarity in a comprehensive and engaging manner
This interview explores the intersection of social mobility and inequalities in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) through an interview with PeterSayer. His research focuses on the complexities of TESOL within multilingual contexts, particularly in Mexico and the United States. He challenges the myth of international Englishas a forcein alleviating poverty and promoting social change. Peter Sayer discusses the implications of Human Capital Theory on English education, critiquing its focus on skills acquisition. He advocates for a plurilingual approach through translanguaging by emphasizing the importance of leveraging students’ linguistic repertoires in the classroom. Peter Sayerenvisions the directions of his future research in TESOL in practice and aimsto bridge theory and practice while addressing the challenge of making English education more relevant and accessible to students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds
