Showing papers in "World Journal of English Language in 2016"
TL;DR: This research will critically thematize the current EAP theories and aims in order to further examine the nature of EAP as multipleliteracies, including academic literacy, disciplinary cultural literacy, critical literacy and digital literacy.
Abstract: English for Academic Purposes (EAP) has now become a popular term, due to English becoming the global languageof academia, the workplace, and higher education. At the same time, EAP has, since its creation, been influenced bythe language theories of general language teaching and literacy movements. However, its concepts and approachescan, at times, appear too various for learners and practitioners to identify which course of action to follow,particularly when the inexperienced face a ‘jungle of jargon’. EAP researchers have been trying to define EAP,however, they are never in agreement. Therefore, a definition of EAP can prove problematic. This research willextract the commonality of the popular EAP approaches before placing them into a broader context of EAPdevelopment, language teaching and literacy history, and the changing history of the educational landscape; it willcritically thematize the current EAP theories and aims in order to further examine the nature of EAP as multipleliteracies, including academic literacy, disciplinary cultural literacy, critical literacy and digital literacy.
12 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigated the effect of using Twitter on first-level bachelors students' achievement in English vocabulary and found that there is an increase in students' vocabulary achievement in both groups, but the experimentalgroup seems to perform better than the control group.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of using Twitter on first level bachelors students’ achievement inEnglish vocabulary. The first goal of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of using Twitter toimprove the learners’ L2 vocabulary. To achieve this goal, third-year students of English as a target language weretested on their vocabulary knowledge after treatment. The second goal of this study was to find out if there anysignificant differences between the effect of traditional teaching methods and using Twitter in teaching vocabulary.To achieve this goal, the participants in both groups were tested, and their scores were then compared. The sample inthe study consisted of 160 during the second semester of 2015/1436. Over eight weeks, the experimental groups weretaught by using the social network Twitter, while the control groups followed the traditional way of teachingvocabulary, i.e. explaining the words in simple English, giving hints or gestures, and using pictures or flashcards.The findings show that there is an increase in students’ vocabulary achievement in both groups, but the experimentalgroup seems to perform better than the control group. The researcher concludes with recommendations for furtherstudies on the effectiveness of using Twitter to improve student achievement in other English skills areas.
7 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigates the sixteenth century Elizabethan view of race and its influence on person's innate character within the context of The Battle of Alcazar, and shows the villain Muly Mahamet as cruel and treacherous, and his evil is associated directly with the blackness of his skin.
Abstract: The article investigates the sixteenth century Elizabethan view of race and its influence on person’s innate characterwithin the context of The Battle of Alcazar. The interest of Elizabethan audience in Moorish matter is remarkable indrama. The Elizabethans consider the Africa as the domain of war, conquest, fratricide, lust and treachery. TheMoors are often portrayed as violent villains that violate human morality. George Peele has overturned the raciststereotypes of his days in presenting Muly Mahamet, as Machiavellian politician, in the play. Peele’scharacterization of this Moorish Other embodies negative traits shared by the society at large, such as violenceevilness, and treachery. Certainly, Muly Mahamet’s depiction is the patchwork of Peele uniting his audience’s viewsand his own literary license to generate the complex villain of Barbary. He represents the first black Moor of anydramatic significance. Peele shows the villain Muly Mahamet as cruel and treacherous, and his evil is accompanyingdirectly with the blackness of his skin. The representation of the immorality of the Moor puts into the European superiority.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a study aimed at investigating the oral reading fluency level of the Abot-Alam learners in reading was conducted to explore whether there is any significant difference in the learners' English oral fluency based on their profiles such as age, gender, and their highest educational attainment.
Abstract: This study aimed at investigating the oral reading fluency level of the Abot – Alam learners in reading. This was alsoconducted to explore whether there is any significant difference in the learners’ English oral fluency based on theirprofiles such as age, gender, and their highest educational attainment. Eighteen Abot – Alam learners enrolled underthe Alternative Learning System (ALS) in Brgy. Tinago, Ozamiz City answered a questionnaire and a checklist; reada standardized oral paragraph as measuring instruments. Generally, the results showed that the participants haveinstructional level of fluency in reading grade –level English texts and that there was a moderate positive correlationbetween the learners’ English oral fluency and their age. However, there were no significant differences in their oralfluency level and their gender and year level.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors have discussed narration in one organized work of study for narrative mode has atendency to include almost all elements of narration or narratology for narratives andnarrative mode is all about ways/techniques of narration in narrative strategies.
Abstract: Narrative mode is the way in which narrators designed to present the intended story in narratives. narrative mode istherefore the very important issue that should be studied for it is through their narrative mode or way of narration ofthe narrator that writers can do an effort in the reading process of readers in literature or work of art, and it is due tothis reason that scholars like Ronald Barthes’ idea of ‘death of the author’ believe the writer has not a power to say‘the reader should do and shouldn’t do like this and that’ after his/her writing is over. Thus, narratives ingeneral andnarrative mode should be taken as a central point in the investigation of narrative strategies; since other aspects ofnarration like voice, focalization, narrative time and etc would be included in the discussion of narrative mode as away of narration. Therefore, this study discusses narration in one organized work of study for narrative mode has atendency to include almost all elements of narration or narratology for narratology is the study of narration andnarrative mode is all about ways/techniques of narration in narrative strategies. All in all, the very intention behindthis research is related to bring one window of consideration on the different types of narrators and narrative modeshowthe narrative is intrusive or extrusive to the story. In other words, if we consider all the criteria tried to be usedby the different scholars in the classification of narrators that different scholars classify differently, we can subsumedinto one paradigm-related with narrators’ extrusiveness or intrusiveness to the narrative story they narrate. Therefore,our narrative mode that we can experience in literary texts would be either ‘telling mode or showing mode’, thedirect or indirect mode or the diegesis or mimesis mode of narrative. Regarding to the literary productsunderdiscussion; some short stories of Tolstoy and Poe; both these two authors are very famous and well recognizedpersonalities in the Easter/Russia and Western/America part of the world respectively.
5 citations
TL;DR: Osundare uses the oralsources to lay bare his message thus exploiting the traditional mode to define nature, by so doing reducing the stresson the mental intuition in accessing the meaning of a poem as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The language of poetry remains one of mystic which requires deep imaginative ability for its analysis. This is basedon the poet’s medium of interaction with the audience in terms of diction. Environment, culture and tradition,sometimes, if not most of the times, play dominant role in accessing a literary discourse. Osundare uses the oralsources to lay bare his message thus exploiting the traditional mode to define nature, by so doing reducing the stresson the mental intuition in accessing the meaning of a poem. His literary artistic innovation appears to be the mostdistinctive among the new generation of poets because of his peculiar choice of diction.
5 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the myriad functions of citation in a representative and contrastive corpus drawn from 20 Literature Review chapters in the domain of Applied Linguistics, and equally divided among Ph.D. theses successfully defended in Sudan and Britain.
Abstract: Manifest intertextuality is a fundamental aspect of all academic discourse, and, hence, this study purports to explore the myriad functions of citation in a representative and contrastive corpus drawn from 20 Literature Review chapters in the domain of Applied Linguistics, and equally divided among Ph.D. theses successfully defended in Sudan and Britain. A variety of typologies were utilized to elicit citations, including Thompson’s (2005) classification of integral and non-integral citations, together with Hyland’s (2002) designation of denotative and evaluative functions associated with reporting verbs. Groom’s (2000) and Petric’s (2007) notions of averral and attribution, propositional responsibility and knowledge transformation also inform this investigation. Results indicate that the dense deployment of citations and the predilection both corpora have for integral structures, verbatim quotations and present active Discourse reporting verbs are largely dictated by the discursive and human-imbued nature of Applied Linguistics. On the other hand, the findings reveal that Sudanese candidates formally and functionally employ citations in manners markedly different from their British peers. Thus, the Sudanese corpus is characterized by blatant errors, repetition and awkwardness in both documenting sources and reporting the findings of research. Moreover, naive unwarranted quotations and authorial evaluations were ubiquitously observed, as compared to the British corpus. More significantly, there were ample variations in the way in which the two groups conceive of the role of the Literature Review. While the British adopted a range of Writer-oriented and metadiscoursal strategies to amalgamate and integrate the cited materials within their mainstream arguments, the Sudanese candidates were strictly concerned with unmediated and uncontested attribution of ideas to their authors. Such is the synthetic nature of the resultant type of this Literature Review that the writer’s textual voice is submerged under the sheer burden of successive descriptive citations, thus eclipsing almost all of the objectives of this chapter in critiquing sources and subordinating the cited literature to the overarching transformative perspective of the thesis writer. The Discussion is illuminated through extensive quotations from the two corpora.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that prostitution is a huge industry ultimately controlled by men, and that prostitution, by objectifying and commodifying the woman's body, makes women objects of sexual and economic exploitation and victims of modern day slavery.
Abstract: Many feminist writers and critics have projected female prostitution as a radical and aggressive strategy aimed at undermining patriarchal values and wresting power and subjectivity from men. Many have argued that through prostitution women revolt against the traditional double standards which on one hand grant men license to be sexually adventurous, promiscuous and unfaithful to their partners, and on the other hand legislate and enforce grave moral and social sanctions against women who engage in the same acts. Such critics aver that women move from the position of passive sex objects designed for men’s sexual pleasures to the position of agency and subjectivity that enable them express their sexuality, and more importantly use their bodies to turn men to objects of sexual and economic exploitation. But this paper argues that sex is a huge industry ultimately controlled by men. The three African novels studied here reveal that from sex tourism, ownership and management of hotels and brothels, to the mafia-like transnational business of trafficking in women, men control the sex industry, and that prostitution, by objectifying and commodifying the woman’s body, makes women (female prostitutes to be specific) objects of sexual and economic exploitation and victims of modern day slavery.
3 citations
TL;DR: Okere et al. as mentioned in this paper focused on the three novels by the three African writers in a comparative approach around suggested aspects of inculturation and showed the evolution of inulturation ofChristianity as a novelty throughout these literatures.
Abstract: Most African writers have been brought up as Christians. But some of them publicly rebelled against Christianity bydropping their Christian names: Chinua Achebe (formerly Albert C. Achebe), Kofi Awoonor of Ghana (formerlyGeorge Awoonor-Williams), Ama Ata Aidoo of Ghana (formerly Christiana Aidoo), Ngugi Wa Thiong'o of Kenya(formerly James Ngugi), and Okogbule Wonodi of Nigeria (formerly Glory Wonodi). The dropping of Christiannames does not mean that their literatures discredit Christianity in favour of African traditional religions. This papershows that against all expectations, most African writers who read Western Christian-oriented literature (Okere, 2009,p. 303) during their education, especially Chinua Achebe with Things fall apart, Kenjo Jumbam with The white manof God and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie with Purple hibiscus tried to coin their own styles, mixing orality andliteracy when they started their literary career, presenting in this way inculturation as an innovation in literary styleand a solution to religious conflict. This paper focuses on the three novels by the three African writers in acomparative approach around suggested aspects of inculturation and shows the evolution of inculturation ofChristianity as a novelty throughout these literatures.
3 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined twenty-five Taiwanese fifth graders' attitudes about learning English at a primary school in Taipei City and found that most Taiwanese children had positive attitudes about the government's English learning policy.
Abstract: For children in Taiwan, learning English has sometimes been viewed as a burden because they are required to learn English by either parents or schools. Given that English is officially taught as a subject in elementary schools, children have to study English diligently if they aspire to achieve academic success. Recognizing the need for learning and studying English, little research, nonetheless, has investigated children’s opinions regarding the learning of English language in Taiwan. To fill this gap, this study examined twenty-five Taiwanese fifth graders’ attitudes about learning English at a primary school in Taipei City. Results showed that most Taiwanese children had positive attitudes about learning English. Despite the pressure of learning English, they still agreed with the government’s English learning policy. Suggestions concerning Chinese and English bilingual education practiced in Taiwan are also offered to benefit teachers and educators at the primary school levels.
3 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the factors that underscore the social and ethnic variables exhibited by Educated Nigerians in their attempt to use the English language efficiently at the phonological level, and concluded that all the sociolinguistic variables best explain the differences and the features in the qualityof speech sounds observed among Nigerian speakers of English.
Abstract: Since the Phonology of Nigerian English has been described variously by different researchers this paper sought toexplained the features of Nigerian English from the perspectives of the sociolinguistic variables of age, sex,occupation, education, exposure and motivation. The study examined the factors that underscore the social andethnic variables exhibited by Educated Nigerians in their attempt to use the English language efficiently at thephonological level. The theoretical framework for this study wasthe adapted synthesis of ascribed and acquiredsociolinguistic variables according toLabov (1966) and Preston (1989). The data for the study were elicited fromover a hundred speakers of English selected along the lines of the different variables earlier mentioned. Their voiceswere recorded and their renditions were phonemically transcribed in the A.C. Gimson’s model of transcription andacoustically analyzed using the Pratt software. The findings in the study suggest among others that adult speakers ofEnglish in Nigeria perform better in approximation to Standard British English. It also reveals that the vocalic systemin Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo languages shares slightly,lengthening of English vowel quality as demonstrated by oursubjects.Some Nigerian Female speakers of English tend to devoice voiced consonants in their speeches. On thewhole, we concluded that all the sociolinguistic variables best explain the differences and the features in the qualityof speech sounds observed among Nigerian speakers of English.
TL;DR: Language features of Zhang Peiji's translated version of The Sight of Father’s Back are analyzed to find out different language features of prose translation and thus conclude some experiences for further studies in the related aspect in the future.
Abstract: Zhu Ziqing’s The Sight of Father’s Back enjoys high reputation and has been translated into various versions by a lot oftranslators, including Zhang Peiji, Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang and so on. Concerning all the versions, this paper aims toanalyze language features of Zhang Peiji’s translated version of The Sight of Father’s Back. It mainly sets out fromlanguage features. It analyzes features of word selection in this translation by some examples which can reflect featuresvery well. This is the way in which the authors conduct this paper. Through this paper, the authors aim to find out differentlanguage features of prose translation and thus conclude some experiences for further studies in the related aspect in the future.
TL;DR: In this article, an attempt was made to define the nature of translating linguistic constructions, evoking images in the mind of reader, in English novels and their rendered versions in Persian translations.
Abstract: The question of image in literary studies and in recent years in Translation Studies is one of the most problematic in nature. In the present study an attempt was made to define the nature of translating linguistic constructions – evoking images in the mind of reader – in English novels and their rendered versions in Persian translations. In this study seven types of images (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, kinesthetic and organic) in two English novels and their rendered versions in Persian were analyzed based on two theoretical frameworks, the first one is Jiang’s Image-Based Model to Literary Translation (2008) by which the nature of translation of images were examined and the other is Chesterman’s translation strategies (1997) which help to systematize translation strategies adopted by translators in rewriting the images in English novels. The results have shown that in most of the cases the images that are intended by original author have been changed in the translations, and the aesthetic experience of the ST reader is different from that of the TT reader.
TL;DR: Collocation and gap making can be suggested as appropriate vocabulary activities in order to enhance the exposure of the ESL learners to vocabulary.
Abstract: This study focuses on the degree of facilitation of the English language module on a technical module offered for a degree program in a higher educational institute in Sri Lanka. The sample consists of 5,855 words from one technical module in the stream of Accounting and Finance and 10,554 words from one English language module prescribed for the BBA (Special) Degree program during the first year first semester of undergraduates. The level of facilitation was measured in terms of vocabulary; an essential component found in the empirical literature to acquire the technical knowledge in tertiary education. In order to achieve the main objective, “whether or not the language module facilitates the technical module” the researchers utilized Academic Word List (AWL) and examined the presence of AWL items in both modules and compared the common distribution of AWL items. The results showed 12.33% presence of AWL items in the technical module and 3.95% in the language module. 65 AWL word families were identified as common to both modules. The facilitation of the language module on the technical module in terms of vocabulary is 42.20%. Interestingly, the most frequently used 10 AWL items are not common to both modules. Collocation and gap making can be suggested as appropriate vocabulary activities in order to enhance the exposure of the ESL learners to vocabulary.
TL;DR: In this article contextual antonyms are studied in relation to opposition and are defined as subtypes of binary, private opposites in speeches of political leaders, where an orator gives birth to an opposition that functions as an antonymic pair only inthe given context dictated by the intention of the speaker.
Abstract: In the frame of this article an attempt is made to bridge pragmatics and context-driven antonyms. As a pragmaticapproach it focuses on the ways in which antonym relations are derived in contexts of use, particularly in politicaldiscourse. In the speeches of an orator an author gives birth to an opposition that functions as an antonymic pair only inthe given context dictated by the intention of the speaker. Word pairs that are not branded as antonyms at paradigmaticlevel work as antonyms only in that situation, having a persuasive mission. However, context-driven antonyms liveonly on the crossroad of vertical and horizontal relations. For revealing their emphatic function, contextual antonymsare studied in relation to opposition and are defined as subtypes of binary, private opposites.In speeches of political leaders contextual antonyms obtain quite a new calling; to justify his/ her positions, to gainconfidence, to touch the feelings of the audience and to make the speech much more argumental.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors tried to describe a panorama of teacher participation in curricular reform by employing the methods of comparing the values of mean, mode, SD and frequencies of particular value.
Abstract: Teachers play a decisive role in any curricular reform. College English reform has been implemented for many years.How do the majority of the teachers participate in the reform? Based upon the self-compiled scale of universityteacher participation in curricular reform, this study tries to describe a panorama of teacher participation. Byemploying the methods of comparing the values of mean, mode, SD and frequencies of particular value, the authorfinds that college English teachers did not participate into the reform actively. By using the analysis of independentsample T test and ANOVAs, the author finds that there are many significant differences among factors as gender, age,types of universities and districts.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the roles in which universities in Tanzania could play to address the rising market demand of English language proficiency programs with the aim of providing outreach services andgenerate revenue.
Abstract: English language and communications skills have undergo tremendous changes in the recent years globally.Increasingly, people realise that they need English language and communication skills not only in employment butalso in full participation in social and political discourses, and Information and Communication Technology. Studieshave shown that while learners have the motivation and innate ability to learn English, there is lack of requisiteopportunities to learn and practice the language. This is because many English language learning proficiencyprogrammes especially in Tanzania are unstructured and not tailored to learners’ particular interests; this is inaddition to using methodologies that emphasize on teaching about language instead of teaching language use. Thecurrent study therefore sought to explore the roles in which universities in Tanzania could play to address the risingmarket demand of English language proficiency programmes with the aim of providing outreach services andgenerate revenue. Face to face interviews, telephone conversations, focus group discussion, questionnaires, anddocumentary review were carried out during data collection. The findings show that the demand for Englishlanguage proficiency programmes in Tanzania is strong. Similarly, the assessment of motivation and expectationindicates that availability of professional teachers and practical sessions, fair fee structure, and learners’ passion forlearning the language were key drivers behind attending the programme. This implies that English languageproficiency is a potential niche market which Tanzanian universities could exploit to meet the rising languagedemands and at the same time generate the much required income.
TL;DR: This paper conducted a qualitative research study in an academic writing class with EnglishDidactics Master's students, identifying graduate students' pre-conceptions of academic writing, describing the process undertaken in an attempt to demystify academic writing and empower students to write and publish.
Abstract: This article reports the findings of a qualitative research study carried out in an academic writing class, with EnglishDidactics Master’s students. It aims at identifying graduate students’ pre-conceptions of academic writing, describingthe process undertaken in an attempt to demystify academic writing, and empower students to write and publish.Data collection instruments included an initial and a final survey, a student journal, and a series of templates for thebuilding of arguments. The findings suggest that recognizing students’ potential and providing them with thenecessary tools to improve their writing process are key factors in fostering more confident, better writers and thebeginning of the writing demystification process.
TL;DR: Investigating the effect of incorporating wiki in a web-based social constructivist specialized translator training workshop on trainee translators’ performance in comparison with conventional contact classrooms applying the same instructional framework revealed that using such a collaborative tool as wiki had improved the performance of future translators.
Abstract: The complexities of the real professional world the trainee translators are to enter requires the utilization of the large scale instruction, flexibility and highly facilitated and interactive learning that online learning and its associated facilities put at our disposal within an instructional design. This paper is an attempt to investigate the effect of incorporating wiki (an asynchronous text-based online collaborative tool) in a web-based social constructivist specialized translator training workshop on trainee translators’ performance in comparison with conventional contact classrooms applying the same instructional framework. An experimental research methodology was utilized to answer the research question and test the hypothesis. The results revealed that using such a collaborative tool as wiki in the translator training workshop had improved the performance of future translators as a consequence of more developed translation and translator competences when compared with the conventional contact classroom.