Book review of BLACKWOOD, ROBERT, ELIZABETH LANZA, AND HIRUT WOLDEMARIAM, eds. Negotiating and Contesting Identities in Linguistic Landscapes. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. 288 pp.

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Robert Blackwood, Elizabeth Lanza, and Hirut Woldemariam, eds. Negotiating and Contesting Identities in Linguistic Landscapes

Linguistic Landscape Bibliography

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Robert Blackwood, Elizabeth Lanza, and Hirut Woldemariam (Eds.). Negotiating and Contesting Identities in Linguistic Landscapes. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. 2016. 288 pages.

Tourist's achievement emotions and memorable experience in visiting the Middle East

This study investigates the emotional experiences of undergraduate students when taking computer-based compared to traditional paper-based exams. The authors surveyed 144 students and conducted in-depth written interviews with 44 of them to gain a comprehensive understanding of their emotions and experiences. The findings revealed that students generally feel more positive emotions, such as enjoyment, hope, and pride during computer-based exams. Conversely, they experienced less anger, anxiety, and hopelessness compared to paper-based exams. However, they observed no significant differences in feelings of relief and shame between the two exam modes. The interview responses provided valuable insights into the reasons behind these emotions. Students found computer-based testing to be more efficient, user-friendly for language editing, and appreciated the auto-grading features. However, technical concerns were identified as a major challenge in this format. On the other hand, paper-based exams allowed students to avoid technical problems, draft their answers, and express ideas more effectively. Despite these advantages, students reported disliking the lengthiness of the written responses, the difficulty of editing, and the pressure of maintaining legible handwriting. Overall, this study sheds light on the emotional experiences of students in different exam formats, helping educators make informed decisions to optimize testing environments.

Achievement Emotions in Paper-Based Exams vs. Computer-Based Exams

This present research is about how the linguistic landscape brings about the promotion of language and public awareness. The linguistic landscape is a sociolinguistic phenomenon that is used for the promotion of language and culture as well. Linguistic landscape can be seen everywhere in the society as in advertisement billboards, traffic signboards, public awareness messages on the signboards, buildings, shopping centers, airports, etc. This study covers the dimension of traffic signboards and how they are consciously or unconsciously are promoting the language in Pakistan, especially the Urdu, the National language of Pakistan, English, the international language, the Mandarin, the language of China, and the Sign language. Two hundred and ten traffic signboards are selected for the completion of this research. The data collected from the traffic signboards of the motorways, highways of all the provinces of Pakistan. The purposive sampling technique is used for this study. This study will disclose how traffic signboards are promoting the language written over them, whether written or sing language. The data was analyzed through observation with the pictures of traffic signboards. The present study is qualitative in nature, so the data is analyzed and interpreted in the description form.

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Linguistic Landscape in Promotion of Language Through Traffic Signboards: An Introduction to the Signs in Pakistani Roads and Highways

This study compared the achievement emotions of Egyptian undergraduates in online versus in-person classes. A sample of 147 students completed an adapted version of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire concerning class-related matters. Additionally, 50 students completed written interviews regarding their emotional reactions. The results showed that students experienced higher levels of positive emotions and lower levels of negative emotions in in-person classes as compared to online classes. In terms of in-person classes, students appreciated having direct contact with teachers and other students and enjoyed better understanding of the lectures. However, they did not feel comfortable about asking/answering questions or taking sudden tests/quizzes. In terms of online classes, students appreciated feeling comfortable at home, saving time/effort as they did not commute to the university and having more accessible learning resources. However, they faced several technical problems and did not manage well with the lack of direct interaction with teachers and other students.

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Achievement Emotions in Online vs. In-Person Lectures: The Case of Egyptian Undergraduates During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 has presented a serious blow to the world economy including the tourism sector. Countries, like Egypt, where tourism is regarded as one of the primary sources of national income were negatively affected by the pandemic. However, in Egypt this was faced with an official marketing campaign. This paper examines the official promotional film of Egypt entitled ‘ An experience of a lifetime! Same Great Feelings ’, issued in June 2020 by the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board and sponsored by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism to promote inbound tourism after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research draws on Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) Visual Grammar Theory to examine how new meanings are constructed along with traditional marketing discourse through the interplay between both verbal and non-verbal language, specifically visual semiotic resources. The study utilizes the three levels of visual meaning: the representational, the interactive and the compositional functions. Findings indicate that the challenges presented by the pandemic called for a new type of discourse that emphasizes the presence of precautionary measures such as social distancing and sanitization in addition to the traditional discourse of promoting tourism.

M. Mumtaz Ahmed

Papers

Linguistic Landscape in Promotion of Language Through Traffic Signboards: An Introduction to the Signs in Pakistani Roads and Highways

Achievement Emotions in Online vs. In-Person Lectures: The Case of Egyptian Undergraduates During the COVID-19 Pandemic

How Do You Promote Tourism during the Outbreak of a Pandemic? A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Egypt’s 2020 Tourism Promotional Film