Do Modification And Interaction Work? – A Critical Review Of Literature On The Role Of Foreigner Talk In Second Language Acquisition

Vol. 6  Issue 3
Year:2016
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:Do Modification And Interaction Work? – A Critical Review Of Literature On The Role Of Foreigner Talk In Second Language Acquisition
Author Name: John Paul O. Dela Rosa and Diana C. Arguelles
Synopsis:
This critical review of literature provides a detailed description of foreigner talk as a simplified register and critically discusses findings entrenched in studies done about this SLA issue. The studies cited are classified as researches concerning foreigner talk that occurs in both natural and classroom settings. Based on the critical review, more research investigations have to be done to enrich the area of foreigner talk in second language acquisition and learning. The most important consideration is the need to conduct more researches that would validate both the positive and negative effects of foreigner talk in the process of acquiring and learning a second language as well as a foreign language like English. The emergence of significant concerns on the study of FT is also highlighted in this presentation which include how researchers regarded the effectiveness of both input modifications and interactional adjustments along with the occurrence of negotiation of meaning and the use of communication strategies in the SLA process. The paper also presents empirical data on the effectiveness of NNS-NNS interactions in second language learning in contrast with interactions occurring between Native Speakers (NSs) and Nonnative Ones (NNSs). Finally, the paper deals with what could be done to address the “inconclusiveness” of relevant research findings on foreigner talk.

Power Of Pen: Expressive Writing As An Intervention Tool On Exposure To Thin-Ideal Images With Dietary Restraint And Self-Compassion As Covariates

Vol. 6  Issue 3
Year:2016
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:Power Of Pen: Expressive Writing As An Intervention Tool On Exposure To Thin-Ideal Images With Dietary Restraint And Self-Compassion As Covariates
Author Name: Dennis Relojo and Angelo Emil Gagani
Synopsis:
Expressive Writing (EW) has been recognised as an intervention tool for thin-ideal images. However, to date, there are limited studies which investigated its efficacy to involve dietary restraint and self-compassion as moderating variables. The present work assessed the efficacy of EW in improving levels of body satisfaction and positive affect among 140 Filipino female university students ageing 18-25. They were tested in groups and wrote either about life goals (n = 46), positive experiences (n = 49) or a control topic (n = 46). It further examined how EW could benefit people on the basis of their levels of dietary restraint and self-compassion. Results demonstrated that EW has no significant effect on body satisfaction and positive affect. However, it was revealed that dietary restraint and self-compassion have moderating effects.

Student beliefs towards Written Corrective Feedback: the case of Filipino high school students

Vol. 6  Issue 3
Year:2016
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:Student beliefs towards Written Corrective Feedback: the case of Filipino high school students
Author Name: Roselle A. Balanga, Irish Van B. Fidel, Mone Virma Ginry P. Gumapac , Howell T. Ho, Riza Mae C. Tullo, Patricia Monette L. Villaraza and Camilla J. Vizconde
Synopsis:
The study identified the beliefs of high school students toward Written Corrective Feedback (WCF), based on the framework of Anderson (2010). It also investigated the most common errors that students commit in writing stories and the type of WCF students receive from teachers. Data in the form of stories which were checked by teachers were gathered from 83 students from a private sectarian school. Survey-questionnaires regarding beliefs in WCF were also administered. Five types of written corrective feedback were identified: direct feedback, indirect feedback, focused feedback, unfocused feedback and reformulation. Results also showed that students strongly agree that having good grammar is important in academic writing and academic success. They also strongly agreed on the statement: written corrective feedback (any written indication to show that an error has occurred) helped improve my grammar. The most common error found among the data was on the misuse or non-use of punctuations.

Functional Digital Literacy Calls for SOS by a Smuggled Afghan Boy:Teaching Phonics and Pragmatics for Survival Language

Vol. 6  Issue 3
Year:2016
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:Functional Digital Literacy Calls for SOS by a Smuggled Afghan Boy:Teaching Phonics and Pragmatics for Survival Language
Author Name: Lucia Y. Lu 
Synopsis:
On April 8, 2016 when the class was discussing “digital literacy”, a shocking news story from London AP intrigued us. The news was about a brief text message delivered by Ahmed, a refugee Afghan boy of 6-year old. His text message flashed on the cellphone of Liz Clegg, a volunteer at a migrant camp in France. Clegg and other volunteers had handed out hundreds of basic cellphones to children living there, programming in a phone number for them to text in case of danger. The author read Ahmed's text message and tried to “sound it out”. My students figured out that the message was “invented spelling” which was Ahmed's call for SOS. The text message was in the Pashto language, and was identified as “broken English”on a no-frills cellphone. The police in London quickly set off a trans-Atlantic search and rescued Ahmed and the other 14 migrants who were smuggled in a locked refrigerator truck which was heading toward England. The author and her students defined this shocking text message as “digital literacy”. In this research, they embedded phonics and pragmatics into digital literacy to make literacy education more functional to ELLs like Ahmed whose first language is not English.

Causes of the 'I can understand English but I can’t speak' Syndrome in Turkey

Vol. 6  Issue 3
Year:2016
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:Causes of the 'I can understand English but I can’t speak' Syndrome in Turkey
Author Name: Abdullah Coskun
Synopsis:
The saying 'I can understand English but I can't speak' is so commonly used by Turkish people that it would be fair to state that not being able to speak English has almost become a syndrome in society. This study delves into the causes of this syndrome. In two state high schools, 293 high school students filled out a questionnaire including Likert-type items about the possible causes of this syndrome, and an open-ended question aiming to reveal their suggestions on how they can improve their speaking skills. The analysis of the quantitative data was done by means of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23, and the responses to the open-ended question were analyzed through content analysis. According to the results, it is commonly believed that they cannot speak English because of the focus on grammar rules in English lessons, differences between English and Turkish, lack of experience abroad, limited speaking practice opportunities outside the classroom, feeling anxious while speaking English, use of mother tongue by the teacher and the course books which do not include colloquial English. Therefore, some of the participants suggested having communication driven lessons and engaging in out of class speaking practice activities as ways of improving their speaking skills. It is hoped that such studies will help better understand the sources of failure in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) speaking, and begin to solve this problem more effectively.

English language teachers’ implementation of curriculum with action-oriented approach in Turkish primary education classrooms

Vol. 6  Issue 2
Year:2016
Issue:Apr-Jun
Title:English language teachers’ implementation of curriculum with action-oriented approach in Turkish primary education classrooms
Author Name:P. Yeni-Palabiyik and A. Daloglu 
Synopsis:
The aim of the study is to explore English language teachers' implementation of a curriculum innovation with an actionoriented approach in the context of teaching English to very young learners in Turkish primary schools. As a part of exploratory case study design, data from multiple sources were gathered in the form of observational field notes, followup interviews and document analysis. Findings indicated a variation in teachers' instructional practices ranging from traditional to constructivist. Even if factors such as presence of instructional materials and facilities of the school influenced the implementation, this study indicated that the teacher is the main factor in effective delivery of any imposed change. Besides, the positive influence of proficiency in subject-matter knowledge and curricular knowledge to achieve coherence between the intended and delivered curriculum was revealed. The results showed that providing an ongoing support and including teachers in the process of curriculum development helped to promote the effective implementation of the curriculum innovation.

Is it too Late Now to Say Sorry? – the Language of Public Apologies in the Contexts of American and Philippine Television

Vol. 6  Issue 2
Year:2016
Issue:Apr-Jun
Title:Is it too Late Now to Say Sorry? – the Language of Public Apologies in the Contexts of American and Philippine Television
Author Name:John Paul O. Dela Rosa and Lorna B. Castro 
Synopsis:
This pragmatic study of the speech act of apology aims to look into the apology strategies and felicity conditions fulfilled in the public apology statements of an American and a Filipino TV host after alleged faults done during the pageant nights of Miss Universe 2015 and Binibining Pilipinas 2015, respectively. Specifically, the study purposes to establish similarities and differences between the apology strategies and felicity conditions employed in both American and Filipino public apologies. It was found that the American TV host provided a more direct apology expression as compared to the more intensified expression of the Filipino TV host. On the basis of the apology strategies used, the American TV host made emphasis on self-blame, self-embarrassment, and on a more empathetic type of apology. On the other hand, the Filipino TV host made her apology more self-justifying which highlights explicit lack of intent and denial of self-responsibility. As regards felicity conditions, the apology statement of the American TV host is more felicitous than that of the Filipino TV host. The emergence of less common apology strategies was also traced from the statement of the Filipino TV host-the transfer of guilt towards the “apologizee” and the expression of gratitude to a certain group of people to counter the negative impact of the mistake or fault committed.

Investigating the Representation of Multiple Intelligences Theory in TPSOL Textbooks

Vol. 6  Issue 2
Year:2016
Issue:Apr-Jun
Title:Investigating the Representation of Multiple Intelligences Theory in TPSOL Textbooks
Author Name:Saman Ebadi and Maryam Beigzadeh
Synopsis:
As the main applicable language resources in classrooms, textbooks provide the primary source of information, and they serve the foundation of instruction and transfer the curriculum objectives. Therefore, teachers should be conscious in choosing the right textbooks and activities for their students. The purpose of this study is to investigate one series of commonly used TPSOL textbooks in light of Multiple Intelligences Theory. Three Textbooks of Farsi Biyamuzim series were analyzed using a MI checklist developed by the present researchers based on the review of the related literature and frameworks of the theory. Careful analysis of the activities revealed that textbooks mostly catered for verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, logical/mathematical, and interpersonal intelligences. The least dominant intelligence were intrapersonal, musical, and naturalist intelligence types and no example of the bodily/kinesthetic intelligence was observed in the analyzed textbooks' activities. In addition, the results of the study did not show any significant effect of proficiency level on application of intelligence types in textbooks. The findings of the study suggest the administrators and material developers to consider the necessity of applying various intelligence types in designing TPSOL textbooks.

Insight Of Teachers On Problems Of Students In Acquiring Communicative Skill In English

Vol. 6  Issue 2
Year:2016
Issue:Apr-Jun
Title:Insight Of Teachers On Problems Of Students In Acquiring Communicative Skill In English
Author Name:G. Singaravelu and M. Paramasivam
Synopsis:
The study examined the insight of English Teacher towards students of standard XI in acquiring communicative skill in English. The main objective of the paper was to identify the problems of the students in acquiring communicative skill in English. The Normative survey method was adopted in the study. One hundred teachers were considered as a sample for the study. Problem inventory for the teacher was selected as a tool for the study. After establishing Reliability and validity of the tool, it was considered for the final study. Findings of the study is a significant association between the Male and Female teachers on the opinion of problems of the learners in Listening skill with respect to stress pattern, cohesive device, Distinctive sound, Intonation, Contextual meaning and Homophones. Communicative skill can be practiced in the classroom transaction by using role play, pandemonium, discussion, interaction, translated version of Tamil cinema, etc. Written communicative skill can be developed by conducting essay competition, preparing advertisement, preparing projects, etc.

English language publishing in Chemical Engineering Journals from an Indian academic’s point of view - a broad scientific perspective

Vol. 6  Issue 2
Year:2016
Issue:Apr-Jun
Title:English language publishing in Chemical Engineering Journals from an Indian academic’s point of view - a broad scientific perspective
Author Name:Sukanchan Palit 
Synopsis:
Scientific vision and scientific understanding in today's world are in the path of new glory. Chemical Engineering science is witnessing drastic and rapid changes. The metamorphosis of human civilization in this century is faced with vicious challenges. Progress of Chemical Engineering science, the vision of technology and the broad chemical engineering applications together will go a long way in the true emancipation of scientific publishing and scientific editing. The author as a Chemical Engineer deeply delves into the world of chemical engineering science and unfolds the vast and visionary domain of publishing and editing. The author with deep and cogent insight uncovers the various branches of chemical engineering subject, its vast and varied applications and the futuristic vision of publishing in Chemical Engineering Journals. Scientific writing in today's world is in the path of newer regeneration. Plagiarism issues are changing the face of global scientific writing. It is a burning as well as a vexing issue. The human scientific endeavour is in the state of a difficult crisis. The sole aim and objective of this treatise is to address the need of lucid and plagiarism-free scientific writing in India. The message of plagiarism free writing in India needs to be strong and far-reaching. In today's scientific perspective, the need for scientific writing, whether it is of Engineering or Medicine, is immense and also needs to be targeted to the common mass. Chemical engineering is also in the path of new regeneration and newer reenvisioning. The domain of chemical engineering is now diversifying into different areas of Bio-engineering, Biotechnology and Medicine. In a separate section, the author delineates the visionary scientific endeavours in scientific writing especially medical science writing. There is an immense need for Chemical Engineering writing as India moves into a new eon of scientific cognizance and greater scientific vision. Mankind's vision and scientific prowess will be emboldened as India moves into a new scientific era. The basic upshot of scientific writing with targets towards sustainable development needs to be re-envisioned. The author touches upon the wide world of interdisciplinary areas of chemical engineering particularly, biotechnology, bioengineering and rural development in India. These aim and objectives will open up newer future thoughts and newer future vision in the years to come.

Metadiscourse In Book Prefaces Of Filipino And English Authors: A Contrastive Rhetoric Study

Vol. 6  Issue 1
Year:2016
Issue:Jan-Mar
Title:Metadiscourse In Book Prefaces Of Filipino And English Authors: A Contrastive Rhetoric Study
Author Name:Leonardo O. Munalim and Rachelle B. Lintao 
Synopsis:
Grounded on the tradition of Contrastive Rhetoric (CR), this paper aimed at contrasting the presence of metadiscourse resources in a book preface of Filipino and English authors. It especially sought to see the similarities and differences of interactive and interactional markers between two cultures. A total of thirty book prefaces on language areas, fifteen in each culture were culled. They were identified, classified, and interpreted based upon the taxonomies by Hyland and Tse (2004) with the interlarding frameworks by Crismore, Markkanen, and Steffensen (1993); Hyland (2007); Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech and Svartvik (1985); and Yagiz and Demir (2015). Results show that a book preface is calibrated by authors from both cultures with a profuse use of interactional MD resources, that is, a book preface has to be more interactional than interactive. The results also put forth that differences in metadiscourse resources reside in the text due to the differing cultures of individualism and self-accolade among the English, and humility and text-economy among Filipino authors. In a nutshell, practical and pedagogical implications are offered in this present study.

Rhetorical analysis of the doctoral abstracts on English language teaching in Turkey

Vol. 6  Issue 1
Year:2016
Issue:Jan-Mar
Title:Rhetorical analysis of the doctoral abstracts on English language teaching in Turkey
Author Name:Kemal Sinan Ozmen
Synopsis:
Doctoral dissertation has an important role to embark on an academic career confidently. The case is much more challenging for the early career doctorate who strives to contribute to the wider academic community. Using Swale's IMRD model, this study analyzed the rhetorical organization of English abstracts of 147 doctoral dissertations written between 2010 and 2015 in national graduate programs on English Language Teaching in Turkey. The results revealed 38 DAs with IMRD model and at least 22 rhetorically deficient DAs, lacking critical moves and linguistic realizations. Most DAs seem to exclude the conceptual framework, gap and important submoves. Omission of the Discussion move was also found to be a problem among the DAs. In addition, DAs from the half of the programs do not comply with the word limits offered by the official guidelines. Based on the results, a guideline was prepared to offer a remedy for the responsible bodies.

Professional Development and IELTS Training Course: a case of EFL Teachers in Iran

Vol. 6  Issue 1
Year:2016
Issue:Jan-Mar
Title:Professional Development and IELTS Training Course: a case of EFL Teachers in Iran
Author Name:Hamid Ashraf and Zeinab Kafi 
Synopsis:
The current study aimed at investigating the status of Professional Development (PD) through examining teachers' perspectives over how effective they consider exam specific teacher training courses (IELTS in this case) which aim at increasing their PD. To this end, a group of EFL teachers, from different language schools in Mashhad, Iran took part in this study. There existed 30 teachers, most of whom were professional in teaching and had a good English proficiency. This training course consisted of all the skills and sub-skills of IELTS as well as the best possible ways to teach different skills of English. Teachers attended this program three times a week which started in February 2015 and ended in May 2015. As the main data collection mean in this study was a qualitative one, two open-ended questions were employed in the data collection process which aimed at finding what the participants' ideas about the T.T.C course they took were and also what the main motivating reasons for the teachers were for taking part in the T.T.C program. The accumulated answers were then analyzed and categorized into different groups and the percentages for each extracted category were calculated through SPSS. Besides, as for the quantitative data collection phase and also in order to check the probable relation of the program and teachers' Professional Development (PD), a researcher made questionnaire was designed and expert validity was employed to carry out the instrument's validation process. Therefore, two experts' opinions in the field were accumulated and further comments and modifications were done accordingly. The questionnaire, using Cronbach Alpha, revealed to possess a high degree of .902 reliability. Afterwards, the PD questionnaire, which mainly focused on teachers' self-declaration with regard to this case specific teacher training program and how effective they believed the program to be on their PD, was administered. Finally, the results were correlated through Cross tabulation and Chi square test. The results exhibited that, there exists a significant relation between the two variables i. e. majority of teachers believed the T.T.C program has been “influential” in their professional development.

Theoretical Triads in Chinese Thinking over Translation

Vol. 6  Issue 1
Year:2016
Issue:Jan-Mar
Title:Theoretical Triads in Chinese Thinking over Translation
Author Name:Jiasheng Shi
Synopsis:
Theoretical triads are commonly employed thought patterns and have played an important part in the history of translation. This paper presents a brief introduction to some of the most prominent triads in Chinese thinking over translation and clarifies the misinterpretations of them, with some of their Western counterparts given for comparative purpose. The triads covered include “faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance” proposed by Yan Fu, “sublimation, deviation, and mediation” by Qian Zhongshu, and “semantic beauty, phonological beauty, structural beauty” by Xu Yuanchong.

Learning Strategy Training in English Teaching

Vol. 6  Issue 1
Year:2016
Issue:Jan-Mar
Title:Learning Strategy Training in English Teaching
Author Name:Evangelin Arulselvi M.
Synopsis:
The fundamental task of schools is to endow students with strategies, which enable them to elaborate, transform, contrast and critically rebuild knowledge, that develops strategic knowledge. Learning strategy is the specific action to make the students better in learning a second language. Learning Strategy Training is based on problems the students encounter in the process of learning target language. These problems are needed to be solved for an effective learning. Learning Strategy Training focuses on learner training as much as language teaching. Students should be responsible for their own learning. The teacher helps them to facilitate their learning and to be more effective in learning the target language. Students should be aware of the use of strategies useful for language learning.

Acquisition of English as a Second language at College Level – An empirical study

Vol. 5  Issue 4
Year: 2015
Issue:Oct-Dec
Title:Acquisition of English as a Second language at College Level – An empirical study
Author Name:Beena Anil
Synopsis:
English has a universal appeal and in India, English is associated with modernity and progress sometimes with the ideology of its cultural values. The economic value of English is very high in India as even a layman uses English words in his/her 'native' communication. The second language acquisition happens for learners at various domains like home, education, religion, society domains. It is noticed that even English illiterates give importance to English and want their children to learn English for their 'bright' future. Presently, many families use English as first language in home domain. Second language acquisition and learning is gaining momentum in all the educational institutions. More than a language English is considered as a tool and a passport to settle in a good job. In academic settings, teachers should motivate students to learn, engage their attention, present an intellectual and linguistic challenge and allow them to develop language as effectively as possible.

The Effects of Explicit and Implicit Pragmatic Instruction on the Development of Compliments and Compliment Responses

Vol. 5  Issue 4
Year: 2015
Issue:Oct-Dec
Title:The Effects of Explicit and Implicit Pragmatic Instruction on the Development of Compliments and Compliment Responses
Author Name:Saman Ebadi and Mahsa Pourzandi
Synopsis:
This study explored the effects of explicit and implicit instructions in the development of EFL learners' speech acts of complimenting (Cs) and complimenting response (CRs). The participants in this research were 56 intermediate EFL learners from a language center, participating as members of intact classes that were divided into three groups of control, explicit instruction, and implicit instruction. They were asked to answer an open-ended Discourse Completion Test (DCT) to collect the primary data in the pre-test and post-test sessions. The items in the DCT included 12 situations based on which the participants were required to give or respond to compliments to evaluate their knowledge of Cs and CRs. Then their responses were collected, tabulated, and analyzed. The treatment including explicit and implicit instructions on pragmatic competence lasted for three weeks after which all groups were given the DCT in post-test to measure their pragmatic competence. The results of the study highlighted the effectiveness of both implicit and explicit instructions in developing EFL learners' speech acts of Cs and CRs. It seems that pragmatic instruction regardless of type speeds up the process of learning through consciousness rising and should be considered by language teachers as one of the ways in which EFL learners can most efficiently develop pragmatic competence.

Research Methodology: A Practitioner Approach

Vol. 5  Issue 4
Year: 2015
Issue:Oct-Dec
Title:Language Learning by dint of Social Cognitive Advancement
Author Name:Sukhpal Singh, Inderveer Chana and Maninder Singh
Synopsis:
The ultimate goal of scientific research is publication so as to showcase the research outcomes. Scientists, starting as graduate students, are measured primarily not by their dexterity in laboratory manipulations, not by their innate knowledge of either broad or narrow scientific subjects, and certainly not by their wit or charm; they are measured, and become known by their publications. A scientific experiment, no matter how spectacular the results, is not completed until the results are published. In fact, the cornerstone of the philosophy of science is based on the fundamental assumption that original research must be published; only thus can new scientific knowledge be authenticated and then added to the existing databases. In this paper, a practitioners approach to write an effective paper is presented in a chronological order. Further, writing style of effective research paper, a review technique to conduct a methodical survey in a systematic manner and finally an effective research plan for forthcoming research scholars is discussed. This research work provides an effective direction to write, submit and publish the effort put into doing research into a published form.

Language Learning by dint of Social Cognitive Advancement

Vol. 5  Issue 4
Year: 2015
Issue:Oct-Dec
Title:Language Learning by dint of Social Cognitive Advancement
Author Name:Bincy Mathew and B. William Dharma Raja
Synopsis:
Language is of vital importance to human beings. It is a means of communication and it has specific cognitive links. Advanced social cognition is necessary for children to acquire language, and sophisticated mind-reading abilities to assume word meanings and communicate pragmatically. Language can be defined as a bi-directional system that permits the expression of arbitrary thoughts as signals and the reverse interpretation of those signals as thoughts. Although language appears as a seamless whole, with phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatic processes working together, many dissociable mechanisms underlie linguistic competence. Language allows forms of social understanding that would otherwise be impossible. Both language and social cognition are complex constructs, involving many independent cognitive mechanisms, and the comparative approach provides a powerful route to understanding the evolution of such mechanisms. Social Cognition (SC) encompasses a number of distinctive capacities, including social learning, imitation, gaze following, and Theory of Mind (ToM). Social cognition involves a set of interacting but separable mechanisms, and the language has led to an extensive dissection of social cognition and a correspondingly daunting profusion of terms. The most important way in which social cognitive linguistics differs from other approaches, is that language is assumed to reflect certain primary sources and design features of the human mind.

Pleasure reading cures readicide and facilitates academic reading

Vol. 5  Issue 4
Year: 2015
Issue:Oct-Dec
Title:Pleasure reading cures readicide and facilitates academic reading
Author Name:J. Mary Jennifer and R. Joseph Ponniah 
Synopsis:
Pleasure reading is an absolute choice to eradicate readicide, a systematic killing of the love for reading. This paper encompasses the different forms and consequences of readicide which will have negative impact not only on comprehension but also on the prior knowledge of a reader. Reading to score well on tests impedes the desire for reading but in fact it causes the fear of failure, and anxiety towards reading. In order to eradicate readicide, pleasure reading is suggested as a powerful tool because it has the potential to instill love for books by providing pleasant input. Interestingly, pleasure reading promotes both practical and linguistic knowledge and, in fact, it helps readers score high on tests and upholds a lifelong reading habit that will enable them to become literate and well-informed adults.

Second/Foreign Language Lexical Competence: Its Dimensions and Ways of Measuring it

Vol. 5  Issue 3
Year: 2015
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:Second/Foreign Language Lexical Competence: Its Dimensions and Ways of Measuring it
Author Name:Anindya Syam Choudhury
Synopsis:
Although it is a core component of a language user's overall linguistic competence, vocabulary has traditionally not received the kind of attention it deserved, being usually lumped with other kinds of competence till 1980s and 1990s when researchers started focusing on it with great interest. The present paper discusses what the notion of lexical competence entails, and also attempts to look at how vocabulary researchers have conceptualized its dimensions, especially the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge. The paper also discusses the different ways in which these dimensions of lexical competence can possibly be measured, drawing data from an ongoing cross-sectional study on lexical competence in Assam University.

The Impact of Peer Observation and Feedback on Technical Seminar Presentations: A Constructive Model

Vol. 5  Issue 3
Year: 2015
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:The Impact of Peer Observation and Feedback on Technical Seminar Presentations: A Constructive Model
Author Name:V. Vijaya Vani 
Synopsis:
The present paper attempts to showcase the need and importance of peer observation and feedback in developing technical seminar presentation skills of the students at tertiary level. The paper endeavors to know whether a structured format will help students to know what they have to observe in the seminar presentations to give constructive feedback. Further, the study examines whether peer feedback ensures more involvement of target group in teaching/learning process or not.

A Study on the Developmental Characteristics of Adverbial Conjuncts by Chinese Non-English Majors

Vol. 5  Issue 3
Year: 2015
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:A Study on the Developmental Characteristics of Adverbial Conjuncts by Chinese Non-English Majors
Author Name:Jiang Junmei
Synopsis:
Based on the Chinese Learner English Corpus, the present study seeks to investigate the developmental characteristics of the use of adverbial conjuncts. And the results show that at different learning stages Non-English majors use all kinds of adverbial conjuncts, but their occurrence frequencies are quite different, the enumerative adverbials are most frequently used, resultative and deductive adverbials come second, transitional adverbials are least used. Chinese learners, especially high school students rely heavily on a small number of adverbial conjuncts, and the use of adverbials lacks diversity. Secondly, the distribution of different semantic categories is roughly the same in the three corpora. In addition, as students learn English more, the use of adverbial conjuncts presents different developmental trends or characteristics, there is an increasing tendency of summative, appositive, contrastive and corroborative adverbials, but the use of resultative and transitional adverbials increases first and then decreases, and it is quite contrary to the use of enumerative adverbials. There is significant difference in the use of adverbial conjuncts between ST2 and ST3, but no significant difference between ST3 and St4

Using Concept Mapping and Paraphrasing for Reading Comprehension

Vol. 5  Issue 3
Year: 2015
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:Using Concept Mapping and Paraphrasing for Reading Comprehension
Author Name:Hamid Marashi and Nazanin Bagheri
Synopsis:
This study investigated the comparative impact of two types of teaching techniques, namely concept mapping and paraphrasing, on the reading comprehension of EFL learners. For this purpose, 60 learners of a total number of 90 intermediate learners studying at a language school in Karaj, Iran, were chosen through taking a piloted PET for homogenization prior to the study. They were then randomly put into two experimental groups: 30 learners undergoing the concept map teaching, and 30 learners experiencing the paraphrasing teaching treatment. A piloted reading comprehension test was administered as the post-test of the study after each group was exposed to the treatment for 10 sessions in five weeks. The mean scores of the two groups on this post-test were computed through an independent samples of t-test to test the hypothesis raised in the study. The results showed that neither group outperformed the other significantly.

The Role of Language Proficiency in Self-related Personality Traits

Vol. 5  Issue 3
Year: 2015
Issue:Jul-Sep
Title:The Role of Language Proficiency in Self-related Personality Traits
Author Name:Abbas Ali Zarei and Nasrin Zarei 
Synopsis:
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of Iranian EFL learners' proficiency level on their self-related personality traits (self-esteem and self-efficacy). To this end, 141 English major students, male and female, studying at Imam Khomeini International University (IKIU) and Kar Non-profit University in Qazvin, Iran were asked to respond to the Rosenberg Self-esteem Test, the General Self-efficacy Scale, the Academic Self-efficacy Scale, and the Self-efficacy for Self-regulated learning Scale. Also, the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (MTELP) was administered to determine their language proficiency level. Kruskal-Wallis procedure was used to analyze the data. Based on the findings, no significant difference was found in the participants' self-esteem and self-efficacy across proficiency levels. The results of this study may have theoretical and pedagogical implications for teachers, learners and syllabus designers.

Unleashing Creativity in Linguistic Discourses through Advertising Skills

Vol. 5  Issue 2
Year: 2015
Issue:Apr-Jun
Title:Unleashing Creativity in Linguistic Discourses through Advertising Skills
Author Name:Y. Suneetha 
Synopsis:
Creative fluency is positively correlated with the quantity and quality of talk as well. The fluency gives an indication of the learner's ability to cope with real-time communication. This paper makes a correlative study on nurturing narrative tasks through advertising skills. English advertising exploits from the high adaptability of the English language. English enables the creators of advertisements to use word puns, figurative language, and to mix individual styles and types of texts. The aim of this paper is to explore what is linguistically creative in everyday interactions by analyzing advertising language. The present study has been done by comparing 100 advertising slogans of Indian Brands and International Brands to analyze language of advertising from linguistic aspects. Further, it provides examples to describe the most commonly used linguistic devices and figures of speech in advertising as a base for creative discourses.

Students’ attitudes towards the use of poetry in second language classrooms

Vol. 5  Issue 2
Year: 2015
Issue:Apr-Jun
Title:Students’ attitudes towards the use of poetry in second language classrooms
Author Name:Ardeshir Danesh and Servat Shirkhani
Synopsis:
This study investigates learners' attitudes towards poetry in foreign language learning. 63 Engineering Students at Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch attended the study. The instrument used in the study was a questionnaire designed by the researchers for the purpose of this study. The questionnaire consisted of 12 questions regarding the subjects' attitudes towards poetry. The analysis of the data revealed that while the students are mostly interested in Persian poetry, only about one third are interested in English poetry. Therefore, their lack of interest in English poetry can be due to their problem in reading English poetry which has been confirmed by the analysis of their answers to a related item on the questionnaire. Based on the results of the study, the subjects do not strongly relate their inability in understanding English poetry to any of the reasons referred to in the questionnaire, i.e. containing a lot of new words, being based on a different culture, and not understanding Persian poetry. Despite their lack of interest and understanding in English poetry, a considerable percent of the students believe that English poetry helps the development of various aspects of the foreign language.

Indranath and Giribala - The young adult dystopian characters in The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker

Vol. 5  Issue 2
Year: 2015
Issue:Apr-Jun
Title:Indranath and Giribala - The young adult dystopian characters in The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker
Author Name:Malavika Sharma
Synopsis:
Indian women have always been viewed as the object of desire. In the advent of Technological Advancement women are still thought of as inferior to men. Though there is an increase in the literacy rate of the girl child, it does not imply the emancipation of the girl child. Women are bound by the social customs and traditions. In this sense women are not empowered. The word empowerment is misrepresented as the increase in working women. In such a scenario Indian women writers in English have portrayed the challenges women confront at home, in the workplace as well as in their social interactions. Indira Goswami in her Novel The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker boldly describes the plight of the women especially the widows and hopes to instill change in the minds of the society. The present paper aims to analyse the characters of Indranath and Giribala from the perspective of Young Adult Dystopian protagonist.