Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura

Artificial Intelligence Applications in College Academic Writing and Composition: A Systematic Review

Adriana Pérez — 2025-02-13

Proofreading and editing are essential to enhance the quality of texts. While literature is abundant on technological tools for identifying semantic and lexical-grammatical errors, evidence on the actual effectiveness of artificial intelligence (ai) in this process remains limited, with studies varying in scope and rigor. This study examines whether existing evidence supports or contradicts the hypothesis that a ai-based applications help edit and proofread texts in higher education. A review was conducted in Scopus and Web of Science databases, covering scientific articles in English and Spanish, published between 2019 and 2024, related to university writing and the use of ai in text correction. Most studies were exploratory and descriptive. A notable increase in publications related to ai and academic writing was observed between 2022 and 2024, with the United States, China, Australia, and Canada leading in this area. Findings suggest that ai improves linguistic quality and feedback in the writing process. It also highlights issues related to academic integrity, data privacy, and ai’s inability to manage complex writing errors. More explicit connections between ai and university instruction are necessary to complement traditional pedagogical strategies. The need for more research in this area is urgent, as issues related to equitable access and responsible integration are essential to the use ai to support academic writing development.

The Role of Emotions in the Construction of Pre-Service English Teachers’ Identity

Julia Posada-Ortiz — 2024-12-31

The study of the emotions experienced by foreign-language pre-service teachers and their influence on the formation of pre-service teachers' identity has gained currency in the last ten years. The present study analyzes the role of practitioners’ emotions and their impact on the construction of their identity as English teachers. For this purpose, a qualitative study was conducted, with a descriptive approach, based on narratives co-constructed by 20 trainees in a Bachelor’s degree program in Foreign Languages, with emphasis on English, at a university in Bogotá, Colombia. Findings from the thematic analysis of the narratives suggest that the teaching practice is viewed by pre-service teachers as a therapeutic space to heal emotions from past experiences, that emotions activate the critical reflection of practitioners to make decisions and bring about changes in themselves and the situations experienced in practice; and that training in emotional intelligence is required in undergraduate programs to find strategies that allow the self-regulation of emotions.

Disrupting Rural Local Realities through Inquiry-Based Learning in the EFL Classroom

Yimmy Alexander Hoyos Pipicano — 2025-02-13

English language teaching (ELT) in rural areas oftentimes deviates from the global agenda with practices that contribute to students' well-being beyond language skill development. This article reports a qualitative case study that explored the influence of inquiry-based learning (IBL) on EFL (English-as-a-foreign-language) students’ awareness of local sociocultural issues at a rural public school in the department of Huila, in southwestern Colombia. Thus, a pedagogical intervention was implemented. Data were collected from 22 high school students who completed questionnaires and interviews, which were analyzed from a decolonial perspective. The thematic analysis of students’ responses yielded three categories: (a) students’ inertial take on local sociocultural issues: initial views formed from typical passive engagement, (b) the expansion of sociocultural perspectives: the quantum leap in students’ critical thinking, and (c) momentum of change: students’ sociocultural awareness and activism. Findings show that students critically addressed complex sociocultural issues, such as violence against women, drug abuse, and child abuse, which had previously been ignored. Additionally, students developed strategies to address their community’s challenges. Therefore, students enhanced their sociocultural awareness and social activism, revealing ibl as a meaningful teaching approach to promote a holistic approach to elt. By taking a proactive role in their learning process and through the emancipation from glocal political and economic agendas interfering with the educational system, students affirm their dignity and are empowered to help others overcome social issues in their communities.

Presentation

Luanda Sito — 2025-02-13

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Personality and Emotional Charge in the Translation of Breast Cancer Testimonials

Paula Cifuentes-Férez — 2025-01-23

This research article focuses on analyzing the impact or influence of personality and the emotional charge of breast cancer testimonials on the accuracy and quality of translations. To this end, an experimental study was designed in which a group of translators had to read and translate two breast cancer testimonials (one with positive valence and the other with negative valence), in addition to completing a series of psychometric tests. Based on the existing literature, three hypotheses were formulated: (a) translations of the negatively charged text would be much more accurate than those of the positively charged text; (b) highly sensitive translators would produce better translations, but would have higher levels of anxiety; and (c) those with a higher self-concept would perform worse in both translations. The results obtained showed that the translations of the negative text were in fact much more accurate in terms of conveying meaning and terminology. As far as high sensitivity is concerned, highly sensitive participants performed better only in the translation of the positive text. As for the impact of self-concept, our hypothesis was only corroborated for translations of the negative text.

Constructing Specialized Definitions: An Assessment of Intracategorial Terminological Knowledge within Disciplinary Integration in an Industrial Engineering Program

Paula Morgado Fernández — 2024-12-30

Upon entering higher education, students embark on a disciplinary integration process through which they acquire specialized knowledge and the modes of expression specific to their field of study. In this context, terminological knowledge development is crucial, as terms serve to represent and communicate specialized knowledge. This study aims to determine the influence of the disciplinary integration level on knowledge about disciplinary concepts (intra-categorial knowledge) among students in an Industrial Civil Engineering program at a public university in Chile. A mixed-methods, descriptive study was conducted, involving a task dealing with the construction of specialized definitions by the students. Findings reveal statistically significant differences in conceptual knowledge among participants. These differences were most evident when comparing students at the initial level to those at intermediate and advanced levels.

THEME and INFORMATION Systems in Spanish: A Systemic Analysis of Their Use in Scientific Paper Theoretical Frameworks

Diana Judith Chamorro — 2025-02-13

This descriptive study examines, using categories from systemic-functional linguistics and some others derived from this corpus, Theme choices in the theoretical frameworks of a convenience sample comprising twenty articles from Colombian indexed journals in the field of language studies. Additionally, it characterizes the interaction between the INFORMATION system and the THEME system and reviews the criteria for establishing the meaning of marked and unmarked Theme in Spanish language. Our findings suggest the centrality of the Theme textual function, which is mainly realized through experiential Themes and, to a lesser extent, through textual Themes. Experiential Themes are partly realized through nominal groups that refer to Recoverable (Given or Accessible) information or pronominal groups with anaphoric function. Sayers and Circumstances of Angle with cataphoric function were also recurrent. Additionally, verbs in thematic position were identified, which in Spanish serve the function of maintaining the flow of discourse while building the heteroglossic engagement typical of theoretical frameworks. The presence of simple and complex nominalizations in thematic position performs the function of compacting information. Further detailed studies in Spanish are needed, with corpora from diverse genres and registers, to refine the differences between marked and unmarked Theme in this language and to review the boundaries between New and Accessible information.

Interlinear Translations Reduce Cognitive Load on EFL Vocabulary Acquisition

Camilo Andrés Bonilla Carvajal — 2025-02-13

The use of translation in language teaching has been a source of controversial debate. Nevertheless, glossing—specifically, interlinear translations—remains an understudied learning strategy, despite having been used by learners and teachers of foreign languages since at least 1000 C. E. In the absence of a review tracing the history of interlinear translations, as well as the lack of empirical studies addressing their effect on second language reading, the present article aims to explore the role of first-language interlinear glossing by describing the results of an intervention using different reading formats in a first-semester university English reading program. In the experiment, a group of efl beginner participants (n = 48) were assigned to one of three experimental conditions, namely, reading a text in academic English (L2) with a Spanish (L1) translation using either interlinear, construed, or marginal glossing. A translation task of the same text into their first language followed immediately and was repeated past eight days. Independent anova measurements reveal an increase of translated words for the interlinear over the other two conditions, which is consistent with the hypothesis that interlinear translations allow explicit focus on word recall by reducing cognitive load in working memory, and the split-attention effect between the L2 text and its corresponding translation on a separate page. This study aims to enrich our current understanding of the impact of glossing layouts on cognitive processing.

Educators in Transition: Unpacking Argentinean Teachers' Attitudes Towards AI in Higher Education

Laura Inés Bottiglieri — 2025-02-13

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is revolutionizing the way we live, learn, and work. In academic settings, AI tools such as chatbots, machine translation and plagiarism detectors are becoming increasingly popular. However, as the use of AI by students becomes more widespread, concerns about the impact it may have on learning, academic integrity, and the role of traditional teaching methods are growing. This paper aims to explore the perspectives of Argentinean teachers on the use of AI in higher education and on its advantages and drawbacks. Through qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys, we investigated how much knowledge teachers have about AI and whether or not they perceive its potential benefits and challenges and its impact on their teaching practices. Results show that L2 instructors exhibit varying levels of familiarity and experience with AI tools, specifically Generative Machine Translation (GMT) and chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT). Notably, there exists a degree of reluctance among instructors towards incorporating AI tools into language classes, stemming from concerns related to potential hindrances to language development, over-reliance on technology, and accuracy, among other considerations.

Factors Challenging the Maintenance of Spanish as a Heritage Language in Italy: A Maternal View

Lisbeth Giménez — 2025-02-13

In Italy, Spanish-speaking immigrants maintain their language of origin to pre[1]serve their cultural identity and communicate with their communities of origin. In this context, mothers are the first point of contact and the main resource for learning their children’s heritage language. This article reports the findings of a descriptive cross-sectional study of the factors influencing the maintenance of Spanish as a heritage language in families living in Italy, focusing on the language practices and means of contact used by mothers. We surveyed 175 mothers of Spanish-speaking youngsters aged 6 to 17 years to obtain information on linguistic practices, the importance given to maintaining their heritage language, and the degree of their children’s exposure to Spanish. The results show that the valuation of Spanish as a heritage language is linked to commu[1]nicative, cultural and professional reasons. Mothers with a higher educational level value Spanish as a heritage language more and promote it, through conversations and activities, thus reinforcing their children’s linguistic competence. The influence of mothers’ cultural capital on the transmission of Spanish is highlighted and it is suggested that multiple vari[1]ables, such as age and educational level, be taken into account in future research on the maintenance of Spanish as a heritage language in various diasporas.

Degree of Openness and Variable Acquisition in L2: (-s) Variation in San Andrés Island

John Rueda — 2024-12-31

The variation of (-s) in bilingual contexts shows a degree of complexity in which different fields of knowledge converge. This work studies the sibilant consonant in the syllable coda in San Andres Island Spanish learnt as a second language, aiming to elucidate some of the questions that arise from a little-explored variety in which multiple factors correlate. This variable has been used to differentiate diasystems, to classify dialectal areas, and, in the case of second languages, to determine the acquisition of sociolinguistic norms. 3600 cases were analyzed, extracted from semi-structured interviews with 36 bilingual Creole-Spanish speakers. Results show that the variety under study favors the form close to the lexicon. The (-s) variation is restricted by the degree of openness and by avoiding vocalic heterosyllabicity, and it evinces sociolinguistic trends that had been previously reported. Regrouping the sample revealed data that match Colombian Spanish varieties, which is related to (-s) variation pattern acquisition belonging to a target variety

War in Ukraine in Political Language in the Spanish Media: A Discourse Analysis of Written Press

Nina Mockova — 2025-02-13

War in Ukraine has had global reverberations. The most discussed topics both in the press and in the media are weapons supply, hosting refugees and Spain’s direct involvement in the conflict. The present research article reports a qualitative study conducted from a corpus collected since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February 2022, until Spain’s general elections in July 2023, and analyzes 80 communiqués. The study is based on the discourse analysis by representatives of the most important political parties currently active in Spain, and by the media. This article analyzes the attitudes of politicians in the Spanish political scene, their rhetorical strategies and other language resources deployed in the media, and the political language used by politicians. The results show the existence of tendencies towards populism in both far right-wing and left-wing parties while, at the linguistic level, metaphors, phraseology units, euphemisms, stylistic neologisms, and the reuse of obsolete words abound. This research will complement political language studies in central Europe, and will help to compare political language studies in other countries.

Book Review: Traducción automática en contextos especializados

Irene Fuentes Pérez — 2025-02-13

Book Review: Translation and Objects: Rewriting Migrancy and Displacement through the Materiality of Art

Margarita Savchenkova — 2025-02-13