Language is increasingly understood as a commodified skill that allows learners, seen as language... more Language is increasingly understood as a commodified skill that allows learners, seen as language entrepreneurs, to compete in the global marketplace. Language teaching has become increasingly privatized through the emergence of a global industry that presents language in prepackaged , standardized forms in response to the needs of the free market. As language becomes both a target-as a technicized skill-and an instrument of neoliberalization, language education finds itself caught in the crossfire. Neoliberal ideology and policy affect decisions about which languages to teach and to learn, when, where, and to whom languages are taught, and how to teach them. This special issue seeks to build on previous work related to globalization, language standardization, multilingual subjectivities, and linguistic imperialism, amongst other related topics. By situating these discussions within the frame of neoliberal ideologies and practices this issue seeks to critically explore the historica...
The focus of this special issue as posed in the call for papers highlighted explorations of symbo... more The focus of this special issue as posed in the call for papers highlighted explorations of symbolic competence at several levels: theory; teaching and learning practices; and research. In this Afterword, we consider these levels central to our reflections on the particular contributions of this special issue as well as to considerations of future areas of inquiry. The guiding questions for each included: 1. Theory: How can symbolic competence be further theorized? 2. Teaching and learning practices: What is the relevance of symbolic competence to the language classroom? 3. Research: How do we conduct research on symbolic competence, its theoretical potentials and limitations, in relationship to classroom learning and pedagogical practices? The articles in this special issue have made significant contributions in responding to these questions. These articles all grapple with theorizations of symbolic competence in relationship to questions of symbolic representation and language use...
Cultural and literary texts are used in the foreign language classroom to support learners' l... more Cultural and literary texts are used in the foreign language classroom to support learners' language development, cultural awareness, and reading comprehension. While classroom activities frequently facilitate a literal understanding of facts and events, these texts offer another potential level of analysis: symbolic dimensions, which focus on how meaning is constructed in the texts in relation to their historical and political contexts, to the readers' own positionality and subjective experiences, and to the cultural values and beliefs that are attached to these meanings. This paper explores how to teach these symbolic dimensions through an exploration of the notion of symbolic competence. Using personal experiences teaching the legend of La Llorona in a university-level Spanish classroom, I explore two interrelated questions: 1) Can the legend of La Llorona offer insights into theorizations of symbolic competence?; 2) Can theorizations of symbolic competence be applied to ...
This paper draws on a social capital framework to explore the complex relationship between youth ... more This paper draws on a social capital framework to explore the complex relationship between youth education, their roles in community development, and their future opportunities as they transition from school to work against the backdrop of the social, economic, and political realities of rural Honduras. Data is from a three-year qualitative study that followed a cohort of 6th grade students as they progressed through the Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial (SAT), an alternative secondary education program that facilitates the development of capabilities so that youth can take charge of their intellectual and spiritual growth and contribute to the building of better communities. We focus on the youths ’ own words to understand how they conceptualize the resources that exist in their communities, their access to these resources, when and how these resources are successfully mobilized for community development, as well as how youth perceive their limitations to create future opportunities,...
Author(s): Heidenfeldt, William; Vinall, Kimberly | Abstract: Over a weekend in April 2015, a com... more Author(s): Heidenfeldt, William; Vinall, Kimberly | Abstract: Over a weekend in April 2015, a community of over one hundred language instructors, language learners, and applied linguists gathered at the University of California, Berkeley, to celebrate the ongoing teaching, research, and service of Claire Kramsch. Several panels took on the challenge of responding to and exemplifying Kramsch’s research in applied linguistics, contributions to language and culture teaching, and service to the community of language educators. The panels presented new studies that shed light on different strands of her interests in applied linguistics: the relationships between technology and second language (L2) learning; the ongoing construction of the multilingual subject; and, history, historicity, and foreign language education.One implicit thread that linked all the panels together—directly addressed by some panelists—was the relationship between language and symbolic power. For instance, papers s...
Cultural and literary texts are used in the foreign language classroom to support learners’ langu... more Cultural and literary texts are used in the foreign language classroom to support learners’ language development, cultural awareness, and reading comprehension. While classroom activities frequently facilitate a literal understanding of facts and events, these texts offer another potential level of analysis: symbolic dimensions, which focus on how meaning is constructed in the texts in relation to their historical and political contexts, to the readers’ own positionality and subjective experiences, and to the cultural values and beliefs that are attached to these meanings. This paper explores how to teach these symbolic dimensions through an exploration of the notion of symbolic competence. Using personal experiences teaching the legend of La Llorona in a university-level Spanish classroom, I explore two interrelated questions: 1) Can the legend of La Llorona offer insights into theorizations of symbolic competence?; 2) Can theorizations of symbolic competence be applied to the teac...
Author(s): Vinall, Kimberly | Advisor(s): Kramsch, Claire | Abstract: This dissertation centrally... more Author(s): Vinall, Kimberly | Advisor(s): Kramsch, Claire | Abstract: This dissertation centrally explores understandings of foreign/second language and culture learning and its potential to prepare learners to participate in a globalized world. Much research has already been conducted on how globalization has influenced understandings of what it means to learn languages and cultures, how they are taught, and what their ultimate goals are in terms of learning (Blommaert, Leppanen, Pahta, a Raisanen, 2012; Heller a Duchene, 2012; Kramsch, 2014). This dissertation study adds to this research by responding to Scarino’s (2014) call to expand theoretical understandings of language, culture, and learning in relationship to processes of both globalization and neoliberalism. More specifically, this study explores the potential of a dynamic or complexity orientation (Wesely, 2012) to understand how beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions towards language and culture learning are constructed and ...
International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching (IJCALLT), 2021
Machine translation (MT) platforms have gained increasing attention in the educational linguistic... more Machine translation (MT) platforms have gained increasing attention in the educational linguistics community. The current article extends past research on instructor beliefs about MT by way of an ecological theoretical framework. The study reports on a large-scale survey (n=165) of FL university-level instructors in the U.S. Findings indicate strong lines being drawn around acceptable MT use (e.g., in relation to text length and skill, policies), an acknowledgement of widespread student use driven by diverse motivations, and the Janus-faced nature of MT's potential threat to the profession. These findings reveal several salient tensions in how MT mediates relationships in language education (e.g., constructions of students, the nature of language and language learning, goals of the profession) that shed new light on the impact of MT technologies on the field. Implications for future research and the development of pedagogical practices anchored in digital literacies conclude the piece.
International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching
Machine translation (MT) platforms have gained increasing attention in the educational linguistic... more Machine translation (MT) platforms have gained increasing attention in the educational linguistics community. The current article extends past research on instructor beliefs about MT by way of an ecological theoretical framework. The study reports on a large-scale survey (n=165) of FL university-level instructors in the U.S. Findings indicate strong lines being drawn around acceptable MT use (e.g., in relation to text length and skill, policies), an acknowledgement of widespread student use driven by diverse motivations, and the Janus-faced nature of MT's potential threat to the profession. These findings reveal several salient tensions in how MT mediates relationships in language education (e.g., constructions of students, the nature of language and language learning, goals of the profession) that shed new light on the impact of MT technologies on the field. Implications for future research and the development of pedagogical practices anchored in digital literacies conclude the...
Language is increasingly understood as a commodified skill that allows learners, seen as language... more Language is increasingly understood as a commodified skill that allows learners, seen as language entrepreneurs, to compete in the global marketplace. Language teaching has become increasingly privatized through the emergence of a global industry that presents language in prepackaged , standardized forms in response to the needs of the free market. As language becomes both a target-as a technicized skill-and an instrument of neoliberalization, language education finds itself caught in the crossfire. Neoliberal ideology and policy affect decisions about which languages to teach and to learn, when, where, and to whom languages are taught, and how to teach them. This special issue seeks to build on previous work related to globalization, language standardization, multilingual subjectivities, and linguistic imperialism, amongst other related topics. By situating these discussions within the frame of neoliberal ideologies and practices this issue seeks to critically explore the historica...
The focus of this special issue as posed in the call for papers highlighted explorations of symbo... more The focus of this special issue as posed in the call for papers highlighted explorations of symbolic competence at several levels: theory; teaching and learning practices; and research. In this Afterword, we consider these levels central to our reflections on the particular contributions of this special issue as well as to considerations of future areas of inquiry. The guiding questions for each included: 1. Theory: How can symbolic competence be further theorized? 2. Teaching and learning practices: What is the relevance of symbolic competence to the language classroom? 3. Research: How do we conduct research on symbolic competence, its theoretical potentials and limitations, in relationship to classroom learning and pedagogical practices? The articles in this special issue have made significant contributions in responding to these questions. These articles all grapple with theorizations of symbolic competence in relationship to questions of symbolic representation and language use...
Cultural and literary texts are used in the foreign language classroom to support learners' l... more Cultural and literary texts are used in the foreign language classroom to support learners' language development, cultural awareness, and reading comprehension. While classroom activities frequently facilitate a literal understanding of facts and events, these texts offer another potential level of analysis: symbolic dimensions, which focus on how meaning is constructed in the texts in relation to their historical and political contexts, to the readers' own positionality and subjective experiences, and to the cultural values and beliefs that are attached to these meanings. This paper explores how to teach these symbolic dimensions through an exploration of the notion of symbolic competence. Using personal experiences teaching the legend of La Llorona in a university-level Spanish classroom, I explore two interrelated questions: 1) Can the legend of La Llorona offer insights into theorizations of symbolic competence?; 2) Can theorizations of symbolic competence be applied to ...
This paper draws on a social capital framework to explore the complex relationship between youth ... more This paper draws on a social capital framework to explore the complex relationship between youth education, their roles in community development, and their future opportunities as they transition from school to work against the backdrop of the social, economic, and political realities of rural Honduras. Data is from a three-year qualitative study that followed a cohort of 6th grade students as they progressed through the Sistema de Aprendizaje Tutorial (SAT), an alternative secondary education program that facilitates the development of capabilities so that youth can take charge of their intellectual and spiritual growth and contribute to the building of better communities. We focus on the youths ’ own words to understand how they conceptualize the resources that exist in their communities, their access to these resources, when and how these resources are successfully mobilized for community development, as well as how youth perceive their limitations to create future opportunities,...
Author(s): Heidenfeldt, William; Vinall, Kimberly | Abstract: Over a weekend in April 2015, a com... more Author(s): Heidenfeldt, William; Vinall, Kimberly | Abstract: Over a weekend in April 2015, a community of over one hundred language instructors, language learners, and applied linguists gathered at the University of California, Berkeley, to celebrate the ongoing teaching, research, and service of Claire Kramsch. Several panels took on the challenge of responding to and exemplifying Kramsch’s research in applied linguistics, contributions to language and culture teaching, and service to the community of language educators. The panels presented new studies that shed light on different strands of her interests in applied linguistics: the relationships between technology and second language (L2) learning; the ongoing construction of the multilingual subject; and, history, historicity, and foreign language education.One implicit thread that linked all the panels together—directly addressed by some panelists—was the relationship between language and symbolic power. For instance, papers s...
Cultural and literary texts are used in the foreign language classroom to support learners’ langu... more Cultural and literary texts are used in the foreign language classroom to support learners’ language development, cultural awareness, and reading comprehension. While classroom activities frequently facilitate a literal understanding of facts and events, these texts offer another potential level of analysis: symbolic dimensions, which focus on how meaning is constructed in the texts in relation to their historical and political contexts, to the readers’ own positionality and subjective experiences, and to the cultural values and beliefs that are attached to these meanings. This paper explores how to teach these symbolic dimensions through an exploration of the notion of symbolic competence. Using personal experiences teaching the legend of La Llorona in a university-level Spanish classroom, I explore two interrelated questions: 1) Can the legend of La Llorona offer insights into theorizations of symbolic competence?; 2) Can theorizations of symbolic competence be applied to the teac...
Author(s): Vinall, Kimberly | Advisor(s): Kramsch, Claire | Abstract: This dissertation centrally... more Author(s): Vinall, Kimberly | Advisor(s): Kramsch, Claire | Abstract: This dissertation centrally explores understandings of foreign/second language and culture learning and its potential to prepare learners to participate in a globalized world. Much research has already been conducted on how globalization has influenced understandings of what it means to learn languages and cultures, how they are taught, and what their ultimate goals are in terms of learning (Blommaert, Leppanen, Pahta, a Raisanen, 2012; Heller a Duchene, 2012; Kramsch, 2014). This dissertation study adds to this research by responding to Scarino’s (2014) call to expand theoretical understandings of language, culture, and learning in relationship to processes of both globalization and neoliberalism. More specifically, this study explores the potential of a dynamic or complexity orientation (Wesely, 2012) to understand how beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions towards language and culture learning are constructed and ...
International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching (IJCALLT), 2021
Machine translation (MT) platforms have gained increasing attention in the educational linguistic... more Machine translation (MT) platforms have gained increasing attention in the educational linguistics community. The current article extends past research on instructor beliefs about MT by way of an ecological theoretical framework. The study reports on a large-scale survey (n=165) of FL university-level instructors in the U.S. Findings indicate strong lines being drawn around acceptable MT use (e.g., in relation to text length and skill, policies), an acknowledgement of widespread student use driven by diverse motivations, and the Janus-faced nature of MT's potential threat to the profession. These findings reveal several salient tensions in how MT mediates relationships in language education (e.g., constructions of students, the nature of language and language learning, goals of the profession) that shed new light on the impact of MT technologies on the field. Implications for future research and the development of pedagogical practices anchored in digital literacies conclude the piece.
International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching
Machine translation (MT) platforms have gained increasing attention in the educational linguistic... more Machine translation (MT) platforms have gained increasing attention in the educational linguistics community. The current article extends past research on instructor beliefs about MT by way of an ecological theoretical framework. The study reports on a large-scale survey (n=165) of FL university-level instructors in the U.S. Findings indicate strong lines being drawn around acceptable MT use (e.g., in relation to text length and skill, policies), an acknowledgement of widespread student use driven by diverse motivations, and the Janus-faced nature of MT's potential threat to the profession. These findings reveal several salient tensions in how MT mediates relationships in language education (e.g., constructions of students, the nature of language and language learning, goals of the profession) that shed new light on the impact of MT technologies on the field. Implications for future research and the development of pedagogical practices anchored in digital literacies conclude the...
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Papers by Kimberly Vinall