2
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503
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A discussion of the Teaching Process within the Instruction on Reading Poems
Author
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Dincer, Figun
Abstract
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Poetry courses are taught in Foreign Language Teacher Education Departments either independently (the Uludag University case) or within the framework of general literature courses. The relevant sources benefited from in such courses may initially aim to teach how to read poems before such poetry elements as tone, diction etc. (DiYanni, 2000). In the model recommended, experiencing poems with subjective responses is given priority while interpreting them with intellectual processes seems to be the following step of reading poems (DiYanni, 2000: 1, 2). In foreign language contexts like Turkey, imposing this order has been observed to be problematic as learners and/or teacher trainees inherently tend to do reasoning to understand a poem before subjectively relating it to their own lives mainly because of the elliptical, metaphorical and allusive language of poetry (Brindley, 1980) and cultural vagueness (Zelenkova, 2004). In this regard, the central thesis and pedagogical implication of this discussion paper is that the interpretation section should take precedence when to approach a new poem as that is what would conform with the natural tendency of foreign language learners and the teaching processes to guide the learners should be accordingly planned and implemented.
Date
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2012-05
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Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
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https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/671e7c5ac86012bd16ab8dc0479dba5d.pdf
e2aa34a6dc897412e5ad80ea0a193695
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A FLOOD OF METAPHORS?
CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN THE 2014 BALKAN MEDIA REPORTS ON
FLOODS
Jelena Bošnjak & Dubravka Trišić
University of Belgrade
Article History:
Submitted: 10.06.2015
Accepted: 11.08.2015
Abstract: The paper explores the linguistic and conceptual metaphors in media reports
on the 2014 floods in the Balkans, focusing on the conceptualization of floods and floodrelated concepts. While natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes represent a wellknown source domain within the conceptual metaphor theory, this paper aims to explore
floods as a target domain drawing on online Balkan newspaper reports from May 2014.
The analysis offers insight into long-standing, conventional metaphors related to floods
and natural disasters as well as the specific realizations and elaborations of these and
other metaphors in the context of the 2014 Balkan floods. The possible functions and
effects of the predominant metaphors related to the 2014 floods are discussed.
Key words: conceptual metaphor, cognitive linguistics, floods, the Balkans, media
�1 INTRODUCTION
In May 2014, a series of devastating floods occurred in several countries in the Balkan
Peninsula. Due to their catastrophic proportions, the floods received significant attention
in the media. Drawing on the theory of conceptual metaphor, this paper explores floodrelated conceptual metaphors in the newspaper discourse on the 2014 floods in three
countries whose standard languages are highly mutually intelligible – Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia – aiming to determine how the floods were
conceptualized by identifying the most common conceptual metaphors. The possible
effects of and reasons for the use of the most pervasive metaphors are also considered.
1.1 Theoretical background
The conceptual metaphor theory, formulated by Lakoff and Johnson in their seminal
work Metaphors We Live By (1980), regards metaphors not as a poetic or rhetorical
device, but as a crucial part of our conceptual system. Conceptual metaphors are thus
considered to be a matter of thought, not merely language, and they are defined as the
understanding of one conceptual domain – the target domain – in terms of another
domain – the source domain. Target domains are typically “areas of experience that are
relatively abstract, complex, unfamiliar, subjective or poorly delineated”, while source
domains are normally “concrete, simple, familiar, physical and well-delineated
experiences” (Semino, 2008, p. 6). The conceptual metaphor theory postulates that we
reason about some concepts in terms of other concepts based on a set of systematic
correspondences between or across these two domains called mappings which are
grounded in human experience (see e. g. Kövecses, 2010, pp. 77–88).
Conceptual metaphors which underlie our thinking are manifested in language as
metaphorical linguistic expressions, although they can have other, non-linguistic
manifestations as well (see e. g. Kövecses, 2010, pp. 63–73, Rasulić, 2004, pp. 338–433).
More importantly, as Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p. 3) argue:
“Our concepts structure what we perceive, how we get around in the world, and how we
relate to other people. Our conceptual system thus plays a central role in defining our
everyday realities. If we are right in suggesting that our conceptual system is largely
metaphorical, then the way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is
very much a matter of metaphor.”
While FLOODS have been identified as a source domain in conceptual metaphors
such as IMMIGRATION IS FLOOD (e. g. Cunningham-Parmeter, 2011), this paper explores
floods and flood-related concepts as the target domain seeking to reveal how floods were
conceptualized in the public discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia,
and what possible implications this had for the way readers thought and felt about the
disaster.
1.2 Data and methodology
Our corpus encompassed all flood-related metaphorical expressions in three most widelyread daily newspapers with online archives per country (Dnevni list, Glas Srpske and
�Večernji list for Bosnia and Herzegovina, 24sata, Jutarnji list and Večernji list for
Croatia and Blic, Kurir and Večernje novosti for Serbia). The metaphors were extracted
from all articles on floods published between May 14, when the earliest reports on floods
appeared, until May 31, when the floods and subsequently the reporting on them had
subsided. The choice of the newspapers was based on the assumption that the analysis of
these reports would reveal most accurately how the floods were represented in the media
and thus how the framework through which the readers could conceptualize the floods
was shaped. The analysis included not only the lexeme ‘flood/floods’ (poplava/poplave),
but also all flood-related lexemes referring to the water and bodies of water that
constituted part of the floods. To avoid unnecessary repetition, the lexeme ‘flood/floods’
is used in all conceptual metaphors throughout this paper as an umbrella concept for all
of these lexemes. Furthermore, as we found that the same conceptual metaphors were
used in all three countries, we do not cite the newspapers or countries the examples were
extracted from although care was taken to ensure that all the countries were represented
in them.
Expressions were considered as metaphorical in those cases where it was possible
to identify two domains with metaphorical mappings between them. After these
expressions were extracted, they were analyzed to identify the overarching conceptual
metaphors. The data is given both in the original language and translated into English
while metaphorical expressions in both languages are italicized in the examples. We also
adhere to the well-established custom to mark conceptual metaphors and domains by
small capital letters.
2 RESULTS
Our analysis revealed that the most common conceptual metaphors used in the discourse
on floods were the same in all three countries. We present and discuss these metaphors in
the sections below.
2.1 Floods as an animate being
The conceptualization of floods as an ANIMATE ENTITY represents the most frequent
metaphor in our corpus. It is based on two ontological metaphors: EVENTS ARE ENTITIES
and EVENTS ARE ACTIONS. According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 25), conceptualizing
events, emotions, ideas and similar concepts which are not discrete or clearly bounded as
entities allows us to perceive parts of our experience as separate entities and therefore
reason about them. The conceptual metaphor EVENTS ARE ACTIONS enables us to
understand external events we have no control over as willful actions by an entity (Lakoff
and Turner 1989: 72–80).
In the majority of cases, the floods were personified and assigned “human
motivations, characteristics and experiences” (Lakoff and Johnson 1980: 13), above all
consciousness and cognitive ability:
(1) Voda ne zna granice, niti narodnosti, niti vjeru. Voda zna svoju razinu i pravac.
[Water knows no boundaries, nationalities or faiths. Water knows its level and
direction.]
�One of the dominant characteristics of the floods was the ability of willful
movement. The floods were seen as entities that were able to ‘come’ (doći), ‘go’ (otići),
‘enter’ (ući), ‘approach’ (prići), ‘cross’ (preći preko), ‘turn around’ (okrenuti tok),
‘run/hurry down’ (sjuriti se), etc.
(2) Voda…sjurila se kroz moje dvorište i otišla do Živkovog.
[The water…ran down my yard and went to Živko’s.]
Another characteristic of the floodwater was its ability to exert willful physical
force and consciously manipulate objects by ‘taking’ (uzeti), ‘carrying’ (nositi), ‘carrying
away’ (odn(ij)eti), ‘grabbing’ (dohvatiti), ‘breaking off’ (odlomiti), ‘severing’
(prekinuti/pres(j)eći), ‘tearing down’ (urušiti/srušiti), etc. When physical force was
combined with movement, the floods were described as ‘unstoppable’ (nezaustavljiva).
(3) …reka je odlomila i odnela deo parkinga…
[...the river broke off and carried away a piece of the parking lot...]
Very often, the physical force was accompanied by murderousness or aggression:
the floods ‘threatened’ (pretiti), ‘destroyed/ravaged’ (uništiti/uništavati/lomiti), ‘killed’
(ubiti, usmrtiti) and ‘buried’ (sahraniti), ‘wreaked havoc’ (napraviti k/haos), etc. The
floods were also seen as being out of control – they ‘went wild’ (podivljati) and were
ascribed various associated qualities or emotions such as being ‘unpredictable’
(nepredvidiva), ‘frenzied’ (pomahnitala), ‘raging’ (podivljao), ‘merciless/ruthless’
(nemilosrdna) while events they caused were seen as the results of ‘venting’ (iskaliti se).
(4) … nepokretna starica koju je voda ubila u njenom domu…
[... a disabled old woman whom the water killed in her home...]
(5) Kolubara je podivljala...
[The Kolubara has gone wild…]
(6) …koje je Jasenica i Kubršnica nemilosrdno natapala, povukla.
[…that the Jasenica and the Kubršnica ruthlessly flooded.]
Occasionally, the floods were assigned the ability to ‘calm down’ (umiriti se) or
‘show mercy’ (pokazati samilost).
(7) Kada se reka umirila problem se otvorio na drugoj strain…
[When the river calmed down, another problem occurred…]
Apart from physical force, the floods were also capable of exercising power and
influence. The floods thus had the ability to ‘force’ (primorati), ‘allow/permit’
(dopustiti), ‘change’ (prom(j)eniti), ‘take over/take control of’ (preuzeti pod svoje),
‘postpone’ (odložiti/odgoditi), etc.
(8) ... rekordne poplave koje su zadesile Balkan primorale su desetine hiljada ljudi
u Srbiji i Bosni da napuste svoje domove.
�(9)
[... record floods in the Balkans have forced tens of thousands of people in
Serbia and Bosnia to leave their homes.]
… ako to kiša i poplava dopuste...
[... if the floods and rain permit it...]
The conceptualization of floodwater as an animate being was also realized through
the source domain of A (SEA) MONSTER or in one case through the domain of A SEA
SNAKE. The monster was mostly described as ‘devouring’ ((pro)gutati) objects, people or
even entire towns.
(10) Kolubara je progutala grad za manje od 10 sati…
[The Kolubara devoured the town in less than 10 hours…]
2.2 Floods as a unifier
The floods also had one positive effect – they became a A UNIFIER which ‘united
people/brought people together’ (zbližiti ljude/ujediniti ljude/sve spojiti/udružiti), ‘led to
the collapse of ethnic barriers’ (dovesti do pada etničkih barijera), ‘erased borders’
(izbrisati granice) and made people show ‘unity’ (jedinstvo/sloga/zajedništvo), have a
‘heart which beats in unison’(srce kuca jedinstveno), and become ‘one big family’ (velika
obitelj/porodica).
(11) Ovo nas je ujedinilo, kao što nas nevolja uvek ujedinjuje…
[This has united us the way hardship always unites us.]
2.3 Taking measures against floods as waging a war
The activities that were undertaken to deal with the floods were commonly
conceptualized as WAGING A WAR. WAR has been identified as a source domain with a
wide scope which applies to many target domains such as LOVE or POLITICS (Kövecses,
2010, pp. 135–146) and across different languages (see e.g. Chiang & Duann, 2007;
Semino & Masci, 1996). Larson, Nerlich and Wallis (2005) studied “militaristic
metaphors” in the context of invasive species and diseases. War metaphors have been
identified in the discourse on natural disasters in at least two languages (see Trčková,
2011 for English and Zhang, 2015 for Chinese). In many cases, the war metaphors are
well-established, basic, or conventional metaphors meaning that their use is
“unconscious, automatic, and typically unnoticed” (Lakoff & Turner, 1989, p. 80).
Conventional war metaphors also exist in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian. Some of
these expressions are conventional within the discourse on emergencies and were
therefore quite frequent in our corpus: ‘braniti/o(d)braniti’ (defend), ‘o(d)brana’
(defense), ‘(ne)branjen’ ((un)defended) ‘boriti se protiv’ (fight against), and ‘borba
protiv’ (fighting/struggle against).
(12) … do proglašenja redovnih mjera obrane od poplava.
[…until regular defense measures against floods can be declared.]
(13) Sjeverni dio Bosne se još uvijek grčevito bori s podivljalim rijekama.
�[The northern part of Bosnia is still desperately fighting against rivers gone
wild.]
However, we encountered numerous other, non-conventional realizations of this
metaphor. Activities done to resist the floods were seen as a ‘war’ (rat) in which ‘battles’
(bitke) could be ‘fought’ (voditi). The floods, AN INVADER, ‘conquered’ (osvajati)
territories, ‘occupied’ (okupirati) objects, and ‘besieged’ (opkoliti sa svih strana) people.
The destruction caused by the floods was seen as ‘aggression’ (agresija) while the water
was even characterized as ‘bloodthirsty’ (krvožedna). The human fighters, some of which
were ‘volunteers’ (dobrovoljci), and their ‘fellow-combatants’ (saborci), could bring in
‘reinforcement’ (pojačanje) but they were rarely able to ‘win’ or ‘defeat’ (pob(j)editi)
their enemy. Sometimes, ‘heroes’ (heroji/junaci) emerged from this war. The areas with
levees or sandbags were called ‘defense lines’ (odbrambena linija/linije odbrane), ‘a line
of battle’ (linija fronte), ‘bulwarks/ramparts’ (utvrde), while a place safe from the floods
was once described as a ‘stronghold’ (uporište).
(14) Paralelno s tim brani se druga linija fronte...
[At the same time, the second line of battle is being defended…]
(15) Same akcije spašavanja ljudi iz vodom okupiranih kuća bile su na trenutke
dramatične.
[Saving people from houses occupied by water was at times very dramatic.]
2.4 Floods as a projectile
A very frequent metaphor in our corpus was the metaphor A FLOOD IS A PROJECTILE,
realized in all three countries through the expression ‘hit’ (pogoditi) and its participle
‘hit’ (pogođen).
(16) …pomoć za područja pogođena poplavama.
[…aid for the areas hit by floods.]
2.5 Floods as a container
Another quite common metaphor was A FLOOD IS A CONTAINER, realized through the
preposition ‘in’ (u) and the locative case of the noun in question.
(17) …obiteljima čiji su najmiliji izgubili živote u poplavi…
[...the families that have lost their loved ones in the flood...]
2.6 Floods as an apocalyptic event or hell
Finally, the floods were conceptualized as THE BIBLICAL/APOCALYPTIC
FLOOD/DELUGE, THE PASSION OF CHRIST, THE APOCALYPSE/AN APOCALYPTIC EVENT and
THE HELL. The metaphorical realizations of these source domains included ‘the Flood’
(potop), ‘of Biblical proportions’ (biblijskih razmera), ‘the Passion of Christ/calvary’
�(kalvarija), ‘the apocalypse’ (apokalipsa), ‘apocalyptic’ (apokaliptičan), ‘cataclysmic’
(kataklizmičan), ‘hell’ (pakao, etc.).
(18) Bosna i Hercegovina je…prošla još jednu kalvariju…
[Bosnia and Herzegovina has...gone through another calvary...]
(19) Apokalipsa u Rajevom Selu
[Apocalypse in Rajevo Selo]
(20) Novinarka “Blica” u paklu Obrenovca
[Blic journalist in the hell of Obrenovac]
3 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
When the most common conceptual metaphors and their linguistic realizations
encountered in our corpus are all taken into consideration, a multi-faceted concept of the
2014 May floods in the Balkans emerges. Rather than being an event occurring without a
purpose, the floods were conceptualized as a sentient entity with physical and cognitive
abilities, capable of purposeful movement, of influencing the world around them, and
characterized by significant physical strength. When these qualities were paired with rage
that needed to be vented and mercilessness, widespread destruction and chaos ensued.
The floods became frenzied and unpredictable and therefore impossible to control until
they themselves decided to calm down and show mercy. Sometimes, they took on the
form of an evil monster devouring everything in its path. The only positive (side-)effect
they had was bringing people together, but mainly for the purpose of putting up unified
resistance. They often took on the role of an invader or attacker in a proper, albeit
somewhat one-sided war. Some areas and people were simply hit by the floods, suddenly
and unexpectedly. Finally, even when the floods were conceptualized as an event it was
an end-of the-world event or simply hell.
Although the numerous flood-related metaphorical expressions were not evenly
distributed across the corpus – not all of the linguistic manifestations were used in each
country and some of them occurred only once or twice in the entire corpus – the
overarching conceptual metaphors were the same in all three countries, the most frequent
in the corpus and therefore the most pervasive in the discourse on floods. Some of these
metaphors, such as the ontological metaphor of personification, are, as Lakoff and
Johnson (1980) maintain, “necessary for even attempting to deal rationally with our
experiences” (p. 26) since they help us understand unfamiliar experiences in terms of
more familiar ones. However, as Semino (2008) argues, metaphors in discourse,
especially non-conventional ones, are rarely neutral and are often deliberately chosen
among many alternatives for a variety of communicative, social, political, historical and
other reasons. The “main set of functions of metaphors in discourse relates to the
representation of (particular aspects of) reality” (Semino, 2008, p. 31) where the choice
of the source domain through which a concept is to be understood directly affects that
understanding. One of the reasons for this is that conceptual metaphors highlight some
aspects of the target domain while hiding others depending on the choice of the source
domain (Lakoff & Johnson 1980, pp. 10–13).
While it is not possible give definite reasons why the conceptual metaphors
presented in this paper were the most common in the discourse on the 2014 Balkan
�floods, we can speculate about the possible effects of these metaphors on public
consciousness. Given their pervasiveness, the concept of floods that was structured by
them is likely to have had an impact on how the public understood the floods and their
consequences. As evidenced throughout this paper, this concept was often one of a
juggernaut too powerful for any mere mortal to resist. The way the floods were
conceptualized highlighted almost exclusively the qualities of the floods, possibly
shifting the focus, and therefore perhaps also the responsibility and the blame, from the
people and their ability to resist the floods and mitigate their consequences or even
prevent them to the unstoppable floods themselves.
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�
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A FLOOD OF METAPHORS? CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN THE 2014 BALKAN MEDIA REPORTS ON FLOODS
Author
Author
Bošnjak, Jelena
Trišić, Dubravka
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The paper explores the linguistic and conceptual metaphors in media reports on the 2014 floods in the Balkans, focusing on the conceptualization of floods and flood-related concepts. While natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes represent a well-known source domain within the conceptual metaphor theory, this paper aims to explore floods as a target domain drawing on online Balkan newspaper reports from May 2014. The analysis offers insight into long-standing, conventional metaphors related to floods and natural disasters as well as the specific realizations and elaborations of these and other metaphors in the context of the 2014 Balkan floods. The possible functions and effects of the predominant metaphors related to the 2014 floods are discussed.
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International Burch University
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2015
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P Philology. Linguistics
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A Model eLearning Solution for Foreign Language Students
Author
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Bogdanovic, Fedja
Handzic , Meliha
Abstract
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Technology is currently driving a profound transformation of the learning industry. In response to the growing demand for education in the knowledge based economy, universities and colleges are offering thousands of online courses, thus changing the traditional classroom-based methods of teaching and learning. Researchers and practitioners are predicting that the current trend will continue. However, while many institutions are developing and using web-based courses, little is known about their value in improving the quality of students’ learning experience. An electronic or e-learning environment is usually defined as a computer-based environment that provides access to a wide range of resources and allows interactions and encounters among participants. Essentially, e-learning combines the individualised learning experience with the communication dimension. Learners can access and utilise different available materials and follow different paths to them depending on their inquiry styles. They can also interact and discuss electronically with other learners and instructors. Typically, on-line environments support learner-centred, modularised and self-paced learning. Some researchers suggest that technology-mediated learning environments may improve students’ achievement, their attitudes toward learning, and their evaluation of the learning experience. Others warn that technology-mediated learning environments may lead to the student feelings of isolation, frustration, anxiety and confusion. The goal of this study is to examine the issue in the context of foreign language learning. An integrated KM framework was used as a theoretical basis for modelling an “ideal” e-learning space for foreign language students. The model was tested among undergraduate students enrolled in English language study programmes. The participants were interviewed about their preferences for different model features, content and tools in supporting their learning experience. Individual responses were encoded and grouped into classes. The results provide some interesting insights into the potential and limitations of information technology in language learning.
Date
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2012-05
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800
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A Needs Assessment Study of a Language Preparatory Program in terms of the Students’ Reading and Writing Abilities
Author
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Enisa, Mede
Abstract
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A needs assessment study is usually carried out for different purposes. Collecting information on a specific problem that learners are experiencing, helping to determine if an existing course adequately addresses the needs of potential students, finding out the perceptions of related parties regarding the skills a learner needs in order to perform a specific role, demonstrating a change of direction that people in a reference group feel is important, and signifying a discrepancy between the perceptions about what the students are able to do and what they need to be able to do are the among the main reasons for needs assessments to be conducted (Brown, 1995; Richards, 2001). The aim of the present study is to identify the students’ perceived language needs in terms of their reading and writing abilities. A sample of forty-eight students and fifteen instructors enrolled in an English Preparatory Language Teaching program at a highly competitive private university in Istanbul, Turkey participated in the study. Data came from a needs analysis questionnaire and a semi-structured interview conducted with the two groups of partcipants. The findings suggested important implications for evaluating and redesigning the reading and writing syllabi for the following academic year.
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2012-05
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P Philology. Linguistics
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830
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A New Necessity in Foreign Language Teaching: Teaching Children a Second Language
Author
Author
Savlı, Fusun
Abstract
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Up until the 20th century, dissemination of English language by means of the colonies of England and the dominance of the United States of America resulted in the perception, acknowledgement and learning of English as the only language by millions of people. However, numerous studies have been conducted on the necessity of learning a foreign language in the last 30 to 40 years. Particularly resulting from the age of communication that our world experiences, and the insufficiency of speaking their own languages while different nations communicate with one another lead to the increase of the studies on foreign language teaching in number in recent years. The most significant aim of these studies is to promote the cooperation between the members of the European Union in any field. For that matter, the European Union raised the consciousness of a multilingual and multicultural European citizenship in order to ensure the protection and learning of different languages and cultures making up the richness of Europe. Accordingly, it laid down the educational policy of the European Union which is in force in many European countries. One of the issues on which the most numerous studies have been carried out is the “early teaching of foreign language”. In this presentation, we aim at answering such questions as what early teaching of foreign language is, why it is important and how it should be ensured, with special reference to the approaches to be taken into consideration and linguistic skills to be acquired during the early teaching of foreign language after touching upon the policies of foreign language being implemented in the European Union and in Turkey. In addition, we shall offer some suggestions on the actions to be taken in order to render this process more efficient for children and to improve their success.
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2012-05
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P Philology. Linguistics
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https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/1cbeec4b8ea17e0898b005672f73c48a.pdf
a627aa751b43174a3651419132a27cc9
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1st International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
May 5-7 2011 Sarajevo
A Postmodern Study of Doris Lessing‘s The Golden Notebook
in the Light of Jean-Francois Lyotard ‘s Ideas
Shahram Kiaei
Faculty Member, Department of English,
Islamic Azad University, Qom Branch, Qom, Iran
shahramkiaei@yahoo.com
Ensiyehsadat Azizi
Department of English
Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch , Arak , Iran
enc1382@yahoo.com
Fatemeh Azizmohammadi
Faculty Member, Department of English,
Islamic Azad University, Arak Branch , Arak , Iran
Mina_meena_meena@yahoo.com
Abstract: It has become a virtual commonplace of contemporary criticism that
postmodern thought challenges the Enlightenment view of human reason,
especially its assumption of a stable, autonomous subject capable of directing the
forces of history. For this reason some theorists see postmodernism as pivoting
on a reformulation of anti-Enlightenment thought that surfaced during the
nineteenth-century and which remained active throughout the modernist period.
From this perspective, literary modernism's ambivalent stance toward the
integrity of the subject is in part the legacy of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud-precisely those nineteenth-century thinkers who situate much of the postmodern
project. Regarding all the previous criticisms, this study clearly assumes that
postmodernism employs quite different critical methodologies from those of
modernism. Nevertheless, as Jean-Francois Lyotard suggests, evidence of this
postmodern emphasis is latent in modernism itself, most particularly in those
highly experimental or transgressive works that challenge traditional notions of
referential language, rational order, or the autonomous subject. This study,
particularly, examines Doris Lessing‘s major work for which she was awarded
Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007, The Golden Notebook (1962), in which
postmodern elements especially Lyotard‘s exists. Ultimately, the paper hails this
most influential novel as a postmodern masterpiece.
Key Words: Enlightenment, Postmodernism, Fragmentation, Chaos
In the first two-thirds of The Golden Notebook, the theme of the crack up or breakdown is
elaborated in the novels representation of national and global politics. Soviet-inspired Communism,
European colonialism and emperialism , Britain society, and national liberation struggles in the
Third World are disintegrating, collapsing, crumbling, and fragmenting, under the pressures both
internal and external. The last third of the novel relocates the crack-up in the person,[..],of Anna
herself.
-Louise Yelin,
From the Margins of Empire: Christina Stead, Doris Lessing, Nadline Gordimer
Introduction
The Enlightenment was a Europe-wide phenomenon, in philosophy, literature, language, art, religion,
and political theory, which lasted from around 1680 until the end of the 18 thcentury. Conventionally, the
Enlightenment has been called the ―age of reason‖. For the Enlightenment thinker, truth was available and
human reason was the tool by which this knowledge had been achieved and by further application of human
reason, one day the whole truth would be available to the human mind. Traditional theory desires for a unitary
and totalizing truth. During this time philosophers believed in the world‘s own story. It is what Jean-Francois
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Lyotard , one of the leading proponents of postmodernism, denies when he urges a rejection of Enlightenment
―metanarratives‖ in favor of arguing that ―there is no such thing as the world‘s own story, and the only accounts
that we can give of the world are local human aiccounts. There are only varied and conflicting human stories
about the world‖. The credibility of grand narratives has collapsed for Lyotard . Based on the theory by Lyotard
(1984):
In contemporary society and culture-postindustrial society, postmodern culture-the question of the
legitimation of knowledge is formulated in different terms. The grand narrative has lost its credibility,
regardless of what mode of unification it uses, regardless of whether it is a speculative narrative or a
narrative of emancipation (p.37).
Postmodern philosophers say that the idea of the world‘s own story, the unified picture of reality is an
illusion. Most postmodernism‘s core characteristics are: ―a skepticism or rejection of grand narratives to explain
reality; no objective reality, but many subjective interpretations; no ―one correct‖ concept of ultimate reality; no
―one correct‖ interpretation of a text (Bressler, 2007).
Moreover, postmodernist thought rejects universals, the whole truth, unitary and totalization. This is
the fragmentation of truth. Postmodernist art, architecture and literature emphasize the lack of any unifying form
or method in art. Postmodernist art revels in the fragmentation of artistic standards (Luntley, 1995). Hence, the
postmodern literature world is the representation of chaos and fragmentation. In postmodern novels, chaos,
fragmentation, and breakdown are in both their contents and structures. Lyotard , too sees society as fragmented.
The postmodern novelists would appreciate the readers to explore fragmented society and human beings.
Postmodern novelists reject any conventional story-telling and emphasize that there are no pre-established ways
for writing. The process of story-telling is different for postmodern novelists. They are interested in discovering
new ways for writing. A liberating way of story-telling is clear for postmodern novelists. Lyotard (1984)
expresses that:
A postmodern artist or writer is in the position of a philosopher: the text he writes, the work he
produces are not in principle governed by pre-established rules ,and they cannot be judged according to
a determining judgment ,by applying familiar categories to the text or to the work. Those rules and
categories are what the work of art itself is looking for. The artist and the writer then are working
without rules in order to formulate the rules of what will have been done (p.81).
One of the outstanding examples of postmodern novels which most contain the above-mentioned is
Doris Lessing‘s The Golden Notebook .In this novel, Lessing avoids being committed to conventional storytelling ,and tends to regard unconventional and new ways for story-telling. This essay discusses Anna‘s
skepticism about the Communist Party, as illustrated primarily in the Red Notebook.
Doris Lessing, the Noble Prize winner in literature 2007, the greatest English novelist of the postwar
period, born in Persia (now Iran) to British parents in 1919. She has written a lot of plays, short stories and
novels. The Grass is singing, which appeared in 1950, is her first novel. As she has told her interviewers, it is
not her first attempt at the novel; she has destroyed the manuscripts of two earlier works. During the 50s and
60s, The Grass is singing was followed by the five volumes of her Children of Violence series: Martha Quest
(1952); A Proper Marriage (1954); A Ripple from the Storm (1958); Landlocked (1956), and The Four-Gated
City (1969). Also, she has written several other novels and a series of short stories. To Room Nineteen (1978)
and Through the Tunnel (1990) are her best-known short stories. One of her plays is Play with a Tiger: a play in
three acts. The main focus of the present essay, as mentioned before, is on Lessing‘s The Golden Notebook,
which will be closely analyzed in the following paragraphs.
Doris Lessing‘s The Golden Notebook
The Golden Notebook (1962) opens with a ―Free Women‖ section: Free Women is a conventional short
novel that is divided into five sections and separated by stages of the four Notebooks; Black ,Red, Yellow and
Blue ,and The Golden Notebook appears near the book‘s end. In these notebooks Anna keeps writing of events
in her life. The Black Notebook is a record of various aspects of Anna‘s bestselling first novel, Frontiers of war;
The Red one is about her experiences and dissatisfying with the British Communist Party; The Yellow one is
about her romantic novel called The Shadow of the Third; in this notebook she writes about Ella which is the
mirror of her life; and the Blue one is Anna‘s diary of her life.
The Golden Notebook and the Interrogation of the Communist Party
The Golden Notebook is one of the best-loved and most influential of Lessing‘s novels that invites her
readers to discover postmodern fragmented society. When Anna Wulf , the writer and the protagonist, in the
beginning of the novel says ―everything is cracking up‖, it implies that the hope of referring to unity has almost
disappeared and chaos has an opportunity to emerge. Also, Lessing mentions in the preface of The Golden
Notebook; ―its theme is breakdown and fragmentation‖. Chaos and fragmentation are in agreement with the
novel. Anna expresses that writing four notebooks instead of one notebook is just because of chaos 1. She senses
incoherent in both her life and personality. Given different colors for notebooks shows her fragmented
personality in the society. Anna‘s life in the fragmented society requires her to express that:
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The novel has become a function of the fragmented society, the fragmented consciousness. Human
beings are so divided, are becoming more and more divided, and more subdivided in themselves,
reflecting the world, that they reach out desperately, not knowing they do it, for information about
other groups inside their own country, let alone about groups in other countries (GN, p.79).
What happens to readers as they read the novel is different from each other. The postmodern writer
insists on expression without content, which means that the writer puts up a scenario which the reader is free to
interpret in whatever way he/she likes to: there is no correct interpretation (Barkholt & Jepsen, 2010). The
postmodern celebration of interrogation grand narrative appears in the Red Notebook. When Anna writes about
communism in this notebook, it is to inform her opposition to communism and interrogate it. As Jackson (2009)
says:
Anna writes of having become disillusioned with the communism into her Red Notebook. Lessing‘s
novel is overtly about the splitting or disunification . The compartmentalization of experience into
different notebooks is one of the most straightforward manifestations of this theme. All manner of
historical forces, especially the Cold War, are the causes for this splitting.
Lessing, like Anna, writes about Communism (she was a member of the Communist Party in both
South Africa and Britain). Paul Schlueter (2003) notes that:
In common with many other British and American intellectuals in the1930s and early 1940s, Doris
Lessing became a Communist as a result of sincere optimistic desires to see the world improved and to
have the injustices of a supposedly inhuman competitive system of values eliminated .To a great extent,
her decision to become a Communist appears now as naive many other youthful enthusiasms or
commitments. She has said, for instance, when I became a communist, emotionally if not
organizationally, in 1942, my picture of socialism as developed in the Soviet Union was, to say the
least, inaccurate. [...] (p.36).
Through writing about the Communist Party Anna feels depressed. The rejection of being a communist
is related to Lessing, too. Doris Lessing herself, in an interview with Hermione Lee mentions that ―she has just
stopped being a communist and being on the extreme Left‖. 2It becomes clear that Lessing was not really
satisfied with joining the Communist Party.
She has said that she decided to leave the party a good time before I finally left it. I didn‘t leave it when
I decided to, because there was a general exodus, much publicized, from the British Party then, and the
journalists were waiting for yet another renegade to publish his, her complaints
against the C.P. [Communist Party]. To quote another old communist: ―I find it nauseating when
people who have been in the Party ten, twenty years, stagger out shouting and screaming as if they‘ve
been raped against their will.‖ I left it because the gap between my own attitudes and those of the party
widened all the time. There was no particular event or moment. The 20th Congress [in February, 1956,
at which Khrushchev denounced Stalin] shocked me, not because of the ―revelations‖ but because I
thought the ―revelations‖ were long overdue, pitifully and feebly
Put forth, and no one really tried to explain or understand what had happened (schlueter, 2003,
p.37).
In the Red Notebook, Anna explains she hates joining anything, which seems to her incompatible. In
lieu of being satisfied with joining the Communist Party, always she is thinking about leaving the Party.
According to Marx3, ―the aim of a Communist society is to procure genuine freedom, genuine individuality and
humanity, genuine democracy‖ (Habib, 2008, p.534). But, affirmative political beliefs of becoming a communist
in Central Africa play virtually no part here for Anna. She attacks Communism at the beginning of talking with
Molly about joining the Party:
Last week, Molly came up at midnight to say that the Party members had been circulated with a form,
asking for their history as members, and there was a section asking them to detail their 'doubts and
confusions.' Molly said she had begun to write this, expecting to write a few sentences, had found
herself writing' a whole thesis-dozens of bloody pages.' She seemed upset with herself. 'What is it I
want-a confessional? Anyway, since I've written it, I'm going to send it in. 'I told her she was mad. I
said: 'Supposing the British Communist Party ever gets into power, that document will be in the files,
and if they want evidence to hang you, they've got it-thousands of times over.' She gave me her small,
almost sours mile-the smile she uses when I say things like this. Molly is not an innocent communist.
She said: 'You're very cynical.' I said: 'You know it's the truth. Or could be .' She said: 'If you think in
that way, why are you talking of joining the Party?' I said: 'Why do you stay in it, when you think in
that way too?' [...].'It's all very odd,
Anna, isn't it?' And in the morning she said: 'I took your advice, I tore it up. (GN, pp.163-164).
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In this part, Anna criticizes the very possibility of real freedom and democracy in the Communist
Party. She expresses that the Communist Party is too dishonest upon the individual. Although the Communist
Party invites their members in the society to express their ideas and doubts freely, but it is not the truth. In fact,
they are dishonest toward people. In spite of thinking about leaving the Party, Anna is still in it. So, it is her
ambivalent aspect about the Communist Party. Anna says: ―I write very little in this notebook. Why? I see
everything I write is critical of the Party. Yet I am still in it. Molly too‖(GN,p.168). But through reading the Red
Notebook, we understand regardless of her ambivalence, most of the time she calls the Communist Party into
question. ―I see that I wrote yesterday, I would leave the Party. I wonder when, and on what issue‖ (GN, p.170).
Immediately, she describes her meeting with John . 4
Had dinner with John. We meet rarely-always on the verge of political disagreement. At the end of the
dinner, he said: 'The reason why we don't leave the Party is that we can't bear to say good-bye to our
ideals for a better world. 'Trite enough. And interesting because it implies he believes, and that I must,
only the Communist Party can better the world. Yet we neither of us believe
any such thing(GN,p.170).
It indicates that the Communist Party cannot make the world better. Also, we do well keep in mind that
fragmentation and split spread in the Communist Party. Anna confesses that the reason to join the Communist
Party is a need for wholeness, but fragmentation and split emerge in the Communist Party.
I came home thinking that somewhere at the back of my mind when I joined the Party was need for
wholeness, for an end to the split, divided, unsatisfactory way we all live. Yet joining the Party
intensified the split-not the business of belonging to an organisation whose every tenet, on paper,
anyway, contradicts the ideas of the society we live in; but something much deeper than that. Or at any
rate , more difficult to understand (GN, p.171).
Her ambivalence appears not only in the Red Notebook, but also in her speaking with Mrs.Marks5 that
is written in the Blue Notebook by Anna.
-'Why are you a communist?'
-'At least they believe in something.'
-'Why do you say they, when you are a member of the Communist Party?'
-'If I could say we, really meaning it, I wouldn't be here, would I?'
-'So you don't care, really, about your comrades?' (GN, p.237).
The ambivalence does not happen just for Anna, it is for each member of the Mashopi group.―The
representation of Anna‘s life in the Communist Party exemplifies rupture, division, and doubleness. Like Anna,
each member experiences an ambivalence that undermines her or his politics‖ (Yelin , 1998, p.79).
Schlueter (2003) notes that:
Although Anna indicates at various times her reasons for leaving the party—its jargon, its dishonesty,
its pettiness, and so on—she does specify in one passage in more detail her exact reasons for both
becoming a Communist and for leaving the party. Jack, another party member, comments that society
today is complex and technical that no one person can effectively understand it all. Anna answers him:
―Alienation .Being split. It‘s the moral side, so to speak, of the communist message. And suddenly you
shrug your shoulders and say because the mechanical basis of our lives is getting complicated, we must
be content to not even try to understand things as a whole?‖[...] He says: ―Not being split, it‘s not a
question of imaginatively understanding everything that goes on. Or trying to. It means doing one‘s
work as well as possible, and being a good person.‖ I say: ―That‘s treachery.‖ ―To what?‖ ―To
humanism .‖ He thinks and says: ―The idea of humanism will change like everything else.‖ I say:
―Then it will become something else. But humanism stands for the whole person, the whole individual,
striving to become as conscious and responsible as possible about everything in the universe. But now
you sit there, quite calmly, and as a humanist you say that due to the complexity of scientific
achievement the human being must never expect to be whole, he must always be fragmented.‖ [pp.
307–8]
Her sense of this fragmentation is such as to demand of her a more coherent, a more unifying life than
has been possible through dedication to communism. [...] (pp.39 - 40).
The failure of totalizing grand narratives of communism also emerges in the newspaper cuttings and
letters from all kinds of people that Anna describes them in the Red Notebook.
[At this point the red notebook was stuffed full of newspaper cuttings to do with the Twentieth
Congress of the Russian Communist Party, letters from all kinds of people about politics, agendas for
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political meetings, etc. This mass of paper had been fastened together by rubber bands and clipped to
the page. Then Anna's handwriting began again:]
11th August, 1956
Not for the first time in my life I realize I have spent weeks and months in frenzied political activity
and have achieved absolutely nothing. More, that I might have foreseen it would achieve nothing. The
Twentieth Congress has doubled and trebled the numbers of people, both in and out of the Party, who
want a 'new‘ communist party. Last night I was at a meeting which went on till nearly morning.
Towards the end a man who had not spoken before, a socialist from Austria, made a short humorous
speech, something like this: 'My dear Comrades. I have been listening to you, amazed at the wells of
faith in human beings! What you are saying amounts to this: that you know the leadership of the British
C. P. Consists of men and women totally corrupted by years of work in the Stalinist atmosphere. You
know they will do anything to maintain their position. You know, because you have given a hundred
examples of it here this evening that they suppress resolutions, rig ballots, pack meetings, lie and twist.
There is no way of getting them out of office by democratic means partly because they are
unscrupulous, and partly because half of the Party members are too innocent to believe their leaders are
capable of such trickery. [...] (GN, p.435).
In the fourth Red Notebook we face Olga6‘s opinions about the Communist Party.
She clasped his hand, and said: 'I will make you a promise. I promise you that when our Party
Historians have re-written the history of our Communist Party in accordance with the revisions made
necessary by the distortions imposed during the era of Comrade Stalin, I promise you that I will read it'
(GN,p.515).
It indicates that the history of the Communist Party cannot become universalized. Even the Party
historians should re-write its history and revise it. It reminds us that history can never be completed.
Conclusion
Postmodern novelists, like Lessing are interested in interpretations and pave the way for the plurality of
possible interpretations. The freedom of the postmodern writers is like the freedom of the readers. The Golden
Notebook, then, is a novel informing fragments which encourages the readers to grow discouraged with grand
narratives; the Communist Party. The most important matter that Anna, the main character, expresses over and
over again in her notebooks, specifically in the Red Notebook is the fragmentation and chaos. Also, the
acceleration of fragmentation is all over her life. The Critical moment in her dream is the fragmentation. It
shows that Anna cannot escape from fragmentation and chaos, even in her dream:
I had a dream for my last appointment. [...].I opened the box and forced them to look. But instead of a
beautiful thing, which I thought would be there, there was a mass of fragments, but bits and pieces
from everywhere, all over the world—I recognized a lump of red earth, that I knew came from Africa,
and then a bit of metal that came off a gun from Indo-China, and then everything was horrible, bits of
flesh from people killed in the Korean War and a communist party badge off someone who died in a
Soviet prison. This, looking at the mass of ugly fragments, was so painful that I couldn‘t look, and I
shut the box (GN, pp.252- 253).
She frequently mediates on the difficulty of the Communist Party and regards it inadequate. The red
Notebook is a record of a period of history; the Communist Party, but maybe the end of the Communist Party.
Most of the characters in the novel, especially Anna realize that they may be at the end of history. They
interrogate grand narratives-universal and totalizing stories that give direction to the historical process and
legitimize statements of truth. Judith KeganGardiner's valuable essay on Doris Lessing‘s The Golden Notebook
perfectly describes little of internal communist maneuvering in the novel. In an attempt to leave the Communist
Party, she often calls it into question. Gardiner (2007) says that most of the communists in the novel are
deceived. Communism in The Golden Notebook thus becomes a set of false beliefs. The readers are motivated to
discover whether Anna is interested in communism or not.
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Endnotes:
1-When Tommy asks her the reason of writing four notebooks, Anna says: ―I‘ve told you,
Chaos‖(GN,p.272) .
2-Lee, H.(2009). A Conversation With Doris Lessing. (p.23). Retrieved February 10, 2011, from
http://www.informaworld.Com/smpp/title~content=t716100725
3- The tradition of Marxist thought has provided the most powerful critique of capitalist
Institutions and ethics ever conducted. Its founder, Karl Heinrich Marx (1818-1883),was a
German Political, economic, and philosophical theorist and revolutionist (Habib , 2008,p.527).
4-John: He is a Comrade.
5-Mrs.Marxs:'Mother Sugar', is Anna‘s psychiatrist.
6- Olga: She is a Comrade.
References
Barkholt, G.V.&Jepsen, J.D.(2010).Postmodernism. A Short History of Literature in Englisha Handbook (p.79). (1st ed). Systime Publishing Ltd.
Bressler, Ch.(2007). Modernity and Postmodernism: Structuralism and Deconstruction.
Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice (p.101). (4th ed). Pearson
Prentice Hall .
Bloom ,H.(2003). The Golden Notebook . Schlueter, P. Bloom‘s Modern Critical Views: Doris
Lessing (pp.27-60). Chelsea House Publisher .Retrieved February 10, 2011, from
http :library.nu/
Habib , M.A.R. (2008). Marxism. A History of Literary Criticism and Theory (pp. 527- 534) .
(1st ed). Blackwell Publishing.
Jackson, T.E.(2009).― Why a story at all‖ The Writing of The Golden Notebook. The
Technology of the Novel Writing and Narrative in British Fiction. (pp.148-149).The Johns
Hopkins University Press. Baltimore.
Lee, H.(2009).A Conversation With Doris Lessing. (p.23). Retrieved February 10, 2011, from
http://www.informaworld.Com/smpp/title~content=t716100725
Lessing, D. (1972). The Golden Notebook. Great Britain.
Luntley, M.(1995).Introduction . Reason, Truth, and Self (the Postmodern Reconditioned),
(pp.10-15).(1st ed). Routledge.
Lyotard , J.F. (1984). The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Volume 10.
Manchester University Press.
Shaffer ,B.W. (2007) . Doris Lessing‘s The Golden Notebook. Gardiner, J.K. A Companion
to the British and Irish Novel 1945-2000. (p.380). (1st ed). Blackwell Publishing.
Yeline, L.(1998). Integrated with British Life and its Roots, Communism: In and out of the
Party . From the Margins of Empire: Christina Stead, Doris Lessing, Nadine
Gordimer. (pp.79-87). (1st ed) . Cornell University .
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A Postmodern Study of Doris Lessing‘s The Golden Notebook in the Light of Jean-Francois Lyotard ‘s Ideas
Author
Author
Kiaei, Shahram
Azizi, Ensiyehsadat
Azizmohammadi, Fatemeh
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
It has become a virtual commonplace of contemporary criticism that postmodern thought challenges the Enlightenment view of human reason, especially its assumption of a stable, autonomous subject capable of directing the forces of history. For this reason some theorists see postmodernism as pivoting on a reformulation of anti-Enlightenment thought that surfaced during the nineteenth-century and which remained active throughout the modernist period. From this perspective, literary modernism's ambivalent stance toward the integrity of the subject is in part the legacy of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud-- precisely those nineteenth-century thinkers who situate much of the postmodern project. Regarding all the previous criticisms, this study clearly assumes that postmodernism employs quite different critical methodologies from those of modernism. Nevertheless, as Jean-Francois Lyotard suggests, evidence of this postmodern emphasis is latent in modernism itself, most particularly in those highly experimental or transgressive works that challenge traditional notions of referential language, rational order, or the autonomous subject. This study, particularly, examines Doris Lessing‘s major work for which she was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007, The Golden Notebook (1962), in which postmodern elements especially Lyotard‘s exists. Ultimately, the paper hails this most influential novel as a postmodern masterpiece.
Date
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2011-05
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Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
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A Research about Intercultural Communication In Textbooks Which Are Used For Teaching Turkish As A Foreign Language
Author
Author
İnan , Kayhan
Yüceer , Duygu
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Learning a foreign language has been the most important way of communities’ familiarizing and comprehending each other for ages. Nowadays, in our rapidly globalizing world as high level technological vehicles are making shorter distances, booming communication means causes communities to become closer and that makes teaching a foreign language more important. These conditions have brought on intensive interaction between civilizations and so it has made necessary to learn other languages in the world. Learning a foreign language needs learning not only words and grammar structure but also acknowledging that language’s representing culture. Just as in each field in teaching a foreign language it is compulsory accommodating changing conditions and needs. Nowadays, the concept of being intercultural has being one of the most important particle of teaching foreign language but teaching grammar is still seen focal point at teaching Turkish for foreigners. This attitude has also seen in the textbooks which are used to teach Turkish as a foreign language. In this study “Yeni Hitit” and “Gökkuşağı Türkçe” which are widely used books of teaching Turkish for foreigners will be compared in terms of interculturality whereby scientific scanning method and their qualification will be determined.
Date
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2012-05
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P Philology. Linguistics
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A Sample Text Comprehension Activity Prepared According To Textuality For 2nd Step 6th Grade Primary School Turkish (Mother Tongue) Courses To Gain The Skill Of Reading
Author
Author
Yıldız, Cemal
Şimşek, Nil Didem
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Reading is a field that feeds all skills. Students gain experience in each reading process and they acquire the basic reading and writing skills at school. Then it becomes a habit of reading. Students improve their reading skills when they do an activity in the coursebooks. They develop the capacity of understanding and increase the reading effort as well. The purpose of this study; is to gain reading skills to the students with the help of text comprehension activity, prepared according to the textuality. The most important target of Turkish Lesson Curriculum which has been prepared according to the constructivist approach, is to provide students read the text correctly and provide them understand it completely. In this study, any kind of activity which aims understanding of the text according to the textuality, will be submitted in 6th grade Turkish lessons. Those kinds of activities provide students perceive and interpret easily. Text comprehension activities that we do in our study, consist of three parts; pre-text studying (summary, visual summary, monitoring, result deduction, planning), targeted-text studying (reading monitoring/strategy) and final-text studying (genre analysis). So that, thought to these activities, the object of the author, the genre of the text, language and expression feature, development of intellectual and emotional and word frame may be easily recognized.
Date
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2012-05-04
Keywords
Keywords.
Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
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https://eprints.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/0a2ba27bbdc8d9d9edd59da318e44f2e.pdf
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A SITUATED LEARNING PRACTICE FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING
CLASSES: TEACHING SPOKEN ENGLISH WITH AUTHENTIC
SKETCHES
Hüseyin EFE
English Language Teaching,
Artvin Çoruh University, Turkey
huseyin_efe@hotmail.com
Hakan DEMĠRÖZ
English Language and Literature, Faculty of Letters,
Cumhuriyet University, Turkey
hakandemiroz@gmail.com
Ahmet Selçuk AKDEMĠR
English Language and Literature, Lecturer,
Erzincan University, Turkey
ancient---mariner@hotmail.com
Abstract: Situated Learning is a term first proposed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger as a
model of learning in a community of practice. According to Lave and Wenger learning should
not be viewed as simply the transmission of abstract and decontextualised knowledge from
one individual to another, but a social process whereby knowledge is co-constructed; they
suggest that such learning is situated in a specific context and embedded within a particular
social and physical environment. Foreign language teaching is proved to be most effective
and optimal only when it is performed in a setting of real communication and performance.
The exposure to spoken language and cultural elements of foreign language is the best way of
teaching the language itself rather than grammatical patterns and rules of the language.
In this study, we aim to review ‗situational learning approach‘ in context with its role and
efficiency of teaching spoken language.
An experimental study was conducted on the university students in the prep classes at the
School of Tourism in Erzincan University. 12 male and 11 female students in the control
group and 14 male and 10 female students in the experimental group took part in the research.
The language levels of the students were determined by a language proficiency test which
is used as pre-test of the study. Language proficiency test composed of mainly dialogues
including spoken language patterns. After 8 weeks of lectures with authentic sketches which
were used as reading materials in experimental group and classical reading materials in
control group, the students were given the same language proficiency test as post-test. When
pre and post-test results were evaluated, we found that there was a significant difference
between the pre and post-test results of the subjects on behalf of the students in the
experimental group. In view of the findings obtained from the study, we can conclude that
spoken language can be achieved by authentic sketches which are designed to serve as a
situated learning setting.
Key Words: situational learning, spoken language, language teaching, authentic sketches
1. Introduction
Language teaching takes place in many settings. There are many factors influencing learning. Malamah
– Thomas (1987) describes setting in terms of three levels in an education system:
The country
The school
The classroom
After determining basic elements of setting, there occurs another question:
What is the relationship between ‗the role of English in the country‘ and ‗teaching in English at
school‘?
Whether English is spoken in the community outside the class or alternatively never heard is closely
related to main problems of Foreign Language Teaching (FLT). Also the role of English in the school and its
place in the curriculum is important (McDonough and Shaw, 1998).
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2. Conditions for Foreign Language Teaching (FLT)
FLT has a complex structure and it involves many conditions likewise all other educational activities.
An ideal grouping of these conditions can be as follows:
Proximity to spoken language
Equality of four skills
Internal and external interferences of learner
Teaching/learning materials
An effective teaching is possible only when these conditions have optimal values on teaching
atmosphere. The first condition – proximity to spoken language – should be as the first step for a communicative
language teaching approach. Because there are many studies proving that learning is achieved by obtaining
comprehensible input from original or at least authentic settings (Piske and Scholten, 2009).
3. Situated Learning
Situated learning is a term first proposed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger as a model of learning in
a community of practice. According to Lave and Wenger, learning should not be viewed as simply the
transmission of abstract and decontextualised knowledge from one individual to another, but a social process
whereby knowledge is co-constructed; they suggest that such learning is situated in a specific context and
embedded within a particular social and physical environment.
As an instructional strategy, situated cognition has been seen as a means for relating subject matter to
the needs and concerns of learners (Shor, 1987).
A situated learning experience has four major premises guiding the development of classroom activities
(Anderson, Reder, and Simon 1996; Wilson 1993): (1) learning is grounded in the actions of everyday situations;
(2) knowledge is acquired situationally and transfers only to similar situations; (3) learning is the result of a
social process encompassing ways of thinking, perceiving, problem solving, and interacting in addition to
declarative and procedural knowledge; and (4) learning is not separated from the world of action but exists in
robust, complex, social environments made up of actors, actions, and situations.
The key components of situated learning model are:
Stories
Reflection
Cognitive apprenticeship
Collaboration
Coaching
Multiple practice
Articulation of learning skills
Technology (McLellan, 1996).
As an overall assessment, situated learning model can provide a valuable tool for enhancing the design
and implementation of teaching/learning experiences.
The efficiency of the SL model should be considered in accordance with the innovative ideas of FLT to
be able to provide a good example of its application in the field.
Foreign language teaching is proved to be most effective and optimal only when it is performed in a
setting of real communication and performance. The exposure to spoken language and cultural elements of
foreign language is the best way of teaching the language itself rather than grammatical patterns and rules of the
language. Situated learning is a useful model for those who are seeking a communication atmosphere to make
language teaching more effective by means of communicative purposes as this learning model emphasizes the
importance of real settings of knowledge.
4. Communicative Language Teaching
When the subject is ‗to teach a language to communicate‘ then Communicative Language Teaching
(CLT) appears to be as the inevitable and probably most appropriate approach. CLT is based on communicative
competence which is described as the knowledge needed to be able to communicate effectively (Thornbury,
2006).
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CLT aims broadly to apply the theoretical perspective of Communicative Approach (CA) by making
communicative competence as the goal of language teaching and by acknowledging the interdependence of
language and communication (Larsen – Freeman, 2008).
In a CLT design, language functions are emphasized rather than forms and grammatical patterns of a
language. All four language skills are studied to have a meaningful competence of language. Besides, CLT is
generally associated with notional – functional syllabuses (Larsen – Freeman, 2008).
5. Authentic Materials
5. 1. The Description of Authentic Materials
Authentic materials are those educational materials which can be used to teach authentic and natural
knowledge, competences and abilities. Those materials do not need to be developed or prepared for the purpose
of educational. While explaining authentic materials which are used in FLT, Widdowson (1990) emphasizes that
those materials are designed to reflect the spoken language to learners.
5. 2. Some Advantages of Authentic Materials
Learners have the chance of hearing original dialogues of spoken language.
Learners learn about the cultural patterns of target language.
Learners learn about the change in the language.
Learners learn about the daily news of that society speaking the language.
Authentic materials are easy to be prepared and used in educational settings.
5. 3. Sketches as Authentic Materials
Authentic materials are divided into three groups as
- written materials
- visual materials
- audio – visual materials
Sketches are the examples of written materials. Some simplified play pieces also can be used as good
sources of spoken language. In a sketch dialogue, an authentic language atmosphere can be created and through
this context many language patterns can be reflected.
While using sketches as authentic written material to spoken language, the key points are the same as
they are in all other authentic materials:
simplification
revision for cultural issues
appropriateness to the context.
6. Methods and Procedures
6. 1. Introduction
The aim of this study is to review SL in context with its role and efficiency of teaching spoken
language.
An experimental study was conducted on the university students in the prep classes at the School of
Tourism in Erzincan University. 12 male and 11 female students in the control group and 14 male and 10 female
students in the experimental group took part in the research.
6. 2. Process
Before starting the study, both groups were given a language proficiency test including reading
comprehension and vocabulary questions as pre – test and the same test were given at the end of the study as
post – test. The results of both tests were evaluated by means of answers and their percentage in whole (right –
wrong - null).
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Basic material of the study is a sketch book which is published on line in a web site for the purpose of
teaching spoken English to the speakers of other languages.
Sketches were given to experimental group (14 male, 10 female; 24 students in total) beforehand the
courses. During the courses, vocabulary was given to the students so that they were encouraged to use dictionary
and find out the meanings of the vocabulary. Students were not obliged to act out the roles as they were
freshmen and it would be embarrassing for them to act out in front of their classmates. The sketches were read
by them as role – plays and during the activities they were modeled to give the meaning of the context through
the intonation.
Control group of the study (12 male, 11 female; 23 students in sum) were given plain texts with
different topics including nearly the same vocabulary and contexts. Likewise the experimental group, those
students were also encouraged to look up the vocabulary and answer reading comprehension questions.
7. Analysis and Findings
7. 1. The results of pre – test
Before the reading activities that lasted 8 weeks, both groups were given a language proficiency test
including vocabulary and reading comprehension questions as well as idioms. The results are as follows:
Grammar questions
(10 Q)
Vocabulary
questions (10 Q)
Idioms
(10 Q)
questions
Experimental Group (N: 240)
Percentage
of C: 100
correct answers:
W: 120
% 40
N: 20
Percentage
of C: 50
correct answers:
W: 160
% 20
N: 30
Percentage
of C: 12
correct answers:
W: 70
% 5
N: 158
Control group (N: 230)
Percentage
of C: 87
correct answers:
W: 108
% 38
N: 35
Percentage
of C: 51
correct answers:
W: 119
% 22
N: 60
Percentage
of C: 12
correct answers:
W: 92
% 5
N: 126
N : Number of questions in total C : Correct answers W : Wrong answers N : Null answers
As it can be seen from the table, there was no significant difference by means of proficiency levels of
the two groups and they are homogenous.
7. 1. The results of pre – test
After 8 weeks of research conveyed with both experimental group and control group, above mentioned
proficiency test was given again to determine the difference between the two groups.
The results are as follows:
Grammar questions
(10 Q)
Vocabulary
questions (10 Q)
Idioms
(10 Q)
questions
Experimental Group (N: 240)
Percentage
of C: 95
correct answers:
W: 90
% 38
N: 55
Percentage
of C: 64
correct answers:
W: 130
% 27
N: 46
Percentage
of C: 31
correct answers:
W: 81
% 13
N: 128
Control group (N: 230)
Percentage
of C: 97
correct answers:
W: 114
% 39
N: 29
Percentage
of C: 57
correct answers:
W: 120
% 24
N: 53
Percentage
of C: 17
correct answers:
W: 103
% 7
N: 10
N : Number of questions in total C : Correct answers W : Wrong answers N : Null answers
7. 3. Overall Assessment and Students Opinions
It is obvious that authentic sketches work as suitable tools of conveying spoken language patterns.
During the study, the students were interviewed for the efficiency and appreciation of the process. After 8 weeks
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of study, the majority of the students in the experimental group expressed their appreciation for the course design
provided them many language patterns and also they found those sketches very useful to learn about the cultural
elements of target language.
Student A: (Experimental group)
―It is interesting that I learn easily while reading and my vocabulary becomes more and more stable.
When I try to remember a word for example ‗flattered‘ I manage it by remembering the sketch ‗The ticket
inspector‘. It helped me try to speak.‖
Student B: (Experimental group)
―I started to feel that I am learning English and I learnt many new words.‖
Student C: (Experimental group)
―Now I know how to joke in English because I learnt an idiom while reading ‗The passport office.‖
Student D: (Control group)
―I learn the vocabulary of the text but when I have a new one generally I missed the old passages‘. I
think reading is a good activity but it is very complex.‖
Student E: (Control group)
―The passages have long sentences so it is boring for me.‖
8. Conclusion
FLT is a quite challenging activity especially for those trying to teach the language in a country where
the language itself is neither used nor spoken in the community for everyday needs. In a setting where
comprehensible input is restricted to teaching/learning activities, it is essential to use authentic materials to
develop productive skills.
Authentic materials are among the main elements of a SL practice. They build up an artificial language
environment and this leads an effective learning/acquisition of the language.
Language learner/student needs to speak and listen to be able to master his/her productive skills.
Spoken language is difficult to be reflected by using plain texts. In this study, the difficult task of teaching
spoken language, expressions, idioms and vocabulary which are used vividly in daily speaking settings have
been achieved by the use of authentic sketches in a SL atmosphere. As a result the students could beat their fears
of learning language and they learnt many idioms, vocabulary and daily practical expressions.
When the scores of both groups are compared it is obvious that this kind of teaching practices may be very
effective with many advantages.
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References:
Anderson, J. R., Reder, L. M., & Simon, H.A. (1996). Situated learning and education, Educational Researcher,
25(4), pp. 5-11.
Larsen – Freeman, D. (2008). Techniques and principles in language teaching. London: Oxford University
Press.
McDonough, J. & Shaw, C. (1998). Materials and methods in ELT. Oxford: U.K. Blackwell Publishers.
McLellan, H. (1996). Situated learning perspectives. Educational Technology Publications, New Jersey: USA
Piske, T. & Young – Scholten, M. (2009) Input matters in SLA. London: U.K. Multilingual Matters/Channel and
View Publication.
Shomossi, N. & Ketabi, S. (2007). A critical look at the concept of authenticity. E – Journal of Foreign
Language Teaching, 4(1) pp: 149 –155.
(http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/v4n12007/shomoossi.pdf - last access 12.04.2011)
Shor, I. (1987) Critical teaching and everyday life. USA: University of Chicago Press Chicago:
Thornbury, S. (2006). An A – Z of ELT. London: U.K. Macmillan Books for Teachers.
Widdowson, H. G. (1990) Aspects of language teaching. Oxford: U.K. Oxford University Press.
Wilson, A. (1993). The promise of situated cognition. USA : Jossey-Bass San Francisco
http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-3/adult-education.html (last access: 14.04.2011)
Appendix A :
A Sample Sketch:
The ticket inspector
Scene : A compartment on a train
Characters: A passenger on a train, a
ticket inspector,a steward and
a waiter
The passenger is sitting in a compartment on
a train. He is reading a newspaper. The steward
opens the door.
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Steward: Coffee!
Passenger: No. thanks.
(The passenger closes the
door, and continues reading.
The waiter opens the door.)
Waiter: Seats for dinner!
Passenger: No, thanks.
(The passenger closes the
door again, and continues
reading. The ticket inspector
opens the door.)
Inspector: Tickets!
Passenger: No, thanks.
Inspector: Pardon?
Passenger: I don't want a ticket, thank
you.
Inspector: I'm not selling tickets, sir.
Passenger: No?
Inspector: No, I want to see your ticket.
Passenger: Oh, I haven't got a ticket.
Inspector: You haven't got a ticket?
Passenger: No. I never buy a ticket.
Inspector: Why not?
Passenger: Well, they are very expensive,
you know.
Inspector: Sir, you're traveling on a train.
When people travel on a train,
they always buy a ticket.
Passenger: Err…
Inspector: And this is a first-class compartment.
Passenger: Yes, it is very nice, isn't it?
Inspector: No, sir. I mean: This is a first-class
compartment. When
people travel in a first-class
compartment, they always buy
a first-class ticket.
(They look at each other for a
moment.)
Passenger: No, they don't.
Inspector: What?
Passenger: A lot of people don't buy tickets.
The Queen doesn't buy a
ticket, does she' Eh? Eh?
Inspector: No, sir, but she's a famous
person.
Passenger: And what about you? Where's
yours?
Inspector: Mine?
Passenger: Yes, yours. Your ticket. Have
you got a ticket?
Inspector: Me, sir?
Passenger: Yes, you.
Inspector: No, I haven't got a ticket.
Passenger: Ooh, are you a famous person?
Inspector: (Flattered) Famous? Well, not
very (Back to normal) Sir, I
am a ticket inspector. I inspect
tickets. Are you going to show
me your ticket?
Passenger: No, I haven't got a ticket.
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Inspector see.
(The ticket inspector puts his
hand into his pocket.)
Passenger: 'What are you going to do?
Inspector: I'm going to write your name
in my book.
Passenger: Oh
Inspector: What is your name, sir?
Passenger: Mickey Mouse,
(The inspector begins to
write.)
Inspector: Mickey
Passenger: Mouse. M-O-U-S-E.
(The inspector stops writing.)
Inspector: Your name, sir?
Passenger: Karl Marx? William
Shakespeare? Charles
Dickens?
Inspector: I see, sir. Well, if you're not
going to tell me your name,
please leave the train,
Passenger: Pardon?
Inspector: Leave the train.
Passenger: I can't.
Inspector: You can't what?
Passenger: I can't leave the train.
Inspector: Why not?
Passenger: It's moving,
Inspector: Not now, sir. At the next station.
Passenger: Oh.
Inspector: It's in the book, sir. When you
travel by train, you buy a ticket,
and if you don't buy a ticket,
you
Passenger-Inspector: leave the train.
Inspector: Here we are, sir. We're coming
to a station. Please leave the
train now.
Passenger: Now?
Inspector: Yes, sir. I'm sorry, but
Passenger: Oh, that's OK.
Inspector: it's in the book, and what did
you say?
Passenger: I said: That's OK.'
Inspector: OK?
Passenger: Yes, this is my station.
Goodbye.
(The passenger leaves the
train.)
406
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A SITUATED LEARNING PRACTICE FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING CLASSES: TEACHING SPOKEN ENGLISH WITH AUTHENTIC
Author
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EFE, Hüseyin
DEMİRÖZ, Hakan
AKDEMİR, Ahmet Selçuk
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Situated Learning is a term first proposed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger as a model of learning in a community of practice. According to Lave and Wenger learning should not be viewed as simply the transmission of abstract and decontextualised knowledge from one individual to another, but a social process whereby knowledge is co-constructed; they suggest that such learning is situated in a specific context and embedded within a particular social and physical environment. Foreign language teaching is proved to be most effective and optimal only when it is performed in a setting of real communication and performance. The exposure to spoken language and cultural elements of foreign language is the best way of teaching the language itself rather than grammatical patterns and rules of the language. In this study, we aim to review ‗situational learning approach‘ in context with its role and efficiency of teaching spoken language. An experimental study was conducted on the university students in the prep classes at the School of Tourism in Erzincan University. 12 male and 11 female students in the control group and 14 male and 10 female students in the experimental group took part in the research. The language levels of the students were determined by a language proficiency test which is used as pre-test of the study. Language proficiency test composed of mainly dialogues including spoken language patterns. After 8 weeks of lectures with authentic sketches which were used as reading materials in experimental group and classical reading materials in control group, the students were given the same language proficiency test as post-test. When pre and post-test results were evaluated, we found that there was a significant difference between the pre and post-test results of the subjects on behalf of the students in the experimental group. In view of the findings obtained from the study, we can conclude that spoken language can be achieved by authentic sketches which are designed to serve as a situated learning setting.
Date
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2011-05
Keywords
Keywords.
Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics
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eb1e8855476a062db68980ea6f493231
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1st International Conference on Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
May 5-7 2011 Sarajevo
A study of anxiety among the Graduation Learners of English as a Foreign
Language in Pakistan.
Ammara Adeel
Comsast University Lahore, Pakistan
The Department of English Language
aammara84@gmail.com
Abstract: The learning of English as a foreign language in Pakistan takes place in
two different types of Educational Institutions – Urdu and English Medium. Some
students, in a pilot study, were reported to have acquitted themselves well in their
language class while others not so well, particularly in speaking the language in the
classroom. The main reason for low performance in this regard was reportedly
attributed to anxiety and nervousness among the low performers. In order to ascertain
this hypothesis empirically, this researcher carried out a full fledge research to this
effect. The study as such used qualitative semi- structured individual interviews and
focus group discussion. A total of thirty four participants including twenty seven
learners and seven experienced language teachers participated in the research. The
findings suggest that anxiety in communication stems, on the one hand, in the learners
from their self created perceptions and beliefs about themselves, and on the other,
from the strict and formal classroom environment in the educational institutions. On
the basis of these findings the study suggests some measures to be followed in the
classroom to alleviate the element of anxiety in the learners. Such measures are
expected to yield positive results in the performance of the learners.
1. Introduction
Foreign language scholars, teachers and learners have long been interested in identifying variables
which affect the process of foreign language learning. Foreign language researchers have empirically found that
variables play a vital role in learners‘ success or failure in academic settings in learning a foreign language.
Krashen (1985) observed speaking/talking in classroom as the most anxiety stimulating activity for learners.
Kim (1998) reported that students in a reading classroom undergo lower anxiety level than students in
conversation class.
This study intends to find the answer of the following research questions related to anxiety in Pakistani learners
in English at advanced level.
1) What kind of anxiety is encountered by Pakistani learners in speaking English language?
2) What are the various factors of anxiety in speaking English in language classrooms?
3) What kind of techniques can be used to alleviate anxiety while the English language in the class?
2.
Literature Review
Anxiety which stems from learning and speaking a foreign language is termed as ‗Foreign language
anxiety‘. This multifaceted phenomenon was defined as ―distinct complex of self-conceptions, beliefs, feelings
and behavior related to classroom learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process‖
(Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986, p. 128).
Some researchers reported a negative relationship between foreign language anxiety and language
achievement (Clément, Gardner, & Smythe, 1980; Clément, Gardner, & Smythe, 1977). However, others
reported no relationship or a positive relationship between language anxiety and performance (Backman, 1976;
Chastain, 1975; Pimseleur, Mosberg, & Morrison, 1962; Scovel, 1978).
Research on ‗Language anxiety‘ has suggested that certain false beliefs about language learning have a
constant source of tension, anxiety and frustration in the classroom (Horwitz et al., 1986, p. 127). Gynan (1989)
used terms such as ‗erroneous‘ and ‗irrational‘ for the beliefs held about language learning by learners which can
be a constant source of anxiety..
In addition to unrealistic beliefs different activities performed in the language classroom which mainly
involves speaking in front of the class, have been marked out as most anxiety provoking factors. Koch and
Terrell (1991: cited in Young, 1991,p. 429 and Horwitz 2001,p. 119) found that in Natural Approach classes
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more than half of their subjects expressed oral presentations and oral skills in front of the class as most anxietyproducing activities.
3. Methodology
In order to shed light on diverse experiences of individuals, qualitative method was considered as an
appropriate approach in this study.
3.1 Population
The population of the present study was a large university i.e. COMSATS Institute of Information
Technology at Lahore, Pakistan where total of 4671 students were enrolled in various disciplines at graduation,
post graduation, M.Phil and PhD levels.
3.2 Participants
The participants of the study were seven experienced Non-Native teachers of English Language and
twenty seven university students of graduation level. Out of thirty four subjects, eighteen were males and sixteen
were females. Their ages ranged between seventeen years to thirty eight years. The teaching experience of all
teachers ranged between one and a half years to eleven years at various levels.
3.3 Instrument
a. Individual Interviews
Individual interviews were conducted from learners as well as teachers within two weeks time. The time
taken by interviews ranged from 10 min to 20 min. All the interviews were conducted in English language and
tape recorded (see appendix for questions adapted from Tanveer, 2007).
b. Focus Group interviews
Fifteen learners in total from various disciplines participated on voluntary basis in focus group
discussion which lasted for about forty minutes.
3.4 Data Analysis
The tape recorded individual and focus group interviews of both learners and teachers were listened and
transcribed ‗verbatim‘ by the researcher. Afterwards, initial and focused group coding was applied to obtain
results.
4. Findings and Discussion
4.1 Types of Anxiety in Pakistani Learners
Most of the previous researches identified the enervating effect of anxiety while communicating in the
foreign language (Beier, 1951; Deffenbacher, 1980; Spielberger, 1966). Consistent with the past research
approximately all the participants of the present research reported the negative impact of language anxiety on
communication which result in hesitation and avoidance behavior.
All the participants strongly agreed on the debilitative effect of language anxiety on learners while speaking.
There were only two respondents who pointed out the facilitative effect of language anxiety apart from negative
one.
Types of Speaking Anxiety in Pakistani learners
Debilitative (mostly)
Facilitative (very rare)
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De-motivation
Hesitation
Avoidance behaviour
Loose confidence
Forget things
chance to learn more
motivates
prior preparation of activities
4.2 Sources of Anxiety in English Language Classroom
The classroom environment, different communicative situations, and general perceptions of learners on
speaking English language have been found to have strong links with language anxiety while speaking.
4.2.1
Strict and Formal Classroom Environment
Consistent with the previous research, the participants (both teachers and learners) of the present
research stated strict and formal classroom environment as one of the very important cause inducing speaking
anxiety in learners.
a) Fear of Negative Evaluation
Many learners asserted that classroom is the place where so many students and teachers are constantly
noticing their mistakes and the responses of the class fellows make them afraid to speak.
The same apprehensive feelings of students were also pointed by language teachers. Many of them
expressed that students get silent and unvoiced because of this fear clearly showing their speaking anxiety. Such
responses articulate fear of negative evaluation under highly formal classroom environment which are similar to
the past research which also revealed that the level of anxiety of learners increases under highly evaluative
situations, specially in foreign language classroom where teachers and peers constantly monitor their
performance (Daly, 1991: cited in Onwuegbuzie, Bailey, & Daley, 1999, p. 218).
Due to dual schooling system (Urdu and English medium) of Pakistan many learners are unable to
develop required communicative skills in them. In Pakistan Urdu medium schools do not provide exposure and
practice of second language speaking to learners. As a result, whenever they are required to express themselves
in front of others the fear of negative evaluation over powers them.
b) Role of language teacher
Teacher is responsible for creating communicative environment between students. While certain
teachers are strict in terms of accuracy and they believe on snubbing the students at the spot. Their humiliating
methods of error correction of learners induce anxiety in them. It was also elaborated that teacher has a ‗powerrelation‘ with the students and whenever they exercise this power it stimulates language anxiety in speakers and
makes the classroom environment strict. Moreover, many of students felt that the method of error-correction of
certain teachers is so direct and humiliating that they never want to participate in their class.
In Pakistani education system mostly teacher is an ‗authoritative‘ figure and learning is ‗teacheroriented‘ instead of students. This reduces students‘ chance to speak in classrooms to a great extent. The
negative image of teachers in the mind of students does not let them participate in their classrooms and they
avoid future communication attempts and prefer to remain silent.
c) Classroom activities
Different classroom activities make classroom environment threatening for learners. Participants were
of the view that class presentations make the classroom environment stressful and highly formal. Even the very
confidant learner expressed his inability and lack of confidence in giving presentations.
Similarly, teachers also articulated that students have to collect material and arrange data before giving
presentation in front of the audience; which was found by many learners as stressful activity of language
classrooms.
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The present research reinforced the findings of previous research by Young (1990), Koch and Terrell (1991) and
Price (1991). All of them found that participants of their study considered oral presentations most anxietyprovoking activity in the language classroom.
Apart from class presentations, pointing students to speak or to give answers of the questions asked
stimulates anxiety in them. On the other hand, group activities were pointed to be less anxious and comfortable
by language teachers. In group work they have room to divide, discuss and share the given activity. In group
work anxiety is present in learners but its level decreases.
Most of the learners agreed with the teachers that group work is less anxiety inducing. Those
individuals who tried to escape from individual tasks for them group work is relaxing. It was found that many
students in university at graduation level had their schooling in Urdu medium where English was just taken as a
subject to obtain marks by cramming. Moreover, in Urdu medium schools learners normally start learning
English language from grade five or above from very simple text books.
Such exposure to English language is not sufficient for students at all. When such learners reach at their
university level, where different classroom activities are compulsory part of language classroom and good
mastery of language is required. They find themselves unable to express due to low English proficiency which
increases their anxiety many folds. In addition to that, the teachers who use to teach in Urdu medium schools are
mostly found to be strict, authoritative and less skilled in language classrooms. This makes language classroom
uncomfortable and exasperating for learners.
4.2.2
Self-related cognitions and perceptions about speaking English
Past research has revealed that anxiety in learners is created by their ―cognitive interferences based on
self-related cognitions‖ (Tanveer, 2007). The self-perceptions of learners, beliefs about speaking English
language, perceived scholastic competence and self-esteem are some of the factors related to learners‘ cognition
which produced language anxiety in them (see Krashen, 1985; Horwitz et al., 1986; Onwuegbuzie et al., 1999 ).
Some of the self-related cognitions identified in this research correspond to earlier cited cognitions, but they vary
from individual‘s personality traits and their experience of foreign language learning.
Many of the teachers posited that their students believe that they cannot speak English at all. They
perceive English as a tough language. This feeling makes them tense and anxious about speaking English
language.
Many of the teachers and learners shared identical views on the students‘ believe expressing their
inability to speak English. One of the reasons for this perception is comparison with peers. As a result of this
comparison many learners felt that they cannot speak English. This also generates inferiority complex in them.
A female teacher asserted that many of the students believe that there is no room for mistakes while
speaking. For them making mistakes was something highly negative. Another belief of learners was pointed by
another teacher that speaking a language is ability, not possessed by all. This is consistent with the findings of
Horwitz et al. (1986).
Another identified belief of students was that many students compare themselves with the anchors and
actors in TV and movies. They feel that they should be like them and in practical life when they find themselves
unable to express the way they think; this creates a negative perception in them about their abilities and language
competence.
One more perception about speaking English was that it is used to share scholarly ideas only by learned
and educated people. The most important belief of students was that speaking English is a ‗status‘ symbol and
many of them felt that people speak English to ‗show-off‘ not to convey their message.
The same belief of students was assured by teachers that general prevalent perception in our society is
that English is a ‗status symbol‘ and people use to ‗show off‘ knowledge. It is considered in our society that
English is language of elite class and people use it to impress somebody rather then conveying knowledge or
ideas. Moreover, people believe that a person who speaks English belongs to educated and economically well
settle family.
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Anxiety Model of Pakistani Speakers
Self-related cognition and
perceptions
Strict and Formal
classroom environment
Can‘t speak English
Fear of
negative
evaluation
Role of
language
teacher
Individual
tasks
Class
discussions
Group and
pair work
Presentations
Singled out to
answer
Classroom
activities
Schooling
system (Urdu,
English)
Social
class/family
background
Lack of
exposure and
practice
Comparison with peers
Fear of linguistic mistakes
Attitude towards mistakes
Speaking --- an ability
Perceived speaking
competence
English --- a status symbol
English --- sharing of
scholastic ideas
English --- hinders relation
building
4.3 Strategies to Reduce Speaking Anxiety
In order to improve speaking, by lowering anxiety of learners in foreign language following techniques are
suggested in language classrooms.
1. Truly communicative approach should be applied by language teachers which provide learners with
maximum room for practice of speaking English.
2. Teachers should be supportive and congenial and should utilize indirect method of error correction.
3. Students should be realized that errors are part of speaking.
4. Adequate time for classroom activities and continuous practice should be provided to students to build up
their confidence.
5. Teachers should help learners in realizing their irrational beliefs and they should be substituted with
reasonable commitments for English language speaking.
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6. Different creative and fun activities like discussions, presentations, interviews, videos, songs, role plays etc
should be employed by language instructors tactfully to make speaking of English language fun for learners.
5. Conclusion
Like previous conducted research this interview study also revealed that speaking is most anxiety
provoking second language skill. All the participants agreed that learners undergo language anxiety in speaking
more then any other skill of language. There was no significant difference in the perceptions of teachers and
learners on the identified language provoking factors but they differ in their experiences and observations.
Almost all research participants emphasized that speaking English in front of others induces feeling of anxiety
and nervousness. Most of the times classroom situations are extremely challenging to learners‘ communicative
abilities in the form of class discussion, pair and group work, class presentations and answering questions when
singled out. In addition to that, many other self-created concepts about speaking English were found to be
aggravating factors of anxiety for learners.
Appendix
Interview Questions
Q1: What do you think is the role of anxiety in speaking English language?
Q 3: What are the different situations and language classroom activities that have been found by you to be
anxiety- provoking?
Q 5: Have you noticed any particular kinds of beliefs or perceptions about speaking English language? and what
do you think how they play a role in causing speaking anxiety?
Q 6: How do you think speaking anxiety can be successfully controlled?
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22
Title
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A study of anxiety among the Graduation Learners of English as a Foreign Language in Pakistan.
Author
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Adeel, Ammara
Abstract
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The learning of English as a foreign language in Pakistan takes place in two different types of Educational Institutions – Urdu and English Medium. Some students, in a pilot study, were reported to have acquitted themselves well in their language class while others not so well, particularly in speaking the language in the classroom. The main reason for low performance in this regard was reportedly attributed to anxiety and nervousness among the low performers. In order to ascertain this hypothesis empirically, this researcher carried out a full fledge research to this effect. The study as such used qualitative semi- structured individual interviews and focus group discussion. A total of thirty four participants including twenty seven learners and seven experienced language teachers participated in the research. The findings suggest that anxiety in communication stems, on the one hand, in the learners from their self created perceptions and beliefs about themselves, and on the other, from the strict and formal classroom environment in the educational institutions. On the basis of these findings the study suggests some measures to be followed in the classroom to alleviate the element of anxiety in the learners. Such measures are expected to yield positive results in the performance of the learners.
Date
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2011-05
Keywords
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Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics