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This volume provides a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the contribution of multiparty intergenerational talk in a variety of cultures to the development of children’s communicative capacities. The book focuses on the complexity of the cultural and interactional contexts in which pragmatic learning occurs and re-examines certain assumptions implicit in research on language socialization to date, such as primacy of dyadic interactions in the early ages and the presupposition of a monolingual social matrix.One of the aims of the book is to demonstrate the degree of cultural diversity in paths of pragmatic development. Individual chapters present empirically grounded analyses of talk with children of all ages, in different participation structures and in a variety of cultures. In pursuing this theme the volume is meant to further enrich cross-cultural perspectives on language socialization by providing in each of its chapters an empirically grounded analysis of the development of one specific dimension of discursive skill.The discourse dimensions represented in the volume include narratives, explanations, the language of control in intergenerational and intragenerational talk, the language of humour and affect, and bilingual conversations. The volume offers a rich spectrum of cultural variety in pragmatic development including studies of American, Greek, Japanese, Mayan, Norwegian and Swedish children and families.

As the effects of European integration become more widely felt, the teaching of modern languages is moving towards the centre of the educational agenda and more and more schools are considering starting pupils on a first foreign language other than French – a development encouraged by the National Curriculum orders in Modern Languages.”Diversification in Modern Language Teaching” gives language teachers and heads of department the evidence upon which to decide if diversification is right for them. It presents findings from a longitudinal study, the Oxford Project on Diversification of First Foreign Language Teaching (OXPROD), which looked both at pupils’ learning experiences and at the organizational questions affecting schools where the policy was implemented. It argues first that there is nothing in the nature of German or Spanish that makes these languages unsuitable as first foreign languages for the whole ability range, and second that the decision on whether to diversify must be a purely educational one, based on pupil motivation and accessibility, as well as on particular local strengths among staff and parents.

Silence and Sign Language in Medieval Monasticism explores the rationales for religious silence in early medieval abbeys and the use of nonverbal forms of communication among monks when rules of silence forbade them from speaking. After examining the spiritual benefits of personal silence as a form of protection against the perils of sinful discourse in early monastic thought, this work shows how the monks of the Abbey of Cluny (founded in 910 in Burgundy) were the first to employ a silent language of meaning-specific hand signs that allowed them to convey precise information without recourse to spoken words. Scott Bruce discusses the linguistic character of the Cluniac sign language, its central role in the training of novices, the precautions taken to prevent its abuse, and the widespread adoption of this custom in other abbeys throughout Europe, which resulted in the creation of regionally-specific idioms of this silent language.

En Activo is a contemporary course which provides students with a structured development of written and spoken business language skills, focusing on real business people and situations from all over the Spanish-speaking world.The book consists of twenty chapters that incorporate contextual information on the business environment of Spain and Latin America, role-plays, illustrative dialogues, dedicated written exercises, relevant grammar instruction, practical communicative exercises, up-to-date practical advice, model items of written and spoken business protocol, and links to numerous carefully-selected and integrated websites. Each chapter is structured as follows:-Le Presento a, : introduction of the central individual and their working life-Escuche, por favor: extensive listening exercises and accompanying activities-Recuerde que…: grammar revision and communicative exercises-Para saber m