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Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Blind Alley Developments in Childrens’ Language Acquisition
A blind alley development (BAD) is a rarely occurring ephemeral development of young children that systematically deviates from parental input and is eventually abandoned due to persistent explicit and/or implicit correction by the children’s caregivers.
  • 38
  • 03 Dec 2025
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Artificial Intelligence in EFL Speaking Instruction: A Systematic Review of Pedagogical Design, Affective Conditions and Instructional Input
Speaking proficiency remains one of the most challenging skills for learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), particularly in contexts where sustained spoken interaction is limited. This systematic review synthesises 36 empirical studies (2015–2025) identified through a PRISMA-guided Scopus search to examine how artificial intelligence (AI)-mediated instruction supports EFL speaking development. The included studies were analysed according to AI modality, pedagogical integration, instructional input characteristics, and linguistic and affective outcomes. Findings indicate that AI tools—such as chatbots, automatic speech recognition systems, and large language models—consistently support affective outcomes, including reduced speaking anxiety and increased willingness to communicate. Improvements in fluency, pronunciation, and accuracy were frequently reported, particularly when AI tools were embedded within task-based and pedagogically structured instructional designs. However, evidence for sustained development of higher-order communicative competence was more variable. The review proposes a mediated input framework conceptualising AI as a design-sensitive instructional resource rather than an autonomous teaching agent.
  • 35
  • 30 Mar 2026
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Translation of Word- and Language-Play
Translation primarily refers to interlingual translation here, i.e., the transfer of texts (broadly understood) between distinct languages. Wordplay is used synonymously with puns, while language-play is a broader concept referring to the intentional manipulation of linguistic elements for special effects. Language-play thus includes, but is not limited to, wordplay. This paper provides an overview of the issues involved in the translation of language-play, including wordplay. To this end, definitions, categories, and arguments related to translation on the one hand, and to word- as well as language-play on the other, are presented. This includes an introduction to different modes, purposes, and challenges of translation, as well as a discussion of the possible forms, functions, and effects of language-play, partly in relation to humour. Based on this groundwork, claims and findings related to the combination of the fields, i.e., the translation of word- and language-play, will be summarized. The paper concludes with an attempt at placing word- and language-play translation into a broader context, including societal and educational concerns, as well as the latest changes affecting the translation profession.
  • 29
  • 13 Feb 2026
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Usage-Based Motivations for Diachronic Language Change
With the understanding that language variation, whether synchronic or diachronic, is, for the most part, not random but systematic and predictable, linguists and philologists have long engaged with the task of providing accounts and explanations for how a phenomenon in a given language moves from stage a to stage b, with a temporally preceding b. A usage-based approach to diachronic change takes as its basis a fundamental link between usage and the evolution of linguistic structure through time. More specifically, motivations for language change are sought in areas that involve speakers using language and interacting with one another, such as discourse and communication, as well as cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding language. Mechanisms that contribute to language change include pragmatic inferences, frequency, (inter)subjectification and discourse management (turn-taking).
  • 23
  • 05 Feb 2026
Topic Review
Bilingual Education in the U.S.
Bilingual education in the United States encompasses programs that use both English and students’ home languages to promote learning. It has been shaped by changing political priorities, policies, and debates over assimilation versus linguistic diversity. This entry reviews the history of bilingual education in the United States and how public opinion and political attitudes have shifted over time. It traces how policymakers and practitioners have viewed English language acquisition as either a tool of assimilation or as a resource for learning, and how support has moved from English-only immersion to dual language education programs. The discussion highlights how current assessment practices, focused on English-only standardized testing, have not kept pace with changing views of bilingual education. The entry concludes by identifying gaps in research and urging states to evaluate how comprehensively they serve their bilingual student population through their education policies and programs.
  • 15
  • 05 Jan 2026
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
The Role of the Article in Patterns of Modification in Greek
The present entry focuses on definiteness agreement patterns in Modern Greek by exploring the function of the definite article in structures that involve a head noun and a modifier—typically an adjective, but not only—that is also accompanied by the definite article. Such structures have been variously dubbed polydefinite noun phrases/Determiner Phrases (or, simply, polydefinites), appositions, (pseudo)partitives, and evaluative appositives in the numerous studies that have been put forward to account for them over the past four decades or so. The peculiarity of these structures is the very presence of the second definite article that shows up whenever the modified noun itself is definite; at first sight, this ‘second’ article seems redundant, or expletive. Polydefiniteness has earned a privileged position in the literature, as has been discussed extensively and in depth over the past thirty years or so. The aim of this entry is to provide i. a description of the patterns that involve a noun and a modifier accompanied by its own definite article, and ii. a comprehensive survey of the relevant literature by highlighting commonalities and differences across the basic studies that have been written about polydefiniteness.
  • 12
  • 03 Jun 2026
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
The Social Life of Script Reforms
Script reforms are socially motivated actions undertaken by institutions or communities that intentionally select, modify, or standardize writing systems. Although scripts are often analyzed as technical ways of writing, designed to enhance literacy and facilitate communication, this is not how script users typically perceive them. Beyond their linguistic function, scripts acquire deep social significance through their critically intertwined relations with issues of identity, political ideologies, and linguistic differentiation. This study analyzes such ideological underpinnings within script use and discusses the social ramifications of language codification. The study draws on different orthographic debates from Africa, Asia, and beyond, to demonstrate the social nature of script. The outcome of this study has implications for communities confronting orthographic decisions and competing script choices.
  • 9
  • 15 Jun 2026
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