Menu
Prof. Maria Economidou-Kogetsidis
Professor of English and Applied Linguistics, University of Nicosia
Second Language Email Pragmatics and Greek EFL learners: Student-faculty emails and Pragmatic Judgments
In the past two decades, email communication, a process which is dynamic and open for negotiation and co-construction in any given context, has been studied extensively from a number of perspectives, a move which has opened a number of research avenues, many of which are still not thoroughly explored. Email is currently the oldest mode of computer-mediated communication and one of the most popular communication media given its high transmission speed and its less intrusive nature. Unlike instant messages, email appears to support longer distance relationships and it is used more for information purposes in academic and other institutional settings among colleagues, as well as between students and faculty.
Email writing can be a challenging task even for native speakers of a language, but it can be even more challenging for L2 learners on a number of levels, especially in power-asymmetrical institutional settings. Previous research on L2 email requests has indicated that learners’ email requests tend to be characterised by insufficient or inappropriate mitigation, overly direct wording of requests, failure to acknowledge the imposition involved in granting a request, failure to provide institutional explanations for requesting, inappropriate address forms, unreasonable time frames or an emphasis on students’ personal needs and wants. These deviations have been found to result in status-incongruent messages capable of pragmatic failure. Empirical research has further shown that inappropriate choices regarding either communicative intent or linguistic choice can result in negative evaluations of the email senders’ personality by their lecturers (Economidou-Kogetsidis 2011, 2016; Hendriks 2010), their competence, academic potential and the lecturers’ motivation to work with them, and their credibility and the lecturers’ readiness to grant the request.
This presentation will address the pragmatics of email as a medium in relation to L2 learners of English, and review findings from a number of recent empirical studies with Greek learners within academia. It will then focus on findings from a recent study by the author which examines L2 learners’ metapragmatic awareness in relation to first-order perceptions of in/appropriateness of student-faculty emails. Using qualitative and quantitative data from questionnaires and interviews, the study aims at eliciting students’ perceptions and metapragmatic judgments on authentic student emails in order to examine how learners conceptualise email appropriateness and what criteria (linguistic and/or otherwise) they use to make appropriateness judgments.
Short bio
Maria ECONOMIDOU-KOGETSIDIS is Professor of English and Applied Linguistics at the University of Nicosia and the Coordinator of the MA TESOL postgraduate program. She holds a PhD in Cross-cultural Pragmatics (Applied Linguistics) from the University of Nottingham, an MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics (University of Leicester), a BA in Humanities (University of Bedfordshire), and a Certificate in TESOL from Trinity College, University of London. She is a certified IELTS examiner for the British Council and an IGCSE English as a Second Language Certified Oral Examiner. She is also a European Research Executive Agency Vice Chair for EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships). Her research areas are Second Language (L2) and Intercultural pragmatics, cross-cultural communication, sociopragmatics, pragmalinguistics, and L2 email pragmatics. Her current research focuses on the pragmatic performance and development of Greek learners of English, email politeness and email requests, and on the pragmatic abilities and development of Young L2 learners. She is the co-editor of two edited volumes with John Benjamins Pragmatics and Beyond New Series: ‘Interlanguage Request Modification’ (2012), and ‘Email Pragmatics and Second Language Learners’ (2021). Together with M. Savic and A. Myrset, she is currently finalising the manuscript for the forthcoming book entitled ‘Teaching and Researching Speech Acts with Young EFL Learners: Beneath the Linguistic Surface’ (Multilingual Matters, Early Language Learning in School Contexts series), and a forthcoming edited volume (together with G. Schauer, M Savic and A. Myrset) entitled ‘Second Language Pragmatics and Young Language Learners: The EFL Primary School Context’ (Multilingual Matters). She has more than 40 publications which have appeared in edited books and in high impact journals such as the Journal of Pragmatics, Intercultural Pragmatics, ELT Journal, Pragmatics (IPrA), the Journal of Politeness Research, Multilingua, The Language Learning Journal, Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, the Intercultural Communication Education Journal and others.
In the past two decades, email communication, a process which is dynamic and open for negotiation and co-construction in any given context, has been studied extensively from a number of perspectives, a move which has opened a number of research avenues, many of which are still not thoroughly explored. Email is currently the oldest mode of computer-mediated communication and one of the most popular communication media given its high transmission speed and its less intrusive nature. Unlike instant messages, email appears to support longer distance relationships and it is used more for information purposes in academic and other institutional settings among colleagues, as well as between students and faculty.
Email writing can be a challenging task even for native speakers of a language, but it can be even more challenging for L2 learners on a number of levels, especially in power-asymmetrical institutional settings. Previous research on L2 email requests has indicated that learners’ email requests tend to be characterised by insufficient or inappropriate mitigation, overly direct wording of requests, failure to acknowledge the imposition involved in granting a request, failure to provide institutional explanations for requesting, inappropriate address forms, unreasonable time frames or an emphasis on students’ personal needs and wants. These deviations have been found to result in status-incongruent messages capable of pragmatic failure. Empirical research has further shown that inappropriate choices regarding either communicative intent or linguistic choice can result in negative evaluations of the email senders’ personality by their lecturers (Economidou-Kogetsidis 2011, 2016; Hendriks 2010), their competence, academic potential and the lecturers’ motivation to work with them, and their credibility and the lecturers’ readiness to grant the request.
This presentation will address the pragmatics of email as a medium in relation to L2 learners of English, and review findings from a number of recent empirical studies with Greek learners within academia. It will then focus on findings from a recent study by the author which examines L2 learners’ metapragmatic awareness in relation to first-order perceptions of in/appropriateness of student-faculty emails. Using qualitative and quantitative data from questionnaires and interviews, the study aims at eliciting students’ perceptions and metapragmatic judgments on authentic student emails in order to examine how learners conceptualise email appropriateness and what criteria (linguistic and/or otherwise) they use to make appropriateness judgments.
Short bio
Maria ECONOMIDOU-KOGETSIDIS is Professor of English and Applied Linguistics at the University of Nicosia and the Coordinator of the MA TESOL postgraduate program. She holds a PhD in Cross-cultural Pragmatics (Applied Linguistics) from the University of Nottingham, an MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics (University of Leicester), a BA in Humanities (University of Bedfordshire), and a Certificate in TESOL from Trinity College, University of London. She is a certified IELTS examiner for the British Council and an IGCSE English as a Second Language Certified Oral Examiner. She is also a European Research Executive Agency Vice Chair for EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships). Her research areas are Second Language (L2) and Intercultural pragmatics, cross-cultural communication, sociopragmatics, pragmalinguistics, and L2 email pragmatics. Her current research focuses on the pragmatic performance and development of Greek learners of English, email politeness and email requests, and on the pragmatic abilities and development of Young L2 learners. She is the co-editor of two edited volumes with John Benjamins Pragmatics and Beyond New Series: ‘Interlanguage Request Modification’ (2012), and ‘Email Pragmatics and Second Language Learners’ (2021). Together with M. Savic and A. Myrset, she is currently finalising the manuscript for the forthcoming book entitled ‘Teaching and Researching Speech Acts with Young EFL Learners: Beneath the Linguistic Surface’ (Multilingual Matters, Early Language Learning in School Contexts series), and a forthcoming edited volume (together with G. Schauer, M Savic and A. Myrset) entitled ‘Second Language Pragmatics and Young Language Learners: The EFL Primary School Context’ (Multilingual Matters). She has more than 40 publications which have appeared in edited books and in high impact journals such as the Journal of Pragmatics, Intercultural Pragmatics, ELT Journal, Pragmatics (IPrA), the Journal of Politeness Research, Multilingua, The Language Learning Journal, Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, the Intercultural Communication Education Journal and others.
Dr Valantis Fyndanis
Assistant Professor of Psycholinguistics/Neurolinguistics, Cyprus University of Technology
Multilingualism and verbal short-term/working memory: Evidence from university professors and researchers
To date, the evidence regarding the impact of bilingualism/multilingualism on short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) capacity is inconclusive. In this talk, I will present a study that addresses whether bilingualism/multilingualism has a positive effect on the verbal STM and WM capacity of neurotypical middle-aged and older individuals. Eighty-two L1-Norwegian sequential bilingual/multilingual university professors and researchers were tested with tasks measuring verbal STM/WM capacity. Degree of bilingualism/multilingualism for each participant was estimated based on a comprehensive language background questionnaire. Different measures of bilingualism/multilingualism were used. Data on potentially influencing non-linguistic factors such as nonverbal fluid intelligence, physical activity, playing video games and playing instruments were also collected. Correlation and regression analyses showed that multilingualism enhances both verbal STM capacity and verbal WM capacity. In particular, all analyses showed that number of known foreign languages was the strongest predictor of verbal STM and WM capacity. I will discuss the results in light of recent studies on the impact of bilingualism on STM and WM. Moreover, I will talk about the clinical implications of the study.
Short bio
Valantis Fyndanis is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Psycholinguistics/Neurolinguistics in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at the Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus, and a Researcher at the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing) at the University of Oslo, Norway. Prior to his current appointments, he held a tenure-track Associate Professor position in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, U.S.A., a postdoctoral research fellow position at MultiLing, a Marie Curie (postdoctoral) fellow position in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Potsdam, Germany, as well as research and teaching positions in Greece and Italy. Moreover, he is a Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe and an Academy of Aphasia Fellow. His areas of expertise are adult language disorders and bilingualism/multilingualism. Specifically, he conducts basic research on: (1) morphosyntactic deficits in stroke-induced aphasia, dementia of the Alzheimer type, and Multiple Sclerosis; (2) the relationship between morphosyntactic production and cognitive capacities such as short-term/working memory and speed of processing; (3) the impact of bilingualism/multilingualism on cognitive abilities and morphosyntactic production; and (4) the nature of the mechanisms underlying bilingual language control. Currently, Valantis Fyndanis is the Principal Investigator of the FRIPRO project “Machine Learning Aphasia”.
To date, the evidence regarding the impact of bilingualism/multilingualism on short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) capacity is inconclusive. In this talk, I will present a study that addresses whether bilingualism/multilingualism has a positive effect on the verbal STM and WM capacity of neurotypical middle-aged and older individuals. Eighty-two L1-Norwegian sequential bilingual/multilingual university professors and researchers were tested with tasks measuring verbal STM/WM capacity. Degree of bilingualism/multilingualism for each participant was estimated based on a comprehensive language background questionnaire. Different measures of bilingualism/multilingualism were used. Data on potentially influencing non-linguistic factors such as nonverbal fluid intelligence, physical activity, playing video games and playing instruments were also collected. Correlation and regression analyses showed that multilingualism enhances both verbal STM capacity and verbal WM capacity. In particular, all analyses showed that number of known foreign languages was the strongest predictor of verbal STM and WM capacity. I will discuss the results in light of recent studies on the impact of bilingualism on STM and WM. Moreover, I will talk about the clinical implications of the study.
Short bio
Valantis Fyndanis is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Psycholinguistics/Neurolinguistics in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at the Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus, and a Researcher at the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing) at the University of Oslo, Norway. Prior to his current appointments, he held a tenure-track Associate Professor position in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus, U.S.A., a postdoctoral research fellow position at MultiLing, a Marie Curie (postdoctoral) fellow position in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Potsdam, Germany, as well as research and teaching positions in Greece and Italy. Moreover, he is a Fellow of the Young Academy of Europe and an Academy of Aphasia Fellow. His areas of expertise are adult language disorders and bilingualism/multilingualism. Specifically, he conducts basic research on: (1) morphosyntactic deficits in stroke-induced aphasia, dementia of the Alzheimer type, and Multiple Sclerosis; (2) the relationship between morphosyntactic production and cognitive capacities such as short-term/working memory and speed of processing; (3) the impact of bilingualism/multilingualism on cognitive abilities and morphosyntactic production; and (4) the nature of the mechanisms underlying bilingual language control. Currently, Valantis Fyndanis is the Principal Investigator of the FRIPRO project “Machine Learning Aphasia”.
Dr Cristóbal Lozano
Associate Professor of English Applied Linguistics, University of Granada
“How corpus data can inform us about bilingualism: the case of anaphora resolution”
In this talk I will address a pervasive phenomenon in language: anaphora resolution (AR). AR relates to how anaphoric expressions (like null pronouns, overt pronouns and repeated names) relate to their antecedents in prior discourse. AR is particularly fruitful in null-subject languages like Spanish and Greek, and it has attracted the attention of researchers in bilingualism in general and second language (L2) acquisition in particular since it ultimately informs us about key issues on how bilinguals acquire and process their L2.
I will pay attention to research on AR mainly in Spanish and Greek (as native and non-native languages) and discuss the factors that constrain AR in discourse and how different theoretical models try to account for this phenomenon in monolinguals and bilinguals. Importantly, I will argue that (i) corpus data can reveal important factors in AR that often go undetected in experimental studies, and that (ii) such factors can be later implemented in experimental studies. Such triangulation (combination) of different research methods and data can provide a better picture of this phenomenon (and, in fact, of any other phenomenon) in L2 acquisition research. I will briefly illustrate this with a series of studies that we are conducted in BilinguaLab (http://bilingualab.ugr.es), where we are combining spoken vs written corpus data, different types of offline experimental data and online experimental data (reaction time, eye tracking). The insights from corpus results can thus be incorporated into the design of new, discourse-rich and ecologically-valid experiments that move away from traditional AR experiments.
Basic reference:
Lozano, C. (2021). Anaphora resolution in Second Language Acquisition. In M. Aronoff (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Linguistics. Oxford University Press. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199772810-0268
Short bio
Cristóbal Lozano (PhD Essex) is currently Associate Professor in English Applied Linguistics at the Universidad de Granada (Spain). His main research interest are Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism, and Learner Corpus Research. He is currently the Principal Investigator of ANACOREX, a research project that focuses on the acquisition of anaphora and reference in L2 Spanish and L2 English. He directs CEDEL2 (Corpus de Español como L2) since 2006, a freely-available and large corpus of L2 Spanish learners coming from eleven different L1 backgrounds (English, Greek, Japanese, Arabic, Italian, etc) and also COREFL (Corpus of English as a Foreign Language). He is currently interested in the triangulation of corpus methods and psycholinguistic experimental methods (reaction time, eye tracking) to better understand the language of bilinguals and L2 learners. You are kindly invited to participate online in our corpora from our website http://learnercorpora.com.
In this talk I will address a pervasive phenomenon in language: anaphora resolution (AR). AR relates to how anaphoric expressions (like null pronouns, overt pronouns and repeated names) relate to their antecedents in prior discourse. AR is particularly fruitful in null-subject languages like Spanish and Greek, and it has attracted the attention of researchers in bilingualism in general and second language (L2) acquisition in particular since it ultimately informs us about key issues on how bilinguals acquire and process their L2.
I will pay attention to research on AR mainly in Spanish and Greek (as native and non-native languages) and discuss the factors that constrain AR in discourse and how different theoretical models try to account for this phenomenon in monolinguals and bilinguals. Importantly, I will argue that (i) corpus data can reveal important factors in AR that often go undetected in experimental studies, and that (ii) such factors can be later implemented in experimental studies. Such triangulation (combination) of different research methods and data can provide a better picture of this phenomenon (and, in fact, of any other phenomenon) in L2 acquisition research. I will briefly illustrate this with a series of studies that we are conducted in BilinguaLab (http://bilingualab.ugr.es), where we are combining spoken vs written corpus data, different types of offline experimental data and online experimental data (reaction time, eye tracking). The insights from corpus results can thus be incorporated into the design of new, discourse-rich and ecologically-valid experiments that move away from traditional AR experiments.
Basic reference:
Lozano, C. (2021). Anaphora resolution in Second Language Acquisition. In M. Aronoff (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Linguistics. Oxford University Press. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199772810-0268
Short bio
Cristóbal Lozano (PhD Essex) is currently Associate Professor in English Applied Linguistics at the Universidad de Granada (Spain). His main research interest are Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism, and Learner Corpus Research. He is currently the Principal Investigator of ANACOREX, a research project that focuses on the acquisition of anaphora and reference in L2 Spanish and L2 English. He directs CEDEL2 (Corpus de Español como L2) since 2006, a freely-available and large corpus of L2 Spanish learners coming from eleven different L1 backgrounds (English, Greek, Japanese, Arabic, Italian, etc) and also COREFL (Corpus of English as a Foreign Language). He is currently interested in the triangulation of corpus methods and psycholinguistic experimental methods (reaction time, eye tracking) to better understand the language of bilinguals and L2 learners. You are kindly invited to participate online in our corpora from our website http://learnercorpora.com.