<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/">
<rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2658">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[You Reap What You Sow”- The Use of Idiomatic Language by EFL Teacher-Trainees in Developing Materials]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[Material evaluation and development courses in EFL teacher training programs carry an utmost importance for educating teachers to acquire the skill to evaluate, select and rewrite materials to cater for their students’ needs better. As Masuhara (1998:240) states “students come and go and so do materials but a large number of teachers tend to stay”. In EFL settings, in particular, non-native language teachers tend to over-rely on a single textbook, due to their self-perceived lack of Communicative Competence (CC) (Medgyes, 2001). As part of their CC, knowledge of idiomatic language is particularly considered in this study because avoiding the use of such language might make non-native teachers sound unnatural and unimaginative (Cooper, 1999). Thus, teachers might either reflect this kind of tone in the materials they develop or become more dependent on the available materials. Therefore, the aim of this study is to uncover to what extent EFL teacher-trainees use idiomatic expressions in writing materials. In doing so, the materials (i.e. unit preparation, supplementary worksheet preparation) prepared as part of the requirements of “Materials Evaluation and Development in ELT” course were examined by means of Content Analysis (McCarthy &amp; O’Dell, 2002). During this process, idiomatic expressions ranging from idioms to proverbs were identified (Dobrovol’skij &amp; Piirainen, 2005; Harnish, 1993) and verified using idiom and proverb dictionaries. The results were then analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The data analysis showed that the teacher-trainees hardly used idiomatic expressions in their materials. As for some of the teacher trainees who made use of idiomatic expressions in their materials, they usually did not incorporate them in a way to enhance the development of CC. The overall findings emphasize the need to improve idiomatic competence for effective material development.]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[950]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description><rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2659">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[The use of Anglicisms in authentic Italian and Slovene commercial correspondence]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[Analyses of various business languages show a great presence of Anglicisms, which can be ascribed to companies’ desires to be competitive on the global market. In line with current globalization trends, the impact of English as a source language on Italian and Slovene is considerable (see Bombi 2005, Rosati 2004, Sicherl 1999, Šabec 2011). In order to determine whether there are any common tendencies or divergences between the two business languages in the use of Anglicisms, a corpus of business correspondence texts was collected and studied combining qualitative and quantitative research methods. The corpus consists of 530 business correspondence texts, written in real-life communicative situations. There are 265 texts written by Italian businesspeople that have business contacts with Slovene partners, and the same number of texts written by Slovene businesspeople for their Slovene partners. In this case, therefore, Italian is a tool for international communication, whereas Slovene is used as the language for communication on the domestic market. Bearing these important differences in mind, various trends and English-language elements may be present in both receptor languages analyzed (Italian and Slovene). However, the differences or similarities in the use of Anglicisms between the two languages can also be ascribed to the diversity of texts that emerges at the linguistic and pragmatic level: the collected texts display a wide range of differences in length (short vs. long), topic (offer, request, complaint, etc.), number of recipients (one vs. more), relationship between the sender and recipient (formal vs. informal), and medium (letter, fax, or e-mail). Taking these differences into consideration, this paper sheds light on the factors that stimulate the use of Anglicisms in the texts studied-]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[941]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description><rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2660">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[Intercultural Linguistic Competence and EFL Immersive Environments]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[Currently, we are witnessing a new emphasis on the inseparability of language and culture in the development of policies and programs for the teaching of foreign languages. For language learners, an awareness of the cultural facets of language makes it easier to comprehend the topics and situations they encounter when reading or listening. Exposure to the culture of the people who speak the language being learned also leads to increased understanding and tolerance.    There are many excellent sources to help teachers connect culture with the language learning process. For example, to develop an English as a foreign language (EFL) program at our university, we consulted the linguistic communicative benchmarks from the Council of Europe. Additional guidelines are available from the national Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, which provides valuable information on how to help students (1) understand the perspectives of other cultures, (2) compare of others with their own, and (3) use the foreign language outside the school setting. These cultural objectives enhance an EFL program where ″the true content of the foreign language course is not the grammar and the vocabulary of the language, but the cultures expressed through that language″ (National Standards in Foreign Language Education project 2006, 47-48).    When developing our program, we felt that literature modules would be a great way to incorporate U.S. and British cultural elements while strengthening English reading abilities. We also recognized that using literature offered the potential to create an interesting multimedia experience and to introduce variety and more extensive exposure to English. Although unabridged literature is typically appropriate for advance learners, there is a renewed interest in integrating graded literary materials such as simplified novels that are written especially for beginning and intermediate level students. Therefore we structured our program around graded literary readers, in this case simplified novels, as well as associated audio recordings, films, and other supplementary texts and exercises. The aim of this article is to describe the implementation and results of two cultural multimedia modules that center on the simplified novels 1984 by George Orwell and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.  ]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[990]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description><rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2661">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[Identitet i Obrazovanje]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[Pitanje identiteta zaokuplja podjednako književnost i književnu teoriju. Osobni identitet gradi se u odnosu prema osjećaju pripadnosti grupi. Proces obrazovanja složeni je postupak pri kome se na mnogo načina, kroz identifikacijske procese, gradi identitet pojedinca. U njemu sudjeluju i zadani jezični sustavi i pročitana književna djela. Današnji modificirani načini učenja i dalje sudjeluju u oblikovanju rodnih i nacionalnih identiteta, kako zajedničkih, tako i individualnih, a neki instrumenti koje nam nudi suvremena književna teorija pomažu nam pri analizi tog procesa.]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[953]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description><rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2662">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on the Banking Sector of Western Balkans: Cross-country Comparison Analysis]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[The aim of this paper is to examine the extent and impact of the global financial crises on position of the banking sector of Western Balkans covering both pre-crisis and crisis period as well as to provide an explanation for these trends.This paper deals with cross-country comparison analysis of banking in Western Balkans before and during crises. Altough, depth of the crisis in the banking sector of Western Balkans is not yet fully evident, selected indicators in this paper point to its direction. The research alone has determined the paper’s structure which consist an analysis of the impact of the global financial crisis on recent occurrences in the banking of the region.]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:publisher><![CDATA[International Burch University]]></dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[1393]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description><rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2663">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[Gender Responsive Budgeting as Smart Economics: A Comparative Analysis between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Macedonia]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[This paper addresses a comparative analysis of two different frameworks for inclusion of gender in fiscal economics through gender responsive budgeting(GRB) initiatives that took place over one decade - from 2000 till 2010 in two former Yugoslavian republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Republic of Macedonia (Macedonia). Namely the comparison of two countries with two different methods for GRB is depicted: a) Case of BiH where GRB was introduced through overall public finance management (PFM) reform within the realm of program based budgeting, versus b) Case of Macedonia where GRB was introduced through specific program level initiatives and interventions without an overall integration with budgetary system and performance budgeting as a baseline concept. The paper analyzes these two approaches, and provides an argument and evidence for concluding that the introduction of gender sensitive budgeting through an overarching PFM reforms a more practical and comprehensive mechanism. It suggests that GRB can be used as a tool for more efficient and equitable policy and budget making decisions, and that the capacity level directly affects the absorption capacity, level of implementation and overall sustainability. Furthermore, due to the transition from social regime toward open market parliamentary democracies that Balkan countries are experiencing, integration of GRB practices within the PFM reforms is an attractive model given that those reforms are already taking place. Gender equality through GRB mainstreamed through PFM reforms supports contributes to overall socio-economic prosperity.]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:publisher><![CDATA[International Burch University]]></dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[1394]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description><rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2664">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[Modal Particles as a Translation Problem. Contrastive Analysis of German Modal Particle ja]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[Modal particles are considered as a translating problem, especially when it comes to translation in a language whit a lesser extent of modal particles. The most important thing in the process of translation is to transfer the meaning of an utterance using the adequate language resources of the language being translated into. There are few absolute equivalents in two different languages.    I presume that two utterances in two different languages are equivalent if they have the same semantic-pragmatic function without having the same formal-syntactic structure. It is unnecessary to translate each modal particle. Such a translation could be considered as an unnatural one. In order to transfer such a subtle distinction from the German language into some other language we often have to use the method of paraphrasing. The issues observed in this paper are related to the transfer of modality in general, as well as to the translation of the modal particles. Modal particles express an epistemic modality. My intention in this paper is to expose, on the examples of the German particle ja, in what extent the epistemic modality remains within the Bosnian translation. The observed examples are excerpted from five German literary works and their equivalent Bosnian translations.  ]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[981]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description><rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2665">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[Cultural Diplomacy in Foreign Language Teaching: Some Evidences from the Teaching of Portuguese as a Foreign Language]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[In an increasingly multi-territorialized and interdependent world, where technology plays an important role through many mass media services, people are getting more in touch with one another than ever before. This provides the possibility to overcome geographical boarders in order to build new relationships that foster mutual interests in economical and socio-cultural aspects from different countries. However, not only official diplomats are in charge of this exchange. As many language instructors are hired to teach in partner countries, they can all be considered independent, public or cultural diplomats who mediate interaction between cultures (or countries) through the teaching of a target language. Therefore, instructors will have to provide the students with information about socio-cultural aspects, rather than only linguistic ones, related to the people who speak the target language. This means that the instructor’s task is not teaching language itself, but teaching beyond language, incorporating topics related to the students’ interests. Besides that, as any good diplomat, instructors also have to know how to act in the culture they are in. For this reason, they must also be determined to learn about the other culture and language so that they can promote a fair positioning of the language sought. This study focuses on this topic illustrating real life situations experienced by how instructors of Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL) act as cultural diplomats of their language in an international setting. Considering that Portuguese has been growing in China due to bilateral agreements this country has with some Portuguese speaking nations (specially Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and Portugal), we intend to discuss which actions the PFL instructors (native and non-native ones) must perform to be considered cultural diplomats of this language in a setting like Macau, where Portuguese is starting to be seen as a global rather than a local language. ]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[962]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description><rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2666">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[Evaluation of Financial Performance of Banking Sector: Evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[The objective of this study is to compare the financial performance of the banking sector in some ex- Yu countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,Slovenia and Serbia for period from 2005 to 2010. The banking sector of these countries experienced reforms after the separation from the Yugoslavia. The financial performance of banks is studied on the basis of some selected financial variables and ratios that are either obtained from different sources either calculated by author.During this period the banks become privatized and there is increase in the presence of the foreign owners on the Balkans.This is mostly descriptive research that explains and provides some insights about situation in banking of the selected countries. Financial performance in this study is measured by selected indicators, such as return on asset (ROA), return on equity (ROE), capital adequacy ratio (CAR), share of non-performing loans (NPL), participation of deposits, assets and loans in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.Data show that banking system of these countries suffers from problems in the banking sector, largely influenced by its huge debt to IMF, political situation, financial crisis, internal situation and other political factors]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:publisher><![CDATA[International Burch University]]></dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[1389]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description><rdf:Description rdf:about="https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/items/show/2667">
    <dcterms:title><![CDATA[Insurance Market Development in the Former Yugoslav Republics, Non-EU Countries]]></dcterms:title>
    <dcterms:abstract><![CDATA[This paper presents an insurance market research of the markets in several Balkan countries that were part of former Yugoslavia and are still not members of EU. Being categorized as developing countries, they have far lower development degree in comparison with the European Insurance Federation member countries. By means of comparison between the basic insurance market development indicators in these countries, the law regulations, as well as through conducting surveys, based on questionnaires, which appoint the reasons for the underdevelopment in the sphere of life insurance, the paper gives a clearer perception, in terms of the conditions of the insurance markets, placed on the margins of the European insurance market. Its utmost objective is to point and argue several measures, which would improve the insurance market conditions in the already mentioned countries, i.e. would contribute to the development increase and the acceleration of these insurance markets. As a result, that would raise the protection measures and the safety, both to the citizens and their material goods.]]></dcterms:abstract>
    <dcterms:publisher><![CDATA[International Burch University]]></dcterms:publisher>
    <dcterms:date><![CDATA[2012]]></dcterms:date>
    <dcterms:extent><![CDATA[1392]]></dcterms:extent>
</rdf:Description></rdf:RDF>