Practical issues in multi-lingual research

Purpose: Recent advances in computer and mobile technologies have brought increasing usages of IT technology in nursing research across nursing fields. Despite the increasing usages, there has been little discussion on methodological issues involved in nursing research using IT technology. This is a discussion paper to identify methodological issues in IT technology-based nursing research. Methods: An analysis was done using content analysis on research team meeting minutes and research team members’ research diaries in a clinical trial that tested the efficacy of a technology-based intervention. First, several major categories of IT technology-based nursing research are concisely summarized. Then, the method that was used for this analysis is presented. Results: The findings are presented as themes reflecting methodological issues in IT technology-based research: (a) difficulties in recruitment due to necessary technology literacy; (b) facilitating recruitment through allowing the use of multiple languages; (c) participants’ preferences for specific IT technology; (d) efforts needed to ensure technological security; (e) participants’ preferences for design; and (f) necessary considerations on timing. Conclusion: Finally, future directions for nursing research using IT technology are proposed based on the identified issues.

In Babel's Shadow: Multilingual literatures, Monolingual States

Globally, learners in multilingual classrooms experience challenges, especially when the language of instruction is not their first language (L1). This results in language barriers to learning when monolingual language-education policies prevail in multilingual contexts. Translanguaging as a pedagogy has gained momentum and accepts the use of multiple languages to co-exist in multilingual classrooms. Over the last decade, accepting the use of multiple languages in multilingual classrooms and including learners’ L1 to enhance learning and provide support have been gaining momentum. This article reports on utilising storyboards to explore learners’ perspectives and emotions in a study that uses translanguaging as an intervention with Grades 5 and 6 learners in two schools in a South African township. The storyboard technique is a creative qualitative method to understand the subjective experiences of how children experience L1 in multilingual classes by expressing their emotions and feelings on individual personal storyboard paper. Translanguaging practices were introduced in the two schools to understand how it affects the teaching and learning in multilingual classrooms. We describe how the storyboards depicted positive emotions and views towards translanguaging by gaining a deeper understanding of how multilingual practices make learning a holistic experience for the learners involved. We provide information on the context of translanguaging and the methods implemented to include L1 and describe how the use of storyboards as data gathering tools positively portrayed the learners’ learning experiences. We propose that the use of storyboards as a creative qualitative method of expressing childrens views and emotions in multilingual classes enriched the themes elicited.

This article examines teachers’ views (N = 2,864) on school multilingualism. The results have been analyzed using statistical methods and the conceptual frameworks of Spolsky’s language policy and Ruíz’s language orientations. The respondents were divided into three groups: positive (18%), deliberating (34%) and cautious (48%). The teachers’ language orientations were analyzed using three sum variables: teacher’s use of multiple languages, student’s use of multiple languages, and schools’ language attitudes. Classroom teachers were more positive about multilingualism than subject teachers and there were more teachers with cautious attitudes in schools where the number of foreign-language pupils was less than 5%. Additionally, the attitudes to multilingualism were more permissive in Swedish-speaking than in Finnish-speaking schools. Overall, the analysis of teachers’ views suggested that language policies vary. Finally, the individual respondents’ views did not fully correspond to any of Ruíz’s formulated language orientations.

Learning and using multiple languages: Experiences of adults with ADHD

The shift from the originally English-language-dominated web towards a truly global world wide web has generated a pressing need to develop novel solutions that address multilingual user diversity. In particular, many web users today are polyglots, i.e. they are proficient in more than one language. However, little is known about the browsing and search habits of such users, and even less about how to best assist their multilingual behaviors through appropriate systems and tools. In order to gain a better understanding, this paper presents a survey of 385 polyglot web users, focusing specifically on the relationship between multiple language proficiency and browsing/search language choice. Results from the survey indicate that polyglot users make significant use of multiple languages during their daily browsing and searching, and that contextual factors such as language proficiency, usage purpose, and topic domain have a significant influence on their language choice and frequency. The paper provides a detailed analysis regarding each of these factors, and offers insights about how to support multilingual users through novel Personalized Multilingual Information Access systems.KeywordsPersonalizationMultilingual Information AccessUser Study

Bilingualism and Multilingualism

This article presents a case study of translanguaging in the vocational programme in skin therapy at a Norwegian upper secondary school. The term translanguaging is used to describe a communicative practice and pedagogical approach that enables students to utilise a diverse range of linguistic and semiotic resources to comprehend and communicate themselves. This is deemed particularly suitable for recently arrived minority language learners who are still in the process of developing their verbal skills in the language of instruction. Based on observations and recordings of assessment dialogues, where students used a self-designed model to communicate their competencies, we show how the use of this model, alongside students’ and teachers’ use of gestures, as well as students’ use of several languages, together strengthens students’ potential for communicating, meaning making and learning. The model, the gestures and the use of multiple languages serve to structure and support the students’ communication, memory and language, and have an important interactional function. As such, they provide cognitive, communicative and interactional scaffolding. Based on these findings, we discuss the particular need and potential for translanguaging in vocational education programmes.

This article explores the resurgence of contemporary Sephardic children’s literature, with a particular focus on its multilingual nature as a central feature. The study aims to demonstrate how the use of multiple languages within a book serves as a tool to keep young Sephardic readers connected to Ladino – their heritage language – which, nowadays, is considered severely endangered. The methodological approach is based on Jeffrey Shandler’s concept of post-vernacularity, positioning contemporary Judeo-Spanish children’s literature as a post-vernacular phenomenon. The selected books were published in Israel and the United States between 2010 and 2023. This research categorises these works based on the various configurations of multilingualism, which may manifest as direct translations or the use of different languages (and alphabets) in distinct sections of the text and in the pictures. The study concludes that multilingual children’s literature offers a meaningful way for young Sephardim to connect with their cultural roots and engage with Ladino culture.

While it has been pointed out that identity is complex, unfixed and intersectional in nature, many studies tend to be restricted by their very conceptualisation of identity, which projects a sense of purism and essentialism rooted in Global North epistemologies. In this article, we consider the concept of (diasporic) identity and discuss how labels and categories of identity often prescribed to a community can and should be deconstructed for social justice purposes. We demonstrate this by examining the translanguaging practices of six Malaysian and Singaporean speakers of English in relation to their identity perception and construction. Although these multilingual speakers seemed to regard their use of multiple languages as fixed and bounded, they all showed, to varying degrees, a flexible languaging approach. The findings also suggested a defiance of expected categories of identity defined by the Global North, such as racialised language use and diasporic identity. We suggest that these prescriptive named categories are not useful in describing identities and question the labels and categories used to construct ‘identity’. We conclude by arguing for an ‘oceanic’ approach to identity, one that emphasises the fluidity, interconnectedness and boundless potential of identity to challenge oppressive structures and contribute to a more just and equitable world.

Translanguaging is a relatively new area of research and practice, which focuses on the use of multiple languages and language varieties in social, cultural, and educational contexts. As one of the major catogaries of translanguaging, pedagogical translanguaging is a theoretical and practical approach in the context of multilingual education. During the past decade, studies on pedagogical translanguaging have made increasing exploration in terms of theoretical expansion and educational practice, which are significant to transdisciplinary linguistic research. This paper reviews the concept and theoretical basis of pedagogical translanguaging first; It then makes a deep exploration of the studies of pedagogical translanguaging; And lastly it provides reflections and prospects on pedagogical translanguaging in the aspect of trilingual education research and practice in China.

This document describes WHOIS++, an extension to the trivial WHOIS service described in RFC 954 to permit WHOIS-like servers to make available more structured information to the Internet. We describe an extension to the simple WHOIS data model and query protocol and a companion extensible, distributed indexing service. A number of options have also been added such as the use of multiple languages and character sets, more advanced search expressions, structured data and a number of other useful features. An optional authentication mechanism for protecting all or part of the associated WHOIS++ information database from unauthorized access is also described.

The fact that translating classics is both difficult and inevitable is exemplified in the copious translations of Thomas Merton’s works worldwide. In the Polish context, the challenge of translating Merton is additionally amplified by the existence of translations produced by prominent writers and scholars (e.g. Miłosz, Tabakowska). In the article, the translator of A year with Th omas Merton. Daily meditations from His Journals provides an overview of peculiar diffi culties encountered while working on the Polish version. In particular, he focuses on the influence of the earlier Polish translations of parts of the Journals as well as Merton’s distinctive style (often manifested in excessive repetitiveness and lexical simplicity paired with the richness of thought). However, most translational challenges seem to have arisen in relation to Merton’s command and abundant use of multiple languages, his fascination by various cultures, and rootedness in the Christian – particularly Roman Catholic – heritage and the monastic tradition. The discussion of the actual translational challenges is accompanied by personal comments of the translator.

Self‐development is vital for enhancing language teaching ability (LTA), a key component of instructional effectiveness. While prior research on LTA self‐development has emphasised the roles of teacher cognition and emotion, less attention has been paid to teachers' linguistic repertoires. Yet, language teachers may draw on diverse linguistic resources that shape not only their teaching but also their self‐development. Using a complexity theory framework, this study investigated the relationship between university language teachers' LTA self‐development practices and their multilingualism, mindsets, anxiety, cultural orientations and perceptions of the societal and institutional status of the languages they teach, as measured by a questionnaire. Participants were teachers of English, French, German and Spanish. The findings revealed significant variation in LTA self‐development practices: English teachers reported lower engagement in research‐focused activities compared to their counterparts teaching French, German and Spanish. The findings also indicated that multilingualism, specifically, the contextual use of multiple languages, emerged as the strongest and most consistent predictor of LTA self‐development, surpassing anxiety, mindsets and cultural orientations. This finding, coupled with the significantly lower research engagement reported by English teachers, highlights the centrality of active multilingual practice in LTA self‐development and underscores the need for more targeted initiatives that leverage language teachers' linguistic resources and address subject‐specific disparities.

Enterprises are inherently complex systems, which involve a multitude of components working dynamically and in coordination to obtain a desired end goal. The intricacy of an enterprise and how the different components can be modeled is the area of research of Enterprise Modeling (EM). When holistically modeling an enterprise, it is required to use more than one modeling language, including general and domain specific modeling languages (DSML), to boost the comprehension of different enterprise areas. However, the use of multiple languages can lead to a lack of detail and understanding of the relationships between enterprise components that are modeled in different domains. Analyzing the relationships between various enterprise domains can generate valuable insight into understanding the uncertainty, complexity, and operations of an enterprise. In this paper, we present an approach to enable EM from multiple perspectives allowing enterprises to use different languages to describe various domains. This approach supports the creation of relationships and dependencies between domains, to analyze from different depths and viewpoints desired enterprise perspectives. Considering the needed requirements for multi-perspective modeling, we developed a workbench that allows the composition and merger of different EM languages and creates ad-hoc EM tools based on the necessities of the enterprise.KeywordsEnterprise ModelingLanguage workbenchDomain specific modeling languages