Cultural threads in oral presentations

Author(s): Elena Savu / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2014

Foreign language education in the 21st century does no longer focus on the merely linguistic competence, but rather on instructing our learners how to use the language communicatively. Given the globalization we are experiencing, communicative competence equally involves cultural awareness as a means to effectively communicate with other people who do not share the some cultural background. Oral presentations are complex classroom activities that can train learners to become competent oral communicators who are culturally sensitive. This paper will discuss the impact that culture has on oral competence and signal some important cultural cues learners should be made aware of when delivering live presentations.

"Blended Learning": Concept and Implementation in Language Learning

Author(s): Stefan COLIBABA / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2007

The aim of this article is to offer the reader an overview of the concept of "blended learning" and of the advantages of using this approach in language learning/ teaching. After online learning exposure has fallen short of creating real group bonding, the rise of the blended learning approach has given a fresh impetus to the role new technologies have in education in general and in language education in particular. Its key features are illustrated with examples of how blended learning methodology functions in the context of a number of language learning courses elaborated in two European Lingua projects called TOOL 2 and ALL, respectively.

"FIRE" AS THE "LOGO" OF THE ARTISTIC WORLDS

Author(s): Natalja Dyorina,Yuliya Yuzhakova,Liliya Polyakova,Tatyana Zalavina / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2019

Fire as the ‘Logo’ of Artistic Worlds. The aim of the present paper is to analyse the image of fire created by two representatives, one of the Acmeist and the other of the Romantic school of poetry, N. Gumilev and S.T. Coleridge, revealing similarities and differences between their approaches. The obvious parallelism of the poets’ works is demonstrated, with particular attention paid to the fact that specific fire-related images were emphasised by Gumilev in his translation of Coleridge’s works. The attributes of the artistic universes of the Russian and of the English poet are shown: the continuity and constant interaction of their elements, the identity of the properties of the whole and of its various parts in each case.

"Fit für Europa". Spracherwerb und (Inter)Kulturelles im studienbegleitenden Deutschunterricht

Author(s): Lora Constantinescu / Language(s): German / Issue: 1/2009

Fit for Europe – it is the core idea of a unit in a new book for teaching German for Special Purposes ("Mit Deutsch in Europa"/A2-B1). FL-acquisition means linguistic communication patterns and sometimes different cultural perceptions as well as the attribution of (possibly) different meanings. Therefore, the learners should be offered means and opportunities to get insights into what the foreign cultural background holds. It is the aim of this paper to highlight some basic theoretical positions and practical aspects when teaching German to students of Economics on L2-level. The focus lies on the chances/challenges of integrating a "blended choice" of L2-competences, business and intercultural communication skills.

"I am years seven old." Acquisition of English word order by Bosnian and Turkish children

Author(s): Azamat Akbarov,Larisa Đapo / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

This paper aims to investigate differences in the acquisition of English word order between Bosnian and Turkish students resulting from word order in these two languages (Bosnian and Turkish). In second language acquisition, the knowledge of the native language (L1) in acquisition of a foreign language (L2) can indeed have a facilitating or inhibiting effect on the learner’s progress in mastering a new language. Thirty children from the first grade at the International School of Sarajevo were tested. Some of them attended the kindergarten where English was a language of communication and the rest of them had six months of exposure of English in school settings. We wanted to find possible differences in acquiring word order in English in these groups of children as well. This study offers new results for acquiring correct word order in English.

"Kłótnia" i "kłótliwość" na tle stereotypów zawodowych i zwierzęcych w języku polskim i rosyjskim

Author(s): Michał Sarnowski / Language(s): Polish / Issue: V/2000

"Евгений Онегин" Пушкина по-польски и по-украински

Author(s): Leontij Mironiuk / Language(s): Russian / Issue: III/1998

"Земя" и "пустиня" в българската фразеология

Author(s): Ekaterina Struganova / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 1 (5)/2017

This article is dedicated to analyses of Bulgarian idioms stemming from semantic fields centred round "earth” and "desert” from the point of view of cultural linguistics. An attempt has been made to classify cultural markers which were found in our material published in the phraseological dictionaries.

A Brief Outline of the History of English

Author(s): Jerzy Wełna / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2003

The book contains a brief account of the history of the English language as well as its variants in the British Isles and overseas. In order to illustrate the problems under discussion the author adduces text samples from documents relating to English history and literature and also translations of some difficult words and phrases.

A Critical Review on the Equivocal Definition of Comprehensible Input and the Misleading Use of the Term “Acquisition”

Author(s): Hilal Peker,Onur Özkaynak / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

Stephen Krashen has been one of the prominent figures in the field of second language acquisition. His Input Hypothesis and Monitor Model can be considered as his most noteworthy work. Specifically, his principal proposition that emphasizes the importance of comprehensible input for language acquisition sheds light on linguistic competence. Krashen claimed that languages could be easily acquired as long as the acquirer is provided with natural bits of language. Despite the high acclaim they have received, Krashen’s ideas have also been harshly criticized by certain linguists as his claims failed to clarify certain issues related to the second language acquisition. In this respect, the authors of this paper critically review his Input Hypothesis and Monitor Model focusing on the insufficiency of the input for language acquisition, absence of an operational definition of comprehensible input, and misleading use of the term acquisition. In addition, the authors also adopt a satirical language to pinpoint the aforementioned insufficiencies and misleading components, while supporting their claims with recent empirical studies that were rarely conducted in the field.

A Lost Lady: A Narrative of Manifest Destiny and Neocolonialism

Author(s): Ammar Aqeeli / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

The greatly examined story of A Lost Lady usually depicts Mrs. Forrester’s success in meeting and adapting to the challenges of a changing world, a world characterized by materialism and self-fulfilment. However, the overlooked story, one far more disturbing than the privileged story in the text, is the narrative of oppressed groups of people of other races and the lower class. Drawing on some aspects of postcolonial theory, this paper explores Willa Cather’s own reactions to real changes in her society, to the waning power of imperialism, and of her nostalgic longing for the western prairies of her youth, without showing any sympathy for the dispossessed Native Americans and other oppressed races. It will also disclose the unmistakable colonial overtones, which remarkably resonate with the common discourse of “Manifest Destiny” during the time period of American expansion to the Wild West.

A Semantic Description of the Combinability between Verbs and Nouns (on Material from Bulgarian and English)

Author(s): Svetlozara Leseva,Ivelina Stoyanova,Maria Todorova,Hristina Kukova / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2020

This paper represents a methodology for defining restrictions on the semantic combinability between different semantic classes of verbs and the sets of nouns corresponding to the elements of their conceptual frame (i.e. the major participants in the situation described). Our observations focus on verb synsets from WordNet and their assigned FrameNet frames which mutually inform each other. We analyse the semantic information typical for each of the studied verb classes and define semantic restrictions on the nouns they combine with. The theoretical and empirical value of the provided semantic representations and restrictions lies in the enhanced modelling of verb-noun combinability which is universal enough to be applicable not only to the languages exemplified (English and Bulgarian), but (with possible modifications) to various other languages for which wordnets are available.

A STUDY INTO THE IMPACT OF THE CHOICE OF COGNITIVE AND META-COGNITIVE STRATEGIES AND PODCASTS ON VOCABULARY GAIN AND RETENTION LEVELS IN THE TELEGRAM-BASED E-LEARNING CONTEXT

Author(s): Atefeh Elekaei,Hossein Heidari Tabrizi,Azizeh Chalak / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2020

Forming synchronous and asynchronous learning networks utilizing internet has been simplified by new technologies. The present study investigated the effects of learners’ choice of cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies on vocabulary gain and retention levels in the e-learning context. 180 participants took part in this study and 120 audio podcasts plus still and animated pictures were presented to the participants in the Telegram channel. 23 strategy items on a 5-point Likert scale were presented to the participants by means of a voting robot system on the main page of the channel after the treatment. Additionally, an immediate as well as a delayed vocabulary posttest in the form of multiple-choice were administered, separately. Four one-way ANOVAs were run in order to answer the questions. The results revealed that the choice of cognitive strategy significantly affected the level of vocabulary gain and retention. In other words, learners who applied more cognitive strategies had higher levels in vocabulary gain and retention. However, the choice of meta-cognitive strategy had no considerable influence on vocabulary gain and retention.

A Study of the Misuse of Grade a Chinese Characters from the Hsk Vocabulary by Foreign Language Students

Author(s): Yonghan Li / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

From the perspective of second language acquisition, based on the HSK dynamic composition corpus, this paper studies the misuse of Grade A Chinese characters in the Chinese Proficiency Vocabulary and Chinese Character Grade Outline. First, it collects the statistical data on the Chinese character Bias and analyze their types. Second, it studies the difficulty of acquisition and the order of acquisition of foreign students’ grades A Chinese characters. Finally, from the perspective of the characteristics of Chinese characters and the law of language acquisition, the paper proposes countermeasures related to teaching Chinese characters in the second language acquisition courses.

Acknowledging Anxiety among Students

Author(s): Maria Cristina Olt,Maria Augusta Szasz / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

Each year when students have to deliver presentations in front of their colleagues, there are some who feel really nervous, might even have panic attacks because they suffer from anxiety and fear of public speaking. Therefore, we decided to conduct a study about the public speaking anxiety levels of the undergraduate students taking part in the public speaking English seminars. The purpose of this research was twofold: to have a general overview of the social anxiety levels in our students as well as a comparison between two potential situations, the face-to-face presentations (classroom setting) versus the virtual environment presentations (Zoom platform). We wanted to see if the internet and the e-tools can reduce/mitigate some of the previously mentioned symptoms among our students, namely to decrease the anxiety levels. To answer these questions we used as a survey method the self-reported online questionnaire. The participants were 76 undergraduate students enrolled in Engineering and Computer Science courses at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. Our findings suggest that e-tools might have a positive effect on decreasing the anxiety levels among students suffering from social anxiety disorder and fear of public speaking and could represent a starting point for further research.

Acquisition of Noun Inflection in Lithuanian as a Foreign Language: a Qualitative Study

Author(s): Anzhalika Dubasava / Language(s): English / Issue: 37(42)/2020

The aim of the research was to investigate how native speakers of Russian, which is a highly complex inflectional language, cope with the acquisition of the similar by structure and complexity Lithuanian language. The subjects were adults of different age and education who learned Lithuanian in Belarus. I analyse errors related to the acquisition of noun case. The errors are divided into formal (acquisition of endings) and conceptual ones (choice of the appropriate case). I shortly compare my results with the results of similar research conducted in Lithuania where the subjects were native speakers of different languages. The results of the study show that similar errors are typical for native speakers of different languages irrespective of their morphological complexity. A complex inflectional system of a native language is not necessarily beneficial, but it seems to give some advantages for the acquisition of semantic (not syntactic) cases.

Activităţi de conceptualizare în predarea limbii române ca limbă străină

Author(s): Cristina Măluţan / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 1/2020

Studentul înscris la cursurile de limba română ca limbă străină este un actor activ în construirea procesului său de învățare a limbii străine. În articolul de față sunt prezentate diferite activități de conceptualizare a conținuturilor gramaticale specifice limbii române ca limbă străină și care îl invită pe student să participe la propriul său proces de învățare. Activitățile de conceptualizare implică o participare activă a fiecărui student în parcurgerea cursurilor de gramatică. Prin reflecția asupra parcursurilor didactice specifice achiziționării conținuturilor lingvistice, studentul interiorizează în mod corect structurile limbii române, facilitându-i folosirea acestor structuri în contexte de comunicare autentice. Se va prezenta un demers didactic inductiv, prin care studenții străini pot interioriza cunoștințele legate de utilizarea obligatorie a articolului hotărât în limba română. Formele specifice articolului hotărât din limba română au fost învățate într-un curs anterior, studenții cunoscând deja diferitele forme ale acestuia în funcție de genul şi numărul substantivului. Urmărirea diferitelor etape de conceptualizare a noțiunii gramaticale de articol definit îl va transforma pe student în co-edificatorul propriului său proces de învățare a structurilor lexicogramaticale. Astfel, domeniul gramatical al didacticii limbilor străine nu va mai fi privit ca unul plictisitor, ci ca unul atractiv, susceptibil a-i oferi studentului ce învaţă limba română ca limbă străină o oportunitate de exprimare şi afirmare a propriilor cunoștințe lingvistice.

An Analysis of Chinese Characters’ Writing Errors and Exploration of Chinese Characters Teaching Strategies

Author(s): Chang Su / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

In the process of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, teaching Chinese characters plays an important role. Teaching Chinese without Chinese characters would make it difficult for foreign students to enter the advanced level in the process of learning Chinese. Foreign students often make writing errors in the process of Chinese character learning. According to Corder’s error analysis theory, this paper summarizes the types of Chinese writing errors that foreign students tend to make in the process of learning Chinese characters. It puts forward effective and novel Chinese character teaching methods and strategies in order to improve the efficiency of foreign students’ learning Chinese characters and their ability to use Chinese characters flexibly.

AN INSIGHT INTO THE LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLES OF CROATIAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EFL LEARNERS

Author(s): Dragana Rajić,Danijela Šegedin,Sanja Čurković Kalebić / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2011

This paper deals with the language learning styles of Croatian learners of English. The aim of the study was to gain an insight into the preferred learning styles of a group of elementary school learners and to find out whether the gender and success of the learners influence their preferred learning styles. Cohen and Oxford’s (2001) Learning Style Survey for Young Learners was used to test 5 dimensions and 11 subscales of learning styles. It was found that the learners’ preferred styles are field-independent, closure-oriented, global and auditory, and that there are significant differences in some dimensions of learning styles with regard to success and gender.

An Intercultural Approach to Translation Literature, Soft Power and Global Diplomacy

Author(s): Eva-Nicoleta Burduşel / Language(s): English / Issue: Suppl. 1/2019

The paper undertakes a thorough analysis of recent paradigm shifts in the areas of cultural, literary and translation studies, in view of highlighting their interdependence as well as their power to facilitate the construction of and shape the concept of world literature. Literature and translation are inescapably related to globalization, whereas comparative literature provides an all-encompassing view of the world spanning time, space and culture. The paper argues that language and culture are intrinsically connected in the translation process. We also point out similarities and differences between the concepts of world literature and comparative literature.