2
10
503
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/c1a1727e073774bb33d86af5e1d683d3.pdf
9b8fb69ba777b7730dea5ba4e46e1e4d
PDF Text
Text
LANGUAGE AND INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION FOR MOBILITY: INSIGHT FROM
THE IEREST PROJECT
Ana Beaven & Lucia Livatino
Università di Bologna, Italy
Article History:
Submitted: 07.06.2015
Accepted: 21.06.2015
Abstract
The increase in the number of students taking part in study abroad programmes worldwide
has highlighted the need to offer intercultural preparation for this specific group of students. The
IEREST European project (Intercultural Education Resources for Erasmus Students and their
Teachers) has produced a set of teaching resources to help students benefit from their sojourn in
terms of personal growth and intercultural learning.
The theoretical approach underlying such resources is linked to a concept of interculturality
that promotes the idea of multiple identities, and to the notion that identities are co-constructed in
interaction (Holiday, 2011, 2013). Furthermore, the learners are taught to recognize the subjectivity
and instability of worldviews. In this sense, the activities are culture-general, and can be taught to
students regardless of their specific destination.
This paper presents the activity “Meeting people abroad”. Although originally not designed
for the language classroom, it was adapted for use in an Englishlanguage course for a group of
future Erasmus students. Central to the activity is the learners’ engagement with other mobile
students through the task of carrying out an interview from potentially non-essentialist perspectives.
The target language is thus seen not as an aim in itself, but as the means to develop the learners’
intercultural communication skills and understanding.
In their new format for the foreign language classroom, the activity was tested at the
University of Bologna in September 2014. Feedback was collected through focus groups at the end
of the course, and was used to evaluate the materials and reflect on ways of introducing the
intercultural in foreign language education (Byram, 2008), in particular in the context of student
mobility.
�1. Introduction
Since its creation in 1987, the Erasmus programme has enabled over three million students
to study abroad for a period between three and twelve months as part of their university studies.
Nevertheless, often the only preparation they receiveis in terms of language courses to enable them
to study in the target language or learn the basics of the local language, when English is the medium
of instruction.
Nevertheless, it has become increasingly clear that studying abroad doesnot provide only an
academic experience, but also – and perhaps primarily – an intercultural one. It is also evident from
the literature that contact with people from different cultures does not in itself ensure the reduction
of stereotypical perceptions nor the development of intercultural skills (Byram & Zarate, 1995;
Coleman, 1998; Alred et al, 2003;Shaules, 2007) and scholars have called for preparation and
support actions which can be help students from this point of view(Abdallah-Pretceille, 2008).
It was therefore as an answer to this call that the IEREST (Intercultural Education Resources
for Erasmus Students and their Teachers) European project1 was developed, aiming at a producing a
set of teaching resources to help students benefit as much as possible from their study abroad
experience in terms of their personal and intercultural development. The IEREST resources,
however, were not developed for foreign language teaching. Nevertheless, we believe that they can
fruitfully be adapted to the language classroom, in order to offer mobile students effective
preparation from an intercultural as well as linguistic point of view.
In the next sections of this paper, we will offer a brief outline of the theoretical
underpinnings of the IEREST resources, followed by an overview of intercultural language
teaching. We will then describe how one of the pre-departure activities was adapted to the English
language classroom, and discuss the feedback provided by the students during the focus-group that
followed the course. Finally, we will consider the implications of our pilot study.
2. The IEREST educational resources
As mentioned above, the resources produced within the IEREST project, called
‘intercultural paths’, are designed to be taught before, during and after the sojourn abroad. They are
‘culture general’ in that they prepare mobile students for their intercultural experience rather than to
travel to a specific destination. The materials, written in English, are published as Open Educational
Resources and can therefore be adapted and translated into other languages. However, they have not
been designed as language learning materials.
�The theoretical approach underlying such resources is linked to a critical approach to
interculturality, and in particular to culture, identity and power.
2.1 Culture
Culture is often conceptualised from an essentialist perspective, whereby people are
identified according to the ‘essence’ of their national culture (or “large culture”). This is often a
stereotypical and reified concept of culture, which constrains individuals and reduces them to less
than what they are. However, culture can also be conceptualised – and this is the IEREST approach
– from a non-essentialist perspective. Cultures are therefore seen not as something solid and
external to the individuals that ‘belong’ to it, but rather, from a social-constructivist viewpoint, as
something that is co-created, agreed upon or transformed by individuals in interaction. Thus, the
concept of “small culture” (Holliday, 1999) signifying any cohesive grouping (e.g., a
neighbourhood, a work group, an Erasmus community) can be a useful notion to attempt to
understand social behaviour.
2.2 Multiple identities
Here, identity (like culture) is not seen as something solid and unchangeable, but rather as
something that is constructed in context and that changes with context. People constantly
(re)negotiate and (re)construct who they are in interaction with others (Holiday, 2011, 2013). Age,
gender, social class, language or ethnic background, among others, all contribute to the creation of
impressions of oneself and of others. People therefore construct a multiplicity of identities, where
some of these aspects may be more relevant than others in different contexts, and can change.
2.3 Power in language
Finally, an underlying idea of the project is that certain discourses limit the opportunity that
some people have to enjoy multiplicity and to construct their identities in their own terms.
Therefore, a critical approach is needed to deconstruct dominant discourses about otherness
(Andreotti& de Souza, 2008; Guilherme, 2002).
3. Intercultural language teaching
Before describing how the activities were adapted to the foreign language classroom for this
specific study, a brief excursus into intercultural language teaching is necessary.
Foreign language teaching, particularly since the advent of the communicative approach in
the 1970’s, has been seen primarily in its instrumental role of enabling people to communicate
�across languages in a socially appropriate way. In this context, culture has been seen as corollary to
the teaching of effective communication with people from a specific cultural background, usually
meaning specific countries where the target language is spoken. Thus, culture has been – and still is
in much foreign language teaching – seen as equivalent to knowledge about specific countries, their
high culture (mainly literature), history, landmarks and norms. In this perspective, study abroad has
been seen as the ideal opportunity to learn a language and its ‘culture’, used in the singular.
The move to an intercultural approach to language education (Byram 1989, 1997) has
attempted to shift the emphasis from learning about a target culture to acquiring, through and in the
foreign language, the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to be an interculturally competent
person. More recently, Risager’s transnational paradigm (2007) questioned the one-to-one
correspondence between a language and its (national) culture. Finally, some scholars have
emphasised the need to place identity at the core of intercultural language teaching (Guilherme,
2002; Block, 2007; Norton and Toohey, 2011). It is within this framework that the IEREST
materials – with the necessary adaptation – are considered highly suitable to the foreign language
classroom.
4. The study
This paper describes the adaptation and implementation of one of the pre-departure
activities entitled “Meeting people abroad”, whose objectives are:
•
to enable students to critically respond to situations where they experience a need tomeet –
or on the contrary avoid – “local” people, other international students, or other co-nationals;
•
to enable students tointeract with people from other cultural backgrounds from potentially
non-essentialist perspectives.
The activity was taught as part of a pilot Englishlanguagecourse in the autumn of 2014 at the
University of Bologna, to a group of seven future Erasmus students. The students’ level in English
was intermediate (B1-B1+ of the Common European Framework of Reference). The course lasted
three lessons of three hours each for a total of nine hours.
4.1 The tasks
The activity includes three tasks. In the first, the students are asked to analyse the brochures
and/or websites of their destination country or university, including photographs or descriptions of
the local people. Through this, they become aware of ways of stereotyping or idealising others. In
the second task, the students analyse a video of an Erasmus student in Portugal interviewing her
fellow students. By concentrating on aspects of culture that the interviewer (or the interviewees)
�choose to highlight or ignore, the students become aware of how people provide their listeners with
a subjective view of themselves or of others. The students then carry out and video-record an
interview to an incoming student from their destination country before they come to class. In class,
they analyse the video-recordings in groups, paying attention to how successful they were to avoid
an essentialist interviewing style, to whether the interviewee used stereotypes, and to how
stereotyping can happen as a result of leading questions asked by the interviewers.
During the course described here, the original intercultural objectives were supplemented
with linguistic objectives as follows:
Intercultural objectives
Task 1
Linguistic objectives
Understanding ways of stereotyping and Practising
idealising others
comprehension
skills
on
authentic materials for authentic purposes
Oral production/interaction during class
discussion
Pragmatics: hedging and mitigation of
claims though the use of modals, adverbial
phrases and indirect speech.
Task 2
Interpreting what people say about their Practising written comprehension skills
culture as evidence of what they wish (English
subtitles)
and
oral
others to see about themselves, and which (inter)comprehension(Portuguese
and
may not be applicable to others from that French)
culture or group
Note-taking on completing a grid and
during mini-lecture
Oral production/interaction during group
discussion
Task 3
Interacting with othersby adopting a non- Pragmatics:
essentialist
style.
Noticing
Expressing
politeness
how (interview preparation)
stereotyping can be the result of a leading Morphosyntax:
Question
formation
question. Reflect on ways in which (interview preparation)
stereotyping can be deconstructed.
Language/communication
awareness:
Interacting through English as Lingua
Franca (interview preparation)
Oral interaction during the interviews
�Oral production/interaction during class
discussion
Table 1 – Intercultural and language objectives.
4.2 Data collection
Following the 9-hour course, the students were asked to take part in a focus group to collect
their feedback. The students were asked about their perceived learning resulting from the
interviewing task, their intercultural and language learning, and their overall satisfaction with the
course.
4.3 Feedback on the interview task
All the students stated they had enjoyed carrying out an interview in English to an incoming
student from their destination country. Specifically, one student (Elena) – who had interviewed two
Belgian students at the same time – commented on her ability to notice contradictions between the
students, and to think critically about this:
‘So she underlined the positive aspects, but when the other guy came, she said “No, for me
it’s not the same”… there were differences and they came up […]Before doing this course, I
wouldn’t have noticed these aspects, so I would hear their explanations without being
critical to what she was saying to me.’
Another student (Andrea) had noticed how his leading question had been the cause of his
interviewee’s generalisation about ‘the English’:
‘I tried not to ask something that generalised. I think only the first question: “What’s the
relationship between the English people and Erasmus people”, maybe she tried to answer
me in a contextual way, in a … “well, we aren’t very… we live separately, but if you want to
live the English life, we’re open to other people, to other cultures”.’
Michel reported becoming aware of how making questions more specific can help one’s
interlocutor provide answers which avoid generalisations:
‘I noticed when she said for three times “it depends”, in three different questions. I
wouldn’t have noticed that before, and so when she said “it depends” I was trying to be
�more specific with the questions, like “it depends on what?” Before I wouldn’t have focused
on this.’
Finally, Francesca commented on how she was able to interpret what her interlocutor said in
the light of the theoretical concepts discussed in class:
‘In my experience this aspect came when we talked about the traditional customs in
Portugal, and she told me that some people like and some people don’t like the traditional
customs. So she [wanted me to understand] that each experience is personal […] She wants
[me] to understand that I [shouldn’t] listen to one part of the [general] context, I must hear
one side and then another side.’
4.4. Language Learning
In terms of language learning, and despite the brevity of the course, the students appreciated
the possibility to practice aspects of language related to communicating in real contexts, and get a
taste of what they would have to do once abroad:
‘Trying to speak with other international students, because usually we can’t do this at
university, because usually I attend with other Italian students, so this is an opportunity to
contact, to speak with international students.’ (Matteo)
‘Also learning about starting a conversation. Because answering a question is easier than
starting a new conversation. So starting it, and keeping it going, yeah… (Michel)
‘… And find a way to structure the phrases, so if I don’t remember a word, I try another
way. Now I feel more confident with English.’ (Francesca)
‘Maybe also more brave to speak with others.’ (Elena)
‘Being able to speak in class, and speak about topics we don’t usually discuss in language
lessons.’ (Andrea)
4.5 Intercultural learning
�The intercultural objectives had been a novelty to all of the participants, who felt that this
facet of the course was particularly useful for their preparation to go abroad. They mentioned
having developed their awareness of the dangers of generalisations (both positive and negative) as
well as being more open to listening to what their interlocutors said rather than jumping to
conclusions.
More than a specific preparation, what I got out of this is a forma mentis, about the idea of
arriving in a different country, different from mine, and in particular relating to others and
trying not to generalise… “We, Italians, we do things this way”. Maybe being more open,
but also more critical, more careful about what others tell us, but also what we tell others…
maybe we’ll notice that others generalise “oh, yes, we’re like this…”, but having done this
course, we’ll try not to do that. (Elena)
I underline the fact that now we’re much more careful about what we hear, but also what we
say and how we say it… It was useful to interview an Erasmus student, because during the
interview I paid a lot of attention to when she generalised, but also to when I had to
reformulate a sentence in order to avoid generalising. (Michel)
5. Conclusion
The present study has shown how intercultural language education should not imply
prioritising the language over the intercultural objectives by, for example, adding ‘token’
intercultural aims to a pre-existing language syllabus. Acknowledging the importance of
intercultural development as a way to access other worldviews is crucial when preparing students to
study abroad, but not only. After all, the foreign language classroom is the ideal place to explore
and put into practice intercultural communication. As Liddicoat and Scarino put it, “learners are
from the beginning of their learning users of language, in fact users of languages, through which
they present themselves and construct and explore their worlds. Language is not a thing to be
studied but a way of seeing, understanding, and communicating about the world” (Liddicoat &
Scarino 2013).
References
Abdallah-Pretceille, M. (2008) Mobilité sans conscience…! In F. Dervin and M. Byram (Eds.)
Echangesetmobilitésacadémiques – Quelbilan?(pp. 215-231) Paris: L’Harmattan.
�Alred, G., M. Byram, and M. Fleming (Eds.)(2003). Intercultural Experience and Education.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Andreotti, V. & de Souza, L.M.T.M. (2008). Translating theory into practice and walking
minefields: lessons from the project ‘Through Other Eyes’. International Journal of Development
Education and Global Learning. 1(1), 23-36.
Block, D. (2007). Second language identities. London: Continuum.
Byram, M. (1989). Intercultural education and foreign language teaching.World Studies
Journal,7(2), 4-7.
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M. and Zarate, G (1995) Young people facing difference – Some proposals for teachers.
Council of Europe Publishing.
Coleman, J.A. (1998) Language learning and study abroad: the European perspective. Frontiers:
The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 4, 1-21.
Guilherme, M. (2002). Critical citizens for an intercultural world. Foreign language education as
cultural politics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Holliday, A. R. (1999). Small cultures. Applied Linguistics, 20(2), 237-64.
Holliday, A. R. (2011). Intercultural communication & ideology. London: Sage.
Holliday, A. R. (2013). Understanding intercultural communication: negotiating a grammar of
culture. London: Routledge.
Liddicoat, A.J. and A. Sacrino (2013) Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning. New York:
Wiley and Sons.
Norton, B., &Toohey, K. (2011). Identity, language learning, and social change. Language
Teaching, 44(4), 412–446.
Risager, K., 2007. Language and Culture Pedagogy: From a National to a Transnational
Paradigm. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Shaules, J. (2007) Deep Culture. The Hidden Challenges of Global Living. Clevedon: Multilingual
Matters.
1www.ierest-project.eu
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2885
Title
A name given to the resource
LANGUAGE AND INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION FOR MOBILITY: INSIGHT FROM THE IEREST PROJECT
Author
Author
Beaven, Ana
Livatino, Lucia
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The increase in the number of students taking part in study abroad programmes worldwide has highlighted the need to offer intercultural preparation for this specific group of students. The IEREST European project (Intercultural Education Resources for Erasmus Students and their Teachers) has produced a set of teaching resources to help students benefit from their sojourn in terms of personal growth and intercultural learning. The theoretical approach underlying such resources is linked to a concept of interculturality that promotes the idea of multiple identities, and to the notion that identities are co-constructed in interaction (Holiday, 2011, 2013). Furthermore, the learners are taught to recognize the subjectivity and instability of worldviews. In this sense, the activities are culture-general, and can be taught to students regardless of their specific destination. This paper presents the activity “Meeting people abroad”. Although originally not designed for the language classroom, it was adapted for use in an Englishlanguage course for a group of future Erasmus students. Central to the activity is the learners’ engagement with other mobile students through the task of carrying out an interview from potentially non-essentialist perspectives. The target language is thus seen not as an aim in itself, but as the means to develop the learners’ intercultural communication skills and understanding. In their new format for the foreign language classroom, the activity was tested at the University of Bologna in September 2014. Feedback was collected through focus groups at the end of the course, and was used to evaluate the materials and reflect on ways of introducing the intercultural in foreign language education (Byram, 2008), in particular in the context of student mobility.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/a587f2a0e5370b33e74b06550cc3e004.pdf
29242db68e8d52e5fb6d65c792e8af6e
PDF Text
Text
SUGGESTIONS ON DEVELOPING CHINESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN NET ENVIRONMENT
Huiru Duan & Jun Deng & Zheng Zhang
Central South University, China
Article History:
Submitted: 11.06.2015
Accepted: 24.06.2015
Abstract:
This paper presents an empirical study on Chinese university students’ intercultural
communication competence. The results show that learners should promote their cultural
knowledge, intercultural sensitivity, communication strategies and intercultural awareness,
etc. Suggestions for the curriculum and pedagogy of intercultural communication and the
methods in developing Chinese university students’ intercultural communication competence
in net environment are provided based on the research results.
Key words: intercultural communication (IC), intercultural
communication
competence (ICC), ICC questionnaire survey, course design
1. Introduction
This is both a theoretical and empirical study of how to develop Chinese university
students’ intercultural communication competence (ICC, for short). It is one of the phased
objectives we have attained for a provincial project in China, the title of which is “The
Course Design of Intercultural Communication (IC, for short) in Net Environment”. This is a
case study, in which, we choose Central South University (CSU), a key university in
Changsha, Hunan province, China, as the target university and the students in CSU as the
experimental subjects.
IC is often defined as communication “between people from different national
cultures and many scholars limit it to face-to-face communication” (Gudykunst, 2002:179).
The situation in China might be different from this definition – it might not always be
1
�possible for Chinese people to have face-to-face communication with people from different
cultures. Yet it is important for Chinese people to have a better understanding of the other
cultures.
With the increasing of globalization and integration of economics, IC becomes more
and more popular. It requires people to have more ICC. It is the same case in China.
University, as a place to cultivate talents, inevitably, should take the responsibility for
developing students’ ICC. As a result, nowadays, it has become a trend in universities to open
a series of IC courses to improve university students’ ICC, which ranks as the no. 1 concern
for teachers and university students inside and outside the foreign languages teaching field. In
the Requirements for the Teaching of College English courses (2007), re-revised by Chinese
Ministry of Education, the importance of the university students’ ICC is pointed out.. At the
same time, it stresses the importance of cultivating university students’ sensibility and
tolerance to cultural differences, dealing with such differences with ease and meeting with the
increasingly extensive need of international communication. Therefore, we can find that
developing university students’ ICC is one of the main directions and ultimate goals for
college English teaching, which can meet the urgent demands for talents in nowadays society.
It has triggered the probing interests of teachers for the teaching of IC.
Research in ICC is of academic and pragmatic interest to many scholars due to the
relevance of the subject in today’s culturally diverse society. (Arasaratham, 2007b).
Historically speaking, western scholars have done a lot of research on ICC (Ruben 1976,
1977, 1978, 1989; Kim 1986, 1991; Yum 1988; Collier 1989; Gudykunst 1993, 1995;
Spitzberg 1997; Fox 1997; Van de Vijver & Leung 1997; Smith 1999; Stephan, Stephan &
Gudykunst 1999; Yoshitake 2002; Arasaranam 2007a). Compared with the study in the west,
the IC study in China starts quite late. But recently, it develops very fast. According to an
incomplete statistics, since the beginning of 1980s, more than 30 monographs and textbooks
on IC have been published and more than 2000 articles have been published (Wenzhong Hu,
2005). Despite the abundance in the study of IC and despite the fact that recently, the study in
this field has touched upon the aspect of the development of ICC, there still lacks deep study
on ICC. (Shiyong Peng, 2005).
This article analyzes the university students’ present situation of ICC by the means of
2
�literature study and empirical study, puts forward suggestions on how to develop Chinese
university students’ ICC in net environment. The research questions for this study are (1):
What is the level of current Chinese university students’ ICC? (2): How to improve their ICC
in an English as a foreign language (EFL) context?
2. The Definitions for Terms
The most important term in this article is ICC, which includes three important
elementary concepts: culture, communication and competence.
Culture can be defined from two points of view. From pragmatic point of view,
culture refers to “the way we do things around here”. The other is from academic point of
view, which means “a shared system of assumptions, values and beliefs of a people which
result in characteristic behaviors”. (Utley, 2011[2004]) Anyone lives under a certain kind of
culture. It is the ways in which we have learned to see and think about communication.
Communication, according to Gudykunst and Kim (2002), includes a lot of
assumptions, such as: “communication is a process involving the encoding and decoding of
messages”, “communication takes place at varying levels of awareness”, “every
communication message has a content dimension and a relationship dimension”, etc. That is
to say, our culture makes us have a set of expectations to the way how people should act and
react when we communicate with them. When one is in his own country, there is no
exception to those expectations, but when one is placed in a foreign environment, he might
find his expectation might not be met with.
Then we come to the term competence. This term was first put forward by Chomsky
in his distinction between competence and performance. The former refers to an ideal
language user’s knowledge on language. Then in language teaching, there is the distinction
between linguistic competence and communicative competence. Linguistic competence refers
to the ability to produce and interpret meaningful utterances which are formed in accordance
with the rules of the language concerned and bear their conventional meaning. (Byram,
1997:10) The concept ‘communicative competence’ was developed by Hymes, who used this
concept to criticize Chomsky for his treating of language. Hymes argued that in
understanding first language acquisition, one need to pay attention to not only grammatical
3
�competence (linguistic competence), but also the ability to use language appropriately.
(Byram, 1997:7) Both linguistic competence and communicative competence are viewed
from the first language acquisition point of view. Besides linguistic competence and
communicative competence, we have intercultural competence, which, according to Ruben
(1976), includes seven dimensions, namely, display of respect, interaction posture, orientation
to knowledge, empathy, self-oriented role behavior, interaction management, and tolerance
for ambiguity.
Things are quite different when more than one language and more than one culture are
involved in communication. That is the case in foreign language teaching, as it for sure
concerns with both your own culture, language and the culture and language of foreign
countries. Therefore, the major aim for foreign language teaching is to develop the students’
ICC.
Intercultural communication competence (ICC) refers to the ability which enables a
person to interact with people from another country and culture in a foreign language. “They
are able to negotiate a mode of communication and interaction which is satisfactory to them
and the other and they are able to act as a mediator between people of different cultural
origins.” (Byram, 1997: 71)
Different scholars hold different opinions on the inclusion elements of ICC. Here in
this article, we agree with American scholar Lustig and Koester’s (2007) opinion that divides
ICC into three basic elements, namely, knowledge, motivation and action and three levels of
competence, namely, cognition, emotion (attitude) and behavior (Hu, 2013). Specifically, in
the cognitive level, the communicator needs to obtain the knowledge of both his own
country’s and other country’s in politics, economics, geography, history, humanity, religion,
customs, etc. In the emotional level, the communicator should be sensitive to cultural
differences, tolerant to various kinds of cultures, have deep understanding of one’s own
culture and respect other cultures. The ICC in behavior level refers to the linguistic
competence, non-linguistic competence, flexibility competence, the competence to deal with
interpersonal relationship, psychological adjustment competence, the competence to adapt to
environment and the competence of doing things in alien culture. (Hu, 2013:5) In Europe, the
Common Reference Frame for European Languages of the European Union takes Byram’s
4
�definition for ICC (see the above), which includes four elements, namely, knowledge, skills,
attitude and value, learning competence(1995) and judgment competence (1997). Byram’s
mode includes the three aspect elements put forward by American scholars (knowledge,
motivation and action). But in the aspect of competence, it adds learning competence and
judgment competence.
As for the scholars’ divergence between IC and ICC, professor Hu adopts and support
Yang Ying and Zhuang Enping’s opinion, which equalizes the two competences and regard
them as the same kind of competence. In this way, it can ‘promote people in emancipating
their ideas from the narrow vision. In the course of developing students’ ICC, not only can
linguistic communicative competence be made attention to, but also can the importance of
intercultural
awareness,
thinking
competence,
non-linguistic
communication
and
communicative strategies be stressed.” (Yang & Zhuang, 2007:16)
Here in this paper we agree with the opinions of professors Hu, Yang & Zhuang. We
hold both IC and ICC as the same kind of concept. At the same time, we adopt Byram’s ICC
dimension, which is regarded as the major reference frame for the analyzing and fostering of
ICC and the setting up of ICC courses.
3. A Summary of the Cultivation Means for Intercultural Communication Competence
In the aspect of teaching method, the intercultural training researcher Gudykunst and
Hammer (1983) put forward the combination method of knowledge imparting method and
experience exploration teaching method. The former method helps students to grasp language
and cultural knowledge by means of lectures and debates, and in the mean time, analyze and
understand the culture differences. The latter method can promote students’ attitude and
performance competence through real or simulated situation, such as role playing, simulation
activity and visit, etc. Hongling Zhang (2007) summarized three different kinds of teaching
methods: (1) the cultural teaching methods (lecture, case analysis, cultural contrast, theme
discussion, scenario simulation), (2) the combination of cultural teaching and foreign
languages teaching method (the integration of culture into the analysis of literature works, the
teaching of vocabulary, reading, listening, oral English and writing), (3) participant
observation method (the experience, interview and analysis in the target language). Besides,
5
�Zhang suggested the fostering of intercultural awareness and sensibility should contrast the
development mode of intercultural sensibility put forward by Bennett (1998), i.e., the
transformation of the language learners’ stages from escape, resist, reduction of cultural
differences to adaptation, replying to cultural differences, and therefore, fulfilling the
transition from ethnocentric stage to ethno-relative stage. At the same time, Zhang stressed
the importance of cultural study method, which refers to the method which can foster the
competence of analyzing and explaining cultural phenomena and having introspection of self
study process.
Hu (2013) put forward the relevant cultivation means from three aspects, namely,
cognition, emotion and competence. He suggested that the ICC in cognition aspect should
mainly be obtained from lecture giving, reading, video and website. The ICC in emotional
aspect should be obtained from case analysis, field experience, etc. In ability aspect, the
linguistic competence can be obtained from the classroom teaching, but some other
competence should be fostered in the practical work and life. That is to say, in the teaching of
IC, teachers can foster the students’ cognitive competence by resorting to textbooks, video
and website materials, promote their attitude by case analysis and improve their linguistic
competence.. The fostering of other competence could only be gained from extracurricular
activities.
Based on the cultivation means and the mode put forward by intercultural
communication researchers, we plan to probe into the problems that Chinese university
students will face in the course of IC process, make use of the advancing–with-the-time’s
teaching resources, means and methods, put forward appropriate teaching plan by making use
of empirical research method.
4. The Current Situation of the University Students’ ICC
In order to investigate the current situation of the university students’ ICC, Weiwei
Fan, Weiping Wu and Renzhong Peng (2013) designed the self-assessment scale on Chinese
university students’ ICC, which is based on Byram’s multi-dimensions model of IC
(including the dimensions of knowledge, skill, awareness and attitude) and the
self-assessment questionnaire on IC compiled by Fantini (2000,2006). The scale includes 40
6
�descriptive items, which adopts a five-point Likert scale to keep the score successively from
“0” (no) to “5” (very strong / very much).
Fan, etc. (2014) made an investigation of more
than 1000 university students by applying to such scale, from which they got 1050 effective
questionnaires back and did data analysis. At the same time, they also randomly chose 20
students to do interview. The results of their study shows the following features of university
students in ICC: (1) generally the Chinese university students are lack of culture knowledge
of foreign countries; (2) they won’t voluntarily adjust their behavior to adapt to foreigners; (3)
They are quite short of communicative competence in foreign languages; (4) They don’t
know the foreigners’ opinion on them and the reasons why there are prejudice.
The investigation objects for Fan, etc. include the university students from the first
year to the fourth year. However, in college English teaching, the teaching objects for IC
courses are mainly the second year students.
In order to get the relevant information, we adopt the five-point Likert evaluation
scale for Chinese students’ IC in different dimensions, designed by Fan.
①
We randomly
chose 202 second year students from 22 different majors in Central South University and did
questionnaire investigation. We took back 199 effective questionnaires, among which, there
were 99 students who had passed CET-4,②80 students who had passed CET-6, 20 students
who hadn’t passed CET-4 and 13 students who had oversea experiences.
The following 4 tables reflect the results of the mean value.
Table 1: CSU students’ self-assessment table for intercultural knowledge (with 199
samples)
Kn1
Kn2
Kn3
Kn4
3.31
3.53
3.04
*2.53 *2.58 *2.39 *2.16 *2.70 *2.52 *2.33
Variance 0.64
0.67
0.81
Mean
Kn5
Kn6
Kn7
Kn8
Kn9
Kn10
value
0.92
0.71
7
0.85
0.80
0.82
0.83
0.86
�Table 2: CSU students’ self-assessment table for intercultural attitude (with 199
samples)
At1
At2
At3
At4
At5
At6
At7
At8
Mean value
3.76
3.94
4.01
3.99
3.59
3.89
3.84
3.96
variance
1.06
0.93
0.91
0.89
0.83
0.85
0.89
0.86
Table 3: CSU students’ self-assessment table for intercultural skills (with 191 samples)
Sk1
Sk2
Sk3
Sk4
Sk5
Sk6
Sk7
Sk8
Sk9
Sk10
Mean
3.5
3.7
*2.3
3.6
3.6
3.6
3.5
*2.7
*2.9
*2.7
value
9
4
1
4
0
0
0
2
8
5
Varianc
1.1
0.8
1.0
0.9
1.0
1.0
e
5
9
5
8
1
8
1.2
0
1.1
2
0.93
Sk1
Sk1
1
2
3.18
3.22
0.89
1.03
0.96
Table 4: CSU students’ self-assessment table for awareness (with 191 samples)
Aw1
Aw2
Aw3
Aw4
Aw5
Aw6
Aw7
Aw8
Aw9
Aw10
3.66
3.62
3.41
3.40
3.50
3.16
3.55
3.06
3.38
3.28
variance 0.85
0.81
0.88
0.82
1.19
1.00
0.90
0.95
0.88
0.77
Mean
value
We can get these investigation results: (1) In the aspect of cognition, generally, the
second year students lack understanding of the western cultural religion, taboos, everyday life
social intercourse, value, cultural differences and intercultural communicative strategies and
skills (mean value<3). (2) In the aspect of skills, students are seriously short of linguistic
competence, the sensibility to cultural differences and the competence in language and
8
�culture study. (mean value<3). (3) In the aspects of awareness and knowledge, students rank
normally ((mean value>3), which means that students’ level of IC is still at a relatively quite
low level, which can not be neglected in teaching. In short, our result is similar to Fan’s,
which shows that the result of questionnaire investigation is typical and it can objectively
represent the current situation of Chinese university students’ IC level. There is still a long
way to go in developing ICC, which should be the focus of Chinese college English teaching.
5. Suggestions on Developing University Students’ ICC in Net Environment
The investigation result shows that Chinese university students’ ICC needs to be
improved. Recently, Chinese college English education starts to stress on the development of
students’ ICC. Under such an environment, a lot of general teaching textbooks have been
published. But, after an analysis of the content for the recently-published textbooks, we found
there exist a series of problems: some theories and communication examples in the textbook
of IC are totally copied from the foreign textbooks; some quoted examples are too
old-fashioned and they come apart from the reality; although the emphasis of the textbook
include introduction to theory, case analysis and contrast of cultural differences, yet such
contents as culture and language learning competence, critical reflective competence,
communicative strategies and strategic cultivation are seldom touched upon; some textbooks
provide for rich practical cases of IC, yet there are too little introduction of theoretical
knowledge on IC; although there presents and analyzes the misunderstanding in IC, yet it is
short of a deep-level analysis of the relevant cultural phenomena; at the same time, when
there appears misunderstanding in IC, there is no concern of how to negotiate with the other
side, how to explain one’s indigenous culture, how to adopt an appropriate expression to
satisfy both sides.
Here are the suggestions we have for developing university students’ ICC, especially
under nowadays’ situation, i.e. we have a wide used net environment. These suggestions will
be considered from the perspective of the constituents of ICC, i.e. knowledge, attitude &
awareness, and behavior & skill.
Firstly, in the knowledge level, we propose wide reading for the obtaining of culture
knowledge and IC knowledge. As for the reading materials, not only can we read mass
9
�publications, but also we can get access to wide range of internet readings. At the same time,
we can improve the university students’ ICC by opening various kinds of courses. For
example, In the Chinese-western culture, we can open the course – Special subjects in
Chinese and western cultures, to help students to understand and analyze the surface culture
(like life style) and the deep culture (like religion, value, etc.). In the aspect of linguistic
knowledge, including speech sounds, vocabulary and sentence structure, we can open the
course like English dialects, etymology, lexicology, English Chinese translation respectively.
English dialects can make students be familiar with the common variants (such as American
English, British English, Indian English, Singapore English, African English, etc ), like their
different ways of pronunciation. Etymology and lexicology (in which, the explanation of
roots and stems constitutes an important part of the course) can promote students’ vocabulary
study, in which culture plays an important role in the explanation of the source, formation and
meaning of the words. By the course English Chinese translation, students can acquire
syntactic knowledge and the differences between English and Chinese. Besides these, in the
teaching of basic English, we can blend the relevant culture knowledge and language
knowledge with the language skills (like Audio-Visual skills and reading, writing &
translating skills) in the course of teaching. We can provide references, websites for the
students and guide them to search, choose, organize and dispose information, which is gained
from the materials in textbooks, websites and media.
Secondly, in the attitude and awareness level, we propose the elimination of
ethnocentrism and the conducting of ectopic thinking and the accepting of alien cultures. The
elimination of ethnocentrism means that one should not evaluate the foreign cultures with his
own culture and standard. On the contrary, one should think from the other’s side, i.e.,
conducting ectopic thinking, by making use of case analysis, scenario simulation, debate,
interview and giving questionnaires to oversea students. In this way, university students can
accept alien culture.
But, at the same time, we should be aware of our unique culture
identity. We should foster our confidence in culture and our cultivation in national study. In
the course of IC, we should extend our excellent traditional culture and ideology, striving for
the right of having equal dialogue with foreigners, rather than compromising and discarding
(our own culture).
10
�Thirdly, in the behavior and skill level, not only should students have language
competence and culture competence, but also they should have the competence for language
and culture, communication strategies and skills and the competence for solving problems.
All these competence can be practiced and reflected in the teaching and learning activities.
By the means of teaching, we should not only go on the traditional classroom teaching
(including lectures, debates, etc.) but also should we make full use of the web environment to
develop the students’ self-study ability by resorting to some new teaching methods like
MOOC, Flipped classroom, etc. We can teach ICC courses by first letting students do
self-study, then let them come to classroom to have group discussion, PPT presentation. In
this way, students’ subjective initiative can be aroused. The students can make full use of the
resources in network laboratory to improve their learning ability, to find problems voluntarily
and then, teachers’ guidance to solve the problems will enhance the students’ ICC. We
suggest that cultural knowledge and ICC theory should be integrated in the EFL curriculum
and textbooks. In the class, teachers are suggested to use case analysis, role-play, discussion
and debates. They are also encouraged to use online resources, such as MOOC courses, ICC
websites, journal articles, Wechat and chat rooms for exploring and reflecting on these issues,
so they will be prepared for effective international communication in the future.
6. Conclusion
The developing of ICC is a gradual process. Not only should we impart the
knowledge of culture difference, develop students’ critical thinking, guide them in promoting
language and communication competence, but also we should help them to develop their own
learning competence , the communicative strategies and the adaptability competence.
Through this study, we found Chinese university students still need to make great
improvement in the aspects of knowledge, attitude, skill and awareness of ICC. Although
recently, the IC study has been concerned with fostering ICC in foreign language teaching,
yet the study of the training mode is still at its initial stage. We suggest the course design for
“IC in college English” be organized according to the theoretical framework of Byram. In the
course of teaching, we should combine research and teaching, conducting need analysis
according to the result of empirical study. In teaching methods, we should also make
11
�improvement, keeping pace with the time. We should propel and deepen the reform of college
English to meet the demand of job market and international communication.
①
We have mentioned in the previous part that: this assessment was originally proposed by Byram (1997) and Fantini
(2000, 2006), then combined and modified by Fan, Wu & Peng (2013).
②
CET-4 is an exam purposed for the non-major students. Usually it was taken when the students are in
second year’s study.
References
Arasaratnam, L.A. Empirical research in intercultural communication competence: A review
and recommendation. Australian Journal of Communication, 34, pp 105-117. 2007a.
Arasaratnam, L.A. Research in intercultural communication competence. The Journal of
International Communication, 13:2. pp66-73. 2007b.
Bennett, M. J. Intercultural communication: A current perspective. In M. J. Bennett (Ed.),
Basic concepts of intercultural communication: A reader. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural
Press,1998, pp. 1-34.
Byram, M. Acquiring intercultural competence. A review of learning theories. In L. Sercu
(Ed.)
Intercultural Competence. The Secondary School. Vol.I. Aalborg: Aalborg University
Press, 1995: 53-69.
Collier, M.J. Cultural and intercultural communication competence: Current approaches and
directions for future research, International Journal of International Relations, 13,
pp287-302. 1989.
Fantini,
A.
E.
A
central
concern:
Developing
intercultural
competence.
http://www.sit.edu./publications/docs/competence.pdf, 2000
Fantini,
A.
E.
Exploring
and
Assessing
Intercultural
Competence.
http://www.sit.edu/SITOccasionalPapers/feil_research_report.pdf,2006
Fox, C. The authenticity of intercultural communication, International Journal of
Intercultural Relations, 21, pp.85-103. 1997.
Gudykunst, W. B. Toward a theory of effective interpersonal and intergroup communication:
An anxiety/uncertainty management (AUM) perspective, In R.L. Wiseman & J. Koester
(eds) Intercultural Communication Competence, Newbury Park, CA:Asge, pp33-71.
12
�1993.
Gudykunst, W. B. Anxiety/uncertainty management (AUM) theory, in R.L. Wiseman (ed)
Intercultural Communication Theory, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 8-58. 1995.
Gudykunst, W. B. Intercultural communication. In W. B. Gudykunst, & B. Mody (Eds.),
Handbook of international and intercultural communication (pp. 179–182). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage. 2002.
Gudykunst, W.B., & Hammer, M. R. Basic training design: Approaches to intercultural
training.
In D. Landis & R. W. Brislin (Eds.), Handbook of intercutlural training,
Vol.1:Issues in
theory and design. New York: Pergamon Press, 1983, pp.118-154.
Gudykunst, W. B. and Kim, Y. Communicating with strangers: an approach to intercultural
communications (4th Edition), New York: McGraw-Hill. 2002.
Kim, Y.Y. Understanding the social structure of intergroup communication, in W. B.
Gudykunst (ed) Integroup Communication, London: Edward Amold, pp. 86-95.1986.
Kim, Y.Y. Intercultural communication competence: A systems-theoretical view, in
S.Ting-Toomey & F. Lorzenny (eds) Cross-cultural Interpersonal Communication,
Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 259-275. 1991.
Lustig, M. W. & Koester, J. Intercultural competence. Interpersona Communication across
Cultures (5th Ed.).Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2007
Ruben, B.D. Assessing communication competency for intercultural adaptation. Group &
Organization Studies, 1, pp. 334-354. 1976.
Ruben, B.D. Guidelines for cross-cultural effectiveness. Group & Organization Studies, 2, pp
470-479. 1977.
Ruben, B.D. Human communication and cross-cultural effectiveness, Intercultural &
International Communication Annual, 4, pp. 95-105. 1978.
Ruben, B.D. The study of cross-cultural competence: Traditions and contemporary issues,
International Journal of International Relations, 13, pp. 229-240. 1989.
Smith, L.R. Intercultural network theory: A cross-cultural paradigmatic approach to
acculturation, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 23, pp.629-658. 1999.
Spitzberg, B.H. A model of intercultural communication competence, in L.A.Samovar &
R.E.Porter (eds) Intercultural Communication: A Reader, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, pp.
379-391. 1997.
Stephen, W.G., Stephan, C.W. & Gudykunst, W.B. Anxiety in intergroup relations: A
comparison of anxiety/uncertainty management theory and integrated threat theory,
13
�International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 23, pp.613-628. 1999.
Utley, D. Intercultural resource pack: intercultural communication resources for language
teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2011[2004].
Van de Vijver, F. & Leung, K. Methods and Data Analysis for Cross-cultural Research,
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 1997.
Yoshitake, M. Anxiety/uncertainty management (AUM) theory: A critical examination of an
intercultural communication theory, Intercultural Communication Studies, 11, pp.177
-193.2002.
Yum, J.O.Network theory in intercultural communication, in Y.Y. Kim & W.B. Gudykunst
(eds) Theories in Intercultural Communication, Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp239-258.
1988.
Department of higher education, Chinese ministry of education. The requirement for the
teaching of college English courses. Beijing: Higher Education Press. 2007.
Fan, Weiwei, Wu, Weiping, Peng Renzhong. The dimensions of Chinese university students’
intercultural competence and analysis of assessment scale. Foreign Language Teaching
and Research, 2013(4):581-592.
Fan, Weiwei, Wu, Weiping, Peng Renzhong. An analysis of the self-assessment of Chinese
university students’ intercultural competence. Teaching Research, 2014:53-59.
Hu, Wenzhong. The empirical study of intercultural communication. Foreign Language
Teaching and Research, 2005, 37(5):323-327.
Hu, Wenzhong. How to locate the position of intercultural communication in foreign
language teaching. Foreign Language World, 2013(6):2-8.
Peng, Shiyong. The current situation, problems and suggestions for Chinese intercultural
communication study. Journal of Hunan University: Social Science, 2005, 19 (4):86-91.
Yang Ying., Zhuang Enping, The construction of the ability framework of intercultural
communication competence in foreign language teaching. Foreign Language World,
2007:13-21.
Zhang, Hongling. Intercultural foreign language teaching. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign
Language Teaching Press. 2007.
14
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2887
Title
A name given to the resource
SUGGESTIONS ON DEVELOPING CHINESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN NET ENVIRONMENT
Author
Author
Duan, Huiru
Deng, Jun
Zhang, Zheng
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
This paper presents an empirical study on Chinese university students’ intercultural communication competence. The results show that learners should promote their cultural knowledge, intercultural sensitivity, communication strategies and intercultural awareness, etc. Suggestions for the curriculum and pedagogy of intercultural communication and the methods in developing Chinese university students’ intercultural communication competence in net environment are provided based on the research results.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/f58627141e34b5f66912947ec2587da0.pdf
f4a88fda20ee444accdce8054b3d0604
PDF Text
Text
FROM READING TO TEACHING, DULCE ET DECORUM EST IN EFL
CLASSROOMS
Fahreta Fijuljanin & Samina Dazdarevic
University of Novi Pazar, Serbia
Article History:
Submitted: 15.06.2015
Accepted: 26.06.2015
Abstract
This paper aims to represent the usage of literature in foreign language classrooms in
order to deploy the students’ knowledge of English literature as an important part of learning
English language. Introducing literature in the language classrooms as well as the benefits of
reading it make the introduction lines of this paper. The core of the analysis is presented through
the poem of Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum est. This postwar poem with its rich vocabulary is
a great tool for a didactic initiation and proposition of EFL literature classroom instruction.
Key words: Literature, EFL classroom, Dulce et Decorum est, Wilfred Owen, language
teaching.
1. Introduction
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his
own language, that goes to his heart.
‒Nelson Mandela
This paper tends to make the above introducing Mandela’s lines the practical ones, not
only theoretical. Due to that aim, we want to represent and pinpoint the important role of
literature as a useful resource in EFL classrooms. The main stress will be on the different
approaches to the Owen’s poem as well as analyzing the poem itself as a proposal for literature
lecturer’s didactic instructions. Literature allows teachers to design and redesign many activities
that are going to be a part of a modern and up-to-date classrooms that have to be ‘based on
material capable of stimulating greater interest and involvement’ (Carter and Long 1991: 3) and
�to ‘provide the stimulus for interaction to take place between the learners among them, and with
the teacher’ (Duff and Maley 1990: 3).
The whole work is written to encourage and induce a communicative approach in the
EFL classrooms as the main goal of communicative approach is the teaching of communicative
competence. Communicative competence should involve using language for different purposes
and functions, using language according to the setting and participants and to understand
different types of texts. Indeed, literary terms and expressions are developed structure of one’s
national language with fixed or non-fixed norms in writing. Simply, it is a manifestation of one’s
culture. According to that, introducing that ‘manifestation of culture’ in EFL classrooms should
be the first and the last aim of any language activity.
Dulce et Decorum est, a postwar poem which belongs to the modernist tradition, is a
prolific and productive material for being a language teaching resource. The ideas and
philosophy can easily be related to the modern world wars caused by procultural and religion
marginalization. The poem is a pedagogical potential regarding its structure, content, context and
form.
The paper consists of three sections. The first is the theoretical one and describes the links
between literature and literary content and language learning as well as teaching foreign
language. The second part offers a brief picture of the poem and its author explaining the reasons
why Dulce et Decorum est is an appropriate for communicative approach. And the final, the
most important part, deals with the concrete suggestions and proposals for classroom activities to
be carried out. Within this final part, we have also made some critical views on the poem.
2. A Word or Two about Literature and Teaching Language
Language teaching is a life-long process whose methods and techniques varied from
period to period, from culture to culture, even from individual to individual. Even nowadays, the
innovative solutions and perfect methods are being searched for in order to regain a productive
student who is willing to involve in global and contemporary philological and cultural thought.
Communicative language learning is one of the approaches that gives credit to the use of
authentic language, language that is used in a real life context.
2.1 Why teach literature?
�As Olga Bottino (1999:211) mentions, the literature today is often seen within the
framework of three main models:
1. The cultural model
2. The language model
3. The personal growth model
Through the first model which is seen as a transmitting important ideas, feelings,
thoughts, views and opinions student is able to learn about ‘the Other’, about something beyond
already known, other culture, tradition and customs. This is the very first stage of introducing
language into the classroom generally. The second stage, often criticized as a mechanic process,
is seen as a tool for teaching grammar and vocabulary structures through the literary texts where
every sense of pleasure and beauty can be lost. The third model is student-centered and its aim is
to motivate them to read, to personally connect themselves with the certain theme. These models
make teaching literature one of the most evaluated and of high importance in learning English as
a foreign language.
According to Collie and Slater (1990:3), following four reasons why literature is
important in EFL classrooms are valuable authentic material, cultural enrichment, language
enrichment and personal involvement. On the other hand, Maley (1989:12) lists some of the
additional reasons of literature as a potential resource in the language classroom as universality,
non-triviality, personal relevance, variety, interest, economy and suggestive power, ambiguity.
The greatest task for language teachers is to comprise all of these factors and elements within his
personal language teaching. Modern society challenges teachers to design stimulating activities
that have to motivate the learners and literature stands for an excellent source for learning
language.
2.2 Why poetry?
Considering the personal growth of learner, it is of a high importance to begin with
reading model of approaching and introducing literature in EFL classrooms. Teachers are able to
practice language skills, reading and speaking which is prominent connection between language
and literature. Using metaphors, poet is paving its path to the reader and unconsciously is making
learning process. After reading, students gain the appreciation of the writer’s composition
�structure and develop certain sensitivity for new vocabulary and discover his own capability of
analytical thinking.
The numerous benefits of using poetry in EFL classrooms have been highlighted by
many EFL practitioners and scholars as the following:
1. Saraç (2003:17-20) explains the educational benefits of poetry as to provide readers with
a different viewpoint towards language use by going beyond the known usages and rules
of grammar, syntax and vocabulary, to trigger unmotivated readers owing to being so
open to explorations and different interpretations, to evoke feelings and thoughts in heart
and in mind, to make students familiar with figures of speech (i.e. simile, metaphor,
irony, personification, imagery, etc.) due to their being a part of daily language use.
2. It can be used as an introducing and practicing language by exposing student to
"authentic models-real language in context" (Brumfit & Carter, 1987). According to
Tomlinson (1989:42) using poetry in the language process contributes more to the
development of all language skills in real contexts than "a total concentration on the
presentation and the practice of language items".
3. According to Collie and Slater (1987:72) "using poetry in the language classroom can
lead naturally on to freer and creative written expression".
4. Poetry based activities are motivating as they generate strong emotional reactions. As
Hess (2003:20) notes, "Entering a literary text, under the guidance of appropriate
teaching, brings about the kind of participation almost no other text can produce. When
we read, understand, and interpret a poem we learn language through the expansion of
our experience with a larger human reality".
Moreover, poetry employs powerful language to evoke and exalt special qualities and
conditions of life, and suffices readers with feelings. Poetry is one of the most effective and
powerful transmitters and representatives of culture. Poems comprise the most various cultural
elements - allusions, metaphors, vocabulary, idioms, tone, dialect and accents that are not easy to
translate into the mother tongue of a learner.
2.3 A poem to choose
Following the curricula of the course on Anglo-American, modern, postmodern and
postwar literature, Dulce et Decorum est seemed to stand as unique as its author was. It offers a
�picturesque description of a real life conditions then as well as a pedagogical and cultural
opportunities to explore its magnificent language and reveal it underlying philosophy.
2.4 Content, form and historical background
With its historical background, the content of the poem represents the rich and
picturesque sequences of events that make the classroom an audio and visual workshop for
students. The poem is one of the most powerful literary works and it is a reflection of Owen’s
ironical realism of his own thoughts and personal experiences related to the World War I. It
culturally and literally marked one era of silence and issued the problem of patriotism as a life
bitterness at the time. It begins with an ironic title taken from the Horace meaning ‘it is sweet
and honorable’ which is followed by pro patria mori which means ‘to die for one’s country.’
Owen uses the irony as he believes this is the opposite of the truth, detailing the real but
gruesome reality of the war.
The most poetic technique used is imagery and visual imagery, to be more specific. Its reading
demands a high involvement from the reader and allows students many different conclusions and
further discussions. Owen brilliantly uses extensive imagery in this poem which is very
productive for students’ imagination. He uses an effective language to convey painful but sincere
message of war destructiveness using almost all of the figures of speech. Onomatopoeia and
personification as well as metaphor, word connotation, alliteration, hyperbole, exclamations,
epithets, simile are highly employed in describing the moments in the poem.
Table of proposed tasks and expected responses
I
Introducing activities
Teacher’s task
Material
tool used
or
Student’s response or activity
�These three famous quotes are shown on
the projector:
-
Mankind must put an end to war
This introducing activity can be very
before war puts an end to mankind.
productive in a way that modern
John F. Kennedy
-
only who is left.
Bertrand Russell
-
society has its own wars. Students are
War does not determine who is right -
expected to comment on one of the
Video
mentioned
projector
favorite.
Only the dead have seen the end of
the war.
quotes,
choosing
their
Discussion about modern life can lead
to an excellent introduction into the
George Santayana
main topic of Owen’s poem Dulce et
Students are asked to comment on these
Decorum.
quotes, to resonate and connect them with
contemporary
life
and
happenings,
especially in the war zone today.
This question may give rise to a myriad
Now students are asked to think of a
situation where they felt sad, tearful, Images
grievous or even distressed.
of responses, for example when left by
the beloved person,
When someone in the family died, or
when failing in an exam.
On the next step, teacher should offer the
first hint related to the poem they should
Students are expected to think about
examine.
the title and give some of the possible
Students are asked to deduce from the
answers as war, destruction, soldiers,
title Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria
glorification of war, bravery, strength,
Mori, what does it mean and to give
getaway, refugees.
possible themes of the poem.
Before the students are given the whole Poem
Students are now fully dedicated to the
text of the poem, the teacher is playing Video
audio and visual happening in their
�video with the effective reading of the
classroom. Literature is not only about
poem. In this case, teacher has chosen
the reading but also about hearing the
Christopher
art of poetry. Since this is their first
Eccleston
video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB4
time to meet Owen and his poetry, it is
cdRgIcB8 )
very important to hear the poem from
After the first listening, student are now
the native speaker.
given the poem in printed version.
Teacher reads through the poem slowly
and asks student to highlight the unknown
words.
It is very important to introduce the poem
gradually
to
the
students.
This
is
supported by the step when teacher adds
some history facts to the material. As the
students
became
familiar
with
Students shouldn’t be bored because
the
now they are ‘meeting’ someone new
material, teacher should allow them to
and are still in the listening phase. The
become familiar with the writer. Teacher
teacher hadn’t still given them the
should take care only to mention relevant
assignment. The key moment related to
facts about the writer, usually one that are
interesting and easy to remember thus Images
differing Owen from other authors.
Teacher should mention, for example,
that Owen was inspired by Keats, Byron,
Shelly and other romanticist.
Also, he was teaching in France when the
war began and his first experience of the
war was in hospital treating the wounded
soldiers.
He was close friend with Siegfried
Sassoon.
Projector
this activity, and any other activities
where the authors are mentioned, is the
moment when they hear something
familiar, in this case the names of
famous romanticists Keats, Byron,
Shelly and others. They immediately
associate familiar authors with the one
who is unknown.
�Introducing activities are very important in further reading exercises and represent a
teacher’s hook for student’s attention. It is a starting point in whether student will be interested in
learning new things or not. It is of a high importance for learners to have the opportunity to
predict what will next happen and have some idea what they are going to learn and read about.
According to Maingay (1983) this is a very important strategy, not only in language, but also in
communication.
Also, usage of contextual learning can be useful in a way that students would be able to
construct meaning and opinion based on their own experience. In that way, when they are asked
to think of a sad situation, the teacher brings their personal situation closer to the general and
social situation they are going to learn about. One of the main goal of these introducing activities
is to develop and replicate a real world experiences within the personal world of a student. It can
help and bring relevance and meaning to the reading, helping students to relate to their inner
world, world they live in.
Teacher should also take care of his vocational priorities in the classroom and
pedagogical benefits of each activity involved. The aim of contemporary teachers is to be an
interesting, never boring guide in class not an angry and serious supervisor. His basic role is to
create a pleasant atmosphere where student will feel free to express his opinions, thoughts and be
able to comment and communicate on various topics.
II Analyzing activities
Teacher’s task
Material
tool used
or
Student’s response or activity
�Having looked at the pictures before
The
teacher
shows
some
him, student creates his own inner
pictures,
impressions and feelings which will be
concentrating on the suffering of the
transmuted into critiques and opinions.
soldiers, during WWI, battlefield pictures
where
soldiers
are
Student is expected to react according
extremely tired,
exhausted, returning from the battle. Pictures
Owen describes the harrowing events and
to the emotional state of his intellect, to
explain why or why not is sweet and
right to die for its own land and about
asks the following questions:
patriotism
Is this sweet and right to die for? Why?
and
its
meaning
and
definition. Student becomes able to
Is this a patriotic poem? Why? Why not?
define some expression relying on his
previous interpretation.
Having written down all the adjectives
Students are asked to work in a group and
identify all the adjectives in the poem and
define the feelings that those adjectives
from the poem, now they are asked to
Images
provoke in them.
explain the provoked feelings while
researching for adjectives. In this way
they identify themselves with the
author and his emotions.
Even though the poem functions as the
whole unit, the teacher separates poem
into three parts in order to ease its
interpretation for students.
The first part is from 1-8 verses. Students Images,
are asked to work in pairs and find the computer
simile,
alliteration,
onomatopoeia, access
rhyming couplets, repetitions, metaphors.
Students are obliged to explain all these
figures of speech and their cause of
usage.
Students have got the first concrete task
which is to identify and analyze the
poem critically. Some of the expected
answers would be that simile is used to
give a negative image of frail, decrepit
and confined soldiers in ‘like old
beggars under sacks’. Alliteration and
also onomatopoeia is used in ‘knockkneed’. Students should also mention
alternate rhyming couplets that run
throughout
the
poem,
e.g.’sacks’-
‘backs’/ ‘sludge’- ‘trudge’, and explain
�why.
In the second part, 8-14 students also get
These verses differ from others by their
an assignment to identify all above
punctuation. Students are expected to
mentioned figures of speech used in this
notice where the capitalized letters are
part of the poem. It is important to
used and why, as well as using dash as
mention that students are researchers here
and they do all the work related to the
analyzing the poem with no help of the
teacher. Thus, the students become
Images,
computer
access
caesural pause and give reasons for its
usage. Important figure of speech that
overwhelms these verses is metaphor in
‘misty panes’, ‘green sea’, ‘drowning’.
capable to critically analyze any kind of
Owen uses ‘guttering’ as horrible
literature. Access to computers should be
sound
allowed.
coughing helplessly.
which
mimics
the
soldier
Students anticipate that Owen’s usage
In the final part of the poem, 14-28
verses, the teacher is still a guide who
monitor
his
students’
work
and
researching the poem. One of the question Images
for student would be about the simile and
its use, about the effect of sibilance, about
‘a friend’ who is addressed as ‘my
friend’.
of simile is to compare ‘cud’ with the
cancer and it is called an animalistic
imagery.
The
interesting
part
of
students’ research is discovering the
mysterious ‘my friend’ whom Owen is
addressing to. One of the answers was
the one who explains that ‘my friend’ is
every poet, writer, journalist who
writes motivational poems like Jessie
Pope.
Finally, when the poem is literally and
critically analyzed, students are asked to
This questions gas given a myriad of
mold and define the themes of the poem
answers
considering their interpretation of Owen’s
patriotism, horrors of war, irony of life.
viewing of war.
like
warfare,
suffering,
�With these analyzing activities, we fragmented the poem in order to develop lexical
capability and competence of the students. Their research for vocabulary and literal explanations
will make the learner to interact in the classroom being a part of the group. The aim of the
assignments they got is to direct students towards a further and deeper understanding of the
poetry.
III Writing activities
Material or
Teacher’s task
tool used
This pre-final activity is related
The final part, but not least important though,
to their cognitive function.
would enclose the interpretation of Owen’s poem.
Students do not use their
Now students are politely asked to close their eyes
while the teacher is playing an audio-effective
youtube
Student’s response or activity
Video
video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd3bhg3O_qE
).
eyesight anymore and every
new impression and cognition
is based on the sense of hearing
which, by medical researches,
is now multiplied.
After the first listening, students are asked to
imagine themselves in the battlefield. They are
fearful and hopeless. The sadness and destruction is
all around them. They are asked to write a poem of Audio
their own impression influenced by Owen’s poem.
While the students are writing poems, the music of
war is heard in the background.
Finishing the final step in
analyzing the poem, students’
creativity and talent should be
expressed and shown which
was the initial aim of this
course.
Listening activities involved in this part of writing can be very useful and represents an
immensely memorable interpretation of poetry using the most powerful tool of intellect –
imagination. Variety of activities in the classroom will surely guarantee a success. That success
is students’ involvement, resonating, understanding and adopting new knowledge.
�These activities are intended to be an outline and suggestion for using Dulce et Decorum
as a resource of culture in English as a Foreign Language classroom. The basic approaches used
in activities are communicative and contextual approach which develop social competence
showing how to communicate and behave in foreign culture in foreign language. The teacher is
the only one responsible for creating the learner’s autonomy and developing the way of learning
and adopting knowledge.
3. Conclusion
This paper is one solution of the many suggestions how to implement the poem Dulce et
Decorum by Wilfred Owen in EFL classroom. It is our view of a cultural model application in
learning foreign language which is designed to transmit important ideas, feelings, thoughts,
views and opinions about ‘the Other’, about something beyond already known, other culture,
tradition and customs. Thus, literature represents the increasingly popular method in mastering
foreign language. Our selection of Dulce et Decorum by Owen is both thematically and formally
justified since it is a brave and inspirational poem that is a representation of a cruel, but real war
scenes that exist even today.
These proposed introducing, analyzing and writing tasks proposed are a proof that the
teacher can develop, not only literary, but also lexical, social and communicative competence
through poetry. Dulce et Decorum is surely a useful tool for implementation of those
competences in EFL classrooms.
References
Bottino, O. 1999. Literature and Language Learning. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de
Lisboa.
Brumfit, C.J.and A.C. Ronald, eds. 1986. Literature and Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Carter, R. and M. Long, eds. 1991. Teaching Literature. London: Longman.
Collie, J. and S. Slater. 1990. Literature in the Language Classroom: A Resource Book of Ideas
and Activities. Cambridge: CUP.
�Duff, A. and A. Maley.1990. Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hess, N. 2003. Real Language through Poetry: A formula for Meaning Making. ELT Journal.
Maingay, S. 1983. Making Sense of Reading. Hong Kong: Nelson Harrap.
Maley, A. 1989. ‘Down from the Pedestal: Literature as Resource’ in Literature and the
Learner: Methodological Approaches. Cambridge: Modern English Publications.
Sarac, S. 2003. ‘A Suggested Syllabus for the Teaching of Poetry Course in ELT Departments of
Turkey’ Unpublished M.A. Thesis. Ankara. Hacettepe University.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2900
Title
A name given to the resource
FROM READING TO TEACHING, DULCE ET DECORUM EST IN EFL CLASSROOMS
Author
Author
Fijuljanin, Fahreta
Dazdarevic, Samina
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
This paper aims to represent the usage of literature in foreign language classrooms in order to deploy the students’ knowledge of English literature as an important part of learning English language. Introducing literature in the language classrooms as well as the benefits of reading it make the introduction lines of this paper. The core of the analysis is presented through the poem of Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum est. This postwar poem with its rich vocabulary is a great tool for a didactic initiation and proposition of EFL literature classroom instruction.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/370f01ddcc67586ed52b01eaca1adca1.pdf
5cb2f2c45a18b99ceb4c6bd3c8b909dd
PDF Text
Text
THE ELEMENTS OF REALISM IN GEORGE ELLIOT’S (MARIE ANNE EVANS)
MIDDLEMARCH
Hyreme Gurra
State University of Tetova, Macedonia
Article History:
Submitted: 12.06.2015
Accepted: 26.06.2015
Abstract
This research paper is going to elaborate Middlemarch, one of the greatest works of
George Elliot (her real name was Marie Ann Evans). It is one of the major pieces of the
thesaurus of British Victorian period. The novel is subtitled as ‘A study of Provincial Life’ which
is set in the imaginary town of Middlemarch which is thought to be at the territory of today’s city
of Coventry, a little town not far from Oxford. The story takes place between the periods of
1930-1932.Elliot presents the stories of a number of denizens of a small English town on the eve
of the Representation of the People Act Bill. This Reform Bill endorsed major changes in the
parliament where the number of commoners increased. Middlemarch is her seventh novel,
started to be written in 1869.The interruption of her writing was caused by the illness of
Thornton Lewes, the son of her partner George Henry Lewes. Elliot’s resumed works; fusing
together several stories into coherent whole during 1871-1872, appeared in serial form. The
Volume I Edition was published in 1874 and attracted a large publicity. The novel is composed
of eight books; it contains also a prelude and a postscript or a finale describing the post-novel
fates of the main characters. The narrator is an omniscient third-person singular that narrates the
life of ordinary people isn’t granting the echelon of heroic princes and kings. As a realistic novel
Middlemarch contains multiple and different characteristics of realism such as; a slow-moving
plot, emphasis on morality, casualty, foreshadowing of everyday events, emphasis on
psychological optimistic tone, too much details, events are usually plausible. The research
methods that have been helpful while conducting this research paper are; narrative and
descriptive methods.
Key words: Middlemarch, echelon, religion, moral, love, intricacies, politics, etc.
1
�1. Introduction
Victorian Literature was produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) or the
Victorian dominion. It introduces a link and transition between the writers of the Romantic
Period to the very different literature of the 20th century. (Norton Vol. 2, 1680) The 19th century
is often regarded as a high point in British literature as well as in other countries such as France,
the United States and Russia. Books, and novels in particular, become ubiquitous, and the
“Victorian novelists” created legacy of works with continuing appeal.
Novels were the most prevalent form of literature in the early Victorian Period. The
major characteristics displayed as the major features of this genre are; morality values, social
class divisions, marriage as a basic chapter of life, the character is more important than the plot,
slow-moving plot and idealism. George Elliot is one of the major figures of Victorian novel. She
did not write only Middlemarch, but she gained a special reputation for her masterpiece
Middlemarch and her other works have been highly evaluated.
There are many more characteristics that actually highlight the realistic events that the
Victorian period uses as its unique features. Middlemarch puts together very fruitful elements
that have made it a very precious work of literature even in the post-modern critic reviews
announce. Characteristics that enhance the everyday life are part of the Victorian Literature and
they mirrored the life of the 19th century.
It is also portrayed the difference of gender role and their “gifted rights”, women’s duty
to save their body and dignity for the only man in their lives and in the contrary men were not
umpired to have more than one sex partner. Women of the time were adjudicated to have less
sexual desires than men. They were considered men’s property and were responsible for them.
The author being female herself hidden after a male pen name tries to deliver a message to the
society to convince women be less dependable on men and enhances the importance of education
and emancipation in a woman’s life. (Norton Vol. 2; 1581)
Morality as a characteristic of Middlemarch - In order to understand Eliot’s moral view,
it is essential to know her understanding of religion. Eliot has been deeply influenced by a
number of philosophers such as Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach, Auguste Comte, and Bernard
Paris whose views differ from the conventional view of Christianity. “Feuerbach argues that God
is the mirror of man because God may be understood as a projection or reflection of humanity’s
ideals. Comte wanted to lead man to altruism and did not believe in individualism because he
2
�focused on the order and progress of society.”(Pawar, 2012) Although she grew up in a religious
family and attended church services in her childhood, after her mother’s death in 1836, she
began to question the concept of religion. (Kadija & Mustafai, 2014)
Eliot did not reject the essence of Christian faith and always believed in a sense of
belonging; an attachment to a kind of faith as means of coping with loneliness and frustration, of
understanding and controlling the mysterious universe. Eliot thinks that man’s moral
development depends on his relationship with his fellows, not with God. Man can achieve this as
he has the potential of “goodness” known as a Godlike quality. Therefore, she believes in the
exaltation of human beings. Eliot was deeply interested in the morality of human relationships
and her view does not differ much from traditional Christianity in terms of the choice of the
highest good.
Morality is based on religion and her points of view we may realize through this entire
novel. “As a moralist, Eliot’s aim is to strengthen the determination of human beings. This is not
inconsistent with her notion of determinism.” (Çetinkaja, 2003)
2. Society and Social class
Elliot is very sharp and straightforward to the subject of the irresponsibility of some
people that are of higher class who live better than others not by the merits of their own merited
work. This issue is much more examined with controversial issues of the rising class as accepted
and affordable of idiotic, selfish and harsh actions. The lower class has to labor for a meager
living day by day with no hope of prosperity.
This novel views the social class crisis. The society in Middlemarch is like a web of
relationships, and it’s hard to distinguish one person or a group. The author is concentrated in
showing the intricacies of upper class people. The title of the novel itself tells us that the novel is
not about a single or two major characters but a whole society in general. The Garth family feels
the supremacy over the others and mock the way the laborers on their farm talk and Mrs. Garth
an autodidact, is concerned with the education of her children because she doesn’t want them to
talk like the laborers.
The drama continues with Fred Vincy, the spoiled son of the major-clerk, who makes
Caleb Garth cosign a debt and then blows almost all the money away in his activities and gives
only a small sum of money for the debt. This charges Caleb Garth with a debt that he has to pay
3
�with their scars savings. This brings us the message that people of high class feel of their right to
do whatever they want to whoever they want. The author is concentrated in showing the
intricacies of high class people.
3. The institution of marriage as an element of realism in Middlemarch
Marriage is a theme as well as an element of realism, marriage and its pursuit are central
concerns in Middlemarch, but different from all other novels marriage is not considered the final
source of love and happiness but an order of morality values. Eliot considers the moral growth
as an act of abandoning egoistic spiritual concerns and meeting a sympathetic response to the
sufferings of the helpless. All the characters of the novel are concerned with marriage. They all
tend to fall in love with someone and then get married. The main thing in the marriages of
Middlemarch people is that they are all disappointed and disillusioned. Dorothea as the main
character suffers from disillusion too. Her expectations about her marriage with Edward
Casaubon are totally far behind the reality. The marriages of the secondary characters also tell us
stories for example the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bulstrode face a marital crisis. Another couple
having difficulties uniting are Fred Vincy and Mary Garth, they have loved each other from long
ago, but Mary’s different points of view from Vincy and her decision that she won’t marry him
without having a stabile profession, but never as a clerk. So they face a very great deal of
hardship. And as we may think of it none of the marriages have the fairy happy ending.
Middlemarch is one of the few novels that do not portray marriage as romantic and
unproblematic relation. Middlemarch can be considered as a construction of liberalistic views
opposing the values of Catholicism once married forever married. It supports treaties in favor of
divorce.
4. The character is more important than the plot
The fact that the characters are more important than the plot can be seen through the
story.
The novel is notable for its deep psychological insight and sophisticated character
portraits. (Kadija&Mustafai, 2014) The whole novel comprises an extensive number of
characters. Plot is less important in Middlemarch than in any nineteenth century novel; the
character and the idea are at least equally balanced with the plot. The various themes the
incompatibility of Dorothea and Casaubon, of Lydgate and Rosamond, the commercial and
4
�social ambition of Bulstrode, and the romantic ambition of the unconvincing Ladislaw are
devices to create the necessary tension against which George Elliot’s ideas can be presented as
realistic.
This is what makes the plot more dramatic and more complex; in contrary the characters
are not complex they are simple that express feelings and opinions like ordinary people of real
life. There is also represented Eliot’s tendency on shifting the attention to a number plots. Elliot
enhances this by creating not only one plot but multiple plots. None of the plots are more
important than the others; every one of them has its sub plot.
Eliot’s master craft can be highlighted throughout her major concentration on managing to show
the importance not only of the major character but also the secondary characters such as Mrs.
Cadwallader and Mr. Raphles that change the course of the events.
5. Slow-moving plot as an element of realism
Slow-moving plot is a characteristic of realism enhanced in this work. We may realize
this when we first see the whole voluminous book containing seven hundred pages. The fact that
the book is divided into eight parts tells us that the plot moves very slowly and sometimes
different plots are stopped and then later continued. The reason why the plot moves slowly is that
there are too much detailed storied and descriptions made. Books are divided and each tells a
story involved in a much bigger story. The plot is layered and every sentence has meaning.
Except from having a slow-moving plot the book has also multiple plots with large cast of
characters. The progress of the plot is slow because of the complex character. Here we have to
do with a novel portraying reality whose main intention is to involve the reader in and make him
feel his ordinary everyday life in a fictive town of Middlemarch. In such literary genres writers
are obliged to include as much details as possible and the intercourse of details ensures the deed
of having slow-moving plot. Anyway complex characters don’t really let the reader think of it as
slow as soon the first book and the prelude is finished. Therefore we can understand that slowmoving plot is inevitable.
6. Idealism
It is another characteristic of Middlemarch. It is portrayed by Garth’s character as a
Victorian model (the idealized man that was perfect and made no mistakes) one that would never
5
�work if there was treachery or something like that, he believes Raphles’s words but he still is not
sure without seeing him he doesn’t promise Bulstrode not to talk but he says that he won’t.
Mary Ann Evans represented female idealism (the idealized female of Victorian society
was a woman placed at home, domesticity, motherhood and respectability were considered a
sufficient emotional fulfillment) that is actually a failed idealism by one of the major characters
such as Dorothea and followed by other secondary characters. An example of the idealism of the
young being destroyed by the old is that of Dorothea. This can be seen by her continuing desire
to "bear a larger part of the world's misery" or to learn Latin and Greek, both of which are
continually thwarted by Casaubon, though this ends after his death, with her discovery of his
selfish and suspicious nature, by way of the codicil. Dorothea, the heroine of the novel, is
another example of frustrated idealism.
Throughout the novel, there are numerous references to her desire to help the poor,
though this is more often than not frustrated by her surroundings. The first example is her
designs for the cottages; they are dismissed by her sister as being a "fad", and by her uncle as
being too expensive. It is only when Sir James Chettam attempts to woo her, and builds the
cottages in an attempt to gain favor with her, that her designs are actually carried through. Her
idealism is arguably destroyed through her association with Casaubon.
The character who has his ambitions and ideals brought most obviously low is Lydgate.
The earliest example is when he has to make the choice between Fairbrother and Tyke. Both of
these characters are rather poor examples of the clergy.
One needs only to look to Lydgate to see an example of idealism being destroyed by the
environment in which he is found. At the start of the novel, we are introduced to the "young,
poor and ambitious" and most of all idealistic Doctor Lydgate, who has great plans for the fever
hospital in Middlemarch. Throughout the novel, however, we see his plans frustrated by the
designs of others, though primarily the hypocritical desires of Nicholas Bulstrode.
Bulstrode is another example of a character that has had his idealism and destroyed,
though not by Middlemarch. He was once a great and trusted minister, but the lure of money
from the pawn shop, and the possibility of inheriting all of Ladislaw's mother's money proved
too great for him.
So as we consider finding similarities between the periods we see the influence of the
preceding Romantic Period and the upcoming period of Modernism shifting gently to each other.
6
�It is fully witnessed the way these elements and characteristics of these periods have beautifully
interrelated to create something great. So in this case beyond George Eliot a great consideration
is to be paid to the Bronte sisters who definitely use many romantic features, but alongside with
Elliot, Dickens, Carol and other author use these characteristics mentioned above in their works.
7. Conclusion
The novel Middlemarch is composed of a prelude, eight books, eighty-six chapters and a
finale. It is a very well-organized novel plotted with one hundred and fifty characters. There is a
fluent arrangement of ideas and the cast are given their part from the beginning until the end. In
the beginning of every book and also every chapter there is presented a quote that it is somehow
related to the plot.
There is a finale that represents the fate of every main character of the novel. It is to be
realized that the author wants the reader to get a quite simple message, that of being able to judge
right and not by moment’s passion and emotions. Dorothea, despite of all her rushing decision
she brings, she still keeps herself together and trying to live a happy life in her way showing that
money is not the most important key of life.
Middlemarch shows a remarkable insight into the social disturbance that resulted from
major shifts in social movements of the 19th-century society related to industrial revolutions and
economy in general. The book pursues a number of underlying themes, including the social
status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism and self interests, education and emancipation,
religion versus moral values and hypocrisy, society and political reforms.
Throughout the novel, different highly eminent author’s quotes or verses are cited. Some
of the characters of the novel are people that make mistakes driven by passion or by the desire
for knowledge but anyway they never give up love and happiness even after a great deal of
disappointment. Women are highly appreciated and evaluated due to the fact of the author being
a woman herself makes this work more remarkable. The only controversial point is her male pen
name. Generally saying, this novel mainly deals with women describing their weak and strong
points of the gender itself. Another interesting point to be marked is the importance of the man as
a key factor of the society related to their evilness, notorious ambitions and irony towards
humanity. This novel is a kind of a novel that supports and encourages woman to be full of live,
energetic, charismatic and leaders as the example of Dorothea.
7
�Middlemarch Reviews
The novel Middlemarch has been praised, evaluated from many eminent authors,
magazines and critics.
Virginia Woolf gave the book unstinting praise describing it as “the magnificent book
with all its imperfection as one of the few English novels written for grown-up people”.
Martin Amis and Julian Barnes have cited is as probably the greatest novel in the English
language. The poet Emily Dickinson referred to the novel, she wrote in a letter: "What do I think
of Middlemarch? What do I think of glory – except that in a few instances 'this mortal [George
Eliot] has already put on immortality?" ( the guardian, Feb 2014)
The Guardian magazine has estimated Middlemarch to be one of the ten greatest novels
of the history, giving it the 21 position. Also the New York Times magazine of this year has
again evaluated Middlemarch as one of the ten greatest novel of all time. It is also considered as
a pantheon of English written fiction.
References
Elliot, G, Middlemarch, Wordsworth Classics, Wordsworth Editions Limited, 8, East Street,
Ware ,Hertfordshire .
Refik Kadija & Jusuf Mustafai “English Romanticism and Victorian Age”,2014 , Luma Grafik
The Norton Anthology, English Literature, Ninth Edition- Volume 2
Web-pages:
1. AlexanderAlan,http://www.answers.com/Q/Characteristics_of_Realism_in_literatureLon
g (accessed on 07.10.2014)
2. Long, Camilla, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Eliot24_January_2010 ( accessed
on 07.10.2014)
3. Campbell, Dona, http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3753924/( accessed
on 07.10.2014)
4. Mulder, Sabine/http:.www.Masterthesis.20Sabin.20Mulder .pdf2012 ( accessed on
07.10.2014
5. http://autocww.colorado.edu/~flc/E64ContentFiles/PeriodsAndStyles/Realism.html
8
�( accessed on 15.10.2014)
6. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/10/100-best-novels-middlemarch-georgeeliot
Journals:
1. McCrum Robert, http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/16/road-to-middlemarchreview-rebecca-mead/ (accessed on 07.10.2014)
Tertiary Literature:
1. Göskev Ç etinkaja, An Analysis of the Moral Development of George Eliot’s Characters
in Middlemarch according to Lawrence Kohlbergs’s Theory of Moralization, 2003 (Master
thesis)
2. [Anuradha Pawar. THE IMPACT OF LUDWIG FEUERBACH AND AUGUSTE
COMTE ON GEORGE ELIOT’S MORAL VISION. Rep Opinion 2012;4(9):1-2]. (ISSN:
1553-9873). http://www.sciencepub.net/report.
9
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2888
Title
A name given to the resource
THE ELEMENTS OF REALISM IN GEORGE ELLIOT’S (MARIE ANNE EVANS) MIDDLEMARCH
Author
Author
Gurra, Hyreme
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
This research paper is going to elaborate Middlemarch, one of the greatest works of George Elliot (her real name was Marie Ann Evans). It is one of the major pieces of the thesaurus of British Victorian period. The novel is subtitled as ‘A study of Provincial Life’ which is set in the imaginary town of Middlemarch which is thought to be at the territory of today’s city of Coventry, a little town not far from Oxford. The story takes place between the periods of 1930-1932.Elliot presents the stories of a number of denizens of a small English town on the eve of the Representation of the People Act Bill. This Reform Bill endorsed major changes in the parliament where the number of commoners increased. Middlemarch is her seventh novel, started to be written in 1869.The interruption of her writing was caused by the illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her partner George Henry Lewes. Elliot’s resumed works; fusing together several stories into coherent whole during 1871-1872, appeared in serial form. The Volume I Edition was published in 1874 and attracted a large publicity. The novel is composed of eight books; it contains also a prelude and a postscript or a finale describing the post-novel fates of the main characters. The narrator is an omniscient third-person singular that narrates the life of ordinary people isn’t granting the echelon of heroic princes and kings. As a realistic novel Middlemarch contains multiple and different characteristics of realism such as; a slow-moving plot, emphasis on morality, casualty, foreshadowing of everyday events, emphasis on psychological optimistic tone, too much details, events are usually plausible. The research methods that have been helpful while conducting this research paper are; narrative and descriptive methods.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/c9655f08f7459055e12c78bafa523a31.pdf
21b49e835bf0054f8a4c4e8338ac3f34
PDF Text
Text
ARGUMENTATION AND POLITENESS STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING CRITICAL
LITERACY COMPETENCE IN C1/C2 STUDENTS OF SPANISH AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE
Milena Ivanović
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
Article History:
Submitted: 11.06.2015
Accepted: 22.06.2015
Abstract
This work, proceeding from Ivanovic (2015), focuses on the linguistic manifestations of
argumentation and politeness in expressing different points of view and how they can be applied
in teaching Spanish as a FL to advanced level students according to the CEFR (2001) which
suggests the critical interpretation of texts in levels B2/C.
For proving this proposal, columns published in two Spanish newspapers with different
political orientation: progressive, El País (Carlos Boyero and Maruja Torres), and conservative,
ABC (Antonio Burgos and Ignacio Camacho) were analyzed. Both the content and the strategies
used by columnists have a persuasive goal and are considered materials that encourage students
to think about social issues and trigger meaningful discussions.
Previous studies have shown that, on the one hand, argumentation is a way of being
polite because it justifies communicative goals and is a way of collaborating with the speaker,
and, on the other hand, politeness can be considered as a tool for argumentation (Fuentes, 2009:
117, 125). It is supposed that (im)politeness is an argumentative technique that can add value and
convince the speaker of something (Alcoba and Poch: 2006, 2010).
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to approach Critical Literacy studies and develop
critical literacy competence in C1/C2 students of Spanish as a FL focusing on argumentation and
politeness strategies. In order to achieve that, as proposed in Goethals (2011), it is essential to
enable students to identify different components of each text (text organization), to interpret its
functional exponents and functions of certain strategies.
In that sense, to adopt critical approach towards media discourse and to be able to
interpret the underlying messages it is necessary to emphasize the importance of the following
�aspects to the B2/C students of Spanish as a FL: argumentation and politeness strategies used in
columns and its significant exponents because it can allow us to show whether these
manifestations of argumentation and politeness depend on ideology or rather on the personal
style of each author.
�1. Introduction
This work, proceeding from Ivanovic (2015), focuses on the linguistic manifestations of
argumentation and politeness in newspapers columns and how these techniques can be applied
for enhancing critical literacy competence in teaching Spanish as a FL to advanced level
students. According to the CEFR (2001), the critical interpretation of texts in levels B2/C is
suggested so the aim of this work is to:
•
Encourage students to develop critical attitude and incorporate that competence as an
additional communicative competence in foreign language learning.
•
Analyze techniques that can facilitate the acquisition of critical competence such as
argumentation and politeness strategies.
That will allow them to see text, in general, and, each component of the text, in particular,
from different perspectives and to finally see whether these manifestations of argumentation and
politeness depend on ideology or rather on the personal style of each author.
2. Critical Literacy in the Framework of Foreign Language Learning
The world we're living in is changing and evolving at an extraordinary rate and will
continue to do so at ever-increasing rates. We live in an increasingly diverse, globalized,
complex and media-saturated society which partly has to do with the penetration of Internet
which has provided a common platform to communicate and share information. In this context,
critical literacy competence has become vital.
Students must develop different literacies such as critical, multicultural, emotional,
environmental, and media literacies. They need to know how to use their knowledge, information
and to be able to think critically in order to grow personally and become thoughtful active
citizens both on local and global levels.
Critical literacy is the ability to actively read different types of discourses so as to achieve
a deeper understanding of socially constructed concepts such as ideology, power, domination,
political, economic and gender inequality and injustice that are reflected in media, books,
everyday conversations, etc. Critical literacy encourages students to understand and question
ideology and power issues, attitudes, values, and beliefs of written or spoken discourses, as well
as different visual applications. To become critically literate students have to develop and master
not only simple reading comprehension, but also the ability to analyze, critique, and question the
�messages inherently present within any form of discourse and to challenge these issues. Only in
that way they can become active agents of change because critical literacy practices can
contribute to change and the development of political awareness (Freire and Macedo, 1987; Luke
and Freebody, 1999).
According to CEFR (2001), communicative language competence comprises several
components:
Linguistic competences include lexical, phonological, syntactical knowledge and skills
and other dimensions of language as system, independently of the sociolinguistic value of
its variations and the pragmatic functions of its realizations.
Sociolinguistic competences refer to the socio-cultural conditions of language use (rules
of politeness, norms that govern relations between different generation, sexes and social
groups) which affects all language communication between representatives of different
cultures even though participant may be unaware of its influence.
Pragmatic competences are concerned with the functional use of linguistic resources
(production of language functions, speech acts, mastery of discourse, etc.) in interactional
exchanges.
Critical competence is considered in C2 level, both in case written production and visual
reception (writing) (CEFR, 2001: 69)1:
Can understand and interpret critically virtually all forms of the written language
including abstract, structurally complex, or highly colloquial literary and non-literary
writings
Can understand a wide range of long and complex texts, appreciating subtle distinctions
of style and implicit as well as explicit meaning.
Castellà and Cassany (2005) distinguish between a critical and a non-critical reader:
Critic reader
Non-critic reader
Seeking the unique and constant meaning
Aware that there are different meanings
(dynamic and contextual)
�Satisfied with his personal interpretation
Dialogues and seeks for social interpretations
Reads all texts in the same way
Reads each genre in a different way
Puts emphasis on the content and looks for Puts emphasis on the ideology and looks for
main ideas
the intention
Pays attention on the explicit aspects
Draws attention to the implicit aspects
Satisfied with one source of information
Looks for different sources and contrasts them
Perceives quotations as accurate reproductions
Perceives
quotations
as
interested
reformulations
Argues that understanding is like believing
Argues that understanding is not the same as
believing
Based on this distinction, we are primarily focusing on implicit aspects of each column,
the author's' intention and ideology.
3. The relation between Argumentation-Politeness
Previous studies have shown that the relation between argumentation and (im)politeness
in discourse is bidirectional (Fuentes, 2009; Alcaide Lara, 2014).
From one point of view, argumentation is bound to politeness since it can be used in
favor of (im)politeness apart from the persuasive goal which is present in different degree in
almost any kind of discourse as proposed by Anscombre and Ducrot (1994)2. When we provide
the speaker with arguments, we in a way justify our communicative goals. When we give
reasons, we collaborate with the speaker and respect his face. Persuasion doesn't have to be
concealed always. Therefore, the argumentative structure can operate as a mechanism that
regulates the speakers’ face as well as a mechanism that reinforces (im)polite activity.
On the other hand, (im)politeness is considered a mechanism in favor of argument and its
function is purely persuasive. It is supposed that (im)politeness is an argumentative technique
that can add value and convince the speaker of something (Alcoba and Poch: 2006, 2010). The
argumentative goal of politeness is to get something from the other and of the impoliteness to
indirectly achieve something, to transmit the position of power, to convince or cause a reaction
in the other (for example in politics discourse).
�In conclusion, although politeness emphasizes more the sociological and psychological
aspect of communication and has other functions3 apart from persuasive, in this work we will
focus on its purely argumentative goal and we consider it a persuasive technique per se.
4. Argumentation – Politeness Strategies in FLT and for enhancing Critical Literacy
Critical literacy competence is fostered by analyzing different types of texts and
meanings: newspapers, magazines, TV and radio programs, texts on the Internet within different
social and cultural contexts. The focus should be on materials that can trigger meaningful
discussions in the classroom and encourage students to thinks about social issues that are seen in
their everyday lives. In that sense, critical literacy is more an attitude, a way to position towards
discourses which implies the activation of previous knowledge and exchange of different points
of view (Cots, 2006). That is why, as we have already mentioned, for proving this proposal,
columns published in two Spanish newspapers with different political orientation: progressive, El
País (Carlos Boyero and Maruja Torres), and conservative, ABC (Antonio Burgos and Ignacio
Camacho) were analyzed.
Therefore, we suggest organizing the reading task in different stages: before, while and
after reading.
Stage 1 - Before reading. Activate knowledge and vocabulary that is required for the
understanding of the text by raising various questions concerning the contest, discourse genre,
the author, its communicative goal and the target reader.
Cultural context
o What kind of text it is?
o In what kind of society it is produced?
Situational context
o In which section of the newspaper are these texts published?
Communicative goals
o For what purpose are these text created?
Author/Writer
o Who is the writer?
o Which ideology does he reflects?
�o What is his/her intention?
Readers
o Who´s the target reader?
o What kind of reaction is the writer looking for?
Multimodality
o The role and purpose of the images/videos? (if used)
The answer to all these questions lies in the general knowledge of the world so it is
essential to activate these general competencies4 and fully involve a learner in the
comprehension of the text as the active member of the target language linguistic community.
Stage 2 - While reading. Check out the interpretational hypothesis, proceed with the
content, and identify different components of the text. Since the aim of this work is to approach
Critical Literacy studies and develop critical literacy competence in C1/C2 students of Spanish
as a FL focusing on argumentation and politeness strategies, we suggest focusing on the
following aspects as we did in our analysis.
The first aspect regarding argumentation focuses on the orientation of the arguments,
whether they are co-oriented and lead to the expected conclusion or anti-oriented and lead to
opposite conclusions; and the second one on the strength of the arguments, on two particular
mechanisms: intensification and attenuation.
Argumentation
Orientation
Strength
Co-orientation
Intensification
Anti-orientation
Attenuation
Since the argumentation is bound to the intention of the speaker to influence the reader, it
means that the reader is implicitly present and, therefore, it is essential to bear this dialogical
character of argumentation in mind. As Plantin (1990: 232) pointed out: "La argumentación es
dialéctica; su lenguaje no es un lenguaje de objetos sino un lenguaje habitado por los
interlocutores y marcado por sus puntos de vista".5
Therefore, as for the columnist, the focus is on the expressions of the personal view,
polyphony (the use of different voices), and the use of impersonal structures for
�depersonalization of the discourse. And as for the reader, the use of pronominal forms as a way
of addressing the reader (T – V distinction)6 and other types of reference to the reader that make
columns more dialogical and interactive should be considered.
Interlocutors
Columnist
Reader
Personal vision
T–V distinction
Polyphony
Reference to the reader
Impersonality
Finally, when it comes to politeness, our starting point was Brown y Levinson´s
distinction of politeness strategies (1987). So regarding positive politeness, in our analysis we
focused on two strategies in particular: claim common ground and convey that S and H are
cooperators7. The aim of the first one is to attend the readers´ needs and wants by justifying
intentions and reformulating; to exaggerate interest and sympathy with the reader; and, to show
in-group solidarity with the use of different pronominal forms.
As for the second strategy, its aim is to include both the columnist and the reader in the
activity with the use of inclusive plural; and to assume and enhance reciprocity by strengthening
reader´s positive face with the use of modality.
In relation to the negative politeness, the focus was on two strategies as well. The first
one, don´t coerce the reader aims to minimize the imposition by limiting the writer´s attitude on
the personal level avoiding generalization; and give deference by using different pronominal
forms for addressing the reader. The second strategy, communicate writer´s want not to impinge
on the reader, seeks to impersonalize both the columnist and the reared.
Politeness
Positive politeness
Claim
ground'
Negative politeness
'common Attend
(interests,
the
H's Don't coerce H
needs,
Minimize
imposition
wants)
Exaggerate
approval,
(interest,
sympathy
Give deference
the
�with H)
Use in-group identity
markers
Convey that S and H Include both speaker Communicate
are cooperators
S's Impersonalize S and
(S) and hearer (H) in want not to impinge H
activity
Assume
on H
or
assert
reciprocity
Stage 3 - After reading. Get the global meaning and the main idea. As suggested in this
work, one of the ways to construct the global meaning is by analyzing linguistic manifestations
of argumentation and politeness in expressing different points of view in order to see whether
they depend on the ideology or on the personal style of the columnists.
Furthermore, to encourage students to exchange opinions and read multiple or parallel
texts further comparison tasks may be carried out.
Compare possible interpretations of each column.
Contrast different discourses that belong to the same genre which implies comparing
columns published in the same newspaper and then with the ones published in the other
that reflects different ideology (El País vs. ABC).
Analyze different genres of texts dealing the same topic, for example columns and
editorials, although this is just one of many possible comparisons.
Contrast different modes of communication, for example written, oral, audiovisual.
In the framework of trans-cultural pragmatics, it may also imply the comparison of
different linguistic tools used for a concrete purpose across different languages. In addition, these
specific practices should be contrasted with the same practice in students' own culture.
5. Conclusions
Critical Literacy is a way to address texts from a global perspective and it involves not
only linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competencies, but also the competence to compare
discourses from a critical point of view. In that sense, comparison tasks are essential.
�Reading comprehension activities should be focused on specific social practices,
authentic and multimodal texts. The analysis should proceed from general contextual and
communicative goals aspects towards more concrete, specific, linguistic dimensions of the texts
to identify discourse characteristics, components, functional exponents and strategies.
In particular, the analysis of the argumentation and politeness strategies and its
significant components used in columns can enhance Critical Literacy Competence because it
allows to see:
Which linguistic mechanisms are commonly used to persuade a reader;
Whether these manifestations depend on ideology or rather on the personal style of
each author.
From the analysis we have conducted, we proved that the use of argumentation and
politeness strategies is not determined by the ideology that columnists reflect, but by their own
personal and expressive style.
�Endnotes
1
Users of the Framework may wish to consider for what purposes and in which modes the
learner will need, or wish or be required to read (CEFR, 2001: 71).
2
Anscombre and Ducrot (1994) have developed the linguistic approach to argumentation. They
named their approach Radical Argumentativism because, according to their view, every form of
language has an argumentative aspect. In other words argumentativity is a general feature of all
language use.
3
Apart from the persuasive functions, Fuentes (2009: 140-141) distinguishes other functions
both for manifestations of politeness and impoliteness. In case of politeness, the author mentions:
organizational and cohesive function in an interactive level (greetings, rituals, initiation of a
conversation); and social function that goes beyond the linguistic aspect because it affects the
social image that a speaker wants to project about himself.
In the same way, additional functions of impoliteness are the following: cohesive function to
indicate the end of interaction; social function to project negative image because the speaker
wants to break interactional bonds of wants to be seen in that way; and modal function when the
speaker seeks to surprise the other or cause rejection.
4
"Language use, embracing language learning, comprises the actions performed by persons who
as individuals and as social agents develop a range of competences, both general and in
particular communicative language competences. [...] General competences are those not
specific to language, but which are called upon for actions of all kinds, including language
activities." (CEFR, 2001: 9).
5
The argumentation is dialectical; its language is not a language of objects, but a language
inhabited by the interlocutors and marked by their views.
6
In sociolinguistics, a T–V distinction (from the Latin pronouns tu and vos) is a contrast, within
one language, between second-person pronouns that are specialized for varying levels of
politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, age or insult toward the addressee.
7
S stands for Speaker and H for Hearer.
�References:
Alcaide Lara, Esperanza (2014): “La relación argumentación-(des)cortesía en el discurso
persuasivo” in Diana Bravo (ed.), Pragmática Sociocultural / Sociocultural Pragmatics, Volume
8, Issue 2. De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 223-261.
Alcoba, S. (2013): “Cortesía y gramática de la Argumentación en las cuñas publicitarias“, en C.
Fuentes (Coord.) (Des) cortesía para el espectáculo: estudios de pragmática variacionista,
Madrid, Arco/Libros, págs. 39-66.
Alcoba, Santiago y Dolors Poch (2006): "Cortesía y argumentación en las cuñas de radio.
Español Actual, 86, pp. 7-44.
Alcoba, Santiago y Dolors Poch (2010): "Argumentación, cortesía y ´poder´en las cuñas de
radio" en F. Orletti y L. Mariottini (eds.), Descortesía en español. Espacios teóricos y
metodológicos para su estudio. Roma/Estocolmo. Università Roma Tre-EDICE. pp. 285-314.
Anscombre, J.C. y Ducrot, O. ([1983] 1994): La argumentación en la lengua. Madrid. Gredos.
Brown, P. y Levinson, S. (1987): Politeness. Some universals in language use, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press.
Cassany, D. (2005): “Literacidad crítica: Leer y escribir la ideología”, workshop at the IX
Simposio Internacional de la Sociedad Española de Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura,
SEDELL/Universidad
de
la
Rioja,
Logroño.
30-11-2005.
Available
at:
file:///C:/Users/ub/Downloads/0046352ca74ca3a32c000000.pdf.
Castellá, J. M. y D. Cassany (2010): “Aproximación a la literacidad crítica” in Perspectiva,
Florianópolis,
v.28,
n.
2,
pp.353-374.
Available
at:
https://repositori.upf.edu/bitstream/handle/10230/21187/Cassany_PERSPECTIVA_28_2.pdf?seq
uence=1.
Cots, J.M. (2006): "Teaching with an attitude: Critical Discourse Analysis in EFL Teaching",
ELT Jornal, 60/4, pp. 336-345.
Council of Europe (2001): Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning,
Teaching,
Assessment
(CEFR).
Available
at:
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf.
Freire, P. and D. Macedo(1987): Literacy: Reading the Word and World. South Hadley, Mass:
Bergin & Garvey Publishers.
�Fuentes Rodríguez, Catalina (2009): "La argumentación en la lengua y la cortesía verbal, ¿dos
teorías distintas?" en Miguel Casas Gómez (dir.) y Raíl Marquez Fernández (ed.), XI jornadas de
Linguística. Homenaje al profesor José Luis Morales. Cádiz. Universidad de Cádiz. Servicio de
Publicaciones. pp. 109-148.
Goethals, P. (coord.) y VVAA. (2011): Manual de expresión escrita en español. Libro de
actividades para estudiantes anglófonos. Gante, Academia Press.
Ivanovic, M. (2015): Manifestaciones de la opinión y de la argumentación en columnistas de El
País y de ABC. PhD Thesis in submisson process. Barcelona. Universitat Autónoma de
Barcelona.
López Ferrero, Carmen and Ernesto Martín Peris (2010): “La competencia crítica en el aula de
español L2/LE: Textos y contextos” at XXI Congreso Internacional de la ASELE, Del texto a la
lengua: la aplicación de los textos a la enseñanza-aprendizaje del español L2-LE. Salamanca,
2010. Available at: http://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/asele/pdf/21/21_0507.pdf
Luke, A. and P.Freebody (1999): “A map of possible practices: further notes on the four
resources model”, Practically Primary, vol 4, no 2. pp. 5-8.
Plantin, C. (2001 [1990]): La argumentación. Barcelona. Editorial Ariel.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2896
Title
A name given to the resource
ARGUMENTATION AND POLITENESS STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING CRITICAL LITERACY COMPETENCE IN C1/C2 STUDENTS OF SPANISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Author
Author
Ivanović, Milena
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
This work, proceeding from Ivanovic (2015), focuses on the linguistic manifestations of argumentation and politeness in expressing different points of view and how they can be applied in teaching Spanish as a FL to advanced level students according to the CEFR (2001) which suggests the critical interpretation of texts in levels B2/C. For proving this proposal, columns published in two Spanish newspapers with different political orientation: progressive, El País (Carlos Boyero and Maruja Torres), and conservative, ABC (Antonio Burgos and Ignacio Camacho) were analyzed. Both the content and the strategies used by columnists have a persuasive goal and are considered materials that encourage students to think about social issues and trigger meaningful discussions. Previous studies have shown that, on the one hand, argumentation is a way of being polite because it justifies communicative goals and is a way of collaborating with the speaker, and, on the other hand, politeness can be considered as a tool for argumentation (Fuentes, 2009: 117, 125). It is supposed that (im)politeness is an argumentative technique that can add value and convince the speaker of something (Alcoba and Poch: 2006, 2010). Therefore, the aim of this paper is to approach Critical Literacy studies and develop critical literacy competence in C1/C2 students of Spanish as a FL focusing on argumentation and politeness strategies. In order to achieve that, as proposed in Goethals (2011), it is essential to enable students to identify different components of each text (text organization), to interpret its functional exponents and functions of certain strategies. In that sense, to adopt critical approach towards media discourse and to be able to interpret the underlying messages it is necessary to emphasize the importance of the following aspects to the B2/C students of Spanish as a FL: argumentation and politeness strategies used in columns and its significant exponents because it can allow us to show whether these manifestations of argumentation and politeness depend on ideology or rather on the personal style of each author.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/812f69b95ffc0056393313dc0b97a416.pdf
f731a647a93a8b2d808bf8141a729a75
PDF Text
Text
A YEAR OF CELEBRATIONS: RAISING CULTURAL AWARENESS IN
CLASS
Evgenia Koika
Unaffiliated, Greece
Article History:
Submitted: 10.06.2015
Accepted: 24.06.2015
Abstract
The multinational nature of the English speaking community as well as the increasing
use of English by non –native speakers, as it has become the lingua franca of our era, may
lead to the assumption that the English language is not tied to any particular culture. This
paper however suggests that teachers should choose a pluralistic approach with the ultimate
goal of raising their students’ intercultural communicative competence. Thus, it examines
both theoretically and practically, through extensive Needs Analyses, and a posteriori
students’ evaluations, the appeal of a cultural awareness approach and the success of its
implementation by means of a series of organized events. The Needs Analyses prove that the
students are eager to learn more about the countries which they overwhelmingly consider a
possible destination for studies and/or job (mainly US, UK, Australia, Canada and to a lesser
extent Ireland). Celebrations, sports, local cuisines, as well as music and the film industry are
absolutely cherished.
Their participation in events including British Tea Parties, Irish Saint Patrick’s Day
presentations and distinctive American Thanksgiving and Halloween celebrations prove the
merit of the cultural awareness approach in EFL. Thus Clarks’s objective “to learn by doing
rather than by being taught” can be applied in conjunction with a modern intercultural
communicative approach and a strategy of an English language contextualization. Hence,
students embark voluntarily on a learning process, improving not only their language but also
their research, organizational and communication skills, while achieving cultural
familiarization with all English-speaking people. In order to achieve the aforementioned, the
use of computer-based technology is a sine qua non since it offers flexibility and redefines
the roles of the teacher and the learners as the teacher assumes the role of the facilitator/guide
on the side, leading students to autonomy.
1
�1. Introduction
Culture by its very nature ought to become the central axis of English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) teaching in the sense that cultural awareness facilitates language proficiency
and language is a social practice; therefore language and culture are intricately interwoven.
The major goal of EFL, and for that matter of any foreign language teaching, is the mastery
of communicative competence. Therefore, learners of English ought to study its cultural
backgrounds so as to acquire cultural frames of reference and understand the cultural contexts
in which it is used (Alpetekin, 2002; Kramsch, 1993).
However, the multinational nature of the English speaking community as well as the
increasing use of English by non –native speakers, as it has become the de facto international
lingua franca of our era, may lead to the assumption that the English language is not tied to
any particular culture. In practice, we suggest that teachers should choose a pluralistic
approach like the one presented in this paper that encompasses the “big five”, namely the
United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States of America, Canada, and Australia with the
ultimate goal to take advantage of the English’s international character so as to raise their
students’ intercultural communicative competence (Mao, 2009).
2. Reasoning
There are sound arguments supporting the integration of culture in language teaching.
Firstly, cultural conflicts occur as a result of misinterpretations, ethnocentrism, stereotypes,
and prejudice (Levine & Adelman, 1982). Secondly, meanings are lost because of cultural
boundaries (Porter, 1987). Thirdly, “our students’ comprehension is frequently impeded not
by linguistic features, but by cultural ones….” Thus, “language can never be divorced from
culture” (Lazar, 1993). Actually, learners of English ought to be made aware that cultural
awareness leads to a better understanding of the nuances of the language, of connotations, of
cultural norms and contexts as well as to a better insight of native speakers’ way of thinking.
Understandably, this knowledge would make them much more effective communicators
(Stern, 1992 cited in Ghorbani –Shemshadsara, 2012). Furthermore, cultural learning is very
effective in increasing learners’ motivation, which greatly affects every learning process.
Culture classes contribute significantly to learner motivation because most learners like
culturally based activities such as role playing, dancing, singing or doing research on other
countries and peoples. Hammerly suggests that teaching about the target culture when
teaching the target language entices and motivates students (Hammerly, 1982 cited in Purba,
2011).
2
�Unfortunately, the score and certificate-oriented teaching of English in Greece wears
the energy of both the teachers and the learners in drilling the skills that are examined,
namely listening, speaking reading and writing leaving them no margin to cultivate a cultural
consciousness that would have made the teaching and learning of English both entertaining
and highly effective (Mao, 2009). The teaching of culture remains “insubstantial and sporadic
in most language classrooms” (Omaggio-Hadley, 1993, p.357) despite the fact that cultural
informed English teaching would benefit the students who learn more about the target
cultures through movies, songs and the internet than their English Language classes.
Regarding the merits of the specific approach called “A year of celebrations” it is
worth pointing out that it creates successive “Directed Motivational Currents” (DMC) which
maintain and re-enforce student motivation throughout the academic year. It doesn’t perceive
motivation as static and linear but as something dynamic, thus fluctuant. Therefore it strives
to create motivational pathways so as students to be caught in a powerful flow of motivation
that would impel them to engage in the learning process on their own volition and if possible
on their own initiative (Dornyei et al, 2014). Instead of a sterile “chalk and talk” teaching
method it offers a socially realistic and credible “language generating” series of activities not
only for purposeful language use but also for encouragement of “acquisition” (Scrivener,
2005; Crookall, 1984). Actually a major objective is to put students in situations that they are
first and foremost involved as individuals and the language is used as a tool for reaching a
goal rather than a goal itself. Learning becomes personal, exploratory, and thus motivational
as the principles of cooperative learning (CL), which is a highly effective instructional
approach regarding small groups in order to achieve common learning goals via collaboration
are utilized. Theoretically, CL has proven “superior to most traditional forms of instruction in
terms of producing learning gains and student achievement, higher order thinking, positive
attitudes toward learning, increased motivation, better teacher-student and student-student
relationships accompanied by more developed interpersonal skills and higher self esteem on
the part of the student” (Dornyei,1997, p.487). Students are divided into small groups and
learning takes place through peer teaching, joint problem solving, brainstorming, varied
interpersonal communication and individual study monitored by peers. All members,
including the teacher, cooperate by exchanging ideas, information and providing constructive
feedback.
Furthermore, it exploits the “soft power” of the English speaking countries, mostly
their media, the xenophilic tendencies of the students which encompass a great curiosity for
these cultures and peoples, a desire to broaden their horizons so as to avoid provincialism as
3
�well as a desire for new stimuli and challenges (Dornyei, 1994; Ghorbani-Shemshadsara,
2012). Furthermore, the learners, through the various tasks and projects that this approach
entails, acquire 21st century skills such as global citizenship, communication, collaboration
and critical thinking for problem solving (Fullan, 2013).
3. From Theory to Practice
A needs analysis questionnaire administered in the beginning of the course provides
the teacher with valuable data regarding the learning profile of the particular class, the
students’ likes and dislikes as well as their perceptions on a number of things. High school
students may have no choice regarding their attendance of the classes but if their opinion is
taken into consideration regarding the content and the form of the course even the most
indifferent ones will warm up to it. The needs analyses we have administered the last ten
years in different schools both in Athens and Thessaloniki show that students are eager to
learn more about the English speaking countries for both intrinsic and extrinsic factors.
Anything that has to do with celebrations, sports, local cuisines as well as music and the film
industry is an attention magnet. Furthermore, regarding their preferred method of working
pair and group work come first. Moreover they enjoy variety and the use of technology to
either create or to conduct research. These results correlate with research findings which
confirm that cultural learning is very effective to increase learners’ motivation, something
that greatly affects every learning process.
Based on the Needs Analysis, every September we present our students with a
calendar of celebrations from almost all English speaking countries. We have chosen to
employ the “4-F” approach to teaching culture focusing on festivals, fairs, food and folk
dances (Ariza, 2007). Every month there are one or two celebrations, some accompanied with
relative extra-curricular events and all of them paired with proper food motivators. Soon
enough the students become aware that “cultural activities and objectives have been carefully
organized and incorporated into lesson plans so as to enrich and inform the teaching content”
(Purba, 2011, p.51).
The lesson always starts with a “teaser”; something that will attract the students’
attention and act as a motivator. For instance, the students may be presented with objects like
figurines, magazines or decorative items that originate from the target culture and they are
challenged to find information either by conducting research or by being given clues to
investigate. The realia add to the real world credibility of the celebration and help to engage
students in authentic cultural experiences (Ariza, 2007; Frank 2013). Segments of movies are
4
�used extensively as they are one of the most contemporary and comprehensive ways to
encapsulate the look, feel and rhythm of a culture. Watching Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley
Cooper taking a stroll while children go “trick or treating” in “Silver Linings Playbook” has
proven quite attention catching. In the same vein, documentaries and advertisements are used
so as students to get an insight, for instance, of the ambiance of a 4th of July parade and a
Saint Patrick’s parade; they travel to the past through movies or documentaries on the Irish
famine or the civil rights movement of African Americans (Purba, 2011).
Students in pairs or groups are asked to research particular aspects of each celebration
so as to answer questions like: What traditional dishes are served in the United States on
Thanksgiving, and what is the history behind them? Or what is the historic event celebrated at
Guy Fawkes Night? The accumulated data may be used for a writing task, an oral
presentation in class or a role play activity. Therefore, students participate in a range of
“hands on” activities so as to make a “mind map” for every celebration aiming at grouping
information from different sources.
All this information would comprise a knowledge
repository for the group. On every lesson leading to a celebration there will be a task related
to it, while every effort is made for an interdisciplinary approach with the help of colleagues
(Frank, 2013).
A multi-sensory approach appeals to all types of intelligence so every effort is made
to include color, picture, body movement, sound and touch (During, 1997; Purba, 2011).
Moreover game based learning is applied whenever possible. Two examples of this approach
are the Halloween party and the Easter Egg Hunt. Regarding the Halloween Party the
students have already carved pumpkins and played trick or treat during school hours so in the
afternoon come to school dressed in costumes so as to have fun and play traditional games
such as bobbing for apples under one condition: that they would communicate in English.
The Easter Egg Hunt is a treasure hunt with clues, in English, that present linguistic and
intellectual challenges that appeal to all age groups (Frank, 2013).
Another example of experiential learning is the traditional tea party that the students
co-host so as to celebrate the Queen’s Birthday. They do research on tea and the traditional
dishes such as the scones and the salmon and cucumber sandwiches, tea’s significance on the
British culture, the history behind it and they present all these to teachers and parents who
attend this party. Consequently, the objective is to integrate the aforementioned cultural
elements in my language teaching using culturally sensitive and informed authentic tasks as
well as opportunities for firsthand experience of a variety of cultural and linguistic stimuli
(Sifakis & Sougari, 2003).
5
�4. Cultural Awareness Implications
At this point it is worth highlighting that we strive to compare and contrast the dark
aspects of the celebrations with the bright ones. For instance, when celebrating Thanksgiving,
students research the treatment of the Native Americans by the Pilgrims. These celebrations
can also be the starting point for research on contemporary issues. For example, on the
occasion of the Martin Luther King Day students may look into incidents like the police
shootings in Ferguson and elsewhere in the US, or into other types of discrimination like
Islamophobia. Therefore, all these cultural activities can give students food for thought as
regards much more serious issues (Ghorbani –Shemshadsara, 2012).
Another achievable result is the “cultural familiarization” with the British, Irish,
American, Canadian and Australian cultures and how those cultures relate to the students’
own native culture. The learners in every occasion are asked to compare and contrast the
particular celebration with a celebration or elements of their own country’s culture.
Therefore, the ultimate goal is intercultural communicative competence in the sense that by
raising the student’s awareness of their own culture they are also helped to interpret and
understand appropriately the cultures of the English speaking countries (Frank, 2013). Thus
Clark’s objective “to learn by doing rather than by being taught” (Clark, 1987, p.50) can be
applied in conjunction with an intercultural communicative approach and a strategy of an
English language contextualization.
5. Challenges
It would be an omission not to mention the enormous challenges such an approach
presents. Firstly it is difficult to convince all stakeholders of its legitimacy. Secondly, there
are challenges regarding the logistics, namely the preparations for each event. Thankfully, out
of experience, the parents’ association very rarely fails to grant requests for volunteers or the
provision of ingredients for food preparation. Last but not least, time management is of the
utmost importance and considerable time is spent on fore planning so as everything to run
smoothly.
At this point it is worth highlighting that the most important stakeholders, the
students, are staunch supporters of this approach, despite the extra workload it entails. The
vast majority of the students on an evaluation form filled anonymously on the last day of
classes, comment on the level of enjoyment, knowledge and communicative confidence they
acquired through this cultural journey. Furthermore, to skeptics who may argue that valuable
6
�teaching time is spent on cultural endeavors rather than the important four linguistic skills,
we refer them to the language output of students during simulations, presentations and roleplaying. Moreover, all tasks assigned introduce students to relevant vocabulary. Thus, the
learners use the language to achieve their goals and all this leads to implicit learning (Frank,
2013).
6. Conclusion
Concluding, we should highlight that the objective of this approach is to integrate
cultural elements in our language teaching using culturally sensitive and informed authentic
tasks as well as opportunities for firsthand experience of a variety of cultural and linguistic
stimuli. Cultural informed English teaching would benefit the students who learn more about
the target culture through movies, songs and the internet than the English Language classes as
the focus is more on the mastery of the four basic skills. And this has to change. Otherwise
we are selling our students short in the sense that we are not preparing them adequately for
the real world. All the above contribute in the acquisition of a plethora of 21st century skills
as they ameliorate the students’ research, presentation, critical thinking and teamwork skills.
References
Alptekin, C. (2002). Towards intercultural communicative competence in ELT. ELT Journal,
56(1), 57-64.
Ariza, D. (2007). Culture in the EFL classroom at Universidad de la Salle: An innovation
project. Revist Actualidades Pedagogicas 50/9-17, 9-17.
Clark, J.L. (1987). Curriculum Renewal in School Foreign Language Learning. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Crookall, D. (1984). The Use of Non-ELT Simulations. ELT Journal, 38/4, 262-273.
Dornyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and Motivating in the Foreign Language Classroom. The
Modern language Journal, 78/3, 273 – 284.
Dornyei, Z. (1997). Psychological Processes in Cooperative Language Learning: Group
Dynamics and Motivation. The Modern Language Journal 81, 482-493.
Dornyei Z., Muir, C. & Ibrahim, Z. (2014) Directed Motivational Current. In Lasagabaster,
D., Aintzane, D. & Sierra J.M. (Eds.), Motivation and Foreign Language Learning: From
theory to practice. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
During, S. (1997). Teaching Culture. Australian Humanities Review 8/97, 1-15.
7
�Frank, J. (2013). Raising Cultural Awareness in the English Language Classroom. English
Teaching Forum 4/13, 2-11.
Fullan, M. (2012). From Great to Excellent: Launching the Next Stage in Ontario’s
Education Agenda. Toronto: Government of Ontario.
Ghorbani-Shemshadsara, Z. (2012). Developing CulturalAwareness in Foreign Language
Teaching. English Language Teaching, 5/3, 95-99.
Hammerly, H. (1982). Synthesis in language teaching. Blaine, WA: Second Language
Publications.
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Lazar, G. (1993). Literature and Language Teaching. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press.
Levine D.R &. Adelman, M.B. (1982). Beyond Language: Cross-Cultural Communication.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Mao, W. (2009). Teaching Culture Within and Beyond Language. English Language
Teaching, 2/4, 144-148.
Omaggio-Hadley, A. (1993). Teaching Language in Context. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Porter, E. (1987). Foreign involvement in China’s colleges and universities: a historical
perspective. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 11(4), 369-385.
Purba, H. (2011). The Importance of Including Culture in EFL Teaching. Journal of English
Teaching 1/1, 44-56.
Scrivener, E. (2005). Learning teaching. Oxford: Macmillan.
Sifakis, N. C. & Sougari, A.M. (2003). Facing the globalisation challenge in the realm of
English Language Teaching. Language and Education, 17/1, 59-71.
Stern, H.H. (1992). Issues and options in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
8
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2886
Title
A name given to the resource
A YEAR OF CELEBRATIONS: RAISING CULTURAL AWARENESS IN CLASS
Author
Author
Koika, Evgenia
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The multinational nature of the English speaking community as well as the increasing use of English by non –native speakers, as it has become the lingua franca of our era, may lead to the assumption that the English language is not tied to any particular culture. This paper however suggests that teachers should choose a pluralistic approach with the ultimate goal of raising their students’ intercultural communicative competence. Thus, it examines both theoretically and practically, through extensive Needs Analyses, and a posteriori students’ evaluations, the appeal of a cultural awareness approach and the success of its implementation by means of a series of organized events. The Needs Analyses prove that the students are eager to learn more about the countries which they overwhelmingly consider a possible destination for studies and/or job (mainly US, UK, Australia, Canada and to a lesser extent Ireland). Celebrations, sports, local cuisines, as well as music and the film industry are absolutely cherished. Their participation in events including British Tea Parties, Irish Saint Patrick’s Day presentations and distinctive American Thanksgiving and Halloween celebrations prove the merit of the cultural awareness approach in EFL. Thus Clarks’s objective “to learn by doing rather than by being taught” can be applied in conjunction with a modern intercultural communicative approach and a strategy of an English language contextualization. Hence, students embark voluntarily on a learning process, improving not only their language but also their research, organizational and communication skills, while achieving cultural familiarization with all English-speaking people. In order to achieve the aforementioned, the use of computer-based technology is a sine qua non since it offers flexibility and redefines the roles of the teacher and the learners as the teacher assumes the role of the facilitator/guide on the side, leading students to autonomy.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/c8e4db14fafe93c83fb9faab24bebb33.pdf
bf4c725326a537e5748b4affd1648ab6
PDF Text
Text
1
LANGUAGE ECOLOGY RE-ORIENTATION IN A CONTEMPORARY
METROLINGUAL FRAMEWORK:
A CRITICAL PARADIGM SHIFT TO AN EXPANDED, COMMON STANDARD
ALBANIAN
Julie M. Kolgjini, PhD
Rochester Institute of Technology, New York and A.U.K.
Article History:
Submitted: 18.06.2015
Accepted: 28.06.2015
Abstract
Given present emergent trans-local new media in de-territorialized and poly-lingual milieus, an
approach to the current Unified Literary Albanian (ULA) that integrates elements of Gramscianesque and Bakhtinian-esque optics on language would be more in sync with contemporary polyglossic realities of numerous Albanian speech communities in 21st century linguistic
marketplaces than the language’s present standard. Such reforms could serve as partial remedies
for current linguistic injustices and insecurities regarding various purported dysfluencies of
marginalized and disenfranchised speakers of stigmatized Albanian varieties, thereby averting
returning to past repressions. This alternative positioning allows younger generations of language
learners to exercise their agency in arriving at “their own emergent orders of normativity”
(Leppänen et al., 2009, p. 1080). Espousing this perspective encourages language guardians with
ortholinguistic tendencies to refocus their energies from “deeply entrenched dogmas” (Del Valle,
2014, p. 370) of standard language ideology focusing on linguistic imposition and denigration,
and exclusionary policies that neglected to integrate rich socio-historical realities of the
languagers, to an inclusive linguistic regime that embraces the present linguistic diversity of
polycentric sociolinguistic spaces. Instead of perpetuating outdated language policies involving
inflexible linguistic intolerances of bygone eras that (still) attempt to hermetically seal language
and prevent any leakage, cross-contamination, trans-languaging, or codemeshing from one
variety (in)to another, mutual accommodation and communicability are advocated here. Given
the diffusion of polycentric sociolects in various locales where Albanian is employed, “putting
the toothpaste back in the tube” could be rather challenging and futile. Thus, various gatekeeping
�2
pedagogies, including many current replacement and appropriateness paradigms, could be
ineffectual given contemporary metrolingual realities of many Albanian languagers and learners.
(Word count: 265)
Key words: Albanian, critical applied linguistics, critical language pedagogies, Albanian,
metrolingualism, polycentrism, heteroglossia, language ecology, linguistic diversity, linguistic
variation, standard and non-standard linguistic varieties, language policy and planning, standard
language ideology
�3
1. Introduction
Throughout the past few decades, various language scholars have commented that in
order for Unified Literary Albanian (ULA) to withstand the test of time, like other normative
living languages, it must be “permitted” to undergo considerable reform. Changes could involve
ULA incorporating various excluded elements (e.g., Gegisms) during the 1972 standardization
process at the Congress of Orthography, thereby resulting in a more cultivated language. Such
modifications would distance ULA from its homogeneous and monocentric pedigree and
accentuatepoly-, context-, and interlocutor-centric linguistic practices (see Byron, 1976).
2. Standard Language Ideology, Polycentrism, and Heteroglossia in Light of ULA
As numerous scholars have observed, standard language ideology plays a considerable,
but often implicit, role in how many languagers perceive language, especially standardization
polices and planning, and thus (non-)standard(ized) forms (e.g., Ag & Jørgensen, 2012; Heller,
2008; Leeman, 2005; Milroy, 2001; Milroy & Milroy, 2012; Watts, 2010). Milroy (2001, p. 531)
explains: “Standardization works by promoting invariance or uniformity in language
structure…[and]…consists of the imposition of uniformity upon a class of objects...[T]his
definition assumes that the objects concerned (including abstract objects, such as language) are,
in the nature of things, not uniform but variable.” This inherent variability is frequently made
invariable when language policies are imposed. Standard language ideology often views
languages as discrete, fixed objects, consisting of “stable synchronic finite-state idealization[s]”
(Milroy, 2001, p. 540), while endorsing invariance, homogeneity1, strict notions of correctness2,
proper use campaigns, post-hoc justifications of legitimacy 3 , native speaker ownership,
hegemony, modernist notions of “one nation/one (standard) national language” (Ricento, 2000,
p. 198), language purity, and monoglot ideologies. Such agendas implicitly (and explicitly)
discourage “incorrect” (e.g., non-standard) forms regularly regarded as immoral; often refuse to
acknowledge (standard) (factual) variability; and endeavor to eliminate fragmentation within the
standard. As Milroy (2001, p. 534) remarks, however, “There cannot be in practical use any such
thing as a wholly standardized variety, as total uniformity of usage is never achieved in
practice.” For Milroy (2001), standardization involves “a process that is continuously in progress
in those languages that undergo the process” (p. 534). 4 Moreover, speakers who fall prey to
standard language ideology and culture often attribute elevated prestige to standard dialects.
�4
Prestige, however, is a sociocultural construct not inherent to language5 (Jørgensen, Karrebæk,
Madsen, & Møller, 2011).
Standard language ideology discussions are of relevance to ULA. In 1972 at the Congress
of Orthography ULA standardizers, alongside various language guardians and gatekeepers,
advocated homogeneity, invariance, strict ortholinguistic adherence, proscribed form eradication,
and linguistic purism at the cost of linguistic diversity in pluricentric alternatives, similar to what
Gramsci envisioned across the Adriatic for Italian (see Carlucci, 2013; Ives, 2004), so as to
codify the communicative practices that likely involved flexible (passive) reciprocal bilingualism
and other accommodations concerning written and spoken (literary) Albanian varieties (see
Byron, 1976). Gramsci advocated an inclusive, pluricentric language regime originating and
resonating with the voices of the languagers of the various dialects (of Italian); such an approach
allows languagers to more cogently articulate their thoughts than when limited to imposed
monocentric (unitary) systems. Gramsci understood “the importance of working towards
[linguistic] unification through a careful consideration of [linguistic] diversity – not through its
denigration or coercive elimination” (Carlucci, 2013, p. 200); linguistic ecology was paramount.
Bakhtin’s heteroglossia 6 (multispeechedness), inclusion of multiple voices so as to
represent authentic language, is also pertinent to Albanian. Heteroglossic language practices 7
involve employing different languages and/or varieties, often within and/or between spoken
and/or written utterances and strings of language. Bakhtin’s heteroglossia is “governed by two
opposing forces, the centripetal (toward the single ‘center’ implied in the notion of an ‘official’
or ‘national’ language), and the centrifugal (away from that ‘center’ in the direction of the
regional dialect, as well as the ‘languages’ used by different classes, generations, and professions
that comprise a community of speakers). Bakhtin’s work tends to stress the centrifugal…”
(Hayward, 2001). Heteroglossia 8 involves myriad (linguistic) components, beyond standard
versus non-standard possibilities, e.g., their interweaving (e.g., Alb. duke shku(e), tu(e/j) shkuar
‘(while) going’, cf. duke shkuar ULA/Tosk; tue/tuj shku(e) Geg); semantic plasticity (e.g., Alb.
mollatarta, patëllxhan i kuq ‘tomato’, cf. domate; dru, pemë ‘wood, tree, fruit’; tamël ‘milk’, cf.
qumësht; tylnë ‘butter’, cf. gjalpë,); and morphological inhibitioneasing, including frequently
stigmatized forms (e.g., Geg infinitive, Alb. me shku(e) ‘to go’; cf. të shkoj ‘(that) I go’); among
others. Actual language practices (e.g., sociolects of various speech communities in Tirana and
Prishtina) are multifaceted, including societal and contextual elements9 (Tjupa 2009), which play
�5
pivotal roles in influencing which forms (e.g., standard, non-standard, formal, casual/informal)
“real life languagers” (Jørgensen et al., 2011, p. 29) employ10. Heterglossia allows multiplicities
of evolving, dynamic viewpoints to be conveyed through such authentic speech acts rooted in
speech diversity (Dentith, 1994), especially concerning authentic expressions of style – and self.
Often the case for ULA, however, “dominant political and ideological pressures…keep
‘languages’ [and varieties11] pure and separate” (Lemke, 2002, p. 85; Heller, 2007; Jørgensen et
al., 2011). Languages – including varieties – are often “politically prevented” from mixing,
meshing, and blending (Creese & Blackledge, 2010)12. Various ULA gatekeepers have attempted
to hermetically seal and guard it from unsanctioned leakage (e.g., of non-standard Gegisms).
3. Present Dynamics of Language, Fluid Hybridity, and Linguistic Repertoires
Let’s consider the various consequences of globalization, e.g., the migration of people
and ideas, on current linguascapes (Blommaert & Rampton, 2011), including Albanian
languagers. As Ag and Jørgensen (2012) explain, superdiversity involves the “diversification of
diversity…in
which
populations
become
increasingly
ethnically
and
linguistically
heterogeneous…and the expanding transnational as well as transborder communication over the
internet or other new technological phenomena contributes to the dismantling of the idea of
simple and clear communications” (pp. 527–8). This superdiversity entails the emergence of
rules and norms and their observance – and the appearance of alternative norms (Blommaert,
2013), e.g., in various linguistic landscapes in the Americas and Europe, including (previously)
imposed ULA confines. Multiple forms of truncated multilingualism and linguistic repertoires
participate (Blommaert, 2010; Kramsch, 2014), where “intrinsic polycentricity…characterizes
sociolinguistic systems” (Blommaert, 2013, p. 11), as exhibited in many ULA users’ linguistic
practices. Varied linguistic elements enter into the discourse, where polylingualism 13– involving
“languagers employ[ing] whatever linguistic features at their disposal to achieve their
communicative aims” (Ag & Jørgensen, 2012, p. 528) – and receptive multilingualism – when
each interlocutor communicates in his/her mother tongue (in the case of Albanian, “native”
variety) while comprehending the utterances of the other individual – may surface, including in
virtual linguistic landscapes of new and emerging media (Blommaert, 2013, 2014) involving
semiotic fluidity (Kramsch, 2014), which brings us to metrolingualism.
�6
Metrolingualism highlights the intersections of linguistic structures, semiotics, identity,
new media, local polycentric linguistic practices, multilingualism, among others, in linguascapes
that celebrate diversity, multiplicity, and hybridity. Metrolingualism14 embodies “ways in which
people of different and mixed backgrounds use, play with and negotiate identities through
language; it does not assume connections between language, culture, ethnicity, nationality or
geography, but rather seeks to explore how such relations are produced, resisted, defied, or
rearranged; its focus is not on language systems but on languages as emergent from contexts of
interaction” (Otsuji & Pennycook, 2010, p. 246). When languagers blend often-divergent
communicative
repertoires
in
spoken
and/or
written
utterances,
codemeshing
and
translanguaging results; linguistic systems “leak” and “contaminate” others, thereby
“undermining…ortholinguistic practices” (Otsuji & Pennycook, 2010, p. 245) and “challeng[ing]
particular hierarchies and hegemonies” (Creese & Blackledge, 2010, p. 104). From the lens of
metrolingualism 15 , the languagers are not bastardizing the language(s) or dialect(s). These
disruptions and destabilizations of dominant ideologies and (re)negotiations of identity are
integral components of metrolingualism16, which is “interested in the queering of ortholinguistic
practices across time and space that may include urban and rural contexts, elite or minority
communities, local or global implications” (Otsuji & Pennycook, 2010, p. 246). Germane to the
emergent Albanian norm, this “hybridity-oriented pluralizing strategy” (p. 251) embraces
“production[s] of new possibilities” (p. 247) of language as “an emergent property of various
social practices” (p. 248), while rejecting rigid cultural fixity, e.g., ortholinguistic ideologies17.
4. Considering Linguistic Regime Re-orientation for ULA
The current dynamics of Albanian involve codemeshing and translanguaging, among
others, unsurprising given the diglossic18 reality where ULA (and the Tosk variety) enjoys overt
prestige compared to often-stigmatized Geg (sub) varieties. ULA is presently undergoing
speaker-motivated change (from below), where varied sub-dialects have been in the process of
“leaking” into it, where multiple linguistic structures merge with others (e.g., Alb. duke shku(e);
tuj shkuar ‘(while) going’). Such dialect meshing (cross-dialectal/language transfer) of linguistic
elements (e.g., lexical items and structural features) is well-known in dialect contact contexts,
especially when the linguistic systems have been in (intense) contact situations (Lofi, 2007).
ULA’s current situation illustrates how, when the languagers are in the drivers’ seats, language
�7
can exhibit fluid and dynamic characteristics, particularly given speaker-driven pluricentric and
heteroglossic practices, where urban, provincial, and archaic, (un) orthodox, and innovative
features are woven into the linguistic repertoires19. Such multi-dialectal (multi/polylingual) and
“transidiomatic practices” (Blommaert, 2013, p. 8), including dialect ideology spurts (Watts,
2010), exemplify language choices exhibiting metrolingual speaker agency.
Late modern mediascapes, metrolingual landscapes, amongst other contributing factors,
have influenced and been shaped by a generation (or more) of languagers who attribute less
saliency to national identity than to emerging translocal sets of shared (virtual) experiences,
values, interests, and ways of life on and off the grid (Leppänen et al., 2009). Priorities are less
oriented toward modernist nation-state notions than other langaugers with whom they share
common understandings regarding similar notions of de-territoriality, hybrid communities, and
hybrid communication practices largely navigated online. Instead of being identified by what
some langaugers associate with affiliations of the modern state (e.g., rigid monocentric standard
languages and monoglot ideologies), some prefer to be identified by (and identify themselves
with) more dynamic and fluid (semiotic) metrics promoting perpetual malleability given the
demands of the day allowing them to determine “their own emergent orders of normativity”
(Leppänen et al., 2009, p. 1080), including regarding static standard languages.
Some may criticize such re-orientations for lacking rigid rules and fixity. Decisions
involving which “rules” to follow, however, are up to the languagers – not a handful of
academicians in a conference chamber or stone tower isolated from humans who use the
language and possess communicative, translingual, and symbolic competence (see Kramsch,
2014). Such positioning de-emphasizes prescriptivism, not normativity, and reinforces diversity,
rather than replacement and appropriateness paradigms, thereby permitting langaugers to redraw
their “final horizon[s] to fit a global world of increased semiotic uncertainty and symbolic power
struggles…as an adaptive practice that interacts with its cultural and technological mediations”
(Kramsch, 2014, p. 306), while recognizing decentered knowledge sources and reflective,
situated choices (p. 308).
5. Implications and Conclusions: A Critical Paradigm Shift
Less than five decades ago when ULA was approved by language authorities at the
Congress of Orthography and had begun to be promulgated to the masses, Byron (1976, p. 120)
�8
foresaw integrating alternative linguistic constructions, namely “[the] rejected alternates” (of the
Geg variety), into the standard, thus reinforcing that “a standard in time becomes heterogeneous,
and isolated from its initial state.” She suggested such alternative elements “be relegated to
stylistic functions” (p. 120), which would facilitate “at least a minor attempt to meet the demands
of humane communication” (p. 120). Such progression constitutes a paradigm “shift of Albanian
language planning from a policy to a cultivation approach to language” (p. 120). Byron’s
proposal is in sync with various Gramscian-esque and Bakhtinian-esque optics on language.
Such re-orientations do not constitute corruptions, but (re)evolutions, generated by speakers as
active agents and vectors in language change, where its social origins are also considered
(Milroy, 2001; Blommaert, 2013). Genuine tolerance for this emergent, relaxed norm illuminates
Haugen’s (1966) “elaboration of function” (Milroy, 2001, p. 534), while also allowing
languagers “freedom to imagine, not obligation to submit” (Blommaert, 2013, p. 10); and
reinforcing that “systems change irreversibly” (Blommaert, 2013, p. 13). The old rules are
“replaced by a default image of openness, dynamics, multifiliar and nonlinear development,
unpredictability – what used to be considered deviant and abnormal has become, in this
perspective, normal” (Blommaert, 2013, pp. 13–4). This approach encourages languagers to
partake in critical examinations of past and current dominant language policies “to dispel myths
about the degeneracy of modern day varieties” (Leeman, 2005, p. 40); languagers “must
critically evaluate the dominant norms, determine who is being assimilated and who rejected
through the establishment of these norms, and analyze the implications of this standardization
process” (Sanchez qtd. in Leeman, 2005, p. 41). Embracing elements of the proposed framework
allows for such critical awareness to transpire.
“‘Homogeneism’ [is] a fundamental non-acceptance of diversity” including where diversity is
seen as a type of societal “pollution,” often involving “intolerant and anti-pluralistic measures”
(Blommaert & Verschueren, 1998, pp. i, 122, 125, 126).
2
Jørgensen, Karrebæk, Madsen, and Møller (2011) explain: “[T]here is no such thing as
inherently correct language. Correctness is social construction about the characteristics of
specific linguistic features. Correctness has nothing to do with the linguistic characteristics of
features – correctness is ascribed to the features by (some) speakers. The notion of ‘correct
language’ may index specific features in (at least) two different ways… [like] native speakers…”
(p. 30).
3
Milroy (2001) remarks: “The standard form becomes the legitimate form, and other forms
become, in the popular mind, illegitimate…Urban forms…although probably used by a majority
of the population…were at the bottom of the pile…These were not ‘dialects’ at all: they were
1
�9
seen…as vulgar and ignorant attempts to adopt or imitate the standard and were therefore
illegitimate…” (p. 547).
4
That is, for Milroy (2001) language standardization does not constitute a stolid, inert state.
5
Jørgensen, Karrebæk, Madsen, and Møller (2011) clarify: “The insight of current
sociolinguistics is then that ‘languages’ as neat packages of features that are closely connected
and exclude other features, are sociocultural constructions that do not represent language use in
the real world very well…Rather than being natural objects, comprising readily identifiable sets
of features, ‘dialects’, ‘sociolects’, ‘registers’, ‘varieties’, etc. are sociocultural constructions
exactly as ‘languages’ are” (p. 28). Milroy (2001, p. 532) remarks: “[P]restige…attributed by
human beings to particular social groups and to inanimate objects, such as…language
varieties…depends on the values attributed to such objects. The prestige attributed to the
language varieties (by metonymy) is indexical and involved in the social life of speakers.”
6
Otsuji and Pennycook (2010, p. 252) write: “Heteroglossia, as Bailey (2007, p. 258) reminds
us, ‘encompasses both mono and multilingual forms’ allowing a ‘level of theorising about the
social nature of language that is not possible within the confines of a focus on code-switching.”
Blommaert (2010) explains: “The intrinsic hybridity of utterances (something, of course,
introduced by Bakhtin a long ago) is an effect of interactions within a much larger polycentric
system” (p. 12). Hayward (2001) comments: “Postmodern appropriations of Bakhtin’s work are
too diverse to summarize briefly. In its implication that language carries within itself ideological
orientations accreted from previous usage, but also that it can be modified in and by any new
speech act, the concept of heteroglossia enables queer, feminist and post-colonial theories to
interrogate dynamics of power without replicating them, and to elaborate the problems as well as
the possibilities for subjects attempting to assert themselves ideologically and politically.”
7
Hayward (2001) comments: “Heteroglossia is a concept denoting the stratification of the
different ‘languages’ practiced by the speakers of a single (official or national) language, and the
dynamic produced by their intersection and interaction.”
8
Bailey remarks: “Heteroglossia can encompass socially meaningful forms in both bilingual and
monolingual talk; it can account for the multiple meanings and readings of forms that are
possible, depending on one’s subject position; and it can connect historical power hierarchies to
the meanings and valences of particular forms in the here-and-now” (qtd. in Creese &
Blackledge, 2010, p. 106). Creese and Blackledge (2010) explain: “Bailey demonstrated that the
perspective of heteroglossia allows one to distinguish between local functions of particular
codeswitches and their functions in relation to their social, political, and historical contexts, in
ways that formal codeswitching analysis does not. He convincingly argued that the perspective
of heteroglossia ‘explicitly bridges the linguistic and the sociohistorical, enriching analysis of
human interaction’ p. 269) and is ‘fundamentally about intertextuality, the ways that talk in the
here-and-now draws meanings from past instances of talk’ (p. 272)” (in Creese and Blackledge
2010:106). Bahktin writes that “‘language is something that is historically real, a process of
heterglot development, a process teeming with future and former languages, with prim but
moribund aristocratic-languages, with parvenu-languages and with countless pretenders to the
status of language which are all more or less successful, depending on their degree of social
scope and on the ideological area in which they are employed’ (Baxtin 01943/35] 1981: 356–
57)” (qtd. in Tjupa, 2009, p. 124).
9
Tjupa (2009, p. 124) explains: “According to Ba[kh]tin’s understanding of language use, a
‘social person,’ who is also a speaking person, operates not with language as an abstract
�10
regulatory norm, but with a multitude of discourse practices that form in their totality a dynamic
verbal culture belonging to the society concerned.”
10
Bahktin clarifies that “‘language is something that is historically real, a process of heterglot
development, a process teeming with future and former languages, with prim but moribund
aristocratic-languages, with parvenu-languages and with countless pretenders to the status of
language which are all more or less successful, depending on their degree of social scope and on
the ideological area in which they are employed’ (Baxtin 01943/35] 1981: 356–57)” (qtd. in
Tjupa, 2009, p. 124).
11
Jørgensen , Karrebæk, Madsen, and Møller (2011) point out: (2011) “Heller (2007: 1)
explicitly argues ‘against the notion that languages are objectively speaking whole, bounded,
systems,’ and…prefers to understand language use as the phenomenon that speakers ‘draw on
linguistic resources which are organized in ways that make sense under specific social
circumstances” (pp. 27–8). They continue: “Blommaert (2010: 102) similarly refers to
‘resources’ as the level of analysis. He observes that ‘[s]hifting our focus from ‘languages’
(primarily an ideological and institutional construct) to resources (the actual and observable ways
of using languages) has important implications for notions such as ‘competence’’ (p. 28).
12
“[T]he teacher avoids, it is argued, cross-contamination, thus making it easier for the child to
acquire a new linguistic system as he/she internalizes a given lesson…It was felt that the
inappropriateness of the concurrent use [of two linguistic systems] was so self-evident that no
research had to be conducted to prove this fact. (p. 4)” (Jacobson and Faltis 1990, qtd. in Creese
& Blackledge, 2010, p. 104).
13
Similarly, poly-languaging is “the use of features associated with different ‘languages’ even
when speakers know only few features associated with (some of) these ‘languages’” (Jørgensen,
Karrebæk, Madsen, & Møller, 2011, pp. 33, 34).
14
Otsuji and Pennycook (2010, pp. 245–6) write: “We do not, however, want to limit the notion
of metrolingualism only to the urban…[W]e want to avoid an idealization of the urban
metrolingual landscapes set against the assumed narrowness of rural living. This has tow
corollaries: on the one hand, metrolingualism as a practice is not confined to the city; and on the
other, it is intended as a broad, descriptive category for data analysis rather than a term of
cosmopolitan idealism…[M]etrolingualism may be rural, mobile, local and fragile.”
15
Otsuji and Pennycook (2010) explain: “The focus in not so much on language systems as on
languages as emergent from contexts of interaction…The notion of metrolingualism gives ways
of moving beyond common frameworks of language, providing insights into contemporary,
urban language practices, and accommodating both fixity and fluidity in its approach to language
use” (p. 240).
16
As Jaworski (2014, p. 139) remarks, metrolingualism is the “manifestation of linguistic
performances,” e.g., polycentric and heteroglossic practices, “in which self-consciously deployed
linguistic forms index recurrent situations of use or specific social categories” such as gender and
region, thereby “creating new indexical meanings and new symbolic values (Rampton, 2009a),
where none may have been hearable before (Jonstone, 2009; Silverstein, 2003).” Such linguistic
behaviors entail “the recontextualization…or transplantation and relocation of linguistic
resources from one domain into another, frequently with artful overtones…[S]uch manipulation
of the relatively fixed,…social categories is the cornerstone of metrolingual usage which aims to
challenge and destabilize traditional and fixed identity ascriptions, ‘ortholinguistic’ ideologies
and practices” (Jaworski, 2014, p. 139).
�11
17
Such a situation is relevant for Albanian, especially considering the migration practices of
Albanian speakers. Whereas one speaker grew up speaking Swiss German or standard French at
school or work and ULA/Geg at home, another speaker was raised speaking a local variety of
Arabic or Italian of the community and French, Albanian and/or English at a brick-and-mortar
institution of learning, perhaps even later in life as an adult language learner.
18
Ferguson defines diglossia as involving “the coexistence of two varieties of the same
language, [where] a High variety (H)…describes the standardized form of the language, and a
Low variety (L)…refers to its vernacular form” (Lotfi, 2007, p. 40). Contact-induced change
environments tend to include the mechanisms of code-switching, code-alteration, and passive
familiarity (i.e. Fasold’s ‘broad diglossia’; Lotfi, 2007, pp. 41—2, 47). When the level of
competence in the other variety (or language) is extensive, the borrowing (and meshing) of
elements, i.e. convergence, can result, including in regards to phonological and morphosyntactic
structures, especially in cases of intense contact (see Lotfi, 2007, p. 47), where saliency (e.g.,
frequency of use) could play a role, as could be the case with a the meshing of high frequency
non-standard constructions, e.g., the Geg infinitive (e.g., dua me shku(e) ‘I want to go’, where
substratum structural borrowing which could also include a lexical component) and orthographic
hypercorrections (e.g., with the schwa <ë> and the palatal stops, i.e. <q> and <gj> with the
palatal-alveolar affricates <ç> and <xh>).
19
Jørgensen, Karrebæk, Madsen, and Møller (2011) explain: “The notions of ‘varieties’,
‘sociolects’, ‘dialects’, ‘registers’, etc. may appear to be useful categories for linguists. They may
indeed be strategic, ideological constructs for power holders, educators, and other gatekeepers
(Jørgensen 2010, Heller 2007). However, what speakers actually use are linguistic features as
semiotic resources, not languages, varieties, or lects (Jørgensen 2004, 2008). It is problematic if
sociolinguistics habitually treats these constructs as unquestioned facts. Blommaert & Backus
(2011) have proposed the term ‘repertoires’ for the set of resources which the individual
commands or ‘knows’…” (p. 29).
�12
References
Ag, A., & Jørgensen, J.N. (2013). Ideologies, norms, and practices in youth poly-languaging.
The International Journal of Bilingualism, 17 (4), 525–539.
Blommaert, J. (2014). Infrastructure of superdiversity: Conviviality and language in an Antwerp
neighborhood. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 17, 431–451.
Blommaert, J. (2013). Critical language and literary studies, volume 18: Ethnography,
superdiversity and linguistic languages: Chronicles of complexity. Clevedon, GBR: Channel
View Publications.
Blommaert, J. (Ed.). (2010). Language, power and social process: Language ideological
debates. Munchen:Walter de Gruyter.
Blommaert, J. & Rampton, B. (2011). Language and Superdiversity. Language and
Superdiversities 13 (2), 1–21.
Blommaert, J. & Verschueren, J. (1998). Debating diversity: Analysing the rhetoric of tolerance.
London: Routledge.
Blommaert, J., Leppänen, S., Pahta, P., & Räisänen, T. (Eds.). (2012). Dangerous
multilingualism: Northern perspectives on order, purity and normality. Houndsmill, GBR:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Byron, J. (1976).
Selection among alternatives in language standardization: The case of
Albanian. The Hague: Mouton.
Carlucci, A. (2013). Gramsci and languages: Unification, diversity, and hegemony. Historical
Materialism Book Series, Volume 59. Leiden, NLD: Brill.
Creese, A. & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for
learning and teaching. The Modern Language Journal, 94, 103–115.
Del Valle, J. (2014). The politics of normativity and globalization: Which Spanish in the
classroom? Modern Language Journal, 98, 358–372.
Dentith, S. (1994). Bakhtinian thought: An introductory reader. Florence, Ky: Routledge.
Hayward, S. (2001). Heteroglossia. In V. Taylor and C. Winquist (Eds.). Encyclopedia of
postmodernism. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. Retrieved from
http://search.credoreference.com.ezproxy.rit.edu/content/entry/routpostm/heteroglossia/0
Heller, M. (2008). Language and the nation-state: Challenges to sociolinguistic theory and
practice. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 12 (4), 504–524.
�13
Ives, P. (2004). Reading Gramsci: Language and hegemony in Gramsci. London: Pluto Press.
Jørgensen, J. N., Karrebæk, M. S., Madsen, L. M., & Møller, J. S. (2011). Polylanguaging in
superdiversity. Language and Superdiversities, 13(2), 23–37.
Kramsch, C. (2014). Teaching foreign languages in an era of globalization: Introduction. Modern
Language Journal 98 (1), 296–311.
Kramsch, C. & Whiteside, A. (2008). Language ecology in multilingual settings: Towards a
theory of symbolic competence. Applied Linguistics, 29 (4), 645–671.
Leeman, J. (2005). Engaging critical pedagogy: Spanish for native speakers. Foreign Language
Annals, 38, 35–45.
Lemke, J. (2002). Language development and identity: Multiple timescales in the social ecology
of learning. In C. Kramsch (Ed.), Language acquisition and language socialization (pp. 68–87).
London: Continuum.
Leppänen, S., Pitkänen-Huhta, A., Piirainen-Marsh, A., Nikula, T., & Peuroen, S. (2009). Young
people’s translocal new media uses: A multiperspective analysis of language choice and
heteroglossia. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 1080–1107.
Lofti, S. (2007). Diglossia and contact-induced language change. International Journal of
Multilingualism, 4 (1), 38–51.
Makoni, S. & Pennycook, A. (2007). Disinventing and reconstituting langauges. In S. Makoni &
A. Pennycook, Disinventing and reconstituting languages (pp. 1–41). Clevedon: Multilingual
Matters.
Milroy, J. (2001). Language ideologies and the consequences of standardization. Journal of
Sociolinguistics, 5 (4), 530–555.
Milroy, J. & Milroy, L. (2012). Authority in language: Investigating Standard English (4th ed.).
Florence, Ky: Routledge.
Otsuji, E. & Pennycook, A. (2010). Metrolingualism: Fixity, fluidity and language in flux.
International Journal of Multilingualism, 7 (3), 240–254.
Ricento, T. (2000). Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning.
Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4(2), 196–213.
Tjupa, V. (2009). Heterglossia. In P. P. Huhn & J. S. Wolf (Eds.). Narratologia – Contributions
to narrative theory: Handbook of narratology (pp. 124–131). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
�14
Watts, R. J. (2010). The ideology of dialect in Switzerland. In J. Blommaert (Ed.). Language,
power and social process: Language ideological debates (pp.67–103). Munchen:Walter de
Gruyter.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2893
Title
A name given to the resource
LANGUAGE ECOLOGY RE-ORIENTATION IN A CONTEMPORARY METROLINGUAL FRAMEWORK: A CRITICAL PARADIGM SHIFT TO AN EXPANDED, COMMON STANDARD ALBANIAN
Author
Author
Kolgjini, Julie M.
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Given present emergent trans-local new media in de-territorialized and poly-lingual milieus, an approach to the current Unified Literary Albanian (ULA) that integrates elements of Gramscian-esque and Bakhtinian-esque optics on language would be more in sync with contemporary poly-glossic realities of numerous Albanian speech communities in 21st century linguistic marketplaces than the language’s present standard. Such reforms could serve as partial remedies for current linguistic injustices and insecurities regarding various purported dysfluencies of marginalized and disenfranchised speakers of stigmatized Albanian varieties, thereby averting returning to past repressions. This alternative positioning allows younger generations of language learners to exercise their agency in arriving at “their own emergent orders of normativity” (Leppänen et al., 2009, p. 1080). Espousing this perspective encourages language guardians with ortholinguistic tendencies to refocus their energies from “deeply entrenched dogmas” (Del Valle, 2014, p. 370) of standard language ideology focusing on linguistic imposition and denigration, and exclusionary policies that neglected to integrate rich socio-historical realities of the languagers, to an inclusive linguistic regime that embraces the present linguistic diversity of polycentric sociolinguistic spaces. Instead of perpetuating outdated language policies involving inflexible linguistic intolerances of bygone eras that (still) attempt to hermetically seal language and prevent any leakage, cross-contamination, trans-languaging, or codemeshing from one variety (in)to another, mutual accommodation and communicability are advocated here. Given the diffusion of polycentric sociolects in various locales where Albanian is employed, “putting the toothpaste back in the tube” could be rather challenging and futile. Thus, various gatekeeping pedagogies, including many current replacement and appropriateness paradigms, could be ineffectual given contemporary metrolingual realities of many Albanian languagers and learners.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/7c86cc9bd643e13420be0157601ac6c1.pdf
35515b7a82027cc9bc56f952529f50ce
PDF Text
Text
THE ACCESSIBILITY HIERARCHY OF RELATIVIZATION IN SECOND
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Richard Madsen
Aalborg University, Denmark
Article History:
Submitted: 10.06.2015
Accepted: 22.06.2015
Abstract
The accessibility hierarchy of relativization (Keenan and Comrie 1977) describes the
restrictions that the grammar of a language imposes on the relativizability of clause and
phrase constituents. This paper explores the applicability and validity of the accessibility
hierarchy in second language acquisition and production.
It has been noticed that even Danes who are fairly proficient in English (university
students) seem to have difficulties with relativizing possessors despite the fact that Danish
has the exact same rules for relativization as English. All the elements listed in Keenan and
Comrie’s hierarchy can be relativized, and several of the relativizers in the two languages are
cognates. On the one hand, the apparent difficulties of Danes defy common sense and
theories on contrastivity and cross-linguistic influence (Ellis 2009, 2012, Jarvis 2011, Lado
1957), according to which Danes should not have problems with the formation of English
relative clauses. On the other hand, they lend the accessibility hypothesis support since Danes
seem to be challenged by the relativization of constituents that are low on the accessibility
hierarchy, suggesting that the hierarchy is not only relevant for the static differences between
language systems, but also for the dynamic interlanguage of language learners (Selinker
1972).
This study investigates the nature of the abovementioned difficulties and attempts to
place the accessibility hierarchy subsequently in the context of second language acquisition
by analysing several types of data stemming from Danish students studying English Business
Communication. Essays and summaries in English, translations from Danish into English and
vice versa, as well as gap-filling tests and tests concerning the construction of relative clauses
by merging independent clauses both in English and Danish are analysed.
Key words: relativization, second language acquisition
�1. Introduction
The impetus for this study was the informal noticing that Danish university students
of English seemed to have trouble with the use of whose as a relative pronoun. They often did
not use it when the antecedent was a possessor in the relative clause, but erroneously replaced
it by for instance which. It was even more surprising as Danish has the cognate pronoun hvis,
which is used in exactly the same way as whose.1 According to the contrastivity hypothesis
put forward by Lado (1957), Danes should therefore have no difficulties at all with using
whose.
One possible explanation for the apparent difficulties that has availed itself is the
accessibility hierarchy in relativization (Keenan and Comrie 1977).According to this
hypothesis, relativizing the possessor – precisely the function of whose/hvis – is somehow
more difficult than relativizing most other syntactic positions as it is not allowed by all
languages, and if allowed, then only if the other syntactic functions can be relativized as well.
If one assumes that the relative rarity of languages that allow relativizing the possessor is a
sign of the relativization of the possessor requiring more cognitive power than the
relativization of most other syntactic functions, then it is conceivable that learning the
relativization of the possessor is also more challenging even if the learner’s mother tongue
allows it. From the above trail of thought, the following hypothesis is posited:
The level of precision that Danes exhibit when rendering different syntactic positions in
English relative clauses correlates with the accessibility hierarchy, namely in
decreasing order of expected precision: subject, direct object, indirect object, oblique
object and possessor (aka genitive).
Relativizing the object of comparison, which is the lowest in Keenan and Comrie’s
hierarchy, was not tested in this study.
2. Theory and method
The theoretical standpoint of this study is that cross-linguistic variation has a
cognitive basis, namely that linguistic phenomena (be they syntactic structures, individual
sounds or combination of sounds) that are infrequent in the languages of the world are
somehow more demanding cognitively than phenomena that are attested in many languages.
(The present study does not concern itself with the question why this might be so.) Similarly,
it is assumed that phenomena that are used less frequently within one language tend to be
more tasking cognitively than phenomena that are used more routinely. As a logical extension
of these assumptions, it is presumed that phenomena which are more arduous to use are also
�harder to learn. This is why the accessibility hierarchy may be relevant for second language
acquisition (SLA) even when the secondlanguage is very similar syntactically to the mother
tongue, as in the case of English and Danish.
For testing the hypothesis outlined above, a group of freshmen of English Business
Communication at Aalborg University, Denmark have served as informants. Two types of
data have been gathered: results of tests specifically developed for this study and error
analysis of texts that the students had written independently of this study (Corder 1981). The
tests were of two subtypes: clause-combining tests and gap-filling tests. In the clausecombining test, the students were given pairs of independent clauses with one common
referent, and had to insert the second clause into the first one as a relative clause attached to
the common referent:
This exercise is intriguing. I investigate the accessibility hierarchy with this exercise.
→This exercise, with which I investigate the accessibility hierarchy, is intriguing.
In the gap-filling tests, the students had to insert the appropriate relative
pronoun into matrix clauses.The reason for administering gap-filling tests as well, after the
clause-combining tests, was that despite detailed instructions, quite a few students had not
done the clause-combining test in the intended manner. Many a times the students
disregarded the common element in the clauses and relativized another element instead, they
swapped the clauses and inserted clause one into clause two instead of the other way around,
or they rephrased the relative clause in such a way that the relativizer did not have the
intended function. In this way, the students managed to avoid using the structure and the
relativizer that the tests were meant to investigate. The gap-filling tests, on the other
hand,forced the informants to consider the structures to be investigated. Nevertheless, the
parts of the clause-combining tests that were not done in the intended manner by the
informants are not considered lost, but actually revealing of the presupposed differences in
the cognitive load of relativizing certain syntactic elements. For it is assumed that the
students resorted to the above mentioned evasive actions when theseproduced cognitively
less demanding structures than the ones intended by the tests.
The tests were done both in English and Danish; also in Danish in order to see
whether the students resort to similar evasive strategies in their mother tongue too as in their
L2. If so, it will corroborate the assumption that some syntactic positions are harder to
relativize even in languages that allow such relativization.
In order also to have a textual base for the study, a body of texts written by freshmen
in the last three academic years has been analysed for errors in the use of relative clauses with
�special focus on relativizing the possessor, i.e. the relativizer serving as possessor in the
relative clause. The informants participating in the tests described above form a subset of the
informants contributing with texts. The texts were composed in the course Production of
Written Texts and are within four genres: short compositions (e.g. business letters, ads) in
English, summarising in English of an English original, translation from Danish into English
and translation from English into Danish.
3. Analysis
Let the analysis start with a brief descriptionof the Danish relativizers (Table 1). It is
disputed whether all or in fact any of them can be called relative pronouns (Lehmann 1984,
Togeby 2003); however, that discussion is beside the point of this study.
Rel
Antecedent
Syntactic
ativizer
function
in
relative clause
som
any
except
a
any except possessor
any
except
a
only subject
clause
der
clause
hvil
a clause
any except possessor
hva
a clause
any except possessor and
ket
d
subject
hva
a clause
only subject
hvil
inanimate except
any except possessor
d der
ken
a clause
hve
animate
any except possessor
hvis
any
only possessor
m
Table 1: Danish relativizers
Hvilken and hvem (cognates of which and who(m), respectively) are very seldom used
as relativizers in modern Danish, but almost exclusively as interrogative pronouns, except in
�specialised cases as described below. If hvilken is indeed used, it agrees with its antecedent in
gender and number. Hvilket is the neuter singular of hvilken; however, in modern Danish it is
almost only used with a clause as antecedent. Hvis is – as mentioned earlier – the genitive of
hvem (the original nominative being hvo); however, it can – just as the English whose – also
be used with inanimate antecedents. It has a substandard, yet especially in spoken discourse
widely used alternative form hvems. Danish does not distinguish between restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clauses as far as the relativizer itself is concerned. Som and der, the most
common relativizers in modern Danish, are also translation equivalents of as and there,
respectively.
3.1. Results of the clause-combining tests
Each syntactic position of the relativizer was tested by two pairs of sentences. As
correct were accepted not only responses which were impeccable, but also responses that
contained minor orthographic or morphological mistakes not concerning the relativizer,
and/or in which the relative clause was extraposed, i.e. did not follow its antecedent
immediately, but in which the extraposition could not possibly result in misinterpreting the
antecedent (for instance She misses her grandma very much, who died a couple of weeks ago
instead of She misses her grandma, who died a couple of weeks ago, very much). Rephrasing
and reordering of the clauses were not accepted as correct no matter whether they were
grammatically correct or not in and of themselves. Nor were accepted responses containing
syntactic disorders, for instance pronominal repetition of the antecedent in the relative clause,
or no visible attempts at relativization.
3.1.1. Clause-combining test in English
Table 2 shows the aggregated results of the clause-combining test in English. This test
was performed by 54 informants.
Syntactic
function
relativizer
of
Average
correctness
Oblique object
69.4%
Direct object
68.5%
Subject
56.5%
Possessor
39.8%
�Indirect object
9.3%
Table 2: Aggregated results of the clause-combining test in English
This test does confirm the informal notice serving as the impetus to this study, namely
that relativizing the possessor is rather problematic; however, it does not confirm the
relevance of the accessibility hypothesis for SLA. The singularly miserable result for the
indirect object is caused by the almost uniform lack of use of the preposition to by the
informants. In Danish, the relativizer can function as the indirect object without being marked
by a preposition, although the use of the cognate of to, til, is allowed. The picture is even
more confusing when the test items are taken individually as shown in Table 3.
Sequential
Function
of
Functio
position of antecedent in antecedent in clause n of relativizer
clause 1
1
initial
Level of
correctness
1
subject
oblique
90.7%
object
2
mid
direct object
subject
87.0%
3
final
direct object
direct
77.8%
possesso
61.1%
direct
59.3%
oblique
48.1%
object
4
final
direct object
r
5
initial
subject
object
6
final
direct object
object
7
mid
direct object
subject
25.9%
8
initial
subject
possesso
18.5%
indirect
13.0%
indirect
5.6%
r
9
final
subject
complement
1
initial
object
subject
0
object
Table 3: Individual test items in English
�It has been noted by Keenan & Comrie (1977) that the syntactic function and
sequential position of the antecedent may interact with the use of the relativizer even to the
degree of case assimilation, in languages that employ case (Tortzen 1993). This may explain
some of the variation between the members of each pair of test items; however, the picture
seems more chaotic than that. For instance, item 1 and 5 are alike with respect to the
antecedent, yet the informants – contrary to expectations – score significantly higher in no. 1
than in no. 5. Conceivably, also the content of the clauses in the test items may play a role.
Further research is necessary to determine whether it is so.
3.1.2. Clause-combining test in Danish
Table 4 shows the aggregated results of the clause-combining test in Danish. This test
was performed by 29 informants.
Syntactic
function
of
Average
relativizer
correctness
subject
93.1%
oblique object
74.1%
possessor
74.1%
direct object
72.4%
indirect object
67.2%
Table 4: Aggregated results of the clause-combining test in English
Again, relativizing the possessor is relatively problematic although not so much as in
the informants L2, English; and againthe relevance of the accessibility hypothesis for SLA is
not corroborated. Moreover, as Table 5 shows it, there seem to be haphazard differences
between the test items concerning the same syntactic function of the relativizer.
Sequential
Function
of
Functio
position of antecedent in antecedent in clause n of relativizer
clause 1
1
final
Level of
correctness
1
direct object
subject
100%
�2
final
direct object
subject
86.2%
3
final
direct object
oblique
86.2%
possesso
86.2%
indirect
75.9%
direct
75.9%
direct
69.0%
possesso
62.1%
oblique
62.1%
indirect
58.6%
object
4
initial
subject
r
5
initial
subject
object
6
initial
subject
object
7
final
direct object
object
8
final
direct object
r
9
initial
subject
object
1
final
oblique object
0
object
Table 5: Individual test items in Danish
3.2. Results of the gap-filling test
The gap-filling test was used to see if the informants were able to choose the right
(form of the) relativizer. It was taken by 40 informants. The focus was on relativizing the
possessor, so this test was not designed to compare the relativization of different syntactic
functions with each other, but to see whether the students chose whose/hvis when these were
called for. Three test items in either language required the use of whose/hvis; its level of
precision is shown in Table 6.
Danish
English
Position
and
function of antecedent
Level
of precision
Position
function of antecedent
and
Level
of precision
initial, subject
95%
initial, subject
80%
final,
90%
initial, subject
55%
complement
subject
�initial, subject
80%
initial, subject
35%
Table 6: Level of precision of the use of whose/hvis
It is clear that the students are challenged by the relativization of the possessor,
especially of course in English, but to some extent even in Danish. Again, there is no obvious
reason for the variation among the test items.
3.3. Results of the error analysis
The error analysis of the corpus was used to see to what extent the relativization of the
possessor is an issue in actual practice.860 texts in English containing some 225,000 words
have been analysed. Altogether 15001 mistakes have been detected, of which 163 (1.09%)
have to do with relativization. However, only 2 of these mistakes, both in short compositions,
are the non-use of whose. Seen in this perspective, the improper relativization of the
possessor is not a big issue in practise. However, if one considers that altogether only 7
attempts were made in the analysed texts to relativize the possessor, then getting 2 (29%) of
them wrong constitutes a major source of errors. It must also be noted that whose is often
misspelled in both the texts and the tests (as who’s, whos, whoes, whoms, whims), which
underlines the observation that relativizing the possessor in English is a challenge for
Danes.However, it must be added that this is not the main challenge for Danes as many more
mistakes with, for instance, selecting the right relativizer with respect to the antecedent (who
vs which)or using whom for relativizing the subject have been noticed.
No attempts of and consequently no problems with relativizing the possessor
have been detected in the 144 translations from English into Danish, worth nearly 38,000
words.
4. Conclusion
It seems fair to conclude from the present study that the hypothesized relevance of the
accessibility hierarchy for SLA is very little, at least for the L1-L2 pair of Danish and
English.Even though it has been documented that relativizing the possessor is indeed on
average more challenging for students of English than relativizing most other syntactic
functions, the relativization of other syntactic function does not follow the accessibility
hierarchy. Notably, the relativization of oblique objects seems unexpectedly easy for the
students, even surpassing the relativization of the subject and direct object, which were
expected to be the easiest of all. Nevertheless, this study may be useful for teachers of
�English, as it has ascertained that the relativization of the possessor is indeed difficult for
Danes, and its successful acquisition cannot be taken for granted just because Danish
employs the exact same strategy with a cognate relativizer. The study has also revealed other
areas of relativization that seem even more problematic for Danes, and which will be further
investigated in a future study.
1
If one considers all the forms of the animate interrogative/relative pronoun, it is more conspicuous that hvis
and whose are indeed cognates: who, whom, whose vs. hvo, hvem, hvis. Although hvo only appears in a couple
of proverbs in modern Danish, replaced by hvem in all syntactic position except that of the possessor, Danes do
seem to be aware that who(m) and hvem are related (see Section 3.3.).
References
Corder, P. (1981).Error Analysis and Interlanguage.Oxford University Press.
Ellis, R. (2009). Implicit and explicit knowledge in second language learning, testing and
teaching.Buffalo: Multilingual Matters.
Ellis, R. (2012). Second Language Acquisition.Oxford University Press.
Jarvis, S. (2011). “Conceptual transfer: Crosslinguistic effects in categorization and
construal” in Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14 (1), 2011, 1–8.
Keenan, E. L. and Comrie, B. (1977). “Noun Phrase Accessibility and Universal Grammar”.
Linguistic Inquiry, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 63-99.
Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across Cultures. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Lehmann, C. (1984). Der Relativsatz. Tübingen: Gunter NarrVerlag.
Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 209–241.
Togeby, O. (2003). Fungererdennesætning?Funktioneldansksproglære. [Does this sentence
work? A functional grammar of Danish].Copenhagen: Gads Forlag.
Tortzen, C.G. (1993). ΒΑΣΙΣ.Attiskgrammatik [Grammar of Attic].Elsinore: Helsingør
Gymnasium.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2899
Title
A name given to the resource
THE ACCESSIBILITY HIERARCHY OF RELATIVIZATION IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Author
Author
Madsen, Richard
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The accessibility hierarchy of relativization (Keenan and Comrie 1977) describes the restrictions that the grammar of a language imposes on the relativizability of clause and phrase constituents. This paper explores the applicability and validity of the accessibility hierarchy in second language acquisition and production. It has been noticed that even Danes who are fairly proficient in English (university students) seem to have difficulties with relativizing possessors despite the fact that Danish has the exact same rules for relativization as English. All the elements listed in Keenan and Comrie’s hierarchy can be relativized, and several of the relativizers in the two languages are cognates. On the one hand, the apparent difficulties of Danes defy common sense and theories on contrastivity and cross-linguistic influence (Ellis 2009, 2012, Jarvis 2011, Lado 1957), according to which Danes should not have problems with the formation of English relative clauses. On the other hand, they lend the accessibility hypothesis support since Danes seem to be challenged by the relativization of constituents that are low on the accessibility hierarchy, suggesting that the hierarchy is not only relevant for the static differences between language systems, but also for the dynamic interlanguage of language learners (Selinker 1972). This study investigates the nature of the abovementioned difficulties and attempts to place the accessibility hierarchy subsequently in the context of second language acquisition by analysing several types of data stemming from Danish students studying English Business Communication. Essays and summaries in English, translations from Danish into English and vice versa, as well as gap-filling tests and tests concerning the construction of relative clauses by merging independent clauses both in English and Danish are analysed.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/3635075d8944a5a4f9687e2b08ba68d4.pdf
a1897de6622b66b96048ad89c260057c
PDF Text
Text
CRITERIA FOR THEMATIC GROUPING OF BANKING/FINANCIAL TERMS IN THE
UZBEK LANGUAGE
Saodat Muhamedova & Ekaterina Shirinova
Tashkent State Pedagogical University, Uzbekistan
Article History:
Submitted: 12.06.2015
Accepted: 24.06.2015
Abstract:
The following article is dedicated to the question of thematic grouping of banking/financial
terms, which take a considerable place in the lexical structure of the Uzbek language. The paper
presents the criteria for the distribution of terms according to their lexical structure, their original
properties, and it provides examples for the substantiation of the hypothesis.
Key words: banking/financial terminology, thematic grouping, criteria for distribution of
terms, criterion of relativity under the form, criterion of a semantic relativity.
1. Introduction
In today's globalized world, when the progression of science and technology changes the
way of life of the mankind, the shape and essence of language and its lexical structure is equally
affected. Terminology, as one of the largest branches of lexicology, rapidly reacts to the social and
moral changes in the society. Underlining these changes is the linguistics sphere, which is in each
language and field expressed differently. Thus, in Uzbek linguistics, a number of researchers
identified the terminology of various branches [1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 7; 8; 9; 10] examining mainly the
semantic properties of terms such as synonymy, homonymy, antonymy, and polysemy. It is
necessary to underline that the banking/financial terminology of the Uzbek language, which is the
object of our research, is labeled as system [11]. However, the existence of the same paradigmatic
relations is revealed in it. Due to this, some parameters, which give the chance to confirm specific
lexical as terminological system are put forward. These parameters have arisen on the basis of
properties of systems and criteria defining terminology as a system. The given parameters are
formed based on the analysis of terms of banking/financial terminology of the Uzbek language.
�In order to examine special units of any field, such as sciences and the industries, which were
considered terminological system, they should answer to requirements of systematization. For this
purpose, terms used in a special field should:
a) have a considerable quantity,
b) private value,
c) sources and ways of forming and developing the terminological sphere,
d) serve as a tool for dialogue in the field,
e) unite in lexical sets,
f) enter in paradigmatic relations with other elements of the given system (synonymy,
homonymy, antonyms, paronym, polysemy) and in syntagmatic relations with the general
language system.
Analyzing the research of terminological systems of different fields of activity in Uzbek
linguistics, it is possible to notice that in some dissertations [4; 5; 6; 8; 9; 10] the question of
distribution of terms in lexical sets is considered. As it is stated, “the stage of development of system
of lexicology is characterized by studying, dividing words on thematic and lexical-semantic groups
and meaning on components» [13, P. 47]. In order to correctly carry out the analysis of bankingfinancial terms, we divided them in lexical sets, given that the field is based on traditional points of
view.
The widespread use of banking/financial terms creates certain difficulties when it comes to
their classification into lexical sets. In spite of this, we have succeeded in defining the criteria for
classification of terms in this field. Initially, we paid attention to the structural system of terms. If in
the structures of several terms there is a general component, they are considered as a lexical set. If it
is impossible to find similarity between terms based on their structure, then it is necessary to carry
out a componential analysis of terms. If the results revealed that in terms of their semantic structure
the terms were actively integrated, they were considered as one lexical set, whereas terms that were
classified as actively differential were grouped in a variety of lexical sets.
It is known that terms in any field of activity concern different lexical sets. In our opinion
division of terms by the above-stated criteria give the chance to define a circle of terms use of this or
that terminological system. To elaborate further, we have given more concrete criteria for
classification of terms used in a banking/financial system, which are revealed based on dictionaries
and sources of expertise.
1. Criterion of relativity under the form: association of terms, with the general component
in structural system, under one lexical set.
�2. Criterion of a semantic relativity: association of terms under one lexical set which have
no similarity under the form, but have active integrated meaning in the semantic structure.
It is necessary to note that in the first case the classification process is easier than in the
second. That is because the components uniting terms under one lexical set are expressed in the
form of the term. For example, existence of the component “bank” in all terms such as: банк
вексели( the bank bill), банк операциялари (banking operation), банкнинг актив операциялари
(an active operation of a bank), банкнинг пассив операциялари (a passive operation of a bank),
does obvious their occurrence in a lexical set “банк иши (banking (bank business))”, and existence
in terms валюта бозори (currency market), валюта конверсияси (currency conversion), валюта
курси (currencycourse), валюта операцияси (currencyoperation), валюта позицияси (currency
position), валюта тизими (currencysystem), валюта трансферти (currencytransfer) ... A
component the currency carries them to a lexical set negotiable papers. Also, on the basis of this
criterion derivative terms are defined (question, which demands careful research).
Items “dealer” and “broker” in terms of form have no similarity, so they are classified by the
second criterion.
ДИЛЕР – молиявий активлар савдосидаги воситачи; мижознинг ҳисобига ва унинг
топшириғи бўйича, шунингдек, ўз ташаббуси билан ўз ҳисобига битимларни бажарувчи,
битим суммаси ва активларни сотиш ва сотиб олишдаги курс фарқланишидан тушган
фойдадан мукофот ҳақи олувчи шахс [15, P. 265]. DEALER (from English dealer - the dealer,
the agent) is a private person or firm, members of the stock exchange conducting operations on the
stock exchange not as simple agents-intermediaries (brokers), and on their own behalf and account,
putting in their own money in operating business, which carry out independent purchases and sales
of bonds, currencies, precious metals, etc. Also it can be defined as the participant of business,
physical or the legal body buying wholesale products, and trading them at retails or small parties.
Usually a dealer is an agent of firms-manufacturers of production, playing the role of a participant in
their dealer network [14, with. 131]).
БРОКЕР (маклер, комиссионер, куртье) –молиявий активлар савдосидаги воситачи
(даллол); мижоз топшириғига кўра ва унинг ҳисобига олди-сотди битимини амалга оширади.
Мижоз билан тузилган шартнома асосида олди-сотдининг маълум бир фоизи миқдорида
мукофот олади [15, P. 262]. BROKER - a person, an exchange worker, a participant of the market,
the agent of market relations acting in a role of the intermediary between sellers and buyers of
goods, securities, currency. Brokers promote the conclusion of commercial transactions,
"connecting" the buyer and seller. Brokers operate on the instructions of the clients and at their
�expense, getting payment or compensation in the form of commission fee at the transaction
conclusion. The broker can be a separate person, firm, organization [14 can act, with. 59].
The given terms have no similarity in terms of their form, but in their semantic plan, there is
the general meaning, like financial activity set which correlates terms to a lexical set a financial
system and provides them with synonymy.
2. Conclusion:
As A. A. Abdullaevoj states “Words, expressing own values, within the limits of one lexicalsemantic group at the same time appear the relations connected between themselves, not indifferent
for their own values. These are relations of synonymy, antonyms, any specifications, differentiation
and generalization of close or adjacent values”. Terms are a part of the lexical layer, where one
lexical set can be connected to another. To prevent such situations it is necessary to define borders,
which are the concrete factor of a relativity of terms. For example, for lexical set differentiation of
some we define as the important factor existence in structural or semantic structure of terms a phrase
currency or means of the financial reference. Therefore, it is necessary to underline that the
distribution of terms in lexical sets allows us to make thematic dictionaries for a specific field, and
thus solve the problem of classification of terms. Undoubtedly it is of great importance both for
linguistics and for the world of banking and finance.
References
1. Абдуллаева А.А. Лексика сферы международных отношений (на материале русского и
узбекского языков): дисс. ... канд. филол. наук. Ташкент, 2003.
2. Базарова Д.Х. История формирования и развитие зоологической терминологии
узбекского языка. Ташкент, 1978.
3. Дадабаев Х. Общественно-политическая и социально-экономическая терминология в
тюркоязычных писменных памятниках XI-XIV вв.. Ташкент,1991.
4. Данияров Р. Техническая терминология узбекского языка на современном этапе:
автореф. дисс. ... д-ра филол. наук. Ташкент, 1987.
5. Джамалханов Х. Из истории формирования и развития узбекской ботанической
терминологии: автореф. дисс. ... канд. филол. наук. Ташкент, 1966.
6. Искандарова Ш.М. Ўзбек тили лексикасини мазмуний майдон сифатида ўрганиш
(шахс микромайдони): филол. фанлари д-ри ... дис. автореф. Тошкент, 1999.
�7. Йўлдошев И. Ўзбек китобатчилик терминологияси: шаклланиши, тараққиёти ва
тартибга солиш: филол. фан. док. ... дис. Тошкент, 2005.
8. Касымов А.И. Фармацевтическая терминология в современном узбекском языке:
автореф. дисс. ... канд. филол. наук. Ташкент, 1982.
9. Мадвалиев А. Узбекская химическая терминология и вопросы ее нормализации:
автореф. дисс. … канд. филол. наук. Ташкент, 1986.
10. Мираҳмедова З. Ҳозирги ўзбек тилининг анатомик терминологияси: филол. фанлари
номзоди ... дис. Тошкент,1994.
11. Мухамедова С., Ширинова Е. Системная характеристика банковско-финансовой
системы узбекского языка // Перспективы развития современной филологии:
материалы VI международной научной конференции. Санкт-Петербург, 2012. С.156–
161.
12. Искандарова Ш.М. Ўзбек тили лексикасини мазмуний майдон сифатида ўрганиш
(шахс микромайдони): филол. фанлари д-ри ... дис. автореф. Тошкент, 1999.
13. Сафарова Р. Лексик-семантик муносабатнинг турлари. Тошкент: Ўқитувчи,1996. -47 б.
14. Словарь банковских терминов Викепидия. [Электронный ресурс] www.bank.ru. С. 131.
15. Шодиев Ҳ., Ҳамроев М. Молия статистикаси. –Т.: Абу Али ибн Сино, 2002. Б.265.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2901
Title
A name given to the resource
CRITERIA FOR THEMATIC GROUPING OF BANKING/FINANCIAL TERMS IN THE UZBEK LANGUAGE
Author
Author
Muhamedova, Saodat
Shirinova, Ekaterina
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The following article is dedicated to the question of thematic grouping of banking/financial terms, which take a considerable place in the lexical structure of the Uzbek language. The paper presents the criteria for the distribution of terms according to their lexical structure, their original properties, and it provides examples for the substantiation of the hypothesis.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
-
https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/e37f86ade2a8462961a42f4cb65c7318.pdf
9ec4df353fdac26b81deea107e2bf1b6
PDF Text
Text
DEVELOPING A BLENDED-LEARNING MODEL IN AN L2 CLASSROOM
Alla Nedashkivska
University of Alberta, Canada
Article History:
Submitted: 12.06.2015
Accepted: 25.06.2015
Abstract
The study analyzes the pedagogical model of the blended-learning delivery format that may be
incorporated in an L2 classroom. The study begins with the introduction of current developments
in the area of blended-learning in higher education and in second-language acquisition research
in particular. The focus is on scholarship that empirically informs the instruction and acquisition
of language competence in an L2 classroom with an added computer-assisted language-learning
component, blended-learning in particular. The model studied is a combination of face-to-face
instruction as the basis of learning experience and an online teaching and learning tools. The
focus is on specific tasks to be incorporated into the design of activities for both methods of
learning and instruction. Five types of tasks, interactive, adaptive, communicative, productive
and instructional, are studied as the main building blocks of an L2 learning environment. The
discussion focuses on ways the blended-learning model allows reconfiguration of specific tasks
in the two, face-to-face and online, components, leading to changes in the dynamics of an L2
classroom, shifting also the role of student and instructor in the studied blend. The analysis
shows that the incorporation of the studied model may contribute to the increase of students’
engagement in the learning process at both learning spaces, face-to-face and online, fosteringa
learner-centered L2 environment. The study concludes with a discussion of benefits the blendedlearning approach offers in an L2 classroom and suggests directions for further empirical
investigations.
1
�1. Introduction
The world today is undoubtedly technologically enhanced in every aspect of our being.
Technology has become inseparable from day-to-day routines, including education. Our students
are e-generation learners, who need to be provided with e-learning opportunities within the fast
paced transformations in learning and teaching environments. They are rejecters of passive
learning, who strive for active learning experiences, in which “technological sophistication is
perceived as an opportunity rather than a challenge” (Chakraborty, 2015, p. 137).
This study discusses the incorporation of e-learning into an L2 classroom. Specifically, the
focus is on the pedagogical considerations of a blended-learning model for L2 teaching and
learning at the post-secondary level. Blended learning1 is understood as “the continued use of
face-to-face teaching as a basic building block of the learning experience, enriched and enhanced
by the integration of the Internet and other teaching and learning technologies into studies
undertaken both in and out of the classroom” (Marsch, 2012, p. 3). More specifically, the
blended model2 is a combination of traditional, in class, face-to-face [FTF] instruction, and
online teaching and learning tools. The FTF component naturally includes social interaction and
the physical presence of an instructor, while the online components constitute a computerassisted language-learning mode, in which students self-engage in the learning process and
occasionally with each other or an instructor in virtual space. The blended method of instruction
has become quite popular in education and the number of blended-courses continues to grow.
2. Blended-learning in an L2 Classroom
The incorporation of blended-learning models in higher education and in second-language
acquisition in particular, has been considerably well researched. Studies that empirically inform
the instruction and acquisition of language competence in an L2 classroom with an added
computer-assisted language-learning component, indicate that when properly designed and
applied, blended learning models can significantly improve students’ learning experiences
(Marsch, 2012; Pena-Sanchez and Hicks, 2006; Stracke, 2005; Stracke, 2007). Several studies
“The term ‘blended learning’ first gained widespread currency in corporate training situations to describe the
combination of teaching and learning approaches that included coaching, mentoring, online interactions, face-toface classes and on-job training” (Gruba and Hinkelman, 2011, p. 1).
2
Other terminology is also used in reference to blended-learning formats, for example hybrid learning, and
flipped classroom, among others.
1
2
�address specifically the advantages and disadvantages of blended-learning courses. Many
analyses show that a blended-learning model “offers to learners affective and linguistic
advantages over both e-learning and FTF modes” (Bueno-Alastuey and López Pérez, 2013, p. 2).
The advantages of blended-learning models have been noted as the following: 24 hour
access to course materials (Krasnova, 2015), “greater flexibility (Macedo-Rouet, Ney, Charles,
and Lallich-Boidin, 2009), reduced costs (Sanders, 2005), unlimited time outside the classroom
to complete online tasks which students believe helps them meet their language learning goals
(Murray, 1999), and the extension of materials and learning scenarios outside the classroom
(Gimeno Sanz, 2009)”(Bueno-Alastuey and López Pérez, 2013, p. 2). With respect to linguistic
benefits of blended-learning models, the following have been identified: “a positive effect on
students’ performance (Scida and Saury, 2006) and language skills (Beauvois, 1998),
reinforcement of students’ autonomy and reflection, the facilitation of the review and control of
learning, more meaningful and individualized feedback (Gimeno Sanz, 2009), high ratings in
enjoyment and usefulness (Peters, Weinberg, and Sarma, 2009) and higher time on-task (SteppGreany, 2002)” (Bueno-Alastuey and López Pérez, 2013, p. 2). Interestingly, the use of
technology in an L2 classroom has been viewed as useful for communication and collaboration
between students and instructors (Krasnova, 2015) and has been credited for assisting with
differential learning in a classroom, with large class sizes, as well as with artificial
communicative situations necessitated by a foreign language classroom setting (Bueno-Alastuey
and López Pérez, 2013, p. 2).
In addition, the incorporation of the blended-learning model has been shown to be
successful for student’s language learning outcomes and students’ satisfaction. Bueno-Alastuey
and López Pérez (2013) investigate students’ perceptions on the introduction of the blendedlearning model in Spanish and English L2 language classrooms with varying degrees of online
tools used in each. Overall their results show positive perceptions of technology use in language
instruction. Importantly, their results confirm that an increased introduction of technology leads
to perceptions of its usefulness for productive skills, specifically the development of speaking in
blended learning models (Bueno-Alastuey and López Pérez, 2013, p. 15). Students show
appreciation for the use of technology, which contributes to increases in motivation towards
language learning.
The disadvantages of the blended-learning format have been noted as the following: a lack
3
�of connection between computer-assisted language learning tasks and those of FTF (Carrió
Pastor, 2009; Chenoweth, Ushida, and Murday, 2006), a decrease of control over learning, a
lesser amount of guidance and monitoring in blended environments, especially for students
lacking self-discipline towards learning (Conacher, Taalas, and Vogel, 2004), a number of
distractions created by technologies themselves (Gimeno Sanz, 2009), an overwhelmingly fast
pace of learning (Stepp-Greany, 2002), an intensification in work-load for students, a plentitude
of materials online which makes navigation through the virtual space challenging (BuenoAlastuey, 2009b), as well as students’ inadequate computer skills (Bueno-Alastuey, 2009a;
Burguess, 2003).
Clayton, Blumberg and Auld (2010) study factors that contribute to students’ choice of a
particular learning environment: online exclusively, combined or hybrid (blended), or traditional
FTF. Their results indicate that students who prefer the traditional form of instruction stress “the
level of engagement of the student, the various instructional strategies used to accommodate the
learning styles of participants and the opportunity for spontaneous and live discussion” (2010, p.
361). With respect to non-traditional courses, Clayton, Blumberg and Auld find that those
students who choose them perceive themselves as able to academically succeed in them. The
results, therefore, suggest that an online environment increases students’ self-efficacy, which has
been shown to be beneficial in the learning process (Clayton, Blumberg and Auld, 2010, p. 361).
Overall with respect to students’ wishes for the learning process, the results show that “learners
want engaging learning environment that promotes ‘direct interaction with professor(s) and
students’, ‘spontaneity’, ‘immediate feedback’ and ‘relationships with faculty and students’
”(Clayton, Blumberg and Auld, 2010, p. 362). However, students also want to have personal
control over their learning process that fits their lifestyle (Clayton, Blumberg and Auld, 2010, p.
361). The premise of the present study is that such students’ wishes may be effectively achieved
by incorporating the blended-learning model into the learning process, bridging gaps that exist
between an ‘online only’ or ‘FTF only’ models.
3. Analysis of the Blended-learning model in an L2 classroom
The primary emphasis of this study is on the pedagogical elements of teaching and learning
of L2 by post-secondary students via the blended-learning model. The analysis outlines
pedagogical considerations of the designed model aimed at developing a learner’s language
4
�competence (speaking, writing, reading and listening). The discussion focuses on a
reconfiguration of the teaching and learning processes in the blended model, including shifts in
the instructor’s and student’s role in the blend.
As noted above, the blended-learning course is a combination of FTF and online teaching
and learning components. In order to illustrate the model, an elementary L2 classroom, with five
instructional hours per week, is used in the analysis.3 The structure of the studied model is
illustrated in Table 1:
Table 1:The blended-learning module structure
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Weekend
FTF:
Online:
FTF:
Online:
FTF:
Online:
3
Transfer
2
1
Station 1
Stations 2
Table 1 illustrates a prototypical one-week long course module, which is a continuum of
FTF and Online components, as shown in Table 1. In the discussed model, the course
components are termed ‘stations’, which allows for viewing the learning process as a scaffolding
journey, that is a continuum. At the end of each one-week module (over the weekend), students
work at the online ‘transfer’ station before proceeding to the next module, which begins again in
the following week with the FTF component. In this one-week module, the FTF component
amounts to three FTF or contact hours per week, supplemented by two online ‘stations’ and one
3
The model discussed is being utilized for the development of Beginners Ukrainian as L2 language
course at the University of Alberta. At this university, elementary language courses traditionally have
been five contact hours per week (prior to the implementation of the blended-learning format). I am
grateful to two of my research assistants who are skilled collaborators on the development of this
blended-learning model for Ukrainian: Olena Sivachenko is to be credited for the contents of the FTF
components, and Oksana Perets contributed greatly to the online ‘stations’ of the model discussed.
5
�‘transfer’4 (in comparison to five contact hours of instruction per week in a traditional method of
L2 teaching and learning at an elementary level).5
The FTF component of the model is a teaching and learning experience in which both
instructors and students are physically present in a shared space, which is a post-secondary
classroom in the studied case. The online components of the model are placed in virtual space, to
which students have access while not physically present in class (note that students are
encouraged to follow the FTF class with a respective online station in order to ensure successive
learning, as shown in Table 1 above).
Any L2 learning space, FTF or online, is a combination of various activities with tasks that
contribute to certain teaching and learning experience for both the instructor and the students. In
the present study, the following tasks are deemed as crucial for a successful language learning
experience: (1) interactive, (2) adaptive, (3) communicative, (4) productive, and (4)
instructional.6
In the FTF component of the designed model, in this case an elementary L2, the following
tasks are used in the design of activities: (1) interactive tasks, which are initiated by the
instructor and then gradually transferred towards students individual or collaborative
participation, during which they investigate and explore with the language; (2) adaptive tasks, in
which students follow a model, practice and experiment with their language skills; (3)
communicative tasks, in which students practice language and share results in pairs or groups,
having discussions in the language; (4) productive tasks, when following an example or a model
students produce their own similar texts, written, oral or visual, expressing and articulating
themselves in the target language; and (5)instructional tasks, which are presentations of grammar
and new vocabulary by the instructor, with students apprehending the information. Importantly,
all of these FTF tasks stress the interactivity, students’ adapting the information learnt, their
engagement in communicative and productive activities, creating a social process in which
students learn from an instructor and, importantly, from each other. In the FTF components of
the discussed model, the ‘instructional’ tasks (5) with the instructor presenting information
4
It is expected that students would spend approximately 1-1.5 hours of self-study at each of the online
components.
5
Please note that the discussed model contains also various assessment components, such as quizzes and tests;
these are not at focus here.
6
Terminology is partially adapted from Laurillard (2002).
6
�overtly, is downplayed (see discussion below). Please also note that in the activities that display
the five tasks discussed, students have an opportunity to practice all four language skills:
listening, reading, writing and speaking.
At the online components, or ‘stations’ of the model, the same five types of tasks outlined
above form the core of designed activities.7 For instance, an example of an interactive task (1) is
a ‘scatter and match game’, in which students match words with respective images. These
activities are timed, bringing a sense of a game and thrill into the online learning
environment.Additionally, they promote students’ engagement and interactivity with computermediated course components.8 In order for learners to experiment with and practice their
language skills, adaptive online tasks (2) are achieved, for instance, by the use of podcasts.
Specifically, a podcast presents a pattern, which students need to reproduce independently (orally
or in writing), thus practicing the language skills according to the provided model.
Communicative tasks (3) are represented by online forums, on which students are encouraged to
share their thoughts, using their target language skills, at least once per week. This
communicative online activity extends the social learning community to the virtual learning
space. Productive tasks (4) in the online ‘stations’ are achieved for instance with the game
‘speller’. In this type of activity, students listen to an audio recording and simultaneously see a
respective image. The task for the learners is to type what they hear in the target language, that
is, produce the correct spelling of a required word or phrase. The instructional tasks (5), that
focus on presentations of grammatical explanations and introductions of new topics and
vocabulary are incorporated into the online stations. Video and audio technology is used for
these mini-lectures.Additionally, online flip-card activities are found to be efficient tools for
presenting new information: the flip cards demonstrate the spelling of a word, accompanied by
an audio-recording of its pronunciation with the flipping option allowing learners to visualize the
meaning. Importantly, the online stations prominently feature activities with instructional tasks,
allowing students to access the mini-lectures or presentations as much and as often as needed.
Overall, in the online student-centered activities students engage in self-study, in a structured
7
In order to arrive at the design of online activities that capture all five types of tasks, the Moodle learning
management system with an embedded Blendspace platform, Quizlet, Screencast-O-Matic and ScreenFlow
technology have been utilized in the discussed model. All of these technological tools allow attending
successfully to the pedagogical design of the discussed model.
8
See Sykes and Reinhardt (2013) for the analysis of the potential of digital games in L2 teaching and learning.
7
�manner, interacting with computer-mediated tools and activities, practicing and developing all
four language skills.
4. Discussion
In the designed model, activities from both FTF and online components demonstrate
various combinations of tasks (1)-(5) employed in each component. Both FTF and online
‘stations’ display the major tasks outlined above. However, the new blended-learning model
allows us to reconfigure the distribution of activities, with certain tasks being more prominent in
FTF space, and others in the online components. Specifically, in the blend discussed, both FTF
and online stations contain activities structured around interactive, adaptive and productive tasks.
However, the instructional tasks (presentation of grammar and new vocabulary) are featured
predominantly in the online components, thereby freeing the physical learning space to more
communicative activities. Communicative tasks are more difficult to implement via online
activities, therefore, these are given prominence in the FTF space, allowing students to maximize
practice of their communication skills in an actual physical learning space and a collaborative
setting. This reconfiguration, specifically with respect to instructional and communicative tasks,
leads to a redefinition of roles of both students and instructors in the presented model. This
redefinition contributes to the increase of students’ engagement in the learning process, which is
paramount for any learning context. Over the past few decades, the traditional FTF L2 classroom
has seen a move towards more learner-centered approaches. In reality, such approaches remain
difficult to implement in a traditional classroom, as many instructors still believe in the need to
deliver information to students during class time. The blended-learning model, by allowing the
instructional tasks to be carried in the online space, assists with implementing the truly learnercentered approach. With instructions mostly online, the FTF time is freed to more learnercentered activities, with prominence on communicative tasks. The instructor’s role is therefore
being fundamentally transformed from a lecturer or a source of information to that of a facilitator
and mediator in the students’ learning experience in the FTF classroom.
Overall, in both learning spaces students’ engagement in the learning process is
maximized. The blend allows for the student-self, student-student, and student-instructor
engagement in the FTF space, and student-self, student-student and student-computer-mediated
task engagement in the online stations. This allows for a more efficient and increased allocation
8
�of time and space for students’ participation in both learning environments. These conclusions
echo with Krasnova’s (2015) statement that “[i]nformation technologies... allow to organize the
interaction between instructors and students in a different way. They transform ordinary transfer
of knowledge into cooperative learning, help to bring together the positions of instructors and
students, activate their creative potential” (p. 400).
5. Conclusions
The present study analyzed one case of a blended-learning model for an L2 classroom at
the post-secondary level. Specifically, the pedagogical considerations of the design of this model
have been studied. The focus was on five different types of tasks to be considered in the design
of both FTF and online components of the model. The main conclusion is that when designed
and implemented successfully, both the FTF and online tasks can serve as an appropriate method
of learning and instruction. An important finding of the study is the reconfiguration of tasks in
the FTF and online components, which the blended-learning model allows us to achieve.
Specifically with instructional tasks presented mainly in the online ‘stations’, the FTF space
becomes more conductive to communicative and collaborative activities, promoting and securing
learners’ greater engagement in the learning process, fostering the true learner-centered L2
environment. In other words, the model discussed has the potential of harmonizing pedagogical
activities with specific tasks and maximizing the impact of each on the teaching and learning
process.The shift in the redistribution of learning and teaching tasks that lead to a reconfiguration
of learning spaces analyzed above contribute to maximizing students’ engagement in the
blended-learning model.
After launching the discussed model, an analysis of students’ engagement and motivations
for learning in this new format certainly needs to be studied. Specific questions to be addressed
are, but are not limited to the following: What do students think about the blended format?
Which model(s) do students prefer? What could be done to improve students’ satisfaction with
the blended-learning model? In what ways may the discussed model impact students’ L2
learning experience? How and in what ways does the blended-learning model contribute or not to
the development of the different skills and language proficiency in different language areas?
Answering these and other relevant questions will provide valuable input into the blendedlearning design, its implementation and research associated with this field of inquiry. We can
9
�therefore conclude that there is considerable anticipation and eagerness in further researching
and implementing this contemporary teaching and learning model.
References:
Beauvois, M. (1998). Conversations in slow motion: Computer-mediated communication in the foreign
language classroom. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 54(2), 198–217.
Bueno-Alastuey, M. C. (2009a). Using WebCT in a course of English for academic/specific purposes:
The case of English for agriculture. In I. Gonzalez-Pueyo, C. Foz, M. Jaime, & M. J.Luzon
(Eds.), Teaching academic and professional English online (pp. 127–152). Bern: PeterLang.
Bueno-Alastuey, M. C. (2009b). WebCT design and users’ perceptions in English for agriculture. InR.
V. Marriott & P. L. Torres (Eds.), Handbook of research on e-learning methodologies for
language acquisition (pp. 480–496). New York/London: Information Science Reference.
Bueno-Alastuey, M.C. and M.V. López Pérez. (2013). Evaluation of a blended learning language
course: students’ perceptions of appropriateness for the development of skills and language areas.
Computer Assisted Language Learning, doi: 10.1080/09588221.2013.770037.
Burguess, L. A. (2003). WebCT as an e-learning tool: A study of technology students’ perceptions.
Journal of Technology Education, 15(1), 6–15.
Carrió Pastor, M. L. (2009). Enhancing learner-teacher collaboration through the use of online
activities. In I. Gonzalez-Pueyo, C. Foz, M. Jaime, & M. J. Luzon (Eds.), Teaching academic
and professional English online (pp. 107–126). Bern: Peter Lang.
Chakraborty, Misha. (2015). Learner’s Perception of Engagement in Online Learning. In F.M.
Nafukho and Irby J. Beverly (Eds.), Handbook of research on innovative technology integration
in higher education (pp. 135-153). IGI Global, ISBN: 9781466681705.
Chenoweth, N. A., Ushida, E., & Murday, K. (2006). Student learning in hybrid French and
Spanishcourses: An overview of language online. CALICO Journal, 24, 115–145.
Clayton, K., Blumberg, F. & Auld, D. P. (2010). The relationship between motivation, learning
strategies and choice of environment whether traditional or including an online component.
British Journal of Educational Technology, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00993.x.
Conacher, J. E., Taalas, P., & Vogel, T. (2004). New language learning and teaching environments:
How does ICT fit in? In A. Chambers, J. E. Conacher, & J. Littlemore (Eds.), ICT and language
learning: Integrating pedagogy and practice (pp. 9–32). Birmingham: University ofBirmingham.
10
�Gimeno Sanz, A. (2009). Online course design and delivery: The Ingenio authoring system. In
I.Gonzalez-Pueyo, C. Foz, M. Jaime, & M. J. Luzon (Eds.), Teaching academic and professional
English online (pp. 83–105). Bern: Peter Lang.
Gruba, P. and Hinkelman, D. (2012). Blended technologies in second language classrooms. British
Journal of Educational Technology, 43(4), doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01347_6.x.
Krasnova, T. (2015). A Paradigm Shift: Blended Learning Integration in Russian Higher
Education. In Proceedings
of
The
International
Conference
on
Research
Paradigms
Transformation in Social Sciences 2014 (RPTSS-2014), Procedia - Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 166, (pp. 399-403).
Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking university teaching: A conversational framework for the effective use
of learning technologies. London and New York: RoutledgeFalmer: Taylor & Francis Group.
Macedo-Rouet, M., Ney, M., Charles, S., & Lallich-Boidin, G. (2009). Students’ performance and
satisfaction with Web vs. paper-based practice quizzes and lecture notes. Computers and
Education, 53(2), 375–384.
Marsh, D. (2012). Blended learning: Creating learning opportunities for language learners.
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi, Mexico
City: Cambridge University Press.
Murray, L. (1999). Developing the pedagogical ICT competence of modern foreign languages teacher
trainees. Situation: All change and plus ça change. JITTE (Journal of IT for Teacher Education –
Special Edition on Modern Foreign Languages), 8(2), 165–180.
Pena-Sanchez, R. and R. C. Hicks. (2006). Faculty perceptions of communications channels: A survey.
International Journal of Innovation and Learning,3(1), 45–62.
Peters, M., Weinberg, A., & Sarma, N. (2009). To like or not to like! Student perceptions of
technological activities for learning French as a second language at five Canadian institutions.
Canadian Modern Language Review, 65, 8679–8896.
Sanders, R. F. (2005). Redesigning introductory Spanish: Increased enrollment, online management,
costs reduction and effects on student learning. Foreign language Annals, 38(4), 523–532.
Scida, E. E., & Saury, R. E. (2006). Hybrid courses and their impact on student and classroom
performance: A case study at the University of Virginia. CALICO Journal, 23(3), 517–531.
Stepp-Greany, J. (2002). Student perceptions on language learning in a technological environment:
Implications for the new millenium. Language Learning & Technology, 6(1), 165–180.
11
�Stracke, E. (2005). Conflicting voices: Blended learning in a German university foreign language
classroom. In M. Dúill, R. Zahn, and K. D. C. Höppner (Eds.) Zusammenarbeiten: Eine
Festschrift für Bernd Voss (pp. 403–420). Bochum: AKS-Verlag.
Stracke, E. (2007). A road to understanding: A qualitative study into why learners drop out of a
blended language learning (BLL) environment. ReCALL,19(1), 57–78.
Sykes, J. M. And Reinhardt, J. Eds. (2013). Language at play: Digital games in second and foreign
language teaching and learning. Boston, Columbus, Indianapolis, New York, San Francisco,
Upper Saddle ariver, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Dubai, London, Madrid, Munich, Paris, Montreal,
Toronto, Delhi, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo:
Pearson.
12
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
2882
Title
A name given to the resource
DEVELOPING A BLENDED-LEARNING MODEL IN AN L2 CLASSROOM
Author
Author
Nedashkivska, Alla
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The study analyzes the pedagogical model of the blended-learning delivery format that may be incorporated in an L2 classroom. The study begins with the introduction of current developments in the area of blended-learning in higher education and in second-language acquisition research in particular. The focus is on scholarship that empirically informs the instruction and acquisition of language competence in an L2 classroom with an added computer-assisted language-learning component, blended-learning in particular. The model studied is a combination of face-to-face instruction as the basis of learning experience and an online teaching and learning tools. The focus is on specific tasks to be incorporated into the design of activities for both methods of learning and instruction. Five types of tasks, interactive, adaptive, communicative, productive and instructional, are studied as the main building blocks of an L2 learning environment. The discussion focuses on ways the blended-learning model allows reconfiguration of specific tasks in the two, face-to-face and online, components, leading to changes in the dynamics of an L2 classroom, shifting also the role of student and instructor in the studied blend. The analysis shows that the incorporation of the studied model may contribute to the increase of students’ engagement in the learning process at both learning spaces, face-to-face and online, fosteringa learner-centered L2 environment. The study concludes with a discussion of benefits the blended-learning approach offers in an L2 classroom and suggests directions for further empirical investigations.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
International Burch University
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics