The aim of this article is to investigate the morphological and lexicosemantic traits of the COVID-19 lexeme as demonstrated in the framework of the English Web 2021 (enTenTen21) and the Slovak National Corpus (web-6.0). The exploration of the word-formation potential of the lexeme is carried out, too. A preliminary step of the research procedure is to recognize recurring patterns in which the studied lexical unit occurs so that we could inquiry into its functions in the given discourse. To achieve its goals, the combination of the lexical analysis and corpus analysis methods is employed. The findings of this study reveal that the lexeme COVID-19 entered all spheres of communication within both the studied languages. Furthermore, it has been adapted to their morphological and lexical systems and can access regular word-formation processes existing in them.
Pronunciation remains a controversial aspect of English instruction, both in theory and practice, with the dichotomy between “nativeness” and “intelligibility” (Levis, 2005) directing research into the exploration of learner and teacher views as to what they want to achieve, and, consequently, which elements of the English sound system should be included in language teaching and learning. Continuing a long tradition of questionnaire studies among Polish learners and teachers of English, this paper explores the presence of pronunciation instruction in the English classroom by inviting students who have chosen English as their BA major to reflect on their experience. The total of 70 students participated in a questionnaire study in which they were asked to reflect on whether they remembered pronunciation to have been included in their English instruction at different levels of schooling, and if it was, how it was taught and which aspects they remembered to have been practiced. They were also encouraged to provide comments and to share their views on the usefulness of instruction as well as to provide recommendations for pronunciation teaching and learning. The results show that pronunciation is only marginally present in students’ learning experience, with a slight increase corresponding to the level of schooling and a growing preference for suprasegmental phonetics. While commenting on their experience, students stress the need for pronunciation practice, correction by the teacher and self-study to be included from the beginning of EFL education.
This paper draws heavily from my previous work on intelligibility (Hodgetts, 2020). It advocates basing pronunciation instruction on intelligibility goals, rather than native-like production goals and investigates the research available on the segmental and suprasegmental features that should be prioritized in order to enhance intelligibility and comprehensibility. First, the Chapter defines and explains the concepts of intelligibility, comprehensibility and accentedness, before discussing the merits of native and intelligibility-based targets of instruction in various contexts. It then examines which elements of segmental and suprasegmental language instruction might be included in an intelligibility-based syllabus. The crucial role of the listener is explored, as is the issue of English used as a lingua franca.
Microcredentials have recently attracted substantial attention in academia. While short, practice-oriented courses and the concept of lifelong learning (e.g. Jarvis 2009) have been around for decades, the idea of receiving credit in the form of open digital badges and stacking them to form a personal portfolio is new – and exciting. Add to it the ongoing discussion on the decline of the university diploma as such, and a viable alternative to traditional translator education looms in the distance. This paper explores the rise of microcredentials in general and in language and translation studies in particular. The numerous approaches to translation competence (see Quinci 2023 for a more recent one) seem to be in agreement that it is a construct made up of several subcompetencies. It is logically sound, therefore, to acquire these subcompetencies separately in the process of competence development that is individual and free from the typical constraints of university education, such as completing it in the allotted time. However, this system means that there is no authority to tell the trainee that they are „competent enough”, other than perhaps the employer, who chooses to hire them or not. As regards the translation market, microcredentials are too new to be universally recognised, so for the time being translation agencies will prefer more traditional qualifications. This, in turn, leads to higher education institutions shying away from offering them (and students from taking them), since they do not yet constitute a fully-fledged qualification. The paper includes a presentation of a pilot microcredential on offer at University of Lodz, as well as the results of a focus group survey on microcredentials in translation.
