Post on 16-Apr-2017
English language learning in multimodal environments among
Finnish Sign Language people
Eurocall 2011, NottinghamElina Tapio
Who am I?
•sign language interpreter•PhD studies – Uni. of Oulu•teaching at the
Sign Language CentreDept. of Languages University of
Jyväskylä
• Research topic and questions• Mediated Discourse Analysis & Nexus Analysis• Case 1: Informal meets formal• Case 2: Fingerspelling of English words in
Finnish Sign Language (FinSL) context• Some thoughts on research methodology
Outline
Research topic
The English language in the everyday life of Finnish Sign Language people – a multimodal perspective into interaction
What do people do?
Indigenous practices of the Deaf community
Research questions
• Where and when do the Deaf encounter English language?
• What kind of voluntary (social) actions take place in everyday life?
• Which resources do the Deaf use for their English learning?
• What could we learn from voluntary action in formal education?
recognition & identification
navigating
mapping, circumferencing
Discourse analysis
mediated action
changing
activism & change
engaging
Three phases of Nexus Analysis
Scollon & Scollon 2004; Jones & Norris 2005; Hammersley & Atkinson 1995
Variety of methods
… ethnography, discourse analysis, interaction analysis, social semiotics, …
multimodal interaction analysis
multimodal discourse analysis, virtual ethnography
sign language phonetics
e.g. Norris 2004; Kress & Van Leeuwen 1996
A VIDEO CLIP MISSING
Language learning
• Socio-cultural & ecological view multimodality, interaction, everyday action(also: indigenous practices)
• Social-interactional and descriptive• Looking at complex situations through many lenses,
strengthened by ethnographic data and triangulation
Kramsch 2002; Van Lier 2004, 2000; Firth & Wagner 2007; Wilcox 2004
Engaging the nexus of practice
English in face-to-face interaction (Case 2) Media and technology in the everyday life (Case 1)
Case 1: Informal meets formal
10:48 Maria > moi10:48 Ronja > yes i know ;)10:48 Suvi > marzu!!! you must write english!10:49 Maria > ok, hello!10:49 Suvi > Do you love JP, ronja?? :D10:49 Jukka-Pekka > Hi! i m JP.10:49 Ronja > so just, marzu, your must to write english :P10:49 Suvi > Good marzu!10:49 Maria > ;P
10:54 Maria > shcool is shit!10:54 Suvi > :O MARZU, SSHHH10:55 Ronja > marzu, you cannot say ugly word!10:55 Maria > XD
10:55 Suvi > Blääh!! I want go to camfrog... There is better..!10:55 Ronja > :P:P:P:P tommi, finish ready10:55 Ronja > yeah, so just.. but i d want go to msn!!!10:56 Anu > i want go sleeping...10:56 Suvi > MSN! haha I have msn here!! x)10:56 Ronja > heh, i want too :D10:56 Tommi > jaa
• use of smileys• nicknames• greeting and acknowledging• prosody in typing• correcting typos and mistakes• hitting random keys• topics of conversation
• Focus on (the) language• Affordances: meaning potential in other messages
recycling• Working as a group, quick reactions, overlap,
pushing others to join• Chat language a hybrid access to varieties, access to spoken
variations
Language learning taking place?
10:48 Suvi > Do you know that we are very MAD and BAD??? :D 10:51 Anu > mi don t know..
• Playing with the language & humour
HISTORICAL BODY
DISCOURSES IN PLACE
INTERACTION ORDER
AFFORDANCES AGENCY
EMPOWERMENT CHANGING THE NEXUS OF PRACTICE
Change in the social action
SOCIAL ACTION
recognition & identification
navigating
mapping, circumferencing
Discourse analysis
mediated action
changing
activism & change
engaging
The social action of fingerspelling English words under closer analysis
Navigating the nexus of practice
[‘lӕŋgwidʒ]
spoken written
language
Fingerspelling an English word
in FinSL context
[laŋguage]
signed (fingerspelled)
mouthing
A VIDEO CLIP MISSING
Examining the fingerspelling of an English word as social actiona holistic view of interaction
What happens when fingerspelling an English word?What is the multimodal nature of
fingerspelling?Other communicative modes used? Why?How is fingerspelling modified in a
communicative situation?
Case 2: Fingerspelling English words in FinSL context
Multimodal density
•Modes via different media overlap and are on offer for the actors• Modes selected and modified • From careful fingerspelling to letter-by-letter fingerspelling
T-H-E A-V-I-A-T-O-R
K-I-T-A-R, G-I-T-A-R, G-U-I-T-A-R
The interplay of different modes:• typing• signing• fingerspelling• mouthing
Adapting cultural tools to the constraints/opportunities of the place and technology. (Keating 2005; Keating & Mirus 2003)
• Changes in speed• Changes in co-modes• Changes in the phonetic structure Practices in the community
Different ways of fingerspelling
• Resemiotization: It is very typical to have English emerging in many different ways and modal combinations
• Chaining: writing – signing – fingerspelling – pointing – (e.g. Bagga-Gupta 2004, Padden 2003), i.e. chain of mediated actions
• “Blindness to English” awareness• Language seen in and with other semiotic resources (Kramsch
2002)• “(--) the ability to rapidly call upon alternative structures from a
larger, ready at hand tool kit of diverse semiotic resources, is crucial to the ability of human beings to (--) show that they are aware of each other and of the situation” Goodwin (2000: 1700).
To sum up…
Finding answers with MDA?
• “The insiders view” enhanced with the researcher’s analytical eye
• Triangulation is essential!
For the future: • Looking at fingerspelling with large, multilingual data• Defining the nexus of practice• Other visual and embodied practices with English
language?
Challenges and opportunities:• The amount and data multimethod approach• Ethnography creates uncertainty
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