Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Sociolinguistic Profile Of English In Lebanon, Fatima Esseili

English Faculty Publications

This article provides an overview of the historical presence of foreign languages in Lebanon, focusing on language contact from the eighteenth century to date. Through sociolinguistic profiling, the paper describes the users and uses of English, as well as Lebanese attitudes towards English. The article begins by offering a general overview of the country, its languages and cultures, and its ethnic and religious groups. It presents a description of users of English along with a characterization of how the interpersonal, instrumental, regulative, and innovative functions of the language are manifested, while the final section of the article discusses attitudes to …

The Status Of Esl/Efl Writing In Lebanon, Fatima Esseili

English Faculty Publications

Research on writing in a second or foreign language has been growing rapidly, with around 2600 articles published in the past 15 years, an average of 170 per year (Silva, McMartin- Miller, Jayne, & Pelaez-Morales, 2011). While Lebanese scholars authored only about two percent of those publications, L2 writing research in Lebanon goes back to the 1960s, primarily in the form of MA theses. Since then, only one synthesis article had been published (cf. Bacha, 2007), but it remained narrow in its coverage. Thus, the aim of this chapter is to provide an overview and synthesis of scholarship on L2 …

Familiar Strangers: International Students In The U.S. Composition Course, Elena Lawrick, Fatima Esseili

English Faculty Publications

Many will recognize this sketch of new international undergraduates at a U.S. university: Excited. Jet-lagged. Late to class because they got lost on a big campus. Overwhelmed by myriad things to do on the first days of the semester. Confused by the English language that sounds so different. Thrown into a first-year writing course instrumental to their academic success.

English Language Teaching In Lebanese Schools: Trends And Challenges, Fatima Esseili

English Faculty Publications

Like many other countries around the world, the foreign language teaching profession in Lebanon has been flourishing, with English being the forerunner. The new curriculum established by the Lebanese government in the 1990s mandates that in addition to their native language, Arabic, Lebanese children must learn two foreign languages at school, the first language in grade one, and the second in grade seven. Some private schools, however, begin teaching the second foreign language as early as grade four or five, and parents of young learners have to choose one of the foreign languages as a medium of instruction for their …

Comment 4 On 'Lingua Franca Or Lingua Frankensteinia? English In European Integration And Globalization', Fatima Esseili

English Faculty Publications

Phillipson’s paper Lingua franca or lingua frankensteinia? addresses key concerns of linguists and politicians in the Outer and Expanding Circles, especially in relation to the spread of foreign languages and their threat to local languages, national aspirations, culture, religion, and identity. As a native of Lebanon, a multilingual country where Arabic, French, and English add to the linguistic complexity of Lebanese society, I agree with Phillipson that language policy-makers need to be aware of the dangers of the uncritical promotion of English and what he identifies as linguistic imperialism (Phillipson, 1992). However, I am not convinced by specific arguments he …

World Englishes: Practical Implications For Teaching And Research, Fatima Esseili, Kyle Mcintosh, Cindy Torres, Elena Lawrick, Cristine Mcmartin-Miller, Shih-Yu Chang

English Faculty Publications

With the emergence of World Englishes (WE) and the continuous flow of international students into universities in the United States, issues surrounding the tolerance and acceptance of varieties of English, the notion of standards, and the concept of nativeness all come to the forefront of research and pedagogy. Since English is the dominant language of international academic publication and since it has been adapted and adopted by a number of countries for various instrumental, institutional, innovative/imaginative, and interpersonal functions (Kachru, 1984), it is essential for teachers and administrators to be aware of the pluricentricity of English and their students’ different …

Comment 4 On 'Lingua Franca Or Lingua Frankensteinia? English In European Integration And Globalization', Fatima Esseili

English Faculty Publications

Comment on the article:

Phillipson, Robert. "Lingua franca or lingua frankensteinia? English in European integration and globalisation." World Englishes 27(2), May 2008. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-971X.2008.00555.x

Working Paper: Spatial Deixis And Gesture In English: Adults Vs. Children, Fatima Esseili

English Faculty Publications

This study explored first language acquisition of spatial deictic referencing, this/that, in English. Specifically, this study attempted to understand people’s ability to internalize and to refer to props in a certain communicative situation. Deictic referencing is reconceptualized into real world terms according to hard science linguistics (HSL) that was established by Yngve (1996). In this study, children were compared to adults in order to test age as a significant variable in the articulation of [ðΙs] and [ðæt]. This was investigated through an experiment that involved 148 subjects (62 adult and 86 child, ages 5 to 58) where verbal and nonverbal …