Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 0-0
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 0-0
Shuan Wei-Hong Ko; Zohreh R. Eslami; Lynn M. Burlbaw
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 1-15
Abstract
The present study investigated learners’ interlanguage pragmatic development through analysis of 99 requestive emails addressed to a faculty member over a period of up to two years. Most previous studies mainly investigated how non-native English speaking students’ (NNESs) pragmalinguistic ...
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The present study investigated learners’ interlanguage pragmatic development through analysis of 99 requestive emails addressed to a faculty member over a period of up to two years. Most previous studies mainly investigated how non-native English speaking students’ (NNESs) pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic competence differed from native English speaking students (NESs) and compared learners with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds with NESs. In addition, most of the existing literature on developmental pragmatics has used elicited data. Naturally occurring data, in the form of emails, offer a more valid reflection of learners’ pragmatic competence. This study adopted speech event analysis approach, which seeks to account for all parts of requestive emails and recognizes the “work” each part does in the production of the speech event. Results indicated that, although NNES students did not show much pragmatic development in the frequency and type of strategies they used, the NNES students used a more deferential style in the opening and closing of their emails compared to native speakers. Additionally, the findings revealed the merits of analyzing natural data in interlanguage pragmatics and offered the benefit of recognizing email requests as a situated event.
Brian Street; Reza Pishghadam; Shiva Zeinali
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 16-27
Abstract
Granted that literacy is a social practice involving different values, attitudes, feelings, and social relationships, this study attempts to examine literacy practices and the potential changes made through a history of forty years. The study was conducted in the village of Cheshmeh, near Mashhad, Iran, ...
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Granted that literacy is a social practice involving different values, attitudes, feelings, and social relationships, this study attempts to examine literacy practices and the potential changes made through a history of forty years. The study was conducted in the village of Cheshmeh, near Mashhad, Iran, where the social definition of literacy emerged. The data have been collected through participants' observation and interviews. The results proposed that literacy progress has been uneven and unequal across countries and within a country or a population despite some achievements gained internationally. This study is a challenge to the idea that literacy is the same thing across all kinds of settings and under all kinds of conditions. In fact, widely varying personal, social, religious, and economic factors imposed their constraints on literacy practices. In the light of the results of the present study, the future literacy effort may achieve better results and increased opportunities of success for all individuals if it takes account of such local social factors.
Yong Lang; Lian Wang; Caihong Xie; Wencui Chen
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 28-46
Abstract
This study explores the use of the English locution I love you in the American context. The data were collected through a focus discussion group and a survey questionnaire. 120 college undergraduate students from a large public American university participated in the study with 28 attending the focus ...
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This study explores the use of the English locution I love you in the American context. The data were collected through a focus discussion group and a survey questionnaire. 120 college undergraduate students from a large public American university participated in the study with 28 attending the focus discussion group and 92 completing the survey questionnaire. The findings indicated that the use of I love you is a daily phenomenon. It can be used across a variety of different relationships, in a variety of different modes, during a variety of different occasions, and with a variety of different meanings. The theoretical justification and explanation for Americans’ high frequent and varied use of I love you were tentatively probed. The results from this study delineated a preliminary ethnography of how I love you is used in the American context, which can help EFL teachers and learners understand it more thoroughly, translate it more accurately, and use it more appropriately.
Amir Zand-Moghadam; Leila Bikineh
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 47-61
Abstract
Due to the significance of multiculturalism in politics, and the central role linguistic devices play in organizing the political discourse, this text-based qualitative study was carried out to compare political interviews in the Iranian and English contexts to find out the probable similarities and ...
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Due to the significance of multiculturalism in politics, and the central role linguistic devices play in organizing the political discourse, this text-based qualitative study was carried out to compare political interviews in the Iranian and English contexts to find out the probable similarities and differences in the use of discourse markers (DMs) between the two cultures. To this end, three sets of interviews were selected, and the DMs used in those interviews were identified and classified based on the framework proposed by Fung and Carter (2007). The results revealed that along with the similarities, some differences were present in the use of DMs among the interviewees. Such differences can be attributed to the cultural differences between the interviewees and their communicative purposes. The findings of the study help us understand the importance of DMs in organizing institutional discourse and intercultural inconsistencies that exist between Iranian and English-speaking politicians.
Amani Lusekelo
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 62-75
Abstract
In rural Tanzania, recent major influences happen between Kiswahili and English to ethnic languages rather than ethnic languages, which had been in contact for so long, influencing each other. In this work, I report the results of investigation of lexical changes in indigenous languages that aimed at ...
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In rural Tanzania, recent major influences happen between Kiswahili and English to ethnic languages rather than ethnic languages, which had been in contact for so long, influencing each other. In this work, I report the results of investigation of lexical changes in indigenous languages that aimed at examining how ethnic communities and their languages, namely Cushitic Iraqw, Nilotic Datooga, Nyilamba Bantu, Isanzu Bantu, Sukuma Bantu, and (Isolate) Hadzabe, have influenced one another due to contact in Yaeda Chini, Mang’ola, and Endamaghang wards (i.e., Lake Eyasi area). Though they have been in contact for many decades, this study found that ethnic languages in the area have been affected mainly by Kiswahili. It was revealed that loanwords of this official language tend to outnumber loanwords in each language which come from other ethnic languages. It is supported that, in terms of cultural superiority to date, Iraqw and Datooga are far ahead because Iraqw and Datooga languages tend to influence Nyisanzu, Nyilamba, and Hadzabe languages in Lake Eyasi area.
Milene Mendes de Oliveira
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 76-90
Abstract
This paper showed the results of a qualitative investigation that looked into intracultural communication between Brazilian teachers and students of English, and intercultural communication between American teachers and Brazilian students of English. The aims were to identify and describe contextualization ...
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This paper showed the results of a qualitative investigation that looked into intracultural communication between Brazilian teachers and students of English, and intercultural communication between American teachers and Brazilian students of English. The aims were to identify and describe contextualization cues used by both Brazilian and American speakers of English, and to connect these cues with sociocultural differences. Data was collected through footage of English classes in Brazil and through interviews with American English teachers. The analyses of the footage and the interviews have shown that, while assertiveness could be related to the sociological dimension of individualism in the American culture, compliance, as perceived in verbal interactions, could be connected with the collectivist orientation of the Brazilian culture. Moreover, the higher-context communication style in the Brazilian culture and the lower-context communication style in the American culture (when contrasted with each other) were found to be able to account for differences in the use of politeness strategies. The results showed the importance of making English students aware of contextualization conventions.
Tugba Toprak; Yasemin Aksoyalp
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 91-104
Abstract
Increasingly intercultural dimension of communication in the 21st century has brought about challenging aims in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) pedagogy, such as ascertaining the enhancement of the learners' intercultural awareness and promoting their ability to communicate in intercultural settings. ...
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Increasingly intercultural dimension of communication in the 21st century has brought about challenging aims in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) pedagogy, such as ascertaining the enhancement of the learners' intercultural awareness and promoting their ability to communicate in intercultural settings. Taking the disadvantage of EFL environment in terms of intercultural input into account, course books can be considered as one of the most crucial tools used in these settings. Thus, the links between culture, language teaching, and course books deserve a closer investigation carried out with a critical eye. Hence, the present study was conducted: (1) to explore the extent and number of the cultural representations present in course books (2) the distribution of cultural representations across different English-speaking countries (i.e., the UK, the USA, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand). To this end, 17 English course books written by international publishers and used at preparatory English schools of universities in an EFL setting were examined by using a quantitative content analysis. The results were discussed and implications were made.
Reza Zabihi; Momene Ghadiri; Abbas Eslami Rasekh
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 105-119
Abstract
Media can be a good representation of dominant ideologies in society. The analysis of such discourse can shed light on the mental and social structures of people in society. Adopting van Dijk’s (1995) layout of discourse ideology and his (2000) practical and general outline of ideological analysis, ...
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Media can be a good representation of dominant ideologies in society. The analysis of such discourse can shed light on the mental and social structures of people in society. Adopting van Dijk’s (1995) layout of discourse ideology and his (2000) practical and general outline of ideological analysis, this study analyzes the Iranian movie A Separation, the winner of the 84th Annual Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. The data are transcribed, modified and then translated into English. What is of particular interest to the authors is to examine the discourse of the movie based on van Dijk’s (1995) layout of discourse ideology which tries to approach ideology by ensuring the triangulation of society, cognition, and discourse. The authors are more interested in analyzing people’s simple daily ideological behaviors which are rooted in their cognition and dominate their social activities. Having mapped these specific terrains, the authors attempt an examination of the ideologies of the film on levels of meaning, forms, and action and interaction.
Mohammed Ayodeji Ademilokun
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 120-132
Abstract
This paper discussed the discursive strategies in selected political rally campaigns of the 2011 elections in Southwestern Nigeria with a view to revealing the dynamics of political persuasion and mobilization in contemporary natural political communication in Nigeria. The data for the study were obtained ...
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This paper discussed the discursive strategies in selected political rally campaigns of the 2011 elections in Southwestern Nigeria with a view to revealing the dynamics of political persuasion and mobilization in contemporary natural political communication in Nigeria. The data for the study were obtained from two political rallies in each of the six Southwestern states in Nigeria, making a total of twelve. The political rallies were purposively selected as the focus was on one rally of each of the two strongest parties in each of the six Southwestern Nigerian states. The data gathered were analyzed using the analytical tools of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The data analysis revealed that the discourse participants deployed discourse strategies such as allusion, propagandistic language, code-switching and code-mixing, requesting, flattery, praise, and provocative language. The study concluded that while the discourse continues to be an effective platform for political struggles and power play, it also highlights the cultural, linguistic, and social factors which had a bearing on the language use of political actors in Southwestern Nigeria.
Maryam Sadat Tabatabaeiyan
Volume 3, Issue 1 , March 2015, Pages 133-138