GALA, 15-12-2007

National and Kapodisitrian University of Athens Research ProgrammeForeign language examination battery and certification system

Who is a “mediator”?Who is a “mediator”?

According to the CEFR In this talk:

• “The language user not concerned to express his/her own meanings, but simply to act as an intermediary between interlocutors who are unable to understand each other directly –normally (but not exclusively) speakers of different languages.” (pp. 87-8)

All language users are potentially mediators.

The language user in the role of ‘mediator’ takes part in a communicative event, acting as a facilitator, a meaning negotiator and meaning-making agent (sometimes functioning as an arbiter of meaning or an abritrator).

When does one take on a role as mediator?When does one take on a role as mediator?

The mediator acts as a facilitator in a social event during which two or more parties interacting are experiencing a communication breakdown or when there is a communic-ation gap between them.

The mediator monitors the process of communication and interferes/intervenes as a meaning negotiator in situations which require a reconciliation, a settlement or compromise of meanings.

The mediator becomes a meaning-making agent inter-preting and creating meanings through speech or writing for listeners or readers of a different linguistic, cultural or social background.

Is mediation more important today than before?

Mediation has had a crucial role throughout history; from classical times and on through the ages, in all social institutions, private and public affairs, as well as in the arts (cf., JAL). But, in today’s information society, mediation is perhaps more essential than ever before.

In all types of social institutions (the church, the law, diplomacy, politics, advertising, the mass media), during public and private affairs, in social settings including the workplace, the educational space, the home, places of entertainment.

Where does mediation take place?

Through language and other semiotic modes.How is knowledge mediated?

Because of the social shift in late modernity from the production of goods to the production of knowledge.

Mediation as social practice

Power relations. When someone takes (or is given) this role, s/he assumes (or is granted) the power to interpret social meanings for someone else. (Sometimes the mediating statement is qualified by phrases such as “What she means is…” or “What he really wants to say…”)

What does the social role of the mediator entail?

What is the purpose of mediation?

It is an activity aiming at the interpretation of (social) meanings which are communicated/ relayed to others who may not comprehend the source text fully or partially

Mediation is linked with negotiation of meanings during social interaction, as reconciliation and/or compromise between two or more participants is ususally required

Mediation as semiotic practice

Does mediation occur only at the level of text?

The material configuration of mediation is always a text of some sort (oral, written, visual, multimodal), but the focus of the mediation task may be not the lexicogrammar, but the semiotic means through which the text is articulated; i.e., the discourse, genre, register, style, the embodied action and/or the visuality.

Inclusion/ exclusion of mediation in ELT

It has been occasionally present at a local level in the periphery.

Mediation has been absent from the global ELT scene and this is related to the cultural politics of English didactics which has traditionally banned the L1 from ELT programmes and has undervalued the role of the NNS in language teaching and learning, materials production, test development and teacher training.

This issue is discussed in some detail in the JAL

Mediation and EU language politics

Note: It is interesting that while for all other activities there are illustrative scales, there are non in the CEFR for mediation activities.

The recent inclusion of mediation as ‘official’ knowledge in the CEFR, which has legitimized its inclusion in FL teaching and assessment on a European level, has to do with:

the new demands regarding language learning (the 1+2 policy)

the increasingly important role of the intercultural mediator in the EU member states and across Europe

Mediation and Greek foreign language politics

The (1983 and the 1997) national ELT curricula legitimize their use in ELT in primary and secondary schools.

Steps to inclusion of L1 and mediation in the Greek ELT scene

Uses of L1 for purposes of ‘communicative’ teaching and mediation activities appear in ELT materials locally produced (1984-1987).

Practices of L1 and mediation exclusion, as well as of devaluating the NNS EFL teacher and trainer were theorized and ideological analysis of coursebooks for ELT published (Dendrinos 1987, 1992, 1999, 2001).

Its inclusion (2002-2003) in a high stakes (state) exam for the certification of additional language competence (KPG)

Mediation in the KPG state exam

Successful performance of activities in all test papers of the English exams requires that candidates are able to function as mediators:

across two languages (from Greek to English) within the same language (from English to English)

The KPG exam battery assesses candidates’ oral and written mediation performance and, therefore, requires that candidates have secondary school and adult social literacy, as well as communicative skills required at different levels of language competence:

to understand (multimodal) texts in Greek to select salient information from the source text to relay information from the source text in English

The mediated text may be in a different mode, genre, register or style than the source text.

Sample activities from the KPG exams

The task: Imagine that I am your English friend who heard about the Greek actress Efi Papatheodorou on BBC. I’m wondering who she is. Use the information from the text and tell me a few things about her.

EΦΗ ΠΑΠΑΘΕΟΔΩΡΟΥΑν και το ευρύ κοινό τη γνώρισε φέτος, ως Θεοπούλα, η Έφη Παπαθεοδώρου έχει διανύσει πολύ δρόμο μέχρι να φτάσει στο... “Παρά Πέντε”. Στο δρόμο την αναγνωρίζουν αμέσως. Την πλησιάζουν για να της μιλήσουν. Είναι, άλλωστε, ένα από τα τηλεοπτικά πρόσωπα της χρονιάς που το κοινό συμπαθεί ιδιαίτερα. Είναι αλήθεια ότι οι περισσότεροι τη γνωρίζουν με το τηλεοπτικό της όνομα –Θεοπούλα. Αυτός ο ρόλος της χάρισε δημοτικότητα. Γεγονός, όμως, είναι και ότι η Έφη Παπαθεοδώρου δεν προσγειώθηκε με αλεξίπτωτο στην τηλεόραση. Έχει μια πορεία στο θέατρο και τον κινηματογράφο που θα ζήλευαν πολλοί. Γεννήθηκε στην Αθήνα και προσφέρει εδώ και 40 ολόκληρα χρόνια την γνώση και το ταλέντο της στo θέατρο, τον κινηματογράφο και στην τηλεόραση – της Ελλάδας και του εξωτερικού (πρόσφατα μάλιστα συνεργάστηκε με το BBC). Ήταν μαθήτρια του Ροντήρη και σε νεαρή ακόμη ηλικία μαζί με τις αδερφές της δημιουργούσαν ερασιτεχνικές παραστάσεις. Η πρώτη της μεγάλη θεατρική παράσταση ήταν η Ηλέκτρα. Ωστόσο, η Έφη Παπαθεοδώρου έχει διδάξει Αγγλικά και σπούδασε πιάνο.

B1 level oral test

Task analysis

The B1 activity is an interlinguistic oral mediation task.

It requires that candidates (have lifeworld knowledge and language awareness at the level of discourse, genre and text) to use pertinent information from a Greek source text (in one genre) to form a message in English (in another genre and to deliver it in a different channel of communication).

To perform successfully, candidates must have: cognitive skills to evaluate information and select

that which is suitable for the specific purpose literacy to extract salient points for task

completion sociolinguistic competence to form a message

suitable for the context of situation linguistic competence to create a meaningful message

strategic competence to form the message with available means

B1B1

LEVELLEVEL

B2 level oral task

B2 level oral mediation

TASK 1Imagine I am your Italian friend who wants to lose weight. Using information from the text, tell me what types of food I should eat.

TASK 2Imagine I am your German friend, who works too many hours but tries to keep fit. Using information from the text, give me some advice.

Task analysis

The B2 activity is an interlinguistic oral mediation task also.

Both tasks tasks require that candidates use a source text in Greek in order to extract pertinent information and form a message in English.

To perform successfully in each of the two tasks, candidates must focus on different bits of information in the source text and relay selected information in ways that suit the needs of each interlocutor.

In performing Task 1, the candidate is expected to give instructions to someone who wants to lose weight, tell him or her what s/he should or shouldn’t do

In performing Task 2, the candidate is expected to give advice to a friend who just wants to keep fit and needs his/her strength.

B2B2

LEVELLEVEL

B2 writing mediation

B2 level writing activity

The task

Use the information in the newspaper text to help you write a short report (150 words) about what Greeks think of their educational system. This report is for a website conducting a survey on what European citizens think is wrong with the educational system of their country.

Begin your report like this: According to a recent opinion poll…

End it by stating your own opinion about education in Greece.

TASK ANALYSIS

The B2 activity is an interlinguistic written mediation taskIt requires that candidates read and understand the specific type of multimodal source text and use the information therein creatively to produce a text of a different genre than the original, suitable for the context of situation.To perform the task successfully, candidates must have:

the linguistic competence to produce a text which reports what different groups of people (percentages) think about various issues concerning education the cognitive skills to relate their personal opinion on the topic with those of others and the linguistic skills to write a conclusion with a personal assessment on the issuehave the sociolinguistic competence to create a meaningful report relaying the information in the source text in a way that is appropriate for the context of situation strategic competence to avoid sensitive information and to use the means available for the creation of the report.

B2B2

LEVELLEVEL

C1 oral mediation

Candidate A

C1 oral mediation

Candidate B

C1 oral mediation

TASK 2Exchange information from your texts with your partner and together decide on the two most unusual customs to write about for the special Christmas issue of your school/ local newspaper/magazine.

TASK 1Imagine that you and your partner are planning a trip for the Christmas and New Year holidays. Exchange information from your texts and decide about the most interesting New Year’s celebration. This decision will also help you decide which country you might visit.

TASK ANALYSIS

This C1 activity, with two different oral mediation tasks, involves candidates in interaction and negotiation. The ultimate goal in each communicative instance is for them to reach a common decision.

Both tasks require that candidates have: intercultural awareness lifeworld knowledge social and practical literacy reading skills to extract pertinent points for their

decision

cognitive skills for selection of suitable information and for decision making

linguistic competence to relay information accurately

sociolinguistic competence to relay the appropriate information in ways suitable for the context of situation and the task at hand

conversational skills to introduce a topic, take turns, to keep the floor when needed or to turn it over to the other

C1C1

LEVELLEVEL

texts resulting from spoken interpretation and/or written translation

summaries of texts across or in the same language

paraphrases of texts when the language of the source text creates problems of intelligibility to the intended recipient (p. 87)

Mediation is viewed as social practice which involves:

[whom?] meaning making agents [in what?] in acts of

communication that require negotiation of meaning and relaying of information across the same language or different languages

[for whom?] for interlocutors (listeners or readers) of the same or different cultural background

According to the CEFR In this talk

So, what does mediation activity involve?

Examples of mediating activities include:

Note: for other, complimentary definitions of mediation see the JAL.

What is the relationship between mediation and translation/ interpretation?

Oral mediation is synonymous with: simultaneous interpretation (at conferences, meetings) consecutive interpretation (speeches, guided tours) Informal interpretation (e.g., in social and transactional situations

for friends, family, clients, or of signs, menus, notices)

According to the CEFR

Written mediation is synonymous with: Exact translation (of legal and scientific texts) Literary translation Summarizing gist (within L1 or between L1 and L2) paraphrasing

In KPG mediation practices differ significantly

Translators and interpreters have no voice. Their task is to establish equivalent meanings and/or reproduce a messages in another language, not to express opinions or make comments.

Mediators have a voice and produce their own text, often expressing their take on an issue, their own opinion or making side comments.

Translators and interpreters, are to remain ‘true’ to the source text, which they are required to respect.

Mediators may selct which messages and meanings to convey and, basically, their ‘loyalty’ is to their interlocutor rather than to the source text.

Translators and interpreters have no ‘right’ to change the discourse, genre or register of the source text, nor resort to reported speech.

Mediators are required to decide how the message to be conveyed will be construed. Often, they must make choices regarding the discourse, genre, register and style of the target text –considering what is most appropriate for the communicative event and useful for the other participant(s).

Is mediation both a spoken and written activity?

spoken or

writtentext

spoken written visual multimodal

Source text

Target text

visual or

multimodal text

spoken written visual multimodal

Is mediation an interactive activity?

Interactive exchange Non interactive exchange

Oral/written stimulus

Immediate response

Delayed response

Oral/writtenstimulus

Indirect response

Nonverbal response

Is mediation an exclusively linguistic activity?

Mediation

Verbal Visual Cultural

Intracultural intercultural

Intralinguistic Interlinguistic

Multimodal

Mediation as a verbal activity

Relaying the message in a (spoken or written) text to one or more people who fail to understand it as it is (or for a number of other purposes)

through a different channel of communication in a different discourse, genre or register (paraphrasing or relaying salient information)by conveying the main idea or information selected to suit the context of situation (summarising, giving gist)

Relaying in the target language the message in a (spoken or written) text that appears in the source language (from L1 or L2 or vice versa)

to someone who is unlikely to understand it fully or partially (or for a number of other purposes, e.g., to check comprehension)

either though the same or a different channel, same or different discourse, etc.

Intralinguistic Interlinguistic

Visual and multimodal mediation

Relaying the message in a visual text (pie chart, graph, table, map, sketch, photograph, etc.) to interlocutors who may not understand this visual fully or partially (or for other purposes) by performing speech acts such as: - explaining- reporting- directing - instructing

Relaying the message in a text of single modality (such as an exclusively verbal text –either spoken or written) into a multimodal text or vice-versa. For example, relaying:

in a single mode (orally) a message delivered in a written text with visual effects, pictures, maps, etc.

in a single mode (in writing) a message delivered orally and visually (e.g., film review)

in a multimodal text (spoken text accompanied by sounds, music, gestures, etc.) a text in a single mode (e.g., a play)

Visual Multimodal

Cultural mediation

Relaying information to someone who shares ethnic background and L1, but belongs to a different cultural group/ social network from that of the mediator

Interpreting reality for listeners (e.g., TV and radio) and/or readers (e.g., printed media) of the same ethnic and language background as the mediator

Relaying information to some-one who is from a different ethnic, linguistic or/and cultural background from that of the mediator

Filling in an information gap (about social habits, operation of social institutions, etc.) for listeners/readers who do not share L1, cultural experiences, profession, etc.

Intracultural Intercultural

What mediation involves according to the CEFR

Aiming at establishing equivalent meaning, mediation may involve the following (strategies):

Planning Developing background knowledge, locating supports, preparing a

glossary, considering interlocutors’ needs, selecting units of interpretation)

Execution Previewing, processing input and formulating the last chunk

simultaneously in real time, noting possibilities, equivalences, bridging gaps

Evaluation Checking congruence of two versions, checking consistency of

usage Repair

Refining by consulting dictionaries, thesaurus, consulting experts, rescources

What mediation involves according to the KPG

Wishing to resolve a communication breakdown or to facilitate (smoother) interaction during a communicative event, the act of mediation may involve the following steps:

To develop an understanding of the communication problem by employing socio-cultural knowledge and experiences, communication skills and linguistic resources (in two or more languages).

Deciding in advance what type of intervention is needed mainly by considering interlocutors’ needs.

Listening to or reading the source text(s) with the purpose of locating the piece(s) of information or message(s) which are to be relayed.

Recalling pieces of information and/or drawing upon the gist of the source text(s) to frame the new text.

Decide upon what to relay and plan input.

Plan how the target text is to be formulated.

Enter a meaning making process as the target text is being articulated.

Negotiate meaning with interlocutor.

What KPG mediation requires

Literacies

Depending on the mediation task, which is always context specific, KPG mediation involves:

Socio-cultural and discourse awareness Lifeworld knowledge Knowledge of how 2 languages (discourse, genre, text) operate (Critical) language awareness Awareness of the grammar of visual design (Inter) cultural awareness

School literacy Social literacy Practical literacy Test-taking literacy

KPG mediation requires more…

Communicative competence(s) Linguistic competence Sociolinguistic competence Discourse competence Strategic competence

Cognitive skills

Social skills

To read between the lines To select pertinent information To retain and recall information for use in a new context To combine prior knowledge and experience with new information To combine information from a variety of source texts To solve a problem, a mystery, a query To predict, guess, foresee, infer, make a hypothesis, come to a conclusion

To recognize the interlocutor’s communicative need To facilitate the process of communication (by relaying the info in different form or

mode, interpret message, explain, elaborate, define, etc.) Negotiate information by adjusting effectiveness, efficiency and relevance to the

context of situation

What do mediators really do?

The resources mediators put to use and the strategies they employ are context and task specific

Mediators do a great variety of activities with words [and images]’, materializing institutionally defined social or pedagogical discourses

Learning to mediate is a life-long process, but mediation skills may be developed through pedagogic practices

Including mediation in the pedagogical context

When/for what reason does the average Greek FL user need to mediate?When/for what reason does the average Greek FL user need to mediate?

What kind of mediation task does s/he usually need to perform?

What sort of communication needs does the mediation task cover?

What type of texts does s/he have to mediate?

What kind of mediation tasks does s/he usually need to perform?

What kind of knowledge, skills and strategies must the FL learner develop so as to be in a position to perform mediation tasks effectively?

What does the mediation process in different contexts entail?

Is there a special FL pedagogy conducive to the development of mediation skills?

Studies in mediation

Studies in Greece

Collaboration with Israel

Conference in Finland

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

Mediating Multilingualism: Meanings and Modalities

Conference rationale:In today’s globalized world of mobilities and flows, multilingualism isincreasingly an everyday phenomenon that people encounter and have tocope with (in work, education, institutions, leisure time and media uses). In these various contexts, multilingualism can be mediated not only by languages, but also by a range of other semiotic means suchas genres, discourses, styles, embodied action and visuality.

At the same time multilingualism is a mediational system in itself, sustaining, but also mobilizing and reorganizing language user identities, relationships and possibilities for action and the relative values of languages. Multilingualism can thus have repercussions in terms of what resources and possibilities individuals and groups have - to agency and participation.

Rationale continued

The conference on Mediating Multilingualism approaches mediation andmultilingualism from this double perspective. It focuses on thedifferent ways and means for mediating multilingualism, viewing multilingualism as a mediational system.

The aim is to shed light on the complexities of this relationship and to develop new ways of investigating and understanding the roles, meanings and modalities of mediation in multilingual settings. To this end, the conference aims at bringing together researchers, students, teachers and other practitioners who share an interest in exploring the interface betweenmediation and multilingualism as a particular linguistic, social, cultural and ideological contact zone where the meanings of languages, identities and relationships are reassessed and renegotiated.

CONFERENCE SITE AND CALL FOR PAPERS

University of Jyväskylä, FinlandOrganized as the 26th Summer School of Applied Language StudiesJune 2-5, 2008

Deadline for abstracts: January 15, 2008Guidelines for submission:http://www.jyu.fi/hum/laitokset/kielet/conference2008/en

Call for papers:Submissions are solicited for 20-min. papers and posters relating to the conference theme. Studies on any languages and disciplinary takes (e.g., sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse studies, pragmatics, ethnography, and language learning and teaching) are welcome. Abstracts in English (max. 300 words) should be submitted via ‘submission’ on the conference website.

Research Centre for English Language Teaching, Testing and Assessment

Faculty of English StudiesSchool of Philosophy

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

_______________________________E-mail: rcel@enl.uoa.gr

Το έργο συγχρηματοδοτείται από το Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινωνικό Ταμείο και από εθνικούς πόρους