29 10 3494 https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/417b5d28379477c5c25e2c929d0909c6.pdf 2f03371545e7eb0bb9cd0e36a1ec30a4 PDF Text Text ADULT L2 ACQUISITION OF REFLEXIVE VERBS IN RUSSIAN AND POLISH A.V. Peeters-Podgaevskaja & Alicja Verhagen University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Article History: Submitted: 07.06.2015 Accepted: 21.06.2015 Abstract From previous research, perceptual saliency and morphophonological and morphosyntactic regularity significantly contribute to a successful acquisition of morphemes (Goldschneider & DeKeyser 2001). This pilot study investigates if and to what extent these features are predictors in the acquisition of reflexive verbs in adult L2 Polish and Russian. Despite these languages being closely related, their reflexive verbs differ dramatically. Polish uses a particle siẹ that has a high sonority value and can be freely placed in a sentence. Russian uses a reflexive affix which is placed directly after the finite verb ending and has two phonetically reduced variants -sja and -s’ that depend on the phonological context. In this pilot study, we hypothesized that i) perceptual saliency (understood as higher sonority and a prominent position in a sentence) facilitated perception and sentence repetition; ii) morphosyntactic regularity and predictability positively affected written production. Two groups of Dutch first-year students learning Russian and Polish respectively as L2 at the University of Amsterdam were recruited. Russian and Polish native speakers served as controls. In order to test perception/comprehension and (re)production of reflexive verbs in L2, a sentence repetition task (SRT) was used. The task consisted of 15 target sentences and 10 distractors for each language (syllable length: 17–22), and was administered in e-prime. The sentence position of the target structure and semantic categories of reflexive verbs were controlled. In order to test written production, a sentence translation task (STT) was developed that contained 15 Dutch items. For the controls, accuracy in both tasks was at ceiling. The Dutch-L2 groups performed significantly worse. The accuracy scores on target structures in SRT were better in Polish (61% vs. 40%). In the STT, the Russian L2 students outperformed the Polish L2 participants (84% vs. 58%). The results of this study support the idea that perceptual saliency and morphophonological uniformity affect perception and 1 �(re)production, while morphosyntactic regularity and predictability (boundness) is relevant for written production. 1. Introduction L2 acquisition of reflexive verbs in the Slavic languages is a challenging issue, given the fact that there is much more variation in form and meaning as compared to languages, such as English, German, or French. From teaching experience we know that acquisition of reflexive verbs is problematic in bilingual children as well as in adult foreign language learners. However, it is not yet clear which properties slow down or even impede a successful learning process. It takes sometimes years before the most basic reflexive verbs are acquired, and even highly proficient Slavic L2 learners still have difficulty with automatized production of target verbs: reflexive markers are frequently omitted when needed, or added to verbs when dispensable and redundant. 2. Reflexivity in Slavic languages According to the most recent classification of reflexive verbs (Knjazev 2007: 260), the Slavic languages are dealing with two types of reflexivity: heavy reflexivity expressed by means of reflexive personal pronouns (sebja or siebie ‘oneself’); and light reflexivity coded by reflexive particles and affixes. Reflexive affixes which are placed directly after a finite verb ending (bound morphemes) are characteristic for the East-Slavic languages, whereas reflexive clitic particles (free morphemes) occur in other Slavic languages. Moreover, all reflexive verbs can be divided into two major groups of Subject reflexives and Object reflexives (Knjazev 2007: 265). Subject reflexives are connected to the notion of agentivity which always involves causation and volition. Object reflexives lack the idea of a willing causer with his energy, control and intentions, and are hence related to inanimate objects, processes etc. Within these two groups Knjazev (2007: 268-297) distinguishes ten semantic categories which are not necessarily present in all Slavic languages. The Subject reflexive verbs contain proper reflexives (co-referential), reciprocal, possessive, causative, absolutive and autocausative reflexives, whereas the Object reflexive verbs include decausative, conversive, modal quasi-passive and passive reflexives. Next to it, there are different impersonal reflexive constructions which remain beyond the scope of this paper. As concerns the relationship between reflexive verbs and verbs they are originally derived from, two groups can be distinguished: reflexiva tantum (such as bojat’sja ‘to be scared’ or skitat’sja ‘to wander’ in Russian), and motivated reflexive verbs that are formed on 2 �the basis of transitive counterparts by adhering a reflexive marker (sometimes together with a prefix) that creates a new meaning, which can be either transparent (consider vstrečat’ ‘to meet’ and vstrečat’sja ‘to meet each other’, or myt’ ‘to wash’ and myt’sja ‘to wash oneself’ in Russian), or idiomatic (e.g. naxodit’ ‘to find’ and naxodit’sja ‘to be situated’, or torgovat’ ‘to deal/trade in’ and torogovat’sja ‘to bargain’ in Russian). A combination of grammatically marked reflexivity and new semantics causes difficulty in learning process. 2.1 Reflexivity in Polish and Russian Although the semantic range of reflexive categories in Russian and Polish show considerable overlap, they are not identical. Moreover, morphological coding of reflexivity in both languages is completely different. First of all, there is no passive reflexivity in Polish. Therefore, Russian sentences as exemplified in (1) have no Polish equivalents: 1) Dom stroitsja izvestnym arxitektorom. house build-PRS-3SG-REFL famous-INSTR architect-INSTR ‘This house is being built by a well-known architect.’ Secondly, reciprocity is insufficiently distinctive in Polish. For example, verbs, such as bawić siȩ ‘to amuse oneself/each other’ or wynagrodzić siȩ ‘to award oneself/each other’, can be interpreted either as possessive reflexive or as reciprocal. Thirdly, the Polish particle siȩ is a free morpheme and can relatively freely move in the sentence. In contrast, the Russian affix -sja is a bound morpheme, and its position in the sentence is fixed which makes it syntactically more predictable. Finally, the Polish reflexive particle consists of one syllable with a nasal vowel that has a high sonority value (see Goldschneider & DeKeyser 2001: 22), while the Russian affix is always unstressed and has a smaller phonetic substance by virtue of the post-tonic vowel reduction of /ja/ to a schwa or even to a zero phoneme in certain finite forms.1 Thus, the Russian reflexive affix has two phonetically weak allomorphs (-sja [s’ә] occurring after consonants, and -s’ [s’] after vowels),2 whereas the Polish siȩ is morphophonologically regular and salient. 3. The current study 3.1 Research goals and predictions Previous research has shown that perceptual saliency, morphophonological regularity, morphosyntactic predictability, semantic complexity, and frequency significantly contribute 3 �to a successful acquisition of morphemes (Goldschneider & DeKeyser 2001). Although Polish and Russian are quite similar with respect to semantic categories and functions of reflexive verbs, they differ dramatically regarding perceptual saliency and morphosyntactic regularity and predictability of their reflexive markers. This study aims at determining whether or not the abovementioned features affect L2 acquisition of reflexive verbs, and if so, which linguistic tasks this concerns. In the study, we predicted that (i) perception and sentence repetition would be favored by higher sonority and morphophonological uniformity of the reflexive marker and by a prominent position of a reflexive verb in the sentence; (ii) morphosyntactic predictability of the reflexive marker would positively affect written production. 3.2 Method Subjects For this study, two groups of Dutch first-year students learning Russian (n=10) and Polish (n=6) respectively as L2 at the University of Amsterdam were recruited. Both groups were at the end of their first year (an intermediate level), had no previous knowledge of Russian or Polish, received the same amount of input and worked with comparable language courses. Russian (n=5) and Polish (n=5) native speakers were used as controls. Experimental tasks Two tasks were developed to test perception/comprehension and (re)production of reflexive verbs in L2. A sentence repetition task (SRT) was used to test perception and oral (re)production of reflexive verbs. In a paper-and-pencil translation task (STT) written production of reflexive verbs was tested. The choice of the SRT was determined by its high reliability as an indicator of overall language proficiency (see references in Marinis & Armon-Lotem 2015). If sentences are long enough to disallow ‘parroting’, participants must rely on their knowledge of lexicon and grammatical system to be able to repeat the sentences verbatim. Therefore, structures which are not fully acquired will not be reproduced. In our study, if the participants would have some trouble with perception and processing of verbal semantics, and the basic grammar was not automatized yet, it would be measurable in their responses. Because we needed to control for target structures, other types of tasks were not appropriate. In retelling, for instance, the students would be free to choose any structures they wanted and might make use of an avoidance strategy. 4 �Stimuli The items were selected from the study books used in the language courses, and controlled for semantics of the reflexive verbs: they must be frequent and belong to one of the following five semantic categories: proper reflexive, possessive, autocausative, decausative, and reciprocal. The SRT consisted of a set of 15 target sentences and 10 distractors for each language, and was administered in e-prime. All items were well-known and slightly adjusted with respect to syntactic complexity and sentence length varying between 17 and 22 syllables. The target structure was in the beginning, in the middle, or in the end of the sentence (as exemplified in 2-7). The Polish się was used in a pre-verbal (as in 5) and post-verbal position (as in 6-7), and with distant placement with respect to the main verb (as exemplified in 8). Russian items: 2) Ja poproščalsja s nej i povtoril obeščanie prislat’ ej I say.goodbye-PST-REFL with her and repeated promise send lekarstvo. her medicine ‘I said goodbye to her and repeated my promise to send the medicine to her.’ 3) Vozle školy naxoditsja nebol’šoj park attrakcionov. next.to school find-PRS-3SG-REFL small park amusements ‘A small amusement park is (situated) next to the school.’ 4) Esli ty if ne perestaneš’ rugat’ menja, ja obižus’. you not stop scold me I get.offended-PRS-1SG-REFL ‘If you don’t stop with scolding me, I will get offended.’ Polish items: 5) Kiedy się when REFL poznaliśmy, miała długie warkocze i meet-PST-1PL had long różową sukienkę. hair braids and pink dress ‘When we met each other she had long hair braids and a pink dress on.’ 6) Zamykam oczy, kiedy już I.closed chcę położyć eyes when already I.want lie.down-INF ‘I close my eyes when I want to go asleep and przytulić się do ciebie cuddle-INF to you REFL to cuddle with you.’ 5 się spać i REFL sleep and �7) W tej sytuacji radzę wyjechać do domu i in that situation rather depart nie martwić się to house and not worry-INF studiami. REFL lessons ‘In this situation you should rather go home and should not worry about your study.’ 8) Chciałem się I.wanted REFL z najładniejszą japońską konkubiną żenić, with most.beautiful Japanese concubine marry-INF ‘I wanted to marry a beautiful Japanese concubine, to ona nie chciała. but she not wanted but she did not want to.’ In the STT, the participants were given ten Dutch target sentences and five distractors for each language. Every sentence contained five to seven content words. By virtue of the task we could not control for the position of the verb and the reflexive particle in the sentence. In order to avoid the effect of positive language transfer no Dutch reflexive equivalents were used that could be interpreted as a cue for reflexivity in the target language. Procedure For the SRT, each student was tested individually. Every sentence was played twice without any interval between two trials. Then, the students had to repeat what they heard. All coding for accuracy was done automatically in e-prime. Two practice items were administered to familiarize the students with the task and the electronic equipment. Including instructions and practice items, the task took approximately 20 minutes to administer. The STT was taken in a classroom setting. Before the test started, the students were given a list with all (both reflexive and non-reflexive) verbs used in the task. They had three minutes to refresh their knowledge of the target verbs, after that the list was withdrawn, and the students started with the translation task. The task took approximately 25 minutes. Accuracy scores were used as a measure of students’ ability to correctly perceive and (re)produce sentences and target structures. No reaction time was measured. 4. Results Sentence Repetition task For the controls, accuracy in both tasks was almost at ceiling, whereas both Dutch-L2 groups performed significantly lower. There was almost no difference observed between the two languages on full sentence repetition accuracy: 33% for Polish vs. 31% for Russian. Two 6 �thirds of the sentences were either not completed, or contained grammatical errors, or were repeated with omissions and lexical substitutions. In Russian, only 47 out of a total of 150 items were target-like repeated. In Polish, 30 out of 90 sentences were correctly reproduced. The results on target structure accuracy in the SRT were, however, higher: with an average of 57% in Polish vs. an average of 43% in Russian. Table 1 Position of the target structure in the sentence (SRT) Beginning target without verb other Middle target without End other target without other reflexive lexemes verb reflexive lexemes verb reflexive lexemes Russian 48% 0% 2% 49% 24% 2% 32% 4% 12% Polish 3% 3% 53% 0% 8% 44% 17% 11% 75% From table 1, the Polish L2 participants were much better in reproducing the target structure than the Russian L2 students. The Russian scores on the fronted position and the position in the middle of the sentence of the target structure were almost alike. In the middle of the sentence, however, the Russian L2 students attempted to repeat the verb stem, while forgetting the reflexive affix in 24% of all items. Thus, trying to capture the meaning they failed to reproduce the correct morphological form. In Polish, a clear decline of the scores was observed, with the highest score on fronted position, and the lowest on final position. Interestingly, the Polish L2 participants repeated the verb stem without reflexive particle in the end of the sentence considerably more often than the Russian L2 students did. As regards the position of the Polish reflexive się, a slight difference between the preverbal and post-verbal placement was observed. The distant placement caused more difficulty which led to many lexical substitutions (see table 2). Table 2 Position of the Polish reflexive się (SRT) 7 �Target verb Without reflexive Other lexemes Pre-verbal 60% 3% 7% Postverbal 64% 6% 0% Distant placement 54% 4% 17% Sentence Translation task In the STT, on the contrary, the Russian L2 students significantly outperformed the Polish L2 students on full sentence accuracy (77% vs. 15%), and scored much better on target structure accuracy (84% vs. 58%). 5. Discussion and conclusions In this pilot study, we investigated which linguistic properties could be seen as good predictors of accurate acquisition of reflexive verbs in Russian and Polish. We also investigated for which tasks these features could be of importance. The most striking outcome of the study was a very low score on full sentence repetition accuracy in both language groups. Some plausible explanations can be found for this fact. First, it might have to do with a relatively low proficiency of the students. Although the items were extracted from the learning materials which were extensively used in the course, the cognitive load of the task was obviously too high for this proficiency level. The knowledge of grammar and semantics was proceduralized but not automatized yet which led to a poor performance. Second, the mean length of sentences possibly exceeded the memory span of most students. While a mean utterance length (MUL) for young (bilingual) children is established between 7 to 13 syllables (Marinis & Armon-Lotem 2015), the information on a MUL for adult foreign language learners is contradictory (see Munnich, Flynn & Martohardjono 1994; Bley-Vroman & Chaudron 1994). We determined a MUL on our own that seemed to be too demanding for the participants involved. Third, poor performance might have to do with a lack of training in memorizing and recalling verbal information in a foreign language. These skills were not specifically trained during the course. Fourth, the participant’s own perception of the nature of the task cannot be excluded: some students tried to repeat as verbatim as possible, while other students probably tried to convey the approximate meaning only. When comparing the accuracy scores on target structures one can see that the results were certainly dependent on the position of the target verb in the sentence: fronted position 8 �facilitated accuracy. The students were able to recall the beginning of the sentence better than the end which is not so strange. However, this tendency was much more clear in Polish than in Russian. In Polish, the target structure in fronted position was perceived and reproduced in 75% of all responses, whereas in Russian only in 48%. Despite the lower scores on final position, the percentage of the target-like responses was still higher in Polish than in Russian, where final position in combination with reduction led to an extremely poor performance: the reflexive verb as given in (4) was reproduced only once. The distant placement of the Polish particle with respect to the main verb also affected the scores. The target structure as given in (8) was correctly reproduced only twice. However, the phonological context also played a role, as in Russian example (2). Despite the fronted position in the sentence, and because of consonant assimilation and contraction with the preposition s ‘with’, the target verb was correctly repeated only by one student. In contrast to Russian, an adjacent position of the reflexive particle and the preposition z ‘with’ had less effect on target structure accuracy in Polish. These facts can be explained by a higher sonority value of the reflexive particle się that was easier perceived than the Russian reduced affix -sja. Importantly, full sentence accuracy in the translation task was significantly higher in Russian than in Polish. The Russian L2 students were five times as good as their Polish L2 peers. Although the procedure was the same for both language groups, the Polish L2 students showed very poor proficiency in written skills which can partially be explained by insufficient practice. (This was also emphasized by the students themselves.) However, morpheme boundness and morphosyntactic predictability of reflexive verbs cannot be ignored. Russian verbs have to be learnt as one whole, while Polish verbs are seen as two words, whereby the grammatical marker is of less importance. Although we controlled for positive language transfer by avoiding Dutch reflexive verbs, negative language interference was observed. Posture verbs, decausative verbs, and reflexive verbs expressing emotions that correlated in Dutch to not-reflexive or ambitransitive verbs, or to a combination of a state verb with an adjective/a participle, repeatedly missed the reflexive marker in the STT. To conclude, the results of this pilot study support the idea that perceptual saliency, understood as a combination of phonetic substance and a prominent position in the sentence, and morphophonological uniformity are relevant in acquisition of morphemes with respect to perception and repetition, while morphosyntactic regularity and predictability are influential in written production. Still, we need more statistical power to confirm our observations. 9 �Endnotes 1 Russian is a stress-based language which has systematic vowel reduction in unstressed syllables. This concerns the vowels /a/, /o/, and /e/. In contrast, Polish has a fixed stress pattern on the penultimate syllable and no qualitative vowel reduction. 2 Moreover, the [s’] of -sja is incorporated into an affricate [c] after /t/ that is found in the palatalized infinitive suffix -t’ (borot’sja ‘to fight’) and in the non-palatalized -t of the 3 singular and plural forms (boretsja ‘he/she fights’, borjutsja ‘they fight’). This makes perception even more complex. References Bley-Vroman, R. & Chaudron, C. (1994). Elicited Imitation as a Measure of Second Language Competence. In E.E. Tarone, S.M. Gass & A.D. Cohen (Eds.), Research Methodology in Second Language Acquisition. Hillsdale – Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum, 245-261. Goldschneider, J.M. & DeKeyser, R.M. (2001). Explaining the “Natural Order of L2 Morpheme Acquisition” in English: A Meta-analysis of Multiple Determinants. Language Learning 51:1, 1-50. Knjazev, Ju.P. (2007). Grammatičeskaja semantika. Russkij jazyk v tipologičeskoj perspektive. Moscow: Jazyki slavjanskix kul’tur. Marinis, T. & Armon-Lotem, S. (2015). Sentence Repetition. In S. Armon-Lotem, J. de Jong & N. Meir (Eds.), Assessing Multilingual Children: Disentangling Bilingualism from Language Impairment. Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters, 95-150. Munnich, E., Flynn, S. & Martohardjono, G. (1994). Elicited Imitation and Grammaticality Judgement Tasks: What They Measure and How They Relate to Each Other. In E.E. Tarone, S.M. Gass & A.D. Cohen (Eds.), Research Methodology in Second Language Acquisition. Hillsdale – Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum, 227-243. Verhagen, A.Z. (2014). T2 acquisitie van Poolse en Russische reflexieve werkwoorden. MA thesis, University of Amsterdam. 10 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2883 Title A name given to the resource ADULT L2 ACQUISITION OF REFLEXIVE VERBS IN RUSSIAN AND POLISH Author Author Peeters-Podgaevskaja, Alla Verhagen, Alicja Abstract A summary of the resource. From previous research, perceptual saliency and morphophonological and morphosyntactic regularity significantly contribute to a successful acquisition of morphemes (Goldschneider & DeKeyser 2001). This pilot study investigates if and to what extent these features are predictors in the acquisition of reflexive verbs in adult L2 Polish and Russian. Despite these languages being closely related, their reflexive verbs differ dramatically. Polish uses a particle siẹ that has a high sonority value and can be freely placed in a sentence. Russian uses a reflexive affix which is placed directly after the finite verb ending and has two phonetically reduced variants -sja and -s’ that depend on the phonological context. In this pilot study, we hypothesized that i) perceptual saliency (understood as higher sonority and a prominent position in a sentence) facilitated perception and sentence repetition; ii) morphosyntactic regularity and predictability positively affected written production. Two groups of Dutch first-year students learning Russian and Polish respectively as L2 at the University of Amsterdam were recruited. Russian and Polish native speakers served as controls. In order to test perception/comprehension and (re)production of reflexive verbs in L2, a sentence repetition task (SRT) was used. The task consisted of 15 target sentences and 10 distractors for each language (syllable length: 17–22), and was administered in e-prime. The sentence position of the target structure and semantic categories of reflexive verbs were controlled. In order to test written production, a sentence translation task (STT) was developed that contained 15 Dutch items. For the controls, accuracy in both tasks was at ceiling. The Dutch-L2 groups performed significantly worse. The accuracy scores on target structures in SRT were better in Polish (61% vs. 40%). In the STT, the Russian L2 students outperformed the Polish L2 participants (84% vs. 58%). The results of this study support the idea that perceptual saliency and morphophonological uniformity affect perception and (re)production, while morphosyntactic regularity and predictability (boundness) is relevant for written production. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available International Burch University Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed P Philology. Linguistics https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/4e9e89ef3370f32d5dbdb24caf40acc6.pdf 2e37532ef6a51ad7e09e5efa6a3aa2a1 PDF Text Text CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH COMPOUNDS AND THEIR CORRESPONDENTS IN ALBANIAN LANGUAGE Jeta Rushidi South East European University, Macedonia Article History: Submitted: 10.06.2015 Accepted: 23.06.2015 Abstract Contrastive analysis or contrastive linguistics is related to the field of applied contrastive studies which predicts and clarifies the difficulties in the process of second language acquisition. It is also claimed that a comparison of different levels between the mother tongue and the target language (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, culture) would identify points of difference or difficulty and provide results that would be important in language teaching. This paper aims at describing and analyzing the similarities, dissimilarities, and identities between the English and Albanian compounds by form and meaning. Considering the fact that the dissimilarities are the main cause of difficulty in the learning of the second language or a foreign language, the paper will look at the most common errors Albanian university students make whilst translating compounds from Albanian to English and vice versa. The research presents a combined methodological design, both quantitative and qualitative approach. Correspondingly, English and Albanian grammar books were used as the primary sources in this contrastive study. The research also included the conducting of a test run questionnaire and the subsequent analysis of its results. Consequently, the results gave some insightful ideas or indications regarding implications in teaching and learning compounds in an ELT context. Key words: contrastive analysis, compounds, English, Albanian, EFL. 1 �1. Introduction Contrastive analysis (CA) has been firstly introduced by Charles Fries in (1952), and fully described by Lado in his book Linguistics across Cultures (1957). Contrastive analysis is a systematic branch of applied linguistics which deals with the linguistic description of the structure of two or more different languages. Despite the fact that there are ‘linguistic universals’ shared among languages (Lado,1957:239) i.e. all languages have something in common. It is also claimed that this comparison would identify points of difference or difficulty and provide results that would be important in language teaching. Compounding is a universal word formation device (Libben, 2006), but different languages make use of compounding to different extents. However, compounding as a word formation process is one of the most productive processes in both English and Albanian language. This paper will contribute to: the theoretical linguistics, to the general theory of contrastive linguistics, to the development of contrastive studies in Albanian. Moreover, from a practical view, it aims to facilitate the teaching and the learning process of compounds. 2. Previous Studies Much research has been conducted on morphological contrastive analysis between English and Albanian language. Researchers have come up with appealing findings and useful suggestions regarding methodological implications in teaching English lexis to EFL students. Shqerra, N & Shqerra, E (2015) examine the role of derivation and compounding in the process of English language acquisition and claim the following: Since each language has its own characteristics, there are always differences, which hamper the foreign language acquisition. In such cases, theory and practice should be considered necessary for students. Consequently, additional focus should be given especially to derivational rules (p.117). Kurani & Muho (2014) compare English and Albanian compounds in terms of their plural form. Based on their analysis, it is found that the plural of compound nouns in Albanian language is formed by changing only the second part of the compound nouns, by changing only the first part of the compound nouns, and by unchanging form in the plural (the same as the 2 �singular). Nevertheless, the majority of English compound nouns have one basic head, with which they end, and are pluralized in typical way in English. Additionally, a compound that has one head, with which it begins, usually pluralizes its head. Furthermore, two-headed compounds in which the first head has a standard plural form, however, tend to pluralize only the final head (p.33). The first written document in Albanian is Meshari i Gjon Buzukut in 1555. The lack of materials regarding Albanian language has made it difficult to tell about the first time compounds have been used and noticed in this language. Correspondingly, compounding as a word formation process has been analyzed relatively late in Albanian grammar books. However, Kostallari (1972) has come up with a list of 17 compound nouns from the period 1304 – 1431. Compounding is one of the most productive word formation processes in English and Albanian. In both languages, compounding is almost present in all parts of speech. Sherko (2014) in her study, based on the statistical results, concludes that there is a difference in terms of productivity. The statistical difference between the productivity of compounds is the following: Albanian language consists of 11.8 % compounds whereas English consists of 4.48%. So the number of compounds in Albanian is higher than in English. This analysis is conducted by analyzing two dictionaries. The Albanian dictionary analyzed is Fjalori i Gjuhës së Sotme Shqipe (1980) consisted of 41.000 words and the English dictionary analyzed is Oxford Student’s Dictionary (OSD) consisted of 41.000-40.000 words. 3. Present Study The theoretical approach consisted of form and meaning was appropriate for this research work since patterns of compounds can be expressed in different forms and have different meanings between these two languages. For instance, patterns of English adjective compounds (noun + adjective & adverb + adjective) can correspond to adverb compounds in Albanian language. The empirical approach consisted of conducting a test run questionnaire where EFL students were asked to identify patterns of given compounds and translate them from English to Albanian and vice versa. 3 �3.1. Research Questions 1. Are there similarities, dissimilarities and identities between English and Albanian compounds by manner of formation? 2. Are there similarities, dissimilarities and identities between English and Albanian compounds by meaning? 3. Which are the most common errors EFL students make whilst identifying patterns of compounds and translating them from English to Albanian and vice versa? 3.2. Participants Twenty-six EFL university students from the Law Faculty at South East European University (SEEU) in Tetovo - Macedonia participated in this study. They all attended English for Specific Purposes 2 – Legal Studies at the Language Center at SEEU. 3.3. Instruments The instruments used were Albanian and English Grammar Books, a test run questionnaire on English compounds (Appendix A), and a test run questionnaire on Albanian compounds (Appendix B). 3.4. The Procedure The procedure conducted for the data collection regarding the 1st and 2nd research question The primary sources (grammar books) were used in order to provide a description on compounding in English and in Albanian. Patterns of compounds consisted of two roots were listed only. Afterwards, a morphological analysis was conducted by comparing and contrasting the two languages in order to detect the similarities, dissimilarities, and identities between the classification of compounds in these two languages. The procedure conducted for the data collection regarding the 3rd research question The first test run questionnaire conducted for the third research question consisted 26 compounds in English (see Appendix A). Students were asked to translate the English 4 �compounds in Albanian and they were required to classify the English compounds according to their components to the given patterns. The second test run questionnaire conducted for the third research question consisted of 26 compounds in Albanian (see Appendix B). Students were asked to translate the Albanian compounds into English and classify the Albanian compounds according to their components to the given patterns. 4. Analysis and Discussion of the Findings 4.1 Findings Contributing to the Research Question 1 & 2 Results regarding the similarities, dissimilarities and identities between English (Jackson, Ze Amwela, 2005:79-85) and Albanian (Sherko, 2014:65-84; 138-185; Albanian Language Grammar 1, 2002) compounds by manner of formation and meaning are the following: The classification of English patterns The classification of Albanian patterns of of noun compounds noun compounds 1.Noun + Noun: 1.Noun + Noun: ash-tray, arm-chair, test-book bukëpjekes, kryeparlamentar, kryeministër, 2. Verb + Noun: 2. Verb + Noun: dare-devil, pick-pocket No case 3. Adjective +Noun: 3. Adjective +Noun: black-bird, blue-collar, hard-cover bukurshkrim, mirëmëngjes, 4. Adverb + Noun: 4. Adverb + Noun: after-thought, back-talk, down-grade. nënkryetar, nëntoke, drejtshkrim Table 1. Comparison of the classification of English and Albanian noun compounding patterns After the detailed comparative and contrastive analysis conducted in terms of the formation of noun compounds, English and Albanian grammar are similar/identical regarding the following compounding patterns: N+N (1), Aj + N (3), Adv + N (4) however they are different in terms of V + N compounds (2). It means that the pattern V + N does not exist in Albanian 5 �language as a noun compound pattern because noun compounds are not formed by joining a verb and a noun in Albanian language. Regarding verb compounds, English and Albanian grammars are similar/identical regarding the following compounding patterns: N+V (5), V + V (6), AJ + V (7), and Aj + V (8). There are no dissimilarities in terms of manner of formation between English and Albanian verb compounds: The classification of English patterns of The classification of Albanian patterns verb compounds of verb compounds 5. Noun +Verb: 5. Noun +Verb: baby-sit, brain-wash, house-keep Buzeqesh 6. Verb + Verb: 6. Verb + Verb: dive-bomb, drop-kick Shtypshkruaj 7. Adjective + Verb: 7. Adjective + Verb: dry-clean, sweet-talk, white-wash keqkuptoj, mirëkuptoj, keqadministroj 8. Adverb + Verb: 8. Adverb + Verb: down-grade, over-do bashkëbisedoj, mbingarkoj, nënvlerësoj Table 2. Comparison of the classification of English and Albanian verb compounding patterns In terms of adjective compounds (Table.3), English and Albanian grammars are similar/identical regarding the following compound patterns: N + Aj (9), V + Aj (10), Aj + Aj (11), and Av + Aj (12). It is worth of emphasizing that both languages do not have the pattern V + Aj in forming verb compounds whereas the three other patterns are present in both languages. The classification of English patterns of The classification of Albanian patterns adjective compounds of adjective compounds 9. Noun +Adjective: 9. Noun +Adjective: earth-bound, ox-eyed, sea-sick syzi, mjekërzi, zemërmirë, shpirtmirë, 10. Verb + Adjective: 10. Verb + Adjective: No case No case 6 �11. Adjective + Adjective: 11. Adjective + Adjective: blue-green, metallic-green, south-west shqiptaro-amerikan, kërkimor-shkencor 12. Adverb + Adjective: 12. Adverb + Adjective: near-sighted, off-white gjysmështrire, gjysmëfjetur, bashkëlidhur Table 3. Comparison of the classification of English and Albanian adjective compounding patterns Regarding adverb compounds (Table 4), there is one similarity only. The pattern Av + Av (16) is noticed in both languages whereas Aj + Av (15) does not exist in both languages as a pattern. However, the differences between these two languages is the one of N + Av (13) which does not exist in English but it exists in Albanian language. Moreover, the pattern V + Av = N (14) is present in English whereas does not exist in Albanian language: The classification of English The classification of Albanian patterns of patterns of adverb compounds adverb compounds 13. Noun +Adverb: 13. Noun +Adverb: No case gojehapur, balleçelur 14. Verb + Adverb= Noun: 14. Verb + Adverb= Noun: drive-in , lift-off No case 15. Adjective + Adverb: 15. Adjective + Adverb: No case No case 16. Adverb + Adverb: 16. Adverb + Adverb: in-to, through-out gjysmemajtas, gjysmeshtrire, gjysmefjetur, Table 4. Comparison of the classification of English and Albanian patterns adverb compounding patterns After presenting the similarities and dissimilarities between English and Albanian compounding patterns by form, it can be noted that in terms of meaning, English and Albanian compounding patterns such as N+N and Aj + Aj are noticed to be similar and identical whereas the rest are dissimilar between these two languages. This can be seen in Appendix A, Part I and Appendix B, Part I where the correct answers are highlighted in grey. 7 �4.2 Findings contributing to the 3rd research question Results regarding the most common errors EFL students make whilst identifying patterns of English compounds ((Appendix A, Part I) where the correct answers are highlighted in grey) and translating them from English to Albanian (see Appendix A, Part II) show that the most common errors made by students regarding the classification are made with these patterns: N+ N, V +N, V+V, Aj + V, Aj + Aj, Aj+ V, Av +V, Aj + Av. However, in terms of translation, the pattern V + Av = Noun is mostly incorrectly translated. Results regarding the most common errors EFL students make whilst identifying patterns of Albanian English compounds ((Appendix B, Part I) where the correct answers are highlighted in grey) and translating them from English to Albanian (see Appendix B, Part II) imply that the most common errors made by students regarding the classification are made with these patterns: N+N, V+N, Aj + N, Av + N, N+V, Aj+ Aj, Av+ Aj, N+Av, Av + Av. However, in terms of translation, the errors are noticed in the following patterns: N+ Aj, N+Av , Aj + V, Av+V, and Aj+ N. 5. Conclusions This paper examined the similarities, dissimilarities and identities between English and Albanian compounding patterns and analyzed the mistakes that students make whilst translating and classifying the given compounds according to their components. The main findings of this research showed that the difference between English and Albanian in terms of the number of patterns is that there are 13 patterns of compounds in English whereas there are 12 patterns of compounds in Albanian. In terms of the similarities, dissimilarities and identities between English and Albanian compounds by manner of formation, it was concluded that the following patterns are similar in English and Albanian language: 1. N+ N 3.Aj +N 4. Av + N 5. N+V 8 �6. V + V 7. Aj + V 8. Av + V 9. N +Aj 11. Aj + Aj 12. Av+ Aj 16. Av + Av Whereas, the dissimilarities in terms of form are noticed in the following patterns: 2. V + N 13. N +Av: No case 14. V+ Av = Noun Regarding the similarities, dissimilarities and identities between English and Albanian compounds by meaning, it was concluded that the following patterns are similar in English and Albanian Language: 3. Aj +N 4. Av + N 8. Av+ V However, the dissimilarities in terms of meaning are noticed in the following patterns: 1. N + N 5. N +V 6. V + V 7. Aj + V 9. N +Aj 11. Aj + Aj The analysis regarding the most common errors EFL students make whilst identifying patterns of compounds and translating them from English to Albanian and vice versa show/imply that the most common errors made by students regarding the classification are made with these patterns: N+ N, V +N, V+V, Aj + V, Aj + Aj, Aj+ V, Av +V, Aj + Av, Aj + N, Av + N, 9 �N+V,Av+ Aj, N+Av, Av + Av. However, in terms of translation, the following patterns are mostly incorrectly translated: N+ Aj, N+Av , Aj + V, Av+V, Aj+ N, and V + Av = Noun. References: Akademia e Shkencave e Shqiperise,(2002). Instituti I gjuhesise dhe letersise. Gramatika e Gjuhes Shqipe 1. Kompozimi (70-73). Jackson, H., Ze Amwela, E., Words, Meaning and Vocabulary, An introduction to Modern English Lexicology, Continuum, 2005 (79-85) Kostallari, A. (1972). Parimet themelore për hartimin e “Fjalorit të gjuhës së sotme shqipe”, në “Studim e mbi leksikun dhe mbi formimin e fjalëve në gjuhën shqipe” II, Tiranë, 1972, f. 3. Kurani,A & Muho,A (2014). A morphological comparative study between Albanian and English language. European Scientific Journal. Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across Cultures. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Libben, Gary. (2006). Why study compound processing? In Libben, G, Jarema, Gonia (eds.), The representation and processing of compound nouns. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 1-22 Sherko, E (2014). Perngjitja, perberja, dhe lokucionet ne gjuhen shqipe dhe ne gjuhen angleze. . retrieved 05.29.2015, from file:///F:/Dokturatura-Esmeralda-Sherko-Fakulteti-i-Histori- Filologjise-Departamenti-i-Gjuhesise.pdfKostallari A., Mbi disa terma te klasifikimit te fjaleve sipas perberjes strukturore dhe sipas fjaleformimit, ne: Studime Filologjike 1/1972 (65-84; 138185). Shqerra, N & Shqerra, E (2015). The Role of Derivation and Compounding in the Process of English Language Acquisition. Journal of Educational and Social Research MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy Vol. 4 No.2 April 2014.p.117 10 �Appendices Appendix A Part I. Classify the English compounds according to their components 7 3 1 4 3 4 6 2 5 7 5 2 1 5 Liftoff Southwest Seasick Bluegreen Earthbound Overdo 1 22 7 18 1 1 2 3 2 2 6 1 1 13 2 3 5 3 10 6 Whitewash 3 5 14 26 Dryclean 4 20 19 21 Backtalk Afterthought Hardcover Bluecollar 6 23 2 1 Blackbird Pickpocket Dropkick Divebomb Housekkep 6 20 26 6.V + V 7.Aj+ V Brainwash 5 3 5.N+V 8.Av + V Babysit 22 1 4.Av + N Testbook Throughout Into 25 2.V+ N 3.Aj +N Offwhite 25 Nearsighted 1.N + N Armchair Student classification of English Compounds Ashtray Appendix A 13 1 6 3 4 19 9.N +Aj 19 18 5 10.V+ Aj = No case 11.Aj + Aj 2 12.Av + Av 7 2 15 13 5 18 4 4 13.N +Avb =No case 2 3 14.V + Av= Noun 2 15.Aj + Av= No case 2 2 5 16.Av+ Av 2 24 13 17 1 3 1 11 �Part II. Translate the English compounds into Albanian language. English Compounds Students’ translation in Albanian 1. ash-tray (N + N) 1.tavëll,shpuzore, 2. arm-chair (N+ N) 2. kolltuk 3. near-sighted (Av + Aj) 3. miop,shkurtpamës 4. off-white ( Av + Aj) 4, i/e përhimte,ngjyrë qumshti 5. in-to (Av + Av) 5. në 6. through-out (Av + Av) 6.gjate, përmes, 7. test-book N+ N 7.libër testesh 8. baby-sit N + V 8.kujdesem per femije, 9. brain-wash N + V 9. ndërroj pikëpamjen e dikujt/larje truri 10.house-keep N + V 10.mirëmbajtje shtëpie 11. dive-bomb V + V 11.hedhje e bombës nga lartë, bombë pikiate, 12. drop-kick V + V 12 goditje,shkelmos 13. pick-pocket V + N 13. xhepist,vjedhje xhepash 14. black-bird Aj + N 14. korb, zog i zi, mellenjë, 15. blue-collar Aj + N 15. jakë e kaltërt 16. hard-cover Aj + N 16.kopertinë e fortë 17. after-thought Av + N 17. mendim i mëvonshëm,rishqyrtim,pishman 18. back-talk Av + N 18. flas prapa shpine, përgojoj 19. dry-clean Aj + V 19. pastrim kimik, pastrim I thate, pa ujë 20. white-wash Aj + V 20. zbardh, fshehja e te këqijave, 21. over-do Av + V 21.teproj 22. earth-bound N +Aj 22.tokësor, 23. sea-sick N +Aj 23. semundje deti, 24. blue-green Aj +Aj 24.e kaltert në te gjelbert 25. south-west Aj +Aj 25. jugperëndim 12 �26. lift-off V + Av = Noun compound 26.nisje, ngritje, Appendix B 1.N + N 6 3 2.V+ N 1 2 3.Aj +N 1 1 1 3 1 3 1 4 2 3 5 5 1 23 3 1 1 3 18 18 16 16 15 16 1 18 12 6 2 5 10 15 2 9 17 7 3 3 1 23 7 1 11 2 3 Gjysmëmajtas Bashkëlidhur 2 1 1 1 1 4 3 4 1 3 3 3 1 17 8 3 1 5 10.V+ Aj = No case 1 11.Aj + Aj 1 3 1 2 1 12.Av + Aj 3 9 1 13.N+Av 4 4 2 15.Aj + Av= No case 3 3 1 3 2 1 1 1 3 2 1 3 14.V + Av= Noun 16.Av + Av 3 1 3 15 Gjysmëfjetur 3 1 3 Kërkimor-shkencor Syzi 4 3 12 2 Shtypshkruaj Buzëqesh Drejtshkrim Nëntoke Nënkryetar Mirëmengjes Bukurshkrim Hekurudhë Bregdet 10 21 3 8.Av + V 9.N+Aj Frymëmarrje 3 6.V + V 7.Aj+ V Kryeminister Nënvlerësoj Mbingarkoj 14 3 1 4 Bashkëbisedoj 22 4.Av + N 5.N+V Mirëkuptoj Shqiptaro-amerikan Kokëfortë Shpirtmire Zemërmire Gojehapur Student classification of Albanian Compounds Keqkuptoj Part I. Classify the Albanian compounds according to their components 4 4 2 1 4 1 2 4 1 3 7 1 3 9 7 13 �Part II. Translate the Albanian compounds into English. Albanian compounds Students’ translation in English 1. keqkuptoj Aj+v 1. misunderstand 2. gojehapur N+Aj, n+av 2. 3. zemermire N+Aj, 3. generous/goodhearted/kindhearted 4. shpirtmire N+Aj 4. kind soul/good soul/ 5. kokeforte N+Aj 5. stuborn 6. shqiptaro-amerikan aj + aj 6. albanian-american 7. mirekuptoj aj + v 7. understand/well understand 8. chit chat/have a conversation/co- 8. bashkebisedoj av + v conversation 9. mbingarkoj av + v 9. overload 10. nenvleresoj av + v 10. underestimate/discredit 11. kryeminister n+n 11. primeminister 12. frymemarrje n+ n 12. breathing 13. bregdet n+n 13. seashore/coast/bay 14. hekurudhe n+ n 14. railway 15. calligraphy/good writing/penmaship 15. bukurshkrim aj + n 16. miremengjes aj + n 16. good morning 17. nenkryetar adv + n 17. viceprecident 14 �18. nentoke av + n 18. underground 19. drejtshkrim adv + n 19. orthography/right writing/correct spelling 20. buzeqesh n+v 20. smile 21. shtypshkruaj v + v 21. type/written press/typewriting 22. syzi N+Adj 22. black eyed 23. kerkimor-shkencor Aj + Aj 23. scientific-research 24. gjysmefjetur Av+ Aj,Av+ Av 24. half asleep 25. bashkelidhur Av+ Aj, Av+ Av 25. bounded/attached/annexed 26 gjysmemajtas Av+ Av 26. half left/half on the left 15 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2892 Title A name given to the resource CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH COMPOUNDS AND THEIR CORRESPONDENTS IN ALBANIAN LANGUAGE Author Author Rushidi, Jeta Abstract A summary of the resource. Contrastive analysis or contrastive linguistics is related to the field of applied contrastive studies which predicts and clarifies the difficulties in the process of second language acquisition. It is also claimed that a comparison of different levels between the mother tongue and the target language (phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, culture) would identify points of difference or difficulty and provide results that would be important in language teaching. This paper aims at describing and analyzing the similarities, dissimilarities, and identities between the English and Albanian compounds by form and meaning. Considering the fact that the dissimilarities are the main cause of difficulty in the learning of the second language or a foreign language, the paper will look at the most common errors Albanian university students make whilst translating compounds from Albanian to English and vice versa. The research presents a combined methodological design, both quantitative and qualitative approach. Correspondingly, English and Albanian grammar books were used as the primary sources in this contrastive study. The research also included the conducting of a test run questionnaire and the subsequent analysis of its results. Consequently, the results gave some insightful ideas or indications regarding implications in teaching and learning compounds in an ELT context. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available International Burch University Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed P Philology. Linguistics https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/0b5edd4b29e3d4e49ad40e5b29e866a7.pdf 9fbc83930485485af28c80101f2dfec2 PDF Text Text 1 VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION MODEL AS A FOUNDATION FOR READING ACADEMIC ARTICLES IN THE ISRAELI ACADEMIA Ira Slabodar & Galina Gordishevsky Ashkelon Academic College, Israel Article History: Submitted: 15.06.2015 Accepted: 27.06.2015 Abstract A firm mastery of target language vocabulary is crucial for academic reading performance. Therefore, teachers should equip learners with tools that would help them understand and learn lexical items.To this end, we propose a graded instructional model, which combines strategies for decoding the meaning of novel words as well as learning and retaining them. In order to understand an unfamiliar word a student is encouraged to either guess it or consult a dictionary. Following lexical deciphering, the teacher assists the student in selecting the most frequent and useful words to be learnt. The learning process requires explicit focus on novel words. First, the learner copies the new word into his notebook alongside its dictionary definition and the context it was used in. Next, the student creates a keyword association which helps him retain the word. The learner then attempts to learn it using his preferred perceptual learning style. Since long-term retention of vocabulary requires multiple repetitions in varied contexts spaced at increasingly larger intervals, the teacher provides the learner with plentiful opportunities at novel vocabulary reinforcement. In addition, testing vocabulary progress guarantees further encounters with the target words. The graded vocabulary instruction model may be successfully integrated in versatile pedagogical frameworks aimed at lexical expansion. Key words: vocabulary learning strategies, vocabulary retention, guessing, dictionary use, perceptual learning styles, mnemonics �2 1. Introduction Vocabulary is one of the key components in reading comprehension at any level. Successful comprehension largely depends on the knowledge of word meanings. (August et al., 2005; Hiebert&Kamil, 2005; Koda, 2005; Sidek, 2013). Vocabulary plays a critical role in understanding reading materials in both L1 and L2 (Alderson, 2000; Goh, 2007; Joshi, 2005; Sidek, 2013; Qian, 2002; Ricketts et al., 2007). Research reveals that a firm mastery of target language vocabulary is crucial for academic reading performance (Harmon et al., 2006; Kelley et al., 2010; Qian, 2002). Several studies demonstrate that the threshold for reading comprehension is lexical (Golkar&Yamini, 2007; Kameli, 2013; Qian, 2004; Zhang & Annual, 2008). Reading and comprehending authentic texts requires knowledge of at least 95% of the vocabulary, which means one unknown word in every twenty running words (Adolphs& Schmitt, 2003; Hu & Nation, 2000; Laufer, 1992). As each word derives and contributes meaning from and for its context, learner’s vocabulary size is also a critical factor in successful guessing. According to Nation (2001), “Incidental learning via guessing is the most important of all sources of vocabulary learning.” (p. 232). However, Nation argues that unless the text is purposefully structured to provide clues for the meanings of unknown words, most guesses will not be 100% correct. The odds of accurately predicting a word’s meaning from written context is very low—ranging from 5 to 15% for both native English speakers and English language learners (Beck et al., 2002). According to Nation (2001), “Learning by guessing from context is a cumulative procedure by which learners gradually develop their knowledge of words.” (p. 234). Moreover, Folse (2004) and Laufer (1997) argue that L2 learners are not able to notice vocabulary through context, and, thus, do not learn new words when reading. Due to the insufficient nature of learning vocabulary solely through guessing, direct vocabulary learning has been proposed as a more viable alternative for lexical enrichment. Research has shown that when learners’ attention is explicitly focused on learning vocabulary, the uptake is stronger than in incidental learning (Hunt &Beglar, 2005; Laufer, 2005; Marzban&Kamalian, 2013; Schmitt et al., 2011). Explicit vocabulary learning and teaching includes a number of strategies. One of these is dictionary consultation. Knight (1994) found that learners who consulted a dictionary acquired more vocabulary in both immediate and long-term tests compared with students who did not. �3 Moreover, students with deficient vocabulary benefit the most from dictionary use (Huang&Eslami, 2013). The major reason for superior word retention following dictionary consultation is that noticing language is the prerequisite for acquisition (Schmidt, 2001). Therefore, looking up a word in the dictionary and identifying the correct definition calls more attention to the word, which increases the chances of lexical retention (Peters, 2007; Pulido, 2007). That being said and notwithstanding, looking up a new word in the dictionary should supplement the initial contextual inference rather than provide decontextualized meaning (Hayati & Fattahzadh, 2006; Huang & Eslami, 2013). Advocates of dictionary use suggest that teachers should encourage students to use a dictionary to find the precise meaning of an unfamiliar word in a specific context. Moreover, dictionary use needs to be selective, i.e. readers should check the meanings of words “that cannot be readily guessed from context and that are either useful to learn or relevant to the main points of the passage or the task at hand.”(Prichard, 2008, p. 220). Despite the remarkable utility of dictionary consultation for vocabulary learner, many studies addressing dictionary users’ behavior reported failed look-ups caused by insufficient dictionary skills of the learners(Chan, 2011; Laufer, 2010). This deficiency calls for the necessity to explicitly teach dictionary consultation skills as part of vocabulary instruction (Chan, 2011). Another vocabulary expansion strategy is familiarity with morphemes, i.e. knowledge of word formation. By recognizing the morphemes and deconstructing the new words into their constituent components learners of English are able to infer the meaning of unknown words and learn the novel lexical items (Larson et al., 2013; Mountain, 2005). The optimal efficacy of vocabulary learning strategies relies on theutilization of the student’s individual perceptual learning style. Learning style is “the way in which each learner begins to concentrate on, process, absorb, and retain new and difficult information.” (Dunn & Dunn as cited in Pashler et al, 2008, p. 107). Versatile learning style models and inventories have been created in the past few decades. Learning styles that seem to be the most relevant for vocabulary learning are visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile. Visual learning style refers to perceiving and retaining the word and its meaning by seeing. Students with auditory learning style rely on hearing the word pronounced, while kinesthetic and/or tactile learners experience with the word through touching and manipulation. �4 One of the most widely discussed vocabulary learning strategies associated with perceptual learning styles is the keyword method (Fritz et al, 2007; Guey & Chun-li, 2014). This approach, which is based on pictorial memory, was devised in 1970s to expand vocabulary. The keyword method comprises three strategies: First, an L1 or L2 word is chosen based on acoustic/orthographic similarity with the L2 target word. Second, a strong association between the target word and the keyword is constructed, so that the learner, when seeing or hearing the word is immediately reminded of the keyword. Third, a visual image is created combining the referents of the keyword and the target word, preferably in a bizarre fashion in order to increase its memorability. Since the mnemonic association is either phonemic or morphemic, this strategy might cater for both visual and auditory learners. Keyword method was proven effective for both immediate and delayed recall of L2 vocabulary (Atay & Ozbulgan, 2007; Sagarra & Alba, 2006; Shapiro & Waters, 2005). Aside from the use of strategies to promote learning and retention of new words, rich and varied exposure to the new vocabulary is vital (Lawrence, 2009; Nation, 2001). An average of ten repetitions is needed to learn novel words (Webb, 2007). According to Nation (2001), repetitions spread over a long period of time are more effective than massed repetitions at one time point. Vocabulary rehearsals should be spaced at increasingly larger intervals. Such spaced repetitions result in enhanced long-term word retention (Nation, 2001; Schmitt, 2000). 2. Vocabulary Instruction Model “I am so exhausted by looking up numerous words in the dictionary that I don’t have any energy for understanding the text and the questions”, reported a frustrated student in an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) course. College and university students in Israel need to be able to read and comprehend academic articles written in English both in the compulsory EAP courses and in the courses of their academic discipline. This requirement entails having enhanced knowledge of vocabulary in the target language. Unfortunately, many learners have insufficient lexical reservoir and are, thus, unable to adequately cope with written texts. Therefore, concerted pedagogical efforts are made to enlarge the vocabulary of the EAP learners. The emphasis in the EAP courses in the Israeli academia is on receptive vocabulary knowledge, i.e. the ability to understand a word when it is encountered in an academic article. The model outlined below is aimed at helping the English language learners increase their �5 vocabulary. Our model comprises several graded instructional stages targeted at assisting the student in comprehension, learning and retention of novel words. The vocabulary work is always contextual and is related to a particular academic article. Stage 1: Guessing in Context The student encounters a new word in the text and attempts to guess it applying the following guessing strategies: performing word structure analysis; determining the part of speech of the word; using context clues. For example, in the sentence “Two factors prevent settling the debate about whether to decriminalize drugs.” the learner performs word structure analysis dividing the word “decriminalize” into prefix, stem and suffixes (de-crimin-al-ize). In the sentence “The term globalization evokes strong positive and negative feelings.” The learner guesses the meaning of “evokes” using his knowledge of parts of speech as well as relying on contextual clues. Stage 2: Consulting a Dictionary However, as some words are not amenable to adequate understanding by means of guessing the reader needs to use a dictionary. Therefore, specific dictionary consultation strategies are taught to guarantee that it is used efficiently. These include: omitting the prefix and the inflectional suffix; deciding what part of speech the word is; choosing the meaning that suits the context; looking up the base form of the irregular verbs in passive/ in past form; looking up phrasal verbs and collocations.While guessing and dictionary consultation strategies facilitate the reader’s understanding of the unknown vocabulary, a different set of strategies is used to help the student learn and retain novel lexical items. Stage 3: Preparation for Word Learning After the student has attempted understanding the novel words using guessing and dictionary skills, the teacher helps him choose the most vital words to be learned. The student copies every novel word into his notebook along with its translation and part of speech in the particular context. In addition, he copies the sentence containing the new item. If possible, the learner creates a mnemonic association for the word and a picture illustrating the connection. This triple reference to the word guarantees a meaningful representation of the word in the learner’s “personal dictionary”. For example, Outsourcing of manufacturing jobs may cause poverty in the long-term. �6 -Poverty (n.) -‫עוני‬. Mnemonic device-Pavarotti. In this example the key word bears an auditory (as well as some visual) semblance to the target word. Sentence: Pavarotti used to live in poverty. Stage 4: Learning the Word Early on in the course the learner is introduced to the concept of learning styles. The learner receives a vocabulary-oriented learning styles questionnaire to help him determine his optimal manner of word learning and retention. The following word learning strategies are introduced: For visual learners: Read the word several times in its context; read the word from the notebook; perform word analysis; create a visual mnemonic association; use flashcards; hang posters containing the word. For auditory learners: listen to the word pronounced; say the word out loud; record yourself/ your teacher pronouncing the word and listen to it; devise an acoustic key word; sing the word. For tactile/kinesthetic learners: write the word several times; write the word with your finger in the air/ on your friend’s back etc.; prepare a flashcard containing the word; prepare a poster with the word; draw/find a funny picture illustrating the mnemonic association; jump/ jump rope/ tap the number of syllables the word contains. Stage 5: Vocabulary Reinforcement Exercises Since an average of ten repetitions spread over increasing time intervals is needed for the learner to retain the novel word in the long-term memory, the learner is repetitively exposed to the new vocabulary and experiences with it. The following lexical exercises are used in the classroom to guarantee sufficient exposure to the target words. In the first four types of exercises the new words are first used in the familiar context of the article read and later applied to a new context. 1) Word completion exercise with or without word bank; 2) Sentence continuation exercise; 3) Question answering exercise- the learner is presented with questions containing the target vocabulary and needs to answer them either in English or Hebrew; 4) Sentence/ paragraph �7 translation exercises; 5) Synonyms/ antonyms exercises 6) Writing independent sentences containing the new words; 7) Vocabulary games. In addition to vocabulary reinforcement exercises, vocabulary quizzes are given on a weekly basis. Vocabulary testing ensures that the learner gets multiple repetitions of the target words while preparing for the quiz as well as provides an indication for the teacher which words have been internalized and which ones need further attention. Lexical exercises and quizzes are cumulative, i.e. once the novel words have been given a sufficient independent emphasis they are repeated together with previously learned lexis. 3. Conclusion The graded vocabulary instruction model may be successfully integrated in versatile pedagogical frameworks aimed at lexical expansion. The model may be easily implemented both in the EAP classrooms around the globe and by independent academic readers. In addition, it can be adapted for other educational settings such as profession-oriented institutions, immigrant courses and school English courses by adding a productive lexical component. References Adolphs, S., & Schmitt, N. (2003). Lexical coverage of spoken discourse. Applied Linguistics, 24, 425-438. Alderson, J. C. (2000). Assessing reading. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Atay, D., &Ozbulgan, C. (2007). Memory strategy instruction, contextual learning and ESP vocabulary recall. English for Specific Purposes,26 (1), 39-51. August, D., Carlo, M., Dressler, C., & Snow, C. (2005). The critical role of vocabulary development for English language learners. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 20, 50-57. Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., &Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford Press. Chan, A. Y. W. (2011). The use of monolingual dictionary for meaning determination by advanced Cantonese ESL learners in Hong Kong. Applied Linguistics, 33, 1-27. Folse, K. S. (2004). Myths about teaching and learning second language vocabulary: What recent �8 research says.TESL Reporter, 37 (2),1-13. Fritz, C. O., Morris, P. E., Acton, M., Voelkel, A. R., &Etkind, R. (2007). Comparing and combining retrieval practice and the keyword mnemonic for foreign language learning. Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21, 499-526. Goh, H. S. (2007). The effects of think-aloud in a collaborative environment to improve comprehension of L2 texts.The Reading Matrix,7 (2), 29-45. Golkar, M., &Yamini, M. (2007). Vocabulary, proficiency and reading comprehension.The Reading Matrix, 7 (3), 88-112. Guey, C., & Chun-li, C. (2014). Learning styles and keyword association variations on vocabulary retention.British Journal of Education, Society and Behavioral Science, 4 (1), 19-33. Harmon, J. M., Hedrick, W. B., & Wood, K. D. (2006). Research on vocabulary instruction in the content areas: Implications for struggling readers.Reading and Writing Quarterly, 21, 261-280. Hayati, M., &Fattahzadh, A. (2006). The effect of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries on vocabulary recall and retention of EFL learners. The Reading Matrix, 6(2), 125-134. Hiebert, E., &Kamil, M. (2005). Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Huang, S., &Eslami, Z. (2013). The use of dictionary and contextual guessing strategies for vocabulary learning by advanced English-language learners.English Language and Literature Studies, 3 (3), 1-7. Hunt, A., &Beglar, D. (2005). A framework for developing EFL reading vocabulary.Reading in a Foreign Language,17(1), 23-59. Joshi, R. M. (2005). Vocabulary: A critical component of comprehension.Reading & Writing Quarterly,21, 209-219. Kameli, S. (2013). The impact of vocabulary knowledge level on EFL reading comprehension. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature,2 (1), 85-89. Kelley, J. G., Lesaux. N. K., Kieffer, M. J., & Faller, S. E. (2010). Effective academic vocabulary instruction in the urban middle school.The Reading Teacher,64, 5-14. Knight, S. (1994). Dictionary use while reading: The effects on comprehension and vocabulary acquisition for students of different verbal abilities.The Modern Language Journal, 78, �9 285-298. Koda, K. (2005).Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguistic approach. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Larson, L., Dixon, T., & Townsend, D. (2013). How can teachers increase classroom use of academic vocabulary? Voices from the Middle,20 (4), 16-21. Laufer, B. (1997). The lexical plight in second language reading: Words you don’t know,words you think you know, and words you can’t guess.” In J. Coady& T. Huckin(Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A rationale for pedagogy (pp. 20-34). England: Cambridge UP. Laufer, B. (2002). How much lexis is necessary for reading comprehension? In J. Coady& T. Huckin (Eds.),Vocabulary and applied linguistics (pp.126-132). London: Macmillan. Laufer, B. (2005). Focus on form in second language vocabulary learning. In S. H. Foster Cohen, M. P. Garcia-Mayo & J. Cenoz (Eds.),EUROSLA Yearbook, 5(pp. 223-250). Benjamins. Laufer, B. (2010|). The Contribution of dictionary use to the production and retention of collocations in a second language.International Journal of Lexicography,24, 29-49. Lawrence, J. (2009). Summer reading: Predicting adolescent word learning from aptitude, time spent reading, and text type.Reading Psychology, 30(5), 445–465. Marzban, A., &Kamalian, K. (2013). Effects of implicit versus explicit vocabulary instruction on intermediate EFL learner’s vocabulary knowledge. ELT Voices-India International Journal,3 (6), 84-95. Mountain, L. (2005). Rooting out meaning: more morphemic analysis for primary pupils.The Reading Teacher, 58, 742-749. Nation, I.S.P. (2001).Learning vocabulary in another language. New York: Newbury House Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence.Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105–119. Peters, E. (2007). Manipulating L2 learners’ online dictionary use and its effect on L2 word retention.Language Learning &Technology, 11, 36–58. Prichard, C. (2008). Evaluating L2 readers’ vocabulary strategies and dictionary use.Reading in a Foreign Language, 20 (2), 216-231. Pulido, D. (2007). The relationship between text comprehension and second language incidental �10 vocabulary acquisition: A matter of topic familiarity?Language Learning, 57, 155–199. Qian, D. D. (2002). Investigating the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic reading performance: an assessment perspective.Language Learning, 52 (3), 513-536. Qian, D. D. (2004). Establishing parameters for assessing vocabulary. Language Assessment Quarterly,1 (1), 57-61. Rickets, J., Nation, K., &Bishop, D. (2007). Vocabulary is important for some, but not all reading skills.Scientific Studies of Reading, 11 (3), 235-257. Sagarra, N., & Alba, M. (2006). The key is in the keyword: L2 learning vocabulary learning methods with beginning learners of Spanish. The Modern Language Journal,90, 228243. Schmidt, R. (2001). Attention. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 3-32). Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Schmitt, N., Jiang, X., &Grabe, W. (2011). The percentage of words known in a text and reading comprehension.Modern Language Journal, 95 (1), 26-43. Shapiro, A. M., & Waters, D. L. (2005). An investigation of the cognitive processes underlying the keyword method of foreign vocabulary learning.Language Teaching Research,9 (2), 129-146. Sidek, H. M. (2013). A cross-linguistic study on vocabulary knowledge and second language reading comprehension performance.Frontiers of Language and Teaching,4, 178-185. Wang, A.Y., & Thomas, M.H. (1995). Effect of keywords on long-term retention: help or hindrance? Journal of Educational Psychology, 87, 468-75. Zhang, L. G.,& Annual, S. B. (2008). The role of vocabulary in reading comprehension: The case of secondary school students learning English in Singapore.RELC Journal,39, 51-76. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2890 Title A name given to the resource VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION MODEL AS A FOUNDATION FOR READING ACADEMIC ARTICLES IN THE ISRAELI ACADEMIA Author Author Slabodar, Ira Gordishevsky, Galina Abstract A summary of the resource. A firm mastery of target language vocabulary is crucial for academic reading performance. Therefore, teachers should equip learners with tools that would help them understand and learn lexical items.To this end, we propose a graded instructional model, which combines strategies for decoding the meaning of novel words as well as learning and retaining them. In order to understand an unfamiliar word a student is encouraged to either guess it or consult a dictionary. Following lexical deciphering, the teacher assists the student in selecting the most frequent and useful words to be learnt. The learning process requires explicit focus on novel words. First, the learner copies the new word into his notebook alongside its dictionary definition and the context it was used in. Next, the student creates a keyword association which helps him retain the word. The learner then attempts to learn it using his preferred perceptual learning style. Since long-term retention of vocabulary requires multiple repetitions in varied contexts spaced at increasingly larger intervals, the teacher provides the learner with plentiful opportunities at novel vocabulary reinforcement. In addition, testing vocabulary progress guarantees further encounters with the target words. The graded vocabulary instruction model may be successfully integrated in versatile pedagogical frameworks aimed at lexical expansion. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available International Burch University Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed P Philology. Linguistics https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/320bb6aae56d327a92a27d95b38787fa.pdf 173210f851734a84695ec9b300c668db PDF Text Text ORGANIZATIONAL-PEDAGOGICAL CONDITIONS OF FORMING PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF TEACHERS Muhayo Umaraliyeva Uzbek Scientific-Research Institute of Pedagogical Sciences, Uzbekistan Article History: Submitted: 13.06.2015 Accepted: 25.06.2015 Abstract This article highlights the issues of development of teachers’ professional competence, the necessity of cooperation and experience exchange between teachers, and the correlation of personal interests with the requests and needs of the state and society. The author considers the main means of the development of competence of the teacher (entry into communication, the establishment of friendly relations with the participants of the educational process, creation of an enabling environment), given the emphasis to the role of external factors on the development of professional competence of teachers. Key words: Competence, cooperation, activities, communication, professional, interpersonal relationship, needs, interest, relationship, definition, objectives, innovation. 1. Introduction The implementation of reforms to strengthen the independence of our country and the achievement of the set goals, further democratization of society, modernization and development of the country, creation of conditions to provide in the short term prosperous life and creative work demanded a radical reform of the system of continuous education, as well as the constant work of teachers on themselves and the improvement of their knowledge, skills, and qualifications. In connection to this, the main task of the education system is to prepare highly qualified specialists, to develop professional competence in a teacher through the introduction of innovative technologies in the educational process, the increase of innovation activity of the teacher, and the formation and development of interest in the innovation processes and skills of scientific research. The exchange of information between teachers, effectiveness and efficiency of communication processes and relationships, on the one side, are connected to the novelty and �reliability of information. On the other, it is connected to the formation and development of concepts and competence in a particular direction in establishing a link between teachers and information exchange basic matters is what kind occurs attitude (positive or negative), which in turn affects the development of professional competence. The principal objective of cooperation between teachers is that their relationships bring mutual benefit, as do a teacher’s inherent ability and activity. If the relationship does not work for the common good and timely coordinate, they can have a negative impact on the relationship of teachers, and then pedagogical competence is formed only on the basis of understanding and perception of the teacher. The main factor to ensure efficiency, some activities, is the setting for the human with goals, objectives to achieve, preliminary planning, the choice of the ways of implementation, the selection and the distribution between tasks, based on the content robots; coordination of participants of the organized process. The purpose determines the necessity of the organization of the planned activity. That is, the main motive of the organization of an activity is the goal; at the same time, the goal of auxiliary means to the activities. In order to determine how we achieve the intended results, it is necessary to know in advance what way may be obstacles (difficulties) and how to overcome them, and to be clear, why it is necessary to take any actions to meet personal or public needs, depending on the choice of means. The needs and requests of an individual are associated with their specific life conditions. They can have both a personal and a social character. Secondly, people use for their needs the techniques and tools which are specific to their historical and social environment. Third, most of the personal needs of people require significant labor; social needs are replenished, or based on personal needs. The needs of educators become a tool for development of their professional activity, the activity level in the actions and behavior. The satisfaction of teacher’s needs has an effect on the common interest. Development of professional competence of a teacher has a significant influence on the appearance of his desires and the aspirations related to improvement of its activity. Development of professional competence of the teacher is connected first of all with the stated goal, the study of certain concepts and ideas, and the analysis of existing theories and regulations. The teacher’s role can have several purposes, depending on that in what he does and what needs currently arise. In the process of selection of ways and means to achieve their objectives and results, it is necessary to bear in mind the public interest. Defining the purpose and ways of its �implementation, should focus on the establishment of relations with colleagues, sharing of resources and information. Such exchange contributes to the effective work of teachers. We can assume that the development of professional competence of teachers of educational institutions is specific purpose in achieving high results. As a means of development of professional competence of a teacher may make it needs to guide and issues related to the management of “power” and the subordination of trainees. However, management should not be perceived as attainment of power, but as an influence on others to solve their tasks, and thus, for teachers guide serves to establish the mutual influence. The development of professional competence determines the means which are needed for communication and the establishment of friendly relations. It is necessary to take into account a number of external factors affecting the process of development of professional competence of teachers. One of the most important of these is the environment in which he lives and operates the teacher. In the educational process the teacher is in communication with all participants of this process, parents, representatives of public organizations, and on this basis is the self-development of teachers and therefore the development of professional competence. The nature of the teacher's activity is influenced by the requirements specified by the state and society to the educational system, internal regulations of the educational institution, modern requirements to knowledge and skills of the teacher, knowledge of innovative technologies. Modernization of the educational process and educational environment encourages teachers to seek answers and solutions to emerging issues, encourages them to use creative approaches, the result is the professional growth of the teacher, is formed personal interests associated with self-education and knowledge. Creative, professional development of teachers, in turn, has a beneficial effect on creating the atmosphere of an educational institution. For development of professional competence of teachers the creation of innovative environment is also important, as is the possibility of joint solution of urgent problems. When planning activities, the most important questions of life are considered, and the goal is to determine the ways of solving them, and to find effective means of achieving the goal. The coordination of activities of the teaching staff becomes important in this process. Putting before itself a problem of development of professional competence and the choice of the ways of its implementation, every teacher relies primarily on their worldview, views and concepts, personal and public inquiries, and interests. �From the above we can conclude that the efficiency of the organization, the educational process, and the process of acquiring knowledge, abilities and skills depends on the extent to which the activities of students and teachers are coordinated. Coordination creates a learning environment in the school, and it determines what techniques and tools best fir the motives and interests of the students to get knowledge. All these issues are directly related to the professional competence of the teacher. 2. Conclusion In order to organize the teaching process on a scientific basis, to manage it and create a favorable educational environment, the teacher needs to master modern methods of management, to know the priority of developing ideas, constantly examine the best practices and achievements in the development of science and technology, implementing them in teaching practice, to organize independent activity of students on the basis of enhancing their activity. The effectiveness of training highly qualified specialists at the level of modern requirements, the needs and interests of society, the state and the individual possessing the necessary knowledge, abilities and skills of high culture and competitive determined by the development of professional competence of teachers, their relationship in the process of pedagogical activity, motivation to self-improvement and self-education. References: Адизова Т.М. Бошқарувмулоқати.– Тошкент: Низомийномли ТДПУ 2000. Азизхўжаева Н.Н.Ўқитувчимутахассислигигатайёрлаштехнологияси.–Тошкент: ТДПУ,2000. Топоровский В.П. Аналитическая деятельность руководителя образовательного учреждения.– Санкт-Петербург,2000. Турғунов С.Т. Халқпедагогикасинингдолзарбмуаммолари.– Тошкент:”Ўқитувчи”,1990. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2898 Title A name given to the resource ORGANIZATIONAL-PEDAGOGICAL CONDITIONS OF FORMING PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF TEACHERS Author Author Umaraliyeva, Muhayo Abstract A summary of the resource. This article highlights the issues of development of teachers’ professional competence, the necessity of cooperation and experience exchange between teachers, and the correlation of personal interests with the requests and needs of the state and society. The author considers the main means of the development of competence of the teacher (entry into communication, the establishment of friendly relations with the participants of the educational process, creation of an enabling environment), given the emphasis to the role of external factors on the development of professional competence of teachers. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available International Burch University Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed P Philology. Linguistics https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/6a2069929ec2d1b6656fcfc68dda9445.pdf e39921cae77545203ab2b1124b622632 PDF Text Text INVESTIGATING THE INFLUENCE OF STUDENTS’ PROJECT-BASED ENGAGEMENT ON THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE ESP COURSE Luiza Zeqiri South East European University, Macedonia Article History: Submitted: 10.06.2015 Accepted: 23.06.2015 Abstract Research has shown that learner-centered classrooms are very effective. Engaging students in various classroom activities leads towards better learning outcomes. Moreover, project-based activities can have a positive influence on the students’ engagement and dedication towards a language class. Accordingly, this study will investigate the influence of project-based language learning on students’ achievements and attitudes towards the ESP course. The participants in this study were sixty students from the Faculty of Languages Cultures and Communication at South East European University (SEEU), in Tetove, attending ESP for Communication Sciences (1) and (2) courses. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used for the data collection. The administered instruments were: group projects, student questionnaires, unstructured interviews with the students and process observation. The results confirmed that the students showed more positive attitudes towards ESP classes, after they participated in group projects. They became more motivated and more enthusiastic during their classes. The students improved their critical and creative thinking skills; they productively participated in teamwork and they were able to give constructive criticism. It can be hypothesized that engaging the students in group projects helps in lowering the affective filter, by which the students’ input increases and they show greater academic achievements. Key words: project-based, ESP, teamwork, affective filter, input. �1. Introduction Learner-centered classes promote learner autonomy because they focus on making students independent by involving them directly in the learning process. This can be done by implementing PBL1 in the curriculum. There is a number of studies related to PBL which shows that learning through projects is really effective. If students work with their projects more seriously and if the projects are well-implemented from the teacher and the students, this can help the students practice and improve their social and workplace skills. When students are engaged in project-based tasks they have to use their critical and creative thinking skills; they need to conduct research, they have to organize ideas and elements of the projects and they have to use their problem solving skills as well. By collaborating, sharing ideas, assisting each other in order to achieve their common aim (a well-structured project) they apply and develop the above mentioned skills. 2. Literature Review There are many studies which conclude that PBL is very beneficial for the students. On the other hand, there are also studies which point out the disadvantages and difficulties of PBL. However, from the previous research it can be suggested that PBL helps students improve their social and workplace skills and prepares them for the job market. According to Ciftci (2014): Project-based learning is an implemented learning and teaching model developed in opposition to teach the curriculum as an irrelevant pile of unimportant little information in modern countries. This model focuses on one or more fields’ basic concepts and principles and if possible it covers more than one learning target in a scenario of a lesson. (pp.1019-1020) Barron & Darling- Hammond (2010) mention that teachers need to engage the students to the fullest and stimulate them to identify problems. They also state that: “students must be given opportunities to develop their skills in the context of complex, meaningful projects that require 1 Project-Based Learning �sustained engagement, collaboration, research, management of resources and development of an ambitious performance or product” (p.200). Other researchers, Musa, Mufti, Latiff & Amin (2010) conducted a study to analyze the influence of PBL on “the transference and inculcation of workplace related skills” where they share a very realistic idea that basic academic skills are not enough for the job market, but employers want to hire employees who have mastered “reasoning, creative thinking, decision making and problem solving” (p.187). Moreover, they state that through PBL students will practice language skills as well; and not only skills which are required in the workplace. In another study published in 2011 they say that the job market today is seeking for employees who posses skills which are practiced through projects. Then they say that the employees should know how to cooperate with each other and how to be constructive during conflicts, and they should also be able to come up with insightful ideas. There are other researchers who agree that PBL has an influence on helping students improve their workplace skills and create a more positive attitude towards the content of the subject. For example, Kloppenborg and Baucus (2004) as cited in Musa, Mufti, Latiff & Amin (2010) say that PBL is crucial because students practice very important skills starting from collaboration, being able to solve problems or conflicts, etc. Another researcher, Bell (2010), states that if students are involved in PBL then they can practice their social and communication skills. On the contrary, Efstratia (2014) mentions the disadvantages of PBL. She states that: “Teachers are discouraged of implementing this method, because sometimes they are not experienced, they lack motivation, or consider PBL as additional activity” (p.1259). She also concludes that PBL is problematic when it comes to respecting deadlines and that evaluation is difficult. 3. Research Methodology 3.1. Participants The participants in this study were 60 students from the Faculty of Languages Cultures and Communication at SEEU, in Tetove. They attended ESP for Communication Sciences (1) and (2). During the academic year 2013/14 a pilot project was also conducted with 30 other students. �3.2 Approach Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used for the data collection. 3.3 Instruments The administered instruments which were used for the data collection were: group projects, student questionnaires, unstructured interviews and process observation. 3.4 Setting Data collection lasted for two academic semesters, 2014/15 at the Language Center, in SEEU. 3.5 Procedure During ESP (1) and ESP (2) courses, students were engaged in different projects. Their biggest projects were planning and recording a promotional video for the university. They also had to give short presentations and fill in the questionnaire related to PBL. Finally, unstructured interviews were conducted with the students. 3.6 Research questions The following are the research questions designed to provide reliable data related to PBL approach. 1. Does PBL contribute towards greater academic achievement or performance? 2. What is the influence of PBL on students’ attitudes towards the ESP class? 3. What are the students’ attitudes towards integrating group projects in the curriculum? 4. Findings and Discussion Only some representative answers from the student questionnaires were selected in order to analyze the students’ attitudes and experiences with project-based approach �4.1 Have you enjoyed ESP (1) and (2) courses? (where PBL approach was implemented) Student 1: ESP courses have aroused my interest more than all the other courses until now. Despite the knowledge I gain, I love the space that is given to us to express our ides, opinions and experiences. Student 2: Yes of course. The courses were so good, I felt free to discuss, share ideas, learn new things and the very important thing was that our teacher made the classes more enjoyable by assigning us different task and projects. Students 3: ESP 1 and 2 courses were very interesting, I enjoyed so much and I was looking forward to attending every single class. Student 4: Yes, we have worked too much and we have learnt a lot. Very useful. Student 5: Yes, we had a lot of fun. 4.2 What did you enjoy the most during your ESP classes? What did you enjoy the most during your ESP classes? 30 27 25 18 20 15 10 10 5 3 2 Writing Reading 0 Individual work Presentations Group projects Figure 1. As shown in Figure 1. above, 27 students out of 60 enjoyed group projects the most. Eighteen students enjoyed delivering the presentations which were also part of their projects. Interestingly, only 10 students enjoyed working individually during the ESP course. 4.3 What was your favorite part from the group projects? �Student 1: Organizing the group, dividing the tasks and preparing for it were my favorite parts from which I gained the most experience on learning new things and improving communication & organization skills as well. Student 2: The part when we recorded the videos about multiculturalism in our university because we had to work with students from different cultures. Student 3: Working together and getting to know each other better. Student 4: Dividing the tasks for the video project and finding material for the posters. Student 5: Discussion about the work, the way how we would organize the work and how to assess it. Student 6: Recording the video. It was a good feeling “being an actor”. Student 7: Exchanging ideas. Student 8: Presenting the project and preparing the posters. 4.4. Did you enjoy PBL? If yes, why? If not, why? Student 1: Working in a group project is always enjoyable and easier. But it requires a lot of responsibility. Student 2: Yes I liked it. It is so important and less stressful for me because of sharing ideas. So, it’s not like individual work where you have to give only your effort to have the work done. Student 3: It’s definitely more fun working with a partner than alone. More students share their ideas and the results are better. Student 4: Yes, group projects helped me improve my multi-tasking skills, improvising and leadership skills. Student 5: I love working in a group with projects because in this way we can have more discussion and then decide on the best answer. I like the moment when each of us presents his/her part of the work. However, it’s very irritating for me if any student in the group shows no interest. Student 6: Yes, because working in groups always has something special. Student 7: Yes, because I like the fact that we all should contribute to do a good job. Student 8: No, because boys are lazy and they don’t work. �Student 9: Working in a group is not always my favorite because I can’t express myself as much as I want because I have to be coordinated with the others and I have a limited time. 4.5 How do you learn the most? Which learning methods/styles are more effective for you? Student 1: Reading at home is one of the most effective learning methods, especially when you take notes, but for me it won’t be effective if we don’t discuss it in the classroom again. Student 2: I learn the most when we read in class or do projects together. Student 3: Interacting in class was a very good method. The videos that the professor played in class were very effective and well-thought. I liked it so much because the professor was only a facilitator. Student 4: I must have someone to listen to me, to correct me and to help me. Firstly, I take notes and then I read them so I can memorize. If there is something I don’t understand, I have to do some research or discuss it with my colleagues. Student 5: I think that I learn more while working for a project because I enjoy it and I think the input is higher then. Student 6: Participating in conversations and brainstorming as a class. Student 7: Through group projects because if there is something I don’t understand I ask the other members of the group. 4.6. Are group projects stressful or difficult for you? Explain. Student 1: Group projects are not difficult at all when you know your task. For me they are stressful if not all the students in the group participate and I have to do the work for them. I love to help others, but not when they are not trying. Student 2: Not that much because we separate the work and we take just one part of the project and we work only on it. Student 3: It’s difficult if there is any student who doesn’t participate. Student 4: They can be stressful because we have a deadline. Sometimes our colleagues aren’t very responsible. Especially if we have to engage even students from other classes. Student 5: The deadline makes me nervous. Not knowing if others will be on time or having that bad feeling that you can’t be ready and you don’t have the ability to work with the others. �Also, the time when the group is separated, I really feel angry and so stressful until we have good results at the end. Student 6: Group projects for me are more stressful than difficult because I worry what if I can’t finish my part on time and the project fails. Student 7: Yes, because each student has a different personality and opinions and sometimes it’s difficult to agree on one topic. Therefore, we should have a lot of discussion. Student 8: They are difficult because we have to find and select good sources and material and to prepare a lot. Student 9: They are difficult because they require organization and a lot of effort. 4.7 What is your attitude towards the EPSP course (PBL approach)? Student 1: ESP is an essential course for improving the language in an academic level. It is a very effective course not only for improving our language but also for shaping our ideas, attitudes and personalities. Student 2: ESP courses make me more self-confident. Student 3: ESP courses are the best for me. I have gained a lot of knowledge and I wish we had more classes per week. In these classes we learnt the theory and brought it to life. Student 5: It’s one of my favorite courses and I’ve never missed a class. I learn a lot and I give my best just like my teacher does. This course has had a very big importance for my studies in general. Student 6: Very relaxing and productive classes. 4.8 Have you achieved good success at the end of the course? Student 1: In my opinion you can always feel the results of a course from the way it is taught. ESP has always been a very effective course and taking into consideration that I have worked hard, my final results were great. Student 2: Yes, and I have learnt many things about life in general. Student 3: Outstanding. And I am not happy that I got a good grade, but because I’ve learnt a lot. Student 4: With a lot of work of course there will be good results. This is my biggest success ever. �5. Conclusions st 5.1 Conclusions for the 1 research question Does PBL contribute towards greater academic achievement or learning outcomes? From the analysis of the results it was concluded that students became more autonomous learners after they were engaged on projects. They showed better leadership skills, many of the students performed better in their next group projects and were able to lead the groups effectively. Their critical and creative thinking skills were improved because they had the chance to practice and apply creative and critical thinking while working on their projects. Also, students showed improved presentation skills and better intra and interpersonal communication. Moreover, PBL helped the students with decision making process. Students were given topics or questions which required decision making or problem solving skills. Being involved in a decision making process they also practiced and improved their organizational skills. Majority of the students productively participated in a teamwork and they were able to give constructive criticism. Students showed lower affective filter, they were more relaxed, very positive, willing to come to classes and work. As a result their output was outstanding. It can be concluded that engaging the students in group projects helped in lowering the affective filter, by which the students’ input increased and they showed greater academic achievements. nd 5.2 Conclusions for the 2 research question What is the influence of PBL on students’ attitudes towards the ESP class? The results confirmed that the students showed more positive attitudes towards ESP classes after they participated in group projects. They became more motivated and more excited during their classes. The students were very enthusiastic and as a result they contributed more productively towards completion of each of their projects. They were so happy and proud to see their final products getting promoted at university level and shared online. Moreover, after being engaged in group projects the students started to attend classes more regularly and they became more responsible. To finalize, students shared their experiences with students from other courses who always wanted to come and visit ESP classes. So, PB approach fostered curiosity and interest even on students from other English classes, working with different teachers and different methodologies. �rd 5.3 Conclusions for the 3 research question What are the students’ attitudes towards integrating group projects in the curriculum? The results from the students’ questionnaires, the unstructured interviews and from the process observation showed that students enjoyed working with projects and that they benefited from PBL approach. The following are some significant conclusions related to students’ attitudes towards integrating group projects in the curriculum: 1. Majority of the students answered that they wish they had projects in their other subjects as well. 2. The students found working on projects as a very interesting and innovative method. 3. Even students from other classes were interested to come and attend ESP for Communication Sciences classes, just because they found the students’ projects as a very interesting and attractive method. 4. Majority of the students didn’t find the group projects stressful, but some of them said that projects are difficult because: a) students should divide the parts of the project. b) students are dependent on each other. c) students sometimes have difficulties arranging meetings. d) there might be students who think they know everything. e) students might disagree with each other. f) there are students who don’t participate. g) the projects are more time consuming and they worry about the deadlines. 6. Limitations and Conclusion This study has its own limitations. The limited number of participants can be considered as a limitation. However, working during two semesters with 60 students and conducting a pilot project with 30 other students contributed to receiving reliable results. Another limitation might be that the course wasn’t 100% based on projects. �References Barron, B. & Darling- Hammond, L. (2010). Prospects and challenges of inquiry-based approaches to learning. The nature of learning. Using research to inspire practice. ISBN 978-9264-08648-7. Corrigenda to OECD publications. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/pW08jR Bell, S. (2010). Project-based learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the future. The Clearing House. 83, 39 – 43. Retrieved from doi: 10.1080/00098650903505415 Ciftci, S. (2014). The Effects of Using Project-Based Learning in Social Studies Education to Students' Attitudes towards Social Studies Courses . Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 186 ( 2015 ) 1019 – 1024. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved from doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.205 Efstratia, D. (2014). Experiential education through project based learning. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 152 ( 2014 ) 1256 – 1260. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved from doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.09.362 Musa, F., Mufti, N., Latiff, R.A. & Amin, M.M. (2011). Project-based learning (PjBL): inculcating soft skills in 21st century workplace. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 59 ( 2012 ) 565 – 573. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved from doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.09.315 Musa, F., Mufti, N., Latiff, R.A. & Amin, M.M. (2010). Project-based Learning: Promoting Meaningful Language Learning for Workplace Skills. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 18 ( 2011 ) 187 – 195. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved from doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.05.027 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2894 Title A name given to the resource INVESTIGATING THE INFLUENCE OF STUDENTS’ PROJECT-BASED ENGAGEMENT ON THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE ESP COURSE Author Author Zeqiri, Luiza Abstract A summary of the resource. Research has shown that learner-centered classrooms are very effective. Engaging students in various classroom activities leads towards better learning outcomes. Moreover, project-based activities can have a positive influence on the students’ engagement and dedication towards a language class. Accordingly, this study will investigate the influence of project-based language learning on students’ achievements and attitudes towards the ESP course. The participants in this study were sixty students from the Faculty of Languages Cultures and Communication at South East European University (SEEU), in Tetove, attending ESP for Communication Sciences (1) and (2) courses. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used for the data collection. The administered instruments were: group projects, student questionnaires, unstructured interviews with the students and process observation. The results confirmed that the students showed more positive attitudes towards ESP classes, after they participated in group projects. They became more motivated and more enthusiastic during their classes. The students improved their critical and creative thinking skills; they productively participated in teamwork and they were able to give constructive criticism. It can be hypothesized that engaging the students in group projects helps in lowering the affective filter, by which the students’ input increases and they show greater academic achievements. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available International Burch University Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed P Philology. Linguistics https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/95e3ac039237b29f0e77f16115d9c9f5.pdf 93945772b26a4ea140cb9e471d604411 PDF Text Text JAPANESE CASE MARKER DE IN COPULAR SENTENCES: ESSIVE OR LOCATIVE? Simone dalla Chiesa University of Milano, Italy Article History: Submitted: 10.06.2015 Accepted: 22.06.2015 Abstract In this paper I will discuss two constructions of the Japanese verb aru ‘be’. In one construction, aru occurs with a copular complement marked by the particle de, obtaining a sentence-ending pattern known as N-dearu. In the other construction, aru expresses the happening of a dynamic event and may occur with a de-marked locative adjunct encoding the physical place of the event. By analyzing these two constructions I will single out a ‘predicative’ function of the case marker de, and show that when functioning as a support item in nominal predications and in other copular sentences, aru retains its original nature as a locational verb and consequently assigns a locative-like grammatical case (marked with de) to the second argument of its clause. In this instance of strong localism, a grammatical split of the locative marker de happens so that de ends up marking a number of different surface cases. In the conclusion I will propose that the particle de in predicative function should be acknowledged to be an ‘Essive’ case marker. Key words: Japanese, Case marking, Locative, Essive, copula. Abbreviations ACC Accusative AND adnominal COMP complementizer CONT contrast COP copula GEN Genitive NEG negative NOM Nominative NOMIN nominalizer �POL polite PROG progressive TOP topic VOL volitive 1. Introduction In this paper I will analyze the Japanese sentence pattern: (1) Bun-wa oto-no renzoku-de sentence-TOP sound-GEN sequence-de aru. be ‘A sentence is a sequence of sounds.’ in which the verb aru behaves as a copular verb ‘be’ and the particle de marks the predicative argument. The sentence-ending pattern so obtained is commonly known as N-dearu. But the particle de is also used to encode the Locative: (2) Siken-wa ikkai-no kyoositu-de aru. exam-TOP 1st_floor-GEN classroom-de be ‘The exam is in a 1st floor classroom.’ so that, by comparing and distinguishing these two functions of de, I will argue here that the former, ‘predicative’de, should be considered to be an Essive surface casemarker. To do so, I will introduce the verb aru and the constructions in which aru and the particle de co-occur, then I will introduce and briefly discuss the several functions of de, and lastly I will draw my conclusions. The Japanese language The Japanese language has a SV/AOV syntax; with verbs inflecting for politeness, negative, tense, aspect and mood by means of suffixed morphemes (mostly left unglossed in the present paper). Grammatical functions are expressed by postpositional case markers (I will also leave de unglossed). The nominative marker ga is often replaced by the topic marker wa, with the shift of the subject to sentence-first position. Sentences with no subject are interpreted as impersonal or as having a 1st person subject. 2. The verb aru and the ‘copula’ da �Aru is a lexical verb with no voice, irregular negative inflection and irregular potential form – just as many ‘be’ verbs across the world. It can head three types of sentences. First, as the support verb in locational sentences (locative constructions with inanimate subjects, in both a locative proper and an existential reading;whole-part constructions and possessive sentences. Muromatsu, 1997; Iida, 2007; Creissels, 2014b), aru assigns dative case to its locational complement. These dative constructions will not be discussed here. Second, aru may predicate the occurrence of a dynamic eventuality, admitting a delocative phrase to express the physical location of the event. As such, it can be replaced by a verb like okoru ‘happen’: (3) Kazi-wa koko-de {atta/okotta}. fire-TOP this_place-de {was/happened} ‘The firewas here.’ (4) Koko-de kazi-ga {atta/okotta}. this_place-de fire-TOP {was/happened} ‘There was a fire here.’ A topicalized subject must occur in sentence-first position. In (3), then, the word order is rigid, the de-phrase is rhematic and cannot be omitted. Otherwise, short-, medium- and long-distance scrambling is relatively free in Japanese. One simple instance of it is shown in (4). Third, aru supports nominal and nominal-adjectival predications, like (1) and (5)-(6), and all other non-locational copular sentences (identificational, equational, specificational sentences, as classified in Mikkelsen, 2011 after Higgins, 1979), like the identificational (7): (5) Wagahai-wa neko-de aru. I-TOP cat-de be ‘I am a cat.’ (6) Yoru-ga sizuka-de aru. night-NOM quiet-de be ‘The nights are quiet.’ (7) Zibun-wa Onoda-de ari-masu. self-TOP Onoda-de be-POL ‘Name’s Onoda, sir.’ �Here again aru behaves as a two-place verb assigning a locative-like de case to its second argument. Unlike the eventive construction above, in these copular sentences aru cannot be replaced by another verb (but see (22)-(23) below) and the NP-de element must always be the phrase in the closest proximity to the verb: (8) *Neko-de wagahai-ga aru. cat-de I-NOM be On this basis, the dominant approach to Japanese copularization (Bloch, 1946; Makino 1968; Wenk, 1973; Mills 1977; Narahara, 2002; also Pustet, 2005; Stassen, 1997) considers de and aru to form the “uncontracted” variant-dearu of the copula da, bound to the preceding nominal: (9) Wagahai-wa neko-da. I-TOP cat-COP ‘I'm a cat.’ Da is part of a complex paradigm of forms which I will gloss COPthroughout this paper (despite my discontent with the traditional approach). Dearu, the supposedly “uncontracted” form of da, occurs for markedness only, namely in writing, occasionally in formal speech, in the negative as in (10), and for the insertion of focus markers as in (11): (10) Inu-de nai wagahai-wa… dog-de be.NEG I-TOP ‘I, who am not a dog,…’ (11) Yoru-ga sizuka-de-mo aru. night-NOM quiet-de-‘even’ be ‘The nights are even quiet.’ Under the dominant approach, the predicative function of de is dismissed as uninteresting and irrelevant (cf. Teramura, 1982: 171), and not considered in valence dictionaries (such as the Nihongo kihondoosiyoohooziten, 1989). However, an alternate, “minority” approach also exists (based on Tokieda, 1950; adopted by and summarized in Nishiyama, 1999; see also Daniels, 1973: 267; Sawada, 2008), which analyzes -dearu as being composed by •a verbal element aru defined as the ‘semantically vacuous’ or Dummy copula; plus •the morpheme de, defined as the ‘semantically contentful’ or Predicative copula(Nishiyama, 1999: 187-188). Still, the grammatical nature or the meaning of the morpheme de is not discussed. Here I am going to take this analysis several steps further and deal directly with de. �3. The marker de On the basis of the broad taxonomic criteria outlined by Narrog (2009) and of the current classification of de (based on Iori, 2000; Iwasaki, 1995; Martin 1975; Makino and Tsutsui, 1986; Morioka and Takubo, 1987; Narita, 1993; Nishiyama, 1998; Nitta, 1982; Sugai, 1997; Teramura, 1982), I distinguish three typical usages of this particle. In one function, de is the marker of the Instrumental case. This and other instrument-related functions will be not discussed here. Another function of de is that of marking the Locative, as mentioned above. Examples of Locative-de are (3)-(4) above,(24) and (27) below, and the following: (12) Pāti-wa shokudoo-de yaru. party-TOP cafeteria-de do ‘We’ll have the party in the cafeteria.’ In the spatial domain, de encodes the physical place where the subject is located during the whole event (Sugai, 1997). De implies continuity in the temporal domain as well, strongly suggesting that some relevant process took place until the moment specified by the temporal adjunct. (Iwasaki, 1995): (13) Gakkai-wa asita-de owaru. conference-top tomorrow-de finish ‘The conference will end tomorrow.’ More abstractly, de can also express manner: (14) Moo_supiido-de hasiru. crazy_speed-de run ‘Running at a breakneck speed’. so that, in their quest for the single underlying meaning of each particle, driven by a principle of iconicity, Japanese scholars have concluded that de encodes the general background of the event in all of its uses (see for instance Sugai, 1997). This connects with the third main function of de, that of encoding non-referential roles and functions: (15) Kodomo-wa hadasi-de {hasiru/aru}. child-TOP bare_feet-de {run/are} ‘The children {run/are}barefooted.’ �In (15), with the action verb hasiru ‘run’, the de-phrase encodes a subject-oriented depictive. However, as shown, with copular verb aru that same de-phrase realizes the predicative argument. This also happens with object-oriented depictives: (16) Ken-ga sakana-o Ken-NOM fish-ACC nama-de taberu. uncooked_condition-de eat ‘Ken eats his fish raw.’ (17) Ken-no sakana-wa nama-de Ken-GEN fish-TOP aru. uncooked_condition-de be ‘Ken’s fish is raw.’ In (16), the marker de cannot be replaced with any other particle or expression with similar functions (the polite gerundive -desite of the ‘dummy copula’, functive -tosite). The same obviously holds for (17), where de marks the predicative argument. Marker de may also express the functive, a type of depictive defined as «the expression of the [temporary] role or function in which a participant appears» (Creissels, 2014: 607): (18) Kono ningyoo-o gakkoo-no this school-GEN homework-de doll-ACC syukudai-de tukutta. made ‘I made this doll as an assignment from school.’ (19) Kono ningyoo-wa gakkoo-no this school-GEN homework-de doll-TOP syukudai-de atta. was ‘This doll was an assignment from school.’ In (18), the de-phrase encodes an object-controlled functive, and again can double as a predicative argument, as in (19). More problematic is the encoding with de of a subjectcontrolled functive: (20) ??Isya-de hatarak-oo-to omou-no-desu doctor-de work-VOL-COMP think-NOMIN-COP.POL ga,… but ‘I think I’m going to work as a physician, but…’ (http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1077822085) The de-phrase in (20) (which can also occur in isya-de aru ‘I am a doctor’) is not accepted by my informants. Particle -tosite should be used instead. However, several tokens of similar de-phrases are retrievable from the Internet, and this might be proof of a new trend in the Japanese language. The following de-phrases are not functives, as they do not encode a temporary ‘role’, yet they express temporary conditions and can be considered to be depictives: �(21) {Hitori/kazoku/minna}-de kita. {one_person/family/everybody}-de came ‘I camealone / with my family / we came all together.’ With a proper subject, all de-phrases as in (21) can realize predicative arguments (as in {hitori/kazoku/minna}-deatta). (22) Titi-wa katyoo-de {owatta/atta}. my_father-TOP section_chief-de {ended/was} ‘My father {ended as /was} a chief of a section.’ (23) Imooto-wa dokusin-de {toosita/atta}. younger_sister-TOP single-de {passed/was} ‘My sister {remained/was} single.’ In (22)-(23) the de-phrases cannot be omitted, must occur immediately before the verb, and are therefore predicative arguments. Indeed, verbs owaru ‘end’ and toosu ‘pass’ can be replaced by aru, the only difference being aspectual. Lastly, de realizes the copular complement, as in the identificational sentence (7) above. 4. The behavior of de As shown in (24), several de-phrases may co-occur, provided they do not encode the same function. For instance, sentences with two locative or subject-oriented depictive dephrases as (25)-(26) are ungrammatical: (24) Daidokoro-de hadaka-de sakana-o te-de nama-de tabeta. kitchen-de naked_body-de fish-ACC hand-de uncooked_condition-de S-DEPICTIVE INSTRUMENTAL O-DEPICTIVE ate LOCATIVE ‘I atemy fish raw, with my hands, naked in the kitchen.’ (25) *Niwa-de taiikukan-de kodomo-ga asondeiru. garden-de gym-de children-NOM play:PROG ‘There are children playing in the garden in the gym.’ (26) *Hadasi-de syatu-nasi-de hasiru. bare_feet-de shirt-without-de run ‘Running barefooted shirtless.’ �This proves that when the particle de is used in the locative, instrumental or depictive function, it actually marks distinct surface cases.The co-occurrence of a subject- and of an object-oriented depictive as in (24)is due to the fact that, as secondary predications, depictives are linked to different arguments in deep structure. Actually, however, two (or more) case markers in the same function can co-occur under certain markedness conditions: (27) Niwa-de-demo taiikukan-de-demo doko-de-demo garden-de-‘even’ gym-de-‘even’ kodomo-ga where-de-‘even’ children-NOM asondeiru. play:PROG ‘There are children playing everywhere, even in the garden and even in the gym.’ (28) Hadasi-de-demo syatu-nasi-de-demo hasiru. bare_feet-de-‘even’ shirt-without-de-‘even’ run ‘Running barefooted, shirtless even.’ Demo in (27)-(28) is one of several ‘pragmatic’ focus particles which can be encliticized to any oblique case marker (except for genitive no). As mentioned above and shown in (11), some of these particles (sae/saemo ‘even’, mo ‘too’, sika ‘anything but’, contrastive wa) can even occur between a de-phrase and aru: (29) Zibun-ga tukutta syoosetu-de-wa ari-masu ga... self-NOM made be-POL novel-de-CONT but ‘It’s just a novel I wrote…’ (30) S.J.Guurudo-wa rippa-na sakka-de-sae S.J.Gould-TOP writer-de-‘even’ was wonderful-COP.ADN atta. ‘S.J.Gould was even a wonderful writer.’ No infixation mechanism exists in Japanese, so that the insertion of light morphemic material between de and the verb obtains from anordinary encliticization of the focus marker. Therefore, dearu is not a single ‘copula’, and de behaves like any other oblique case marker. 5. Discussion and Conclusion From the above treatment of N-de aru sentences I can conclude that aru is a ‘be’ verb which has no meaning, performs linking and feature carrying functions, and corresponds to the notion of a copula as a dummy element. In so doing, however, aru retains its original nature as a locational verb and consequently assigns a locative-like grammatical case (marked with de) to the second argument of its clause. Thus, aru encodes the condition, state or class in which entities are located as if they were located in physical space, and this both in matrix clauses and in secondary predications. Such a behavior of aru can be seen as a strong �example of localism, and may be considered an instance of locational takeover of the nominal encoding (after Stassen 1997: 57). On the other hand, the co-occurrence of locative, ‘predicative’ and instrumental de-phrases shows that de is actually split into a number of different surface case markers, or, in other words, that the Locative de neutralizes several grammatical functions. One is the predicative function, in which de shows the same behavior as all other oblique case markers. The few syntactical constraints a predicative de-phrase is subjected to are caused by its relation to the verb, not by a peculiar nature of the marker de itself. The need then arises for a specific label to be applied to the case marker de in apredicative function. This case marker cannot obviously be labeled ‘Locative’. I am not inclined to propose the label ‘Predicative’, though, because the locative coda of existential sentences is also considered a predicate but its oblique case is referred to as ‘Locative’ rather than ‘Predicative’. My choice falls on the term ‘Essive’. First, de has several features in common with the Essive case in Uralic (and in Caucasian: Creissels, 2010) languages. Whereas the Uralic Essive denotes a temporary state of being and only occurs in secondary predications (features not shared by de), it is probably of spatial origin, is used in both the spatial and temporal domains, and is often interpreted as manner (deGroot, 2010), not unlike the Japanese de. Second, de has instrumental functions, and this is analogous with the predicative function of the Russian Instrumental case, which is also is defined ‘essive’. Third, to my knowledge, the term ‘essive’ is used to refer to the functions of de in at least two sources, Martin (1975: 42) and Narrog (2009: 594), albeit for unstated reasons. References Bloch, B. (1946). Studies in colloquial Japanese: I. Inflection. Journal of the American Oriental Society,66(2), 97-109. Creissels, D. (2010).The essive form of nouns in Akhvakh and other Caucasian languages. 43rd Annual meeting of the SLE, Vilnius, September 2010. Creissels, D. (2014a). Existential predication in typological perspective. 46th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea, 1-60. Creissels, D. (2014b). Functive phrases in typological and diachronic perspective”. Studies in Language, 38(3), 605-647. Daniels, F.J. (1973). Does modern Japanese have a copula? Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 36(2), 261-270. �deGroot, C. (2010). Uralic essive. 14th International Morphology Meeting, Workshop ‘Uralic case’, Budapest 2010. Higgins, R.F. (1979). The Pseudo-cleft Construction in English. New York: Garland. Iida, T. (2007). Towards a semantics of Japanese existential sentences. In M. Okada (Ed.), Essays in the Foundations of Logical and Phenomenological Studies(pp. 67-96), Tokyo: Keio University. Iori, I., Takahasi, S., Nakanisi, K., & Yamada, T. (2000). Syokyuu o osieru hito no tame no nihongobunpoohandobukku. Tokyo: 3E Network. Iwasaki, T. (1995). Ni to de: Toki o arawasu kakuzyosi. In T. Miyazima,& Y. Nitta (Eds.). Nihongoruigihyōgen no bunpō (zyoo). Tanbun hen (pp. 74-82) Tokyo: Kurosio. Makino, S. (1968). Japanese ‘be’. In J.W.M. Verhaar (Ed.). The Verb “Be” and Its Synonyms: Philosophical and Grammatical Studies (3) (pp. 1-19). Dordrecht: Reidel. Makino, S., & Tsutsui, M. (1986). A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. Tokyo: The Japan Times. Martin, S.E. (1975). A Reference Grammar of Japanese. Rutland, Tokyo: Tuttle. Mikkelsen, L. (2011). Copular clauses. In K. vonHeusinger, C. Maienborn,& P. Portner (Eds.). Semantics: An International Handbook of Natural Language Meaning, Volume 2 (pp. 1805-1829). Berlin: deGruyter. Mills, D.O. (1977). Teaching the Japanese copula. The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese 12(1), 7-20. Morioka, T., & Takubo, Y. (1987). Nihongobunpoo seruhumasutaa siriizu 2. Kakuzyosi. Tokyo: Kurosio. Muromatsu, K. (1997). Two types of existentials: Evidence from Japanese. Lingua, 101, 245-269. Narahara, T. (2002). The Japanese Copula: Forms and Functions. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. Narita, S. (1993). Bunpookaku to hukusikaku. In Y. Nitta (Ed.). Nihongo no kaku o megutte (pp. 67-94).Tokyo: Kurosio. Narrog, H. (2009). Varieties of instrumental. In A. Malchukov, & A. Spencer (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Case (pp. 593-600). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nihongo kihondoosiyoohooziten. (1989). Tokyo: Taisyuukan. Nishiyama, K. (1999). Adjectives and the copulas in Japanese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 8, 183–222. �Nitta, Y. (1982). Zyosirui kakusetu. In Nihongokyooiku gakkai, Nihongokyooikuziten. Syukusatuban (pp. 392-417), Tokyo: Taisyuukan. Pustet, R. (2005). Copulas: Universals in the Categorization of the Lexicon. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sawada, T. (2008). Da-deletion: Classification of clause-final elements in Japanese. Nanzan Linguistics: Special Issue, 3(2), 139–163. Stassen, L. (1997). Intransitive Predication. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Sugai, K. (1997). Kakuzyosi 'de' no imitokusei ni kansuru ikkoosatu. Nagoya daigaku bungakubu kenkyuuronsyuu, 127, pp. 23-40. Teramura, H. (1982). Nihongo no sintakusu to imi I. Tokyo: Kurosio. Tokieda, M. (1950). Nihon bunpoo. Koogohen. Tokyo: Iwanami. Wenck, G. (1973). The Japanese copula: A dummy? Linguistics: An Interdisciplinar Journal in the Language Sciences, 15(100), 77-86. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2902 Title A name given to the resource JAPANESE CASE MARKER DE IN COPULAR SENTENCES: ESSIVE OR LOCATIVE? Author Author dalla Chiesa, Simone Abstract A summary of the resource. In this paper I will discuss two constructions of the Japanese verb aru ‘be’. In one construction, aru occurs with a copular complement marked by the particle de, obtaining a sentence-ending pattern known as N-dearu. In the other construction, aru expresses the happening of a dynamic event and may occur with a de-marked locative adjunct encoding the physical place of the event. By analyzing these two constructions I will single out a ‘predicative’ function of the case marker de, and show that when functioning as a support item in nominal predications and in other copular sentences, aru retains its original nature as a locational verb and consequently assigns a locative-like grammatical case (marked with de) to the second argument of its clause. In this instance of strong localism, a grammatical split of the locative marker de happens so that de ends up marking a number of different surface cases. In the conclusion I will propose that the particle de in predicative function should be acknowledged to be an ‘Essive’ case marker. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available International Burch University Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed P Philology. Linguistics https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/41c84b18d4a567db540599e6a9a71b5c.pdf 81a5f2b6e9c12e58a805d3b8a036fa5d PDF Text Text MAKING STUDENTS MORE ACTIVE IN LEARNING THE PASSIVE Iva Čupić & Martina Klanjčić Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy, Croatia Article History: Submitted: 15.06.2015 Accepted: 27.06.2015 Abstract Why are students of English so reluctant to use the passive voice? The answer to this question may lie in the fact that students find it artificial, even pretentious, partly because it really does tend to be overtly wordy and cumbersome. Moreover, a point often overlooked is that the Croatian language “favours” the active structure as more natural both in informal and formal discourse, which is why students often find it difficult to adopt the passive voice as characteristic of the English language. Also, both for learners of English and native speakers of the language, the passive structure may be felt as contrary to the more common subjectverb-object (or S-O-V) order of syntactic constituents in the transitive sentence, employed profusely in the majority of Indo-European languages. Nonetheless, not only is it expected of the students to appreciate the passive, but also to use it competently. A great deal of academic English courses focus on formal communication; which makes the passive of key importance to understanding the type of language prevalent in EAP. This type of discourse is essential to studying English at university level, in the authors’ case ESP in the field of international relations and diplomacy, where study materials abound with passive structures. The aim of the paper is to show that the passive is fairly simple and easy both to understand and apply in independent production since it follows a set of formulaic instructions with little or no exceptions to the rule. It will look into examples of texts such as newspaper articles, legislation, professional literature, etc., and provide various activities used as a springboard for the acquisition of passive structures. Key words: passive voice, formal discourse, activities in EAP, ESP 1 �1. Introduction Students’ opinions on the passive predominantly point to the fact that they either avoid to use it (unconsciously) or, if they do use it, they do so tentatively because of perceived complexity and awkwardness, whereby the passive is rendered almost inappropriate. It is also interesting to note that, before the term “passive voice” is introduced, the students use the structure relatively confidently and with few mistakes. So, on the unconscious level, students feel competent to use it because they grow accustomed to it over the course of time, and it simply “sounds right”, as they often put it. Once the passive structure is given a “name”, however, they become self-conscious and alarmed, referring to it as something extremely difficult and horrible. Among other things, when asked to describe how they perceive the passive voice, they call it “the language of Yoda”, “the language of poetry”, “unnatural”, “sophisticated and academic”, etc. Even though not all of these attributes can be classified as negative or derogatory, it is rather obvious that the students perceive the passive as difficult, demanding and complex, perhaps even too complex to be used consciously. In order to understand the underlying causes of this obvious disinclination, the passive voice needs to be looked at as both the grammatical structure and what is being communicated. 2. What makes the passive voice so difficult to learn? On the communicative or pragmatic level, the perceived pretentiousness of the passive has made it unfashionable – it sounds more learned, more complex, “sophisticated and academic”. More profoundly, it is often perceived as artificial (“used only in poetry”, according to the students) or even cumbersome and convoluted due to its so-called “reverse order”. The “conventional” subject-verb-object (or S-O-V) sentence structure, where the object is identified as the patient, accounts for a large majority of world languages.[7][10] This compels the conclusion that the S-V-O word order, in which the initial place in the sentence is conventionally occupied by the agent, is more commonly used, more natural, direct, clear and concise, so its communicative function is more emphasized, more openly directed toward the listener or the reader, or the receiver of communication. All this leads to the fact that students avoid using passive structures, especially in spoken communication, where the active voice is constantly gaining ground. On the surface level, the passive is simply wordier, because in order to form it, we have to employ the auxiliary verb to be, literally adding to its “wordiness/verboseness”. Grammatically, it requires skill and adept knowledge of several distinct grammatical 2 �categories: verb tenses, verb forms (the base form, the –s, the –ing, the past and the past participle), grammatical function of sentence constituents (the verb and its arguments; the subject, the object), agreement, verb transitivity and finally the voice, i.e. the recognition of whether the subject acts or is acted upon. [2][5] Confusions mostly abound among students about certain features of the passive voice. For instance, the passive voice may, as we all know, be used in various tenses. Students, however, perceive the passive verb structure as tense switching, not being able to differentiate between verb tense (grammatical category used to express the present, the past and the future) and verb voice (grammatical category used to express the relationship between the verb and its arguments – the subject and the object). Another compelling argument “against” the passive is derived from our students’ mother tongue, Croatian. Since all the observations made throughout this paper are based on experiences from the Croatian ESP classroom, it may be deserving of consideration to mention briefly the status of the passive voice in the students’ native language. One of the reasons for the predominance of the active voice in Croatian is the normative status of the passive; it has been described as an undesirable imposition or import from Germanic languages, which only adds to its rigidity and austerity. By the same token, due to the negative normativization of the passive, found in many prominent language reference books, the passive is often overlooked and neglected in a number of functional styles or subsystems of the Croatian language, except perhaps in publicist/newspaper style, scientific and the poetic functional style. Passivity in the Croatian language is more often expressed or signalled by other grammatical categories (various paraphrases) than by means of syntactic transformation, i.e. passivization. According to generative grammar, the passive sentence is derived from the active sentence via rules of transformation. The active sentence is considered to be the core, underlying structure (the deep structure – pure representation of relations within a sentence), while the passive sentence is the surface form derived from the common deep structure (surface structure – one of the final syntactic forms of a sentence, as it exists after the deep structure has been modified syntactically). This is why it is often considered that the two types of utterances are not of equal value. [1] [3] On the other hand, the Croatian language can “afford” not to use the passive voice as often as some other languages, notably Germanic languages such as English. In comparison to the English language, the Croatian language abounds in various paraphrastic models (considering it is a flective language, which means that grammatical relations are conveyed by means of morphemes, it is rather superior in the flexibility of word order), whereas English, 3 �being an analytic language (in which various grammatical relations are expressed by means of syntax), lacks similar possibilities or techniques to vary the sentence perspective. The S-V-O pattern needs to be observed more consistently, which means that the passive voice serves not merely as voice but also as a useful construction that allows for the highlighting of patients (objects) in cases when agents (subjects) are inert or redundant. [3] Hundreds of African opponents of apartheid refuse to receive food ... demanding a fair trial or to be released (Cro. = that they release them) [3] Majority of the prisoners have never been brought to trial (Cro. = they have never brought the majority of the prisoners to trial) [3] 3. Why is the passive voice necessary for students of EAP? After considering all the “negative” aspects of the passive voice and almost arriving at the conclusion that it has become obsolete, why is it still necessary for students to acquire it and use it competently? First of all, even though the use of the passive seems to be resisted from many sides, it is beyond question that it has an innate capability to turn an utterance into a more impersonal, detached and thus more formal statement by removing the agent (subject) of the action from the sentence, which is a requirement in technical, scientific and academic writing. While the active is considered more direct, succinct and authoritative, it may sometimes be problematic if one’s priority is to sound as polite as possible and avoid condescension (e.g. You must address the ambassadors as Mr./Madam Ambassador.). It is also a prerequisite in EAP, notably diplomatic etiquette; code of conduct, protocolary situations and in this particular case of ESP in international relations and diplomacy. Furthermore, the syntactic features of the passive are rather simple and straightforward in that the rules are elementary and unambiguous: it is just a different way of showing who is doing the action in a sentence and who is receiving it. The object (patient) of the active sentence becomes the subject (agent) of the passive one, and then the verb assumes the passive shape (auxiliary to be and past participle of the main verb), followed by an optional remark on the object (or the subject of the passive sentence), and indicated prepositionally (by). Why is learning the passive essential for students of international relations and diplomacy? For competent users of foreign languages – future diplomats – the passive is an everyday tool, both in comprehension and production, especially in formal discourse. Formal discourse is the primary medium of language instruction in this specific field of ESP/EAP, 4 �which draws heavily upon international currents affairs as a springboard for the acquisition of structures of professional language usage. The study programme of international relations and diplomacy centres upon materials which abound with such structures (newspaper articles, legislation, and professional literature). Additionally, as part of their academic training, students learn how to write essays and papers, and are not infrequently instructed to use the passive instead of personal pronouns (I or we) to avoid sounding self-absorbed or egotistic, in which case the passive helps exhibit a more professional and impartial note, allowing the writer to omit personal involvement in an inconspicuous manner. This also allows the language instructor to address the sentence from two different levels, the active and the passive, so as to broaden the students’ understanding of syntax. Ultimately, their future job/profession will also mostly involve formal communication (gathering information, giving speeches, briefing the media, conducting meetings, handling formal correspondence), which employs a great deal of passive structures. And finally, it cannot be left out of account that the language of politics, law and the media often exploits passive structures to avoid responsibility, to pacify the reader or the overall situation or to eliminate unwanted information. 4. Facilitating the students’ acquisition of passive structures The aim of this paper is to show that teaching and learning the passive does not have to be dreadful, terrifying or exhausting. In order to involve students and make them more interested and positive about learning the passive, many different activities can be devised which will help overcome the prejudice about the passive and engage them more actively. The three activities presented in this paper are structured in such a way that the students will find them both interesting and appeasing. By highlighting the interdisciplinary approach to this grammatical issue, the activities manage to “conceal” that the primary goal is the acquisition of the passive. Instead, the students are presented with activities which draw on history, geography and international current affairs, making them concentrate on the content and not the structures they need to acquire. a) Activity 1 – The Unknown about the Known In the first exercise, entitled The Unknown about the Known, students are presented with three historical figures and little known facts about their lives (the materials are always related to topics covered in other courses – e.g. The History of Western Civilization and World 5 �War II). Students are divided into groups and they need to decide which fact refers to which person. Once they have matched the facts with the people, they are required to write their answers using passive sentences (the passive structure has been explained beforehand). The answers are then checked with the language instructor. The unusual and unknown facts contribute to the activity being engaging; the activity can also be transformed into a competition, which provides an element of fun. Activity 1:  in 1899 (hold) POW in South Africa as a newspaper correspondent [9] 1) WINSTON CHURCHILL 2) BENITO MUSSOLINI 3) JOSEPH STALIN  at the age of 12 (strike) by a horse-drawn carriage and his arm (damage) permanently  arm (reconstruct) by extensive surgery, leaving it shorter and stiffened at the elbow [6]  at age 10 (expel) from a religious boarding school for stabbing a classmate in the hand [11] Answers: In 1899 Winston Churchill was held POW in South Africa as a newspaper correspondent. At the age of 12, Joseph Stalin was stricken by a horse-drawn carriage and his arm was damaged permanently. The arm was reconstructed by extensive surgery, leaving it shorter and stiffened at the elbow. At the age of 10 Benito Mussolini was expelled from a religious boarding school for stabbing a classmate in the hand. 6 �b) Activity 2 – The IO (International organization) quiz In the second activity, The IO Quiz, students are divided into groups and are given materials with information on different international organizations (the activity can be used for countries as well). The students’ task is to write questions about the organizations in order to check the knowledge of the other group(s). All the questions and answers given need to be in the passive. The activity serves two purposes – it checks the knowledge of various international organizations and of passive structures. The students are awarded points for correct questions, as well as answers. The activity in the form of a quiz makes it more interesting and motivates the students to score as many points as possible. This particular activity is all the more convenient because, as part of their course, the first year students give presentations on international organizations and countries of their choice, which only makes them more actively engaged and more competitive. Activity 2: The United Nations: 1 founded in 1945; 2 mission and work of the United Nations guided by the purposes and principles in its founding Charter; 3 the UN divided into five branches; 4 programmes and funds financed through voluntary contributions; 5 states admitted in the UN by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council; 6 currently made up of 193 Member States. [8] Answers: When was the UN founded? – It was founded... How are UN programmes and funds financed? – They are financed... How are states admitted in the UN? – They are admitted... c) Activity 3 – What’s in the News? The final activity makes use of the fact that the passive is often employed in news stories and news articles, which are used as authentic course materials. Students are given the title of the article that will be dealt with in the lecture, e.g. Nepal government criticized for blocking earthquake aid to remote area.[4] 7 �Firstly, students put the headline into its full form (Nepal government is criticized for ...).Before being given the full article the students try to guess what it is about, and are required to write their guesses using passive forms. After going through the answers, the students are given the article to check who was the closest to the topic of the article. Finally, the students read the article carefully trying to find all the passive forms. If there is sufficient time at the end of this activity, the students can turn the passive sentences into their active counterparts as an additional exercise. Nepal government criticized for blocking earthquake aid to remote areas ‘They are not suffering so they do not care. They are just out to get the foreign money for themselves’, said Rashmita Shastra, a health worker in a village in Sindhulpalchowk district, 50 miles from Kathmandu, which had to receive a shipment of aid that was eventually blocked by authorities because it was ‘unofficial’. The village, where seven people died and which has been almost entirely destroyed, has not yet been visited by any government official or politician, though one aid agency managed to distribute some tarpaulins and rice late last week. Even villagers in accessible locations beside roads only 30 miles from Kathmandu told the Observer they had yet to be contacted. Hundreds of helicopter flights have also been paid for by private individuals, religious foundations or businesses. It is unclear whether these will be allowed to continue. Officials said private initiatives would be permitted if they were coordinated with local administrators. [4] 5. Conclusion Even though there is an ongoing tendency toward using the active voice, the passive voice is an essential grammatical category, especially in the specific case of ESP in international relations and diplomacy. Despite the perceived complexity and awkwardness of the passive, due to which the students tend to avoid it, at least on the conscious level, the syntactic features and formation rules of the passive are rather straightforward and can be acquired quite easily. In order to deal with the students’ prejudice that the passive needs to be avoided, a number of activities can be devised that might appeal to students’ genuine interest in social sciences (notably political science, history, geography, etc.) and help “conceal” the inner aim of such activities, the acquisition of the passive. References: 8 �Barić, E. et al. (1999). Hrvatski jezični savjetnik, Zagreb: Institut za hrvatski jezik ijezikoslovlje:Pergamena:Školske novine Carter, R.; McCarthy, M.; Mark, G. and O'Keeffe, A. (2011). English Grammar Today,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Ham, Sanda (1990). Pasiv i norma.Jezik, Časopis za kulturu hrvatskoga književnog jezika,3, 65-96 Nepal government criticised for blocking earthquake aid to remote areas (May 2, 2015). The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/02/nepal- government-criticised-blocking-earthquake-aid-remote-areas Silić, J.; Pranjković, I. (2007). Gramatika hrvatskog jezika, Zagreb: Školska knjiga Stalin Facts: 10 little known facts (November 18, 2010). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from:http://www.military-history.org/articles/stalin-facts-10-little-known-facts.htm Subject-verb-object (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject%E2%80%93verb%E2%80%93object United Nations. (n.d.) Retrieved January 17, 2015, from: http://www.un.org/en/index.html Winston Churchill Facts: 10 little-known facts (Nov 16, 2010). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from: http://www.military-history.org/articles/winston-churchill-facts-10-little-known- facts.htm Word order (n.d.) Retrieved February 1, 2015, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_order 9 Things You May Not Know About Mussolini (October 25, 2012). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from: http://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-mussolini 9 �Iva Čupić, born June 20, 1984 in Zagreb, studied at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, obtaining a master’s degree in English and Croatian languages and literatures. She taught English at the Accredited Private Classical High School, Zagreb, and is currently teaching English for Specific Purposes at the Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy, Zagreb. She has work experience in text editing and proof-reading (Mate Ltd., publishing, Međunarodne studije, scientific magazine of the Center for International Studies, Zagreb). Fields of interest: teaching English as a foreign language, English for Academic and Specific Purposes, contrastive analysis of the English and Croatian languages, translation. Martina Klanjčić, born September 29, 1977 in Zagreb, studied at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, where she earned a master’s degree in English language and literature. Her work experience includes teaching English as a foreign language at the first accredited school for foreign languages in Zagreb, which included English courses in general and business English. She is currently teaching English to first-year students of International Relations and Diplomacy at the Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy in Zagreb. Fields of interest: teaching English as a second language, teaching English for specific purposes, translation. 10 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2891 Title A name given to the resource MAKING STUDENTS MORE ACTIVE IN LEARNING THE PASSIVE Author Author Čupić, Iva Klanjčić, Martina Abstract A summary of the resource. Why are students of English so reluctant to use the passive voice? The answer to this question may lie in the fact that students find it artificial, even pretentious, partly because it really does tend to be overtly wordy and cumbersome. Moreover, a point often overlooked is that the Croatian language “favours” the active structure as more natural both in informal and formal discourse, which is why students often find it difficult to adopt the passive voice as characteristic of the English language. Also, both for learners of English and native speakers of the language, the passive structure may be felt as contrary to the more common subject-verb-object (or S-O-V) order of syntactic constituents in the transitive sentence, employed profusely in the majority of Indo-European languages. Nonetheless, not only is it expected of the students to appreciate the passive, but also to use it competently. A great deal of academic English courses focus on formal communication; which makes the passive of key importance to understanding the type of language prevalent in EAP. This type of discourse is essential to studying English at university level, in the authors’ case ESP in the field of international relations and diplomacy, where study materials abound with passive structures. The aim of the paper is to show that the passive is fairly simple and easy both to understand and apply in independent production since it follows a set of formulaic instructions with little or no exceptions to the rule. It will look into examples of texts such as newspaper articles, legislation, professional literature, etc., and provide various activities used as a springboard for the acquisition of passive structures. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available International Burch University Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed P Philology. Linguistics https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/b998b0accbd133904b6618574ce07663.pdf c6579a43a343dc07dca353a03f8b490a PDF Text Text Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics The Role of Cognitive Mechanisms and Semantic Motivation in Business English Idioms Acquisition: An experimental study Ivan Milošević Submitted: 15.05.2014. Accepted: 05.11.2014. Abstract This paper aims to explore the possible application of cognitive semantics in the process of teaching and learningBusiness English idioms. The theoretical assumptions of this study are based on the cognitivist view that idioms are, to a certain extent, semantically motivated by cognitive mechanisms, with the conceptual metaphor being the most dominant one. This study is an attempt to test the hypothesis that metaphoric conceptualisation can contribute to a more successful acquisition of idioms, especially in comparison to pure memorisation of the same linguistic expressions. This small-scale experiment was carried out with 20 Business and Economics students divided into the experimental group and the control group. The students in the experimental group were introduced to the semantic motivation of idiom meaning, whereas the control-group students were taught the same idioms in the traditional way. After being presented with the carefully selected idioms in two different ways, the students in both groups were required to do four different types of exercises with a view to testing the semantic motivation hypothesis. As a result, the research findings and the results obtained in this experimental study suggest that the awareness of cognitive mechanism and semantic motivation behind the meaning of idioms can significantly assist students in the process of a somewhat systematic and consistent acquisition of Business English idioms. Keywords: Idiomatic expressions, Business English, cognitive mechanisms, conceptual metaphor, semantic motivation, language acquisition Introduction: Traditional vs. Cognitivist view of idioms Contrary to the traditional view of learning idioms as ‘dead’ metaphors, thecognitivist view suggests that the meanings of idioms (or the majority of them) are semantically motivated and not arbitrary (Gibbs 1994; Kövecses & Szabo 1996; Lakoff 1987). The semantic motivation stems from the cognitive mechanisms such as the conceptual metaphor, the conceptual metonymy, and conventional knowledge (Lakoff 1987), which link different domains to the meanings of idioms. ‘The 129 �The Role of Cognitive Mechanisms and Semantic Motivation in Business English Idioms Acquisition: An experimental study motivation for the occurrence of particular words in a large number of idioms can be thought of as a cognitive mechanism that links domains of knowledge to idiomatic meanings’, Kövecses & Szabo (1996: 330). In the cognitivist light of idiom interpretations, these linguistic units are perceived as part of our conceptual world, belonging both to the language and mind. As a result, idioms are semantically motivated by conceptual mappings that are formed in the world of concepts and reflected onto the language. Such a perception of idioms highlights the partial compositionality of idioms, which enables a much easier semantic interpretation (Gibbs 1994). This view of idioms was the starting point for our experimental study with the example of Business English idioms. Research objectives and methods Having in mind the conceptual nature and the semantic motivation of idioms, we wanted to investigate the pedagogical aspect of cognitivist view of idioms. We chose to carry out a small-scale experiment to check if the cognitivist theoretical framework could facilitate the teaching and learning of idioms. For that purpose, we decided to focus our research on BE idioms. The basis for the experiment was an indepth cognitivist study of Business English idioms conducted by Milošević (2008). In that comprehensive thesis, Milošević (2008)investigated the semantic motivation of BE idioms within the theoretical framework of Cognitive Semantics,detecting four cognitive mechanisms1 behind the semantics of idioms together with 18 source domains motivating the meanings of the idioms under examination. As regards the methodology for this experiment, we exploited the basic ideas of similar experimental studies undertaken by Boers at al. (2000) and Kövecses & Szabo (1996). The main hypothesis was that the awareness of the semantic motivation of BE idiomsproduces better results than mere memorisation in the teaching/learning of BE idioms. Although no rigorous statistical method was implemented in the results analysis, the research findings supported the hypothesis that learning is more successful whenstudents are aware of the semantic motivation of BE idioms. Research procedure The subjects of the study were 20 second-year students studying Business and Economics at Belgrade Business School. These students were chosen bearing in mind that they were already learning business English at the college and were 1 The four mechanisms identified in the research are: the conceptual metaphor, the conceptual metonymy, conventional knowledge and conceptual blending. 130 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics familiar with the basics of Business terminology. Moreover, theirEnglish was at the upper-intermediatelevel, which was a sufficient level for this experiment. The students were divided into two groups: control group A and experimental group B, each composed of 10 students. In order to make both groups equal with regard to their level of English knowledge, subjects were asked to do a general English test (Quick Placement Test, Oxford University Press and University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate). After analyzing the test scores, we divided the students into two groups: the control group had an overall score of 78.25%, whereas the experimental group’s overall score was 78.75%. The experiment consisted of two parts. The first part involved a lecture on Business English idioms, whereas the second part involved the testing of BE idioms. It is important to point out that the subjects were not familiar with the BE idioms they were taught (and later tested on)before the experimental study was conducted. The experiment started with a 20-minute lecture for both groups. Both groups were introduced to and taught the following twelve BE idioms: a business angel, a sinking ship, a green product, a bidding war, fresh blood, given a red card, white-collar worker, economic chill, a safe bet, locust funds, to get off the ground, andeconomic headwinds. The selected idioms reflect12different source domains, which, owing to various conceptual metaphors2 identified by Milosevic (2008)3 ,establish the conceptual mappings with the target domain of BUSINESS/ECONOMY. In the case of Group A, the procedure was as follows. All twelve BE idioms were written on the white board and the meanings of all twelve idioms were explained. The idioms were also exemplified by one sentence containing the given idiom together with the Serbian translation. After the lecture, the students had 15 minutes to memorise the given idioms. Then, the students were asked to do a four-exercise test, which lasted 40 minutes. In the experimental Group B, the teaching of idioms involved a slightly different procedure compared to the control Group A. Namely, the idioms were also written on the white board and the meaning of each idiomwas explained and exemplified with one major exception. Unlike the students in Group A, while teaching the selected idioms to students in Group B we introduced the fact that these idioms might be semantically motivated by the conceptual metaphors established between the various source domains (WAR, SAILING, etc.) and the target domain of BUSINESS. For example, when explaining the meaning of an idiom a bidding war, 2 Since this was small-scale research, the emphasis was on the conceptual metaphor as the primary cognitive mechanism responsible for the semantic motivation of BE idioms. 3 In his work, Milošević (2008) recorded and conducted a detailed semantic analysis of almost 400 BE idioms in a corpus-based study within the framework of Cognitive Semantics. 131 �The Role of Cognitive Mechanisms and Semantic Motivation in Business English Idioms Acquisition: An experimental study the students were presented with the conceptual metaphors DOING BUSINESS IS WAGING WARS and COMPANIES/BUSINESSMEN ARE WARRIORS. Similarly,an idiom a safe betinvolved introducing the following metaphors BUSINESS IS A GAMBLE and INVESTORS ARE GAMBLERS. The same process was reiterated with all 12 BE idioms. The aim of this teaching/learning procedure was to raise the experimental-group students’ awareness of thesemantic motivation of BE idioms by drawing attention to the fact that various conceptual metaphors motivate the semantics of the BE idioms under examination, forming conceptual mappings between the established source domains and the domain of BUSINESS. These students also had fifteen minutes to learn the presented BE idioms, but, unlike the Group A students, the Group B students were expected to develop links between the given idioms and the presented conceptual metaphors. Then, the students in Group B were given 40 minutes to complete a four-exercise test. As mentioned earlier, the test that the students in both groups were asked to do had four different exercises. The total number of idioms in all four exercises was 484.The first exercise was a gap-fill exercise with 12 sentences that were missing the 12 BE idioms with which the students had been presented during the lecturing process. The second exercise consisted of10 sentences and10new BE idioms with a gap-fill task as well. The sameness of the first two exercises was not coincidental. The second exercise was devised with a view to checking the students’ ability to apply the knowledge of the semantic motivation of BE idioms to previously unknown idioms. The third exercise with a more creativetask was made up of six sentences containing idioms with one word missing, which needed to be completed with six out of 12 given words. The missing words were the words that were a clear indication of the source domains they originated from (e.g. slide – PHYSICAL MOVEMENT, blue – COLOUR, etc.). Finally, the fourth exerciseinvolved twentyBE idioms divided into two columns of 10idioms and wasthusthe most demanding one.The10idioms in both columns belonged to the same source domains. The students were instructed to match the idioms based on the potential similarity between the given idioms. The first aim of this exercise was to see if the students in the control group could perceive any similarity between the idioms, and the second was to check to what extent the experimental group students would recall the semantic motivation of idioms an be able to applythat knowledge in the matching exercise accordingly. Here are the two hypotheses that we wanted to test: 4 The 48 tested idioms encompassed all 18 source domains that motivated the semantics of BE idioms detected by Milošević (2008). 132 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics a) If semantic motivation is more useful than the mere memorisation in the process of idiom teaching/learning, group B will have more correct responses in exercise 1. b) If semantic motivation plays a positive role in idiom acquisition, group B will score higher in exercises 2, 3 and 4, which involve more creative tasks in three different types of exercises. We will now investigate the results in relation to the two hypotheses. The data analysis is presented in the next section. Data analysis and results Let us now look at the results of the experimental study. Table 1 presents the maximum number of points for each of the four exercises, the number of points scored by Groups A and B respectively. Table 1.Number of points for Maximum number of points Group A Group B Exercise 1 120 (100%) 102 (85%) 117 (97,5%) Exercise 2 100 (100%) 58 (58%) 70 (70%) Exercise 3 60 (100%) 31 (51, 66%) 35 (58, 33%) Exercise 4 100 (100%) 42 (42%) 63 (63%) As the findings in table 1 show, experimental Group B students performed better in all four exercises. Taking into account the results, let us examine the two hypotheses. In Exercise 1, both groups recorded high scores. Group A scored 102 correct responses, which is 85 per cent of the possible 120 responses. Group B scored 117, which is 97.5 per cent. The high scores of both groups in Exercise 1 −97.5 per cent for Group B and 85 per cent for Group A − can be attributed to the fact that the 133 �The Role of Cognitive Mechanisms and Semantic Motivation in Business English Idioms Acquisition: An experimental study exercise contained the same idioms that students were taught during the lecture 15 minutes prior to the test.Even so, Group B outperformed Group A by 12 per cent. In Exercise 2, the scores were lower, namely70 and 58 per cent for Groups B and A respectively, because the idioms were all new to the participants, so they had to perform a more creative task. Nevertheless, Group B achieved a 12 per cent higher score. The difference in the third exercise was somewhat smaller, with Group B scoring58.33 per cent and Group A 51.66 per cent, for two reasons: This was a more complex type of exercise that required the application of semantic compositionality of idioms and the number of overall points was significantly lower (60 points) than the number of points in exercise 1 (120 points) and exercise 2 (100 points). Finally, the largest difference was recorded in the fourth exercise, with Group B scoring21 per cent higher thanGroup A.This discrepancy probably arises from the fact that the students in Group B were aware of the existence of various source domains that motivated the meanings of theBE idioms. The higher scores achieved by Group B in exercises 2, 3 and 4 appear to support the second hypothesis. To sum up, Group B produced better results in all four exercises,with the difference ranging from 6.67 to 21 percent. On the other hand, it is interesting to note that both groups recorded considerably lower scores in Exercises 2, 3 and 4 in comparison to Exercise 1. There may be at least two reasons for this. The first, more obvious reason may be the fact that in Exercise 1, the students were tested all the idioms they had been taught in the lecture 15 minutes before the test. The second, less evident reason might be the fact that Exercises 2, 3 and 4 contained new idioms, and thestudents had to predict their meanings. Since we already know that prediction is to be distinguished from motivation (Lakoff 1987), the lower scores are not surprising. Nevertheless, the higher scores recorded by Group B indicate that the awareness of semantic motivation and cognitive mechanisms can assist students in the idiom acquisition process. Based on the results analysis, it is tempting to assertthat higher scores achieved by Group B in all four exercises area result of the Group B students’ knowledge of conceptual metaphors and the existence of various source domains whose elements are mapped onto the domain of BUSINESS.This knowledge helped them match the idiomatic expressions with a greater facility in comparison to Group A.According to the analysed data, it is evident that there is a clear tendency towards more effective acquisition of BE idioms if the awareness of their semantic motivation is present. Clearly, the findings clearly show that the knowledge of the cognitive mechanisms that motivate the semantics of idioms contributes to a more successful learning of idioms compared to the traditional learning through the ‘blind’ memorisation process. 134 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Conclusion Despite the fact that this wasasmall-scale study without any in-depth statistical analysis, its results are still sufficient to support the conclusion that awareness of the conceptual structure of BE idioms and of the existence of cognitive mechanisms behind their meanings –especially the conceptual metaphor – significantly facilitates the acquisition of BE idioms. Taking into account the research findings and subsequent interviews with the subjects of the experiment, we may say that the knowledge of the semantic motivation of idioms helps students learn these linguistic units more successfully. This claim can be corroborated by the score in all four exercises, which evidently demonstrates that the experimental group students achieved consistently higher results than the control group students. On the other hand, it is important to underline the fact that thesemantic motivation of BE does not mean that the meanings of the observed idioms are fully predictable (Kövecses & Szabo 1996: 330). However, the semantic motivation of BE idioms opens up endless possibilities fora morecomprehensive description of the idiomatic meanings, which carries considerable pedagogical implications. All in all, we hope that this experiment might carve out a path to a more systematic acquisition of idioms by making students aware of the cognitive mechanisms that motivate the semantics of these linguistic expressions. References Bencses, R. (2002). The Cognitive Semantics of Idioms: A Cognitive Linguistic View. The Even YearBook 5. pp 17-30. Boers, F., Eyckmans J.& Stengers H. (2007). Presenting Figurative Idioms with a Touch of Etymology: More than Mere Mnemonics. SAGE Publications. Croft, W. & Cruse, D.A.(2004). Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Fauconnier, G. & M. Turner. (2002). The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York. Basic Books. Gibbs, R.W. (1994). The Poetics of Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 135 �The Role of Cognitive Mechanisms and Semantic Motivation in Business English Idioms Acquisition: An experimental study Kövecses, Z (2000). A Cognitive Linguistic View of Learning Idioms in FLT Context. Universitat GesamthochschuleEssen. Kövecses, Z & Szabo, P. (1996). Idioms. A View from Cognitive Semantics. Applied Linguistics 17-3:326-355. Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Makkai, A. (1972). Idiom structure in English. The Hague: Mouton. Milošević, I. (2008). Idiomatski izrazi u poslovnom engleskom jeziku. Magistarski rad. Beograd. Filološki fakultet. Nunberg, G., Sag, I., Wasow, T. (1994). Idioms. Language, Vol.70, No.3, 491-538. Palmer, F.R. (1981). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 136 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2813 Title A name given to the resource The Role of Cognitive Mechanisms and Semantic Motivation in Business English Idioms Acquisition: An experimental study Author Author Milošević, Ivan Abstract A summary of the resource. This paper aims to explore the possible application of cognitive semantics in the process of teaching and learningBusiness English idioms. The theoretical assumptions of this study are based on the cognitivist view that idioms are, to a certain extent, semantically motivated by cognitive mechanisms, with the conceptual metaphor being the most dominant one. This study is an attempt to test the hypothesis that metaphoric conceptualisation can contribute to a more successful acquisition of idioms, especially in comparison to pure memorisation of the same linguistic expressions. This small-scale experiment was carried out with 20 Business and Economics students divided into the experimental group and the control group. The students in the experimental group were introduced to the semantic motivation of idiom meaning, whereas the control-group students were taught the same idioms in the traditional way. After being presented with the carefully selected idioms in two different ways, the students in both groups were required to do four different types of exercises with a view to testing the semantic motivation hypothesis. As a result, the research findings and the results obtained in this experimental study suggest that the awareness of cognitive mechanism and semantic motivation behind the meaning of idioms can significantly assist students in the process of a somewhat systematic and consistent acquisition of Business English idioms. Keywords: Idiomatic expressions, Business English, cognitive mechanisms, conceptual metaphor, semantic motivation, language acquisition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-05-05 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed P Philology. Linguistics,PE English,PR English literature https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/943b668a7c59daf567eb65c46eb29064.pdf f50af548adf148c65fb68c3daba71a77 PDF Text Text Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Apology in Use Jelena Ilić University of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina Submitted: 04.05.2014. Accepted: 12.11.2014. Abstract There have been many researchers (Holmes, Brown and Levinson, Olshtain, BlumKulka, House, Kasper) who have devoted themselves to the analysis of one of the basic units of human linguistic communication - the act of apologizing. An apology, as argued by Holmes (1989), is seen as a face-supportive act. As such, it does not impose on thehearer’s face. It has been understood that the act of apologizing serves as a social goal of maintaining harmony between the speakers, and in order to make it convincing and workable it has to be used with appropriate strategies. Olshtain (1989) claimed that apologies do not differ drastically across languages and therefore it could be said that they are mostly universal. Interestingly enough, what BlumKulka, House and Kasper (1989: 21) noticed is that apologies are used with different degrees of intensity. Speakers may use intensifiers or upgraders to increase the power of their apology (‘I’m so sorry’, ‘I’m really sorry’), but they may also use other modality markers such as downgraders to avoid the use of apology and minimize their guilt (ex. I didn’t know you’d be eager to go out tonight.). Moreover, an act of apologizing might not accompany the set of realization patterns typical for apologizing and does not have to coincide with thespeaker’s pragmatic intention. ‘Sorry ‘bout that!’ is an example that one may find in contexts in which a speaker is not apologizing for something s/he did, but s/he is sarcastic or just superficially using the pattern to avoid a sincere apology. In other words, meaning does not have to be tightly connected to the pragmatic intention whatsoever. Still, the aim of this paper will be to analyze the structure of an apology using data-collection instruments, such asthediscourse completion test (DCT), rating scalesand roleplays,inorder to elicitapologetic data produced by non-native speakers who are highly proficient in English andwho are responsible for teaching and guiding young generations. The paper will examine teachers’ apologetic competences as a type of knowledge that everyone needs to acquire, process, develop, use and display on a daily basis. The analysis of teachers’ contextual perceptions and choices of apology strategies openly indicates their socio-pragmatic performance through written and oral tasks, and their pragmalinguistic performance as well. 145 �Apology in Use Keywords: interlanguage pragmatics, speech acts, discourse completion task, roleplay data, apology strategies Definition and Strategies of an Apology There are many definitions of apologies as most frequently studied expressive speech acts. Goffman (1971) defined an apology as a remedial interchange that is used to restore social equilibrium after the violation of social norms. It is clear that ‘an apology is called for when there is some behavior that violates social norms, … when an action or an utterance (or the lack of either) results in one or more persons perceiving themselves as deserving an apology, the culpable person(s) is (are) expected to apologize…’ (Cohencited in McKay, S.L., Hornberger, N.H., 1995:386).Moreover, Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1984: 206) proposed the three preconditions that evoke the act of apologizing: 1. the apologizer committed a violation or abstained from committing a violation (or is about to commit it); 2. a violation is perceived by the apologizer only, by the hearer only, by both the apologizer and the hearer, or by a third party as a breach of a social norm; 3. a violation is perceived by at least one of the parties involved as offending, harming, or affecting the hearer in some way. It is evident that the apologizer shows readiness to accept the guilt and responsibility to restore social harmony and in that way an apology becomes a face-saving act or remedial interchange. Once there is a need for the act of apologizing, an apologizer may choose one or more apology strategies to restore social harmony. Fraser (1981: 263) proposed a systematic classification of apology strategies into: 1. announcing that you are apologizing: ‘I apologize for …’ 2. stating one’s obligation to apologize: ‘I must apologize for …’ 3. offering to apologize: ‘I offer my apology for …’ 4. requestingthat the hearer accept my apology: ‘Please accept my apology for …’ 5. expressing regret for the offence: ‘I am (truly / so / very / deeply) sorry for …’ 6. requesting forgiveness for the offence: ‘Please excuse me for…’ 7. acknowledging responsibility for the offending act: ‘That was my fault …’ 146 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics 8. promising forbearance from a similar offending act: ‘I promise you that will never happen again …’ 9. offering redress: ‘Please, let me pay for the damage I‘ve done …’ Dealing with the apology speech act set, Cohen, Olshtain and Rosenstein (1986) perfected five apology strategies: 1. an expression of apology, whereby the speaker uses a word, expression, or sentence that contains a relevant performative verb such as apologize,forgive, excuse, be sorry; 2. an explanation or account of the situation that indirectly caused the apologizer to commit the offence and that is used by the speaker as an indirect speech act of apologizing; 3. acknowledgement of responsibility, whereby the offender recognizes his or her fault in causing the infraction; 4. an offer of repair, whereby the apologizer makes a bid to carry out an action or provide payment for some kind of damage that resulted from the infraction; 5. a promise of nonrecurrence, whereby the apologizer commits himself or herself not to let the offence happen again. In her study, Trosborg (1987, 1995) categorized apology speech-act sets in seven categories, and she also added one additional, the Zero strategy, in whicha complainee does not take responsibility at all (opting out through implicit or explicit denial of responsibility, evading responsibility completely, blaming someone else or attacking the complainer). The classification ofthe other seven apology speechactsets is as follows: Evasive strategies – (minimizing; querying preconditions; blaming a third party); Indirect strategies – a) acknowledging responsibility (implicit and explicit acknowledgement; expression of lack of intent; expression of self-deficiency; expression of embarrassment; explicit acceptance of blame); b) providing an explanation or account (implicit or explicit explanation); Direct strategy – (expression of regret; offer of apology; request for forgiveness); Remedial support – a) expressing concern for the hearer; b) promise of forbearance; c) offering repair or compensation. 147 �Apology in Use The most influential classification of apology strategies is still the one developed by Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper in 1989. 1. Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices (IFIDs): e.g. sorry; 2. Taking on Responsibility (explicit self-blame: e.g. my mistake; lack of intent: e.g. I didn’t mean to upset you; justify hearer: e.g. you’re right to be angry; expression of embarrassment: e.g. I feel awful about it; admission of facts but not of responsibility: e.g. I forgot about it; refusal to acknowledge guilt: e.g. it wasn’t my fault); 3. Explanation or Account: e.g. the traffic was terrible; 4. Offer of Repair: e.g. I’ll pay for the damage; 5. Promise of Forbearance: e.g. This won’t happen again; 6. Distracting from the Offence: (query precondition: e.g. are you sure we are supposed to meet at 10?; pretend not to notice the offence: e.g. am I late?, future/task-oriented remark: e.g. let’s get to work!, humour: e.g. if you think that’s a mistake, you should see our fried chicken!, appeaser: e.g. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee!, lexical and phrasal downgraders (politeness markers: e.g. please, understater: e.g. a bit, hedge: e.g. somehow, subjectivizer: e.g. I’m afraid, I wonder, downtoner: e.g. possibly, perhaps, cajoler: e.g. you know). (Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper, 1989: 289) As mentioned in the introduction, apologies are used with different degrees of intensity. Speakers acquire the knowledge of how to increase the power of their apology as well as they acquire the knowledge of how to evade a sincere apology. Trosborg (1995: 385-6) also identified some of the most common internal apology modifications, which she grouped into: 1. upgraders (intensifiers: I’m terribly sorry; I didn’t mean to cause you any pain;); 2. downgraders(downtoners, understaters, hedges and subjectivizers: just, simply, maybe; a little bit, not very much; kind of, sort of; I think, I suppose, I’m afraid;); 3. cajolers and appealers (you know, you see, I mean; okay, right, see;). Methodology The present paper compared the results on the speech act of apology obtained throughtheDiscourse Completion Test (DCT) and role-plays(RPs) that the Master’slevelEnglish-language students took at the beginning of the academic year 2013/2014 within their master’s-degree studies. The DCT data contained 10 different situations, whereas the RPs had six situations. For this study only six situations were selected within the DCT as to be easier to compare them with the results obtained via the RPs. 148 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics A description of every situation was given to a student who then needed to put down apologetic responses s/he thought to be the most adequate for the given context. Ina similar way, the data was obtained from the RPs, in which respondents were provided with a role card and then were asked to role-play the situation and reply in a way that would be the most typical, natural and spontaneouswith respect to the reallife situation. As far as informants are concerned, there were 40 native speakers of Bosnian examined. All of the speakers were highly fluent in English (80% of them were advanced EFL learners – C1, C2; 20% were pre-advanced – B2.). Most of them were employed as teachers of primary and/or secondary schoolchildren in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or giving private English lessons to friends and family members. The data included 20 males and 20 females. Their age range is from 24 to 37, and all of them started learning English at the age of 12 in primary school. The data in the present paper were collected through the DCT and RPs, offering situations that call for apologies for the purpose of investigating apologies. The corpus consisted of almost960 apologies and apology responses over a variety of contexts, some reflecting heavy, some medium-weighted and some light offences. The paper also put emphasis onto the degrees of apology intensity presented within the apology responses through the use of upgraders, downgraders, cajolers and appealers. What is more, the differences in apology responses between male and female respondents were also addressed as well as the overallwillingness or reluctance in expressing an apology explicitly through written and oral tasks. Results and Discussion It must be emphasized that the results revealed interesting and vivid differences between the two methods, DCT and RP. Namely, whathad been anticipated was thatthe DCT data would not differ too much from the RP data. However, the results proved different. First of all, within the DCT all respondents were asked to rate the contexts on a five-point rating scale for four context-internal factors (severity of the situation, offender’s obligation to apologize, difficulty of such obligation and likelihood for the apology to be accepted). Theyexpressed that the possibility of them apologizing remained high no matter how severe the situation (more than 80% said there was a high probability of them apologizing). They argued that expressing apologies is never problematic, especially if they are expected to apologize to someone they haveoffended. What is more, they pinpoint that an apology is never difficult to express and that they do not mind apologizing. They also strongly hold that the likelihood of the apology being accepted by the complainee is relatively high (more than 54% believe that their apology response bears qualitative characteristics and is sufficient to be accepted and to not let the complainee down). As far as gender 149 �Apology in Use differences are concerned, it could be said that both male and female respondents say that apology-strategy implementation is important and they do not find it difficult to use.Still, in contrast to the malerespondents, thefemale respondentsfound apologies a bit more important for restoring social harmony, regardless of whether they were apologizing for light, medium-weighted or heavy offences. On the other hand, theRP data revealed that the possibility of respondents apologizing is not as high as was evident withintheDCT data. Namely, less than 65% have not showed reluctance to apologizedespite the nature of thespecific apology situation (see Table 1). Generally speaking, it seems that respondents thought these situations to be less severe and therefore their performance on apology was generally poor or totally omitted. Therefore, it could be stated that there is evident minimization of the severity of offence inthe RPs rather than on theDCT. At times, it seemed difficult to say the apology out loud, and it was crystal clear that respondents behaved differently when engaging in theRPs. On several occasions, respondents did not employ an apology at all. To be more precise, they successfully tried to evade responsibility, or toblame or attack somebody else instead. With respect to gender differences, the females’ perception of how to apologize again became vivid and more common and colourful than the males’ perception. In addition, female respondents used apologies explicitly, but only when there was a high severity of offence that influenced their performance on apology. Male respondents proved unwilling to offer apologies, especially when they were apologizing to a male acquaintance or male friend. Needless to say, some intriguing results were discoveredwithin the RP sessions. Namely, on a few occasions it was noticed that respondents, when assuming the role of a complainee, understood the offence to be graver and therefore required not just an expression of apology, but also an additional explanation of the situation and a more thorough acknowledgement of responsibility. It was noticed that on several occasions neither an offer of repair nor a promise of forbearance were workable strategies. However, this paper could not provide a meticulous description and analysis of these situations for all examinees who acquired both the role of apologizer andcomplainee within this limited study;this should be included in further qualitative analyses of apology data.Is the edit correct? Table 1. Comparison of context internal factors in DCT and RP data DCT RP Context internal factors: severity of the situation light, medium-weighted light, medium-weighted and heavy and heavy 150 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics the possibility apologizing of difficulty of apology you 80% no likelihood of the apology 54% accepted is 65% questionable 50% Having reviewed the issue of context internal factors between the DCT and RP methods, it is now high time tofocuson the differences and similarities of the apology strategies obtained from the DCT and RPs. A close examination of the distribution of strategies is needed in order to make a detailed comparison between the two approaches.As mentioned above, the corpus consisted of almost 960 apology strategies over a variety of contexts. Furthermore, it is significant to mention that 960 apology strategies is a total number of apology strategies found across six situations of the DCT and six of the RPs. The results indicate that examinees tended to use at least two times the number of the apology strategies in theRPs than on theDCTs. It is quite clear that examinees behaved differently when engaged in RPs, probably because they reflected real, face-to-face interactions. In other words, there was no place for additional turns on the DCT due to its non-dynamic nature. In contrast, the RPs involved dynamics and thus created a lot of space for numerous apology strategies. Here are several examples on the distribution of apology strategies: (1) Situation: Knocking over a cup of coffee and burning a lady sitting next to you: DCT: I’m sorry. I’ll pay for the dry-cleaning. or: I’m deeply sorry. I didn’t mean to. Is there a chance to compensate? ROLE-PLAY: A: Oh, my God! B: Come on, look what you’ve done! A: I feel really bad now. I’m so clumsy. B: Yeah, my new white coat is stained now. I don’t believe it. A: Is there a chance to compensate in some way? I’ll do anything. B: It’s OK, you don’t have to worry. A: Are you sure? Can I pay for the dry-cleaners’? B: No, no, it’s ok. A: At least, let me buy you a drink. B: No, no, it’s ok. 151 �Apology in Use A: Please, forgive me. OMG, what a clumsy person I am! (2) Situation: You accidentally dropped your friend’s new phone and it broke. DCT: I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have touched it. or: Sorry. It was an accident. ROLE-PLAY: A: Oh, don’t kill me. B: I cannot believe that you dropped my new phone. A: I really don’t know how I dropped it, it just slipped off. B: How did you let it happen? What were you trying to do? A: Please, forgive me, I don’t know what happened. One second I am holding it, the other I just lose it. Like these hands are not mine. I don’t know what is wrong with me all day, I am having a bad day, really. B: Yeah, well, I will see whether I could repair the display. A: If there is anything I could do, let me know. I am willing to pay. B: We’ll see to it. Once again, the interactive nature ofthe RPs brought a great number of apology strategies to the surface. However, if a closer attention is paid to apology-strategy preference, one may perceive that not all the apology strategies are equally distributed onthe DCTs and in the RPs. The total number of apology strategies on theDCT is three; specifically, strategy 4 - Direct Apology, as an expression of apology (I apologize; I am sorry, Please, forgive me), followed by strategy 2 – as an indirect strategy referring to Acknowledgement of Responsibility,and strategy 7 – strategy of Offering Repair or Compensation. On the other hand, the total number of apology strategies in the RPs is five: strategy 7 – strategy of Offering Repair or Compensation, followed by strategy 2 – as an indirect strategy referring to Acknowledgement of Responsibility, strategy 5 – Expressing Concern for the Hearer, and strategy 4 – Direct Apology and the last being strategy 1- Evasive Strategy. It is of high importance to mention that the Zero Strategy is also very common (up to 9.5%) when examinees show implicit or explicit denial or responsibility, evading responsibility completely or even attacking the complainer. Needless to say, the Zero Strategy was a rarity within the DCT data. Table 2. Apology strategies distribution STRATEGIES Strategy 0: opt out 152 DCT 0% ROLE-PLAY 9.5% �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Strategy 1: evasive strategy 1% 12% Strategy 2: acknowledgement of responsibility 17% 17% Strategy 3: providing explanation 4% 6.5% Strategy 4: direct apology 54% 15% Strategy 5: expressing concern for the hearer 3% 16% Strategy 6: promise of forbearance 2% 1% Strategy 7: offering repair or compensation 19% 23% It is worth mentioning that examinees almost never employed a single apology strategy, but a combination of strategies within a first or single response, both on theDCT and in theRPs. The most workable strategies withinthe DCT were: Direct apology (54%), Offering Repair or Compensation (19%) and Acknowledgement of Responsibility (17%). In addition, those were the strategies common in theRPs as well. However, there is a different distribution of the strategies withinthe RPs, the most frequent being: Offering Repair or Compensation (23%), Acknowledgement of Responsibility (17%), Expressing Concern for the Hearer (16%), Direct Apology (15%) and Evasive Strategies (12%). What is more, the use of Opt-out or Zero Strategy seems to be quite interesting for this study, as one could witness that theexaminees were at times minimizing the severity of the offence, or regarded it as a light one, so they would not implement any apology at all. Next, the preference order of apology strategies is evidently different on theDCT and in theRPs. Direct Apology was indeed the most preferred strategy within theDCT, but not particularly favoured within theRP approach. Examinees showedareluctance to explicitly apologize in theoral tasks, which was never the case in thewritten tasks. Both tasks, written and oral, did not affect the examinees’ selection of apology strategies in general. However, when it comes to thepreference order of these eight strategies, the differences came to the surface. The factors influencingthe preference order of the strategies might be various; generally speaking, one may conclude that the major differences are due to the nature ofthe RPs and face-to-face conversations. Such contexts allow speakers to offer a response that looks like a real response formed in real contexts with real interlocutors. As a matter of fact, written contexts might appear far away from spontaneous and natural conversations, so speakers perceive a written task as a more formal task that requires a more formal language in order to show politeness and restore social harmony. Let’s now take a look at the distribution of apology strategies within the abovementioned examples: (1) Situation: Knocking over a cup of coffee and burning a lady sitting next to you: DCT: I’m sorry. I’ll pay for the dry-cleaning. (Direct Apology + Offer of Repair or Compensation) or: I’m deeply sorry. I didn’t mean to. Is there a chance to compensate? 153 �Apology in Use (Direct Apology + Acknowledgement of Responsibility + Offer of Repair) RP: A: Oh my God! (Opt out) B: Come on, look what you’ve done! A: I feel really bad now. I’m so clumsy. (Acknowledgement of Responsibility + Providing Explanation) B: Yeah, my new white coat is stained now. I don’t believe it. A: Is there a chance to compensate in some way? I’ll do anything. (Offer of Repair + Offer of Repair) B: It’s OK, you don’t have to worry. A: Are you sure? Can I pay for the dry-cleaners’? (Expressing Concern for the Hearer + Offer of Repair) B: No, no, it’s ok. A: At least, let me buy you a drink. (Offer of Repair) B: No, no, it’s ok. A: Please, forgive me. OMG, what a clumsy person I am! (Direct Apology + Providing Explanation) (2) Situation: You accidentally dropped your friend’s new phone and it broke. DCT: I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have touched it. (Direct Apology + Acknowledgement of Responsibility) or: Sorry. It was an accident. (Direct Apology + Providing Explanation) A: Oh, don’t kill me. (Acknowledgement of Responsibility) B: I cannot believe that you dropped my new phone. A: I really don’t know how I dropped it, it just slipped off. (Providing Explanation) B: How did you let it happen? What were you trying to do? A: Please, forgive me, I don’t know what happened. One second I am holding it, the other I just lose it. Like these hands are ROLE-PLAY: 154 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics not mine. I don’t know what is wrong with me all day, I am having a bad day, really. (Direct Apology + Providing Explanation + Providing Explanation + Providing Explanation + Acknowledgement of Responsibility) B: Yeah, well, I will see whether I could repair the display. A: If there is anything I could do, let me know. I am willing to pay. (Offer of Repair + Offer of Repair) B: We’ll see to it. When addressing gender differences one may witness that the act of apologizingis common for both male and female respondents on theDCTs and inthe RPs. Female examinees find an apology to be significant and valuable for re-establishing social equilibrium, as do male examinees. Still, when it comes to general use of apology strategies, the results show that female examinees have a tendency to use a combination of at least three apology strategies for every situation on the DCT and in the RPs, whereas male examinees use up to two strategies. As theresults reveal, both male and female examinees use the same common strategies on the DCT (Direct apology, Offer of Repair or Compensation and Acknowledgement of Responsibility). Role-play data clearly display that the implementation of preferable strategies is differentfor males and females. Namely, male examinees are in favour of strategy 7 – Offer Repair or Compensation, as opposed to females, who prefer strategy 2 – Acknowledgement of Responsibility, strategy 5 – Expressing Concern for the Hearer and strategy 3 – Providing Explanation or Account. The most surprising fact is that both male and female apologizers usedthe Zero Strategy on certain occasions, denying or evading responsibility completely. There is also an evidently greater use of modality markers by female examinees on both theDCT and inthe RPs. Male examinees rarely used upgraders, unlike their female colleagues (intensifiers: I’m terribly sorry; I’m awfully sorry; I deeply apologize; emotional expressions: Oh, no; OMG;). Downgraders, cajolers and appealers were also more frequent with female apologizers (hedges: My hands were kind of slippery;downtoners: I simply dropped the phone;). The use of modality markers becomes greater when there is ahigh severityof offence in question, especially in theRPs. Bearing in mind that this study covered a small number of examinees, future research should be based on a more relevant number of examinees in order to address gender differences in apology performance, including apologizer gender and complainee gender. In addition, certain social parameters, like distance, power and age might also contribute to clarification and intensification of the issue of apologywithin every culture. In that way, more reliable and valid conclusions might be drawn. 155 �Apology in Use Conclusion To sum up, this pilot study focused on a comparison between the apology data obtained from theDCT and theRPs. Similarities as well as differences have been established in the general use of apologies, context-internal factors found across six situations on theDCT and in theRPs and the preference order of apology strategies in both approaches. It is worth mentioning that, when performing an act of apology, respondents almost never employed a single apology strategy, but a combination of strategies. What is more, several important preliminary conclusions can be made at this point: 1. Act of apologizing is always a combination of several apology strategies; 2. The three most common strategies on theDCT and in theRPs are Direct Apology, Offer of Repair or Compensation and Acknowledgement of Responsibility; in addition, theRP data pointed tothe use of other strategies such as Expressing Concern for the Hearer and Evasive Strategies; 3. Direct Apology is preferable on theDCT, whereas Offer of Repair or Compensation is the most favoured in theRPs; 4. The use of theZero Strategy seems to be quite an extraordinary discovery, as it was employed exclusively in the RPs; 5. Frequency of explicit Direct Apologies is higher on the DCT than in theRPs; 6. Female examinees have a tendency to use a combination of at least three apology strategies for every single situation, as opposed to male examinees who use up to two strategies; thus, female apologizers are more expressive than male apologizers; 7. Male examinees are in favour of strategy 7, while femalesprefer strategy 2, strategy 5 and strategy 3; 8. Female examinees are eager to use modality markers, especially in RPs, in order to maximize and strengthen the power of their apologies. What future research needs to resolve is the issue of Direct Apology in everyday, natural and spontaneous conversations. A more detailed examination and analysis is required in order to address the notion of offence and apology performance in every culture. Also, further analysis of apologetic responses obtained from everyday conversations is something that needs to be taken into consideration so as to demonstrate actual culture-specific aspect(s) of apologies in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and culture-specific way(s) of dealing with offensive situations. Needless to say, this pilot study has raised a list of questions related to the understanding of theact of apologizing. It is essential to comprehend that apologizing cannot be truly understood without taking reference to cultural values and attitudes into consideration. The aspect of culture is highly important and deeper than the norms of politeness and therefore apologies themselves.Thus, one must raise 156 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics awareness about different socio-culturally determined behaviours that exist and operate above the explicit norms of politeness. 157 �Apology in Use References Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., Kasper G. (1989). Cross-cultural Pragmatics: Requests and Apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Blum-Kulka, S., Olshtain, E. (1984). Requests and Apologies: A Cross-cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Patterns; Applied Linguistics 5, 196-213. Brown, P., Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: CUP. Cohen, A.D., Olshtain, E., Rosenstein, D.S. (1986). Advanced EFL Apologies: What Remains to be Learned? International Journal of the Sociology of Language 62, 51-74. Fraser, B. (1981). On Apologizing. In F. Coulmas, Conversational Routine. The Hague: Mouton. Holmes, J. (1989). Sex Differences and Apologies: One Aspect of Communicative Competence. Applied Linguistics 10, 194-213. Kasper, G., Blum-Kulka, S. (1993). Interlanguage Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. McKay, S.L., Hornberger, N.H. (1995). Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Olshtain, E. (1989). Apologies Across Languages. In Blum-Kulka, S., House, J, Kasper, G. (eds) Cross- cultural Pragmatics: Requests and Apologies. 155-173. Trosborg, A. (1995). Interlanguage Pragmatics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Watts, R.J. (2003). Politeness. Cambridge: CUP 158 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2815 Title A name given to the resource Apology in Use Author Author Ilić, Jelena Abstract A summary of the resource. There have been many researchers (Holmes, Brown and Levinson, Olshtain, Blum-Kulka, House, Kasper) who have devoted themselves to the analysis of one of the basic units of human linguistic communication - the act of apologizing. An apology, as argued by Holmes (1989), is seen as a face-supportive act. As such, it does not impose on thehearer’s face. It has been understood that the act of apologizing serves as a social goal of maintaining harmony between the speakers, and in order to make it convincing and workable it has to be used with appropriate strategies. Olshtain (1989) claimed that apologies do not differ drastically across languages and therefore it could be said that they are mostly universal. Interestingly enough, what Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper (1989: 21) noticed is that apologies are used with different degrees of intensity. Speakers may use intensifiers or upgraders to increase the power of their apology (‘I’m so sorry’, ‘I’m really sorry’), but they may also use other modality markers such as downgraders to avoid the use of apology and minimize their guilt (ex. I didn’t know you’d be eager to go out tonight.). Moreover, an act of apologizing might not accompany the set of realization patterns typical for apologizing and does not have to coincide with thespeaker’s pragmatic intention. ‘Sorry ‘bout that!’ is an example that one may find in contexts in which a speaker is not apologizing for something s/he did, but s/he is sarcastic or just superficially using the pattern to avoid a sincere apology. In other words, meaning does not have to be tightly connected to the pragmatic intention whatsoever. Still, the aim of this paper will be to analyze the structure of an apology using data-collection instruments, such asthediscourse completion test (DCT), rating scalesand role-plays,inorder to elicitapologetic data produced by non-native speakers who are highly proficient in English andwho are responsible for teaching and guiding young generations. The paper will examine teachers’ apologetic competences as a type of knowledge that everyone needs to acquire, process, develop, use and display on a daily basis. The analysis of teachers’ contextual perceptions and choices of apology strategies openly indicates their socio-pragmatic performance through written and oral tasks, and their pragmalinguistic performance as well. Keywords: interlanguage pragmatics, speech acts, discourse completion task, role-play data, apology strategies Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-05-04 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed P Philology. Linguistics,PE English https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/cdabfa1fd37dc551cf31316f97f55298.pdf ec7d0959b6b6a9c9456606a3eb60eb7e PDF Text Text Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Are future foreign language teachers prepared to educate the gifted and talented in schools in Herzegovina? Izabela Dankić & Ana Matić-Raguž University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina Submitted: 03.05.2014. Accepted: 07.11.2014. Abstract The aim of this study was to contribute to advancement of foreign language teaching and to direct attention to exceptional children as a group of students very often neglected in the elementary and high-school educational system in HerzegovinaNeretva canton. Data are collected using reflection and we attempt to answer the question whether the future foreign language teachers, upon completion of their foreign language-teacher education, feel prepared to work with the gifted and talented. The results suggest that work with gifted and talented children should be included in FL-teacher education in the future. Keywords: language teaching, talented students, Herzegovina canton Introduction Formal elementary and secondary school educational systems in many countries in Europe are organized to give gifted students the opportunity to reach their full potential. The public educational system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, primarily organized at the cantonal level,is set to promotethe concept thatdifferent needs of all students should be met.As in many other countries (Page, 2010), gifted learners and their educators in Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly in Herzegovina-Neretva canton, face many challenges. While the special-learning needs of children are met by engaging teacher assistants who individually assist the children in schoolsby providing additional classes or organizing special programs, the special needs of the gifted are not met in a systematic way. If these children are identified in the public elementary and secondary schools in Herzegovina-Neretva canton, it is up to the school and its principal and teachers to decide how these special needs should be met.The prevailing belief is that gifted children adjust better than non-gifted children and gifted children are not systematically identified.However, this dominant viewof gifted children (Kessner, 2005) may be changed by the practitioner research results, 137 �Are future foreign language teachers prepared to educate the gifted and talented in schools in Herzegovina? which indicate that gifted students appear to adjust better, but experience different social and emotional difficulties. Gifted children are exceptional children and there is no agreement on how gifted chidren and learners should be identified. Some still believe that we should maintain the traditional approach of identifying gifted learners as children who score approximately 130+ on an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test (Krause et al, 2003), while others like Langrehr (2006) propose a series of tests that replace the intelligencequotient method with “multiple-answer thinking”. Zovko (1996) also points to the difference between gifted and talented learners, stating that the talented learners have one gift, while gifted learners have more than one gift.He prefers the term “exceptional children” because there are gifted and talented children who are learners with special needs. As far as this study is concerned, we define gifted learners as children who are talented inforeign language learning. During their education and foreign language-teacher training, future foreign language teachers are trained to work with the average-ability students andspecial attention is not devoted to the specializedpractical training – for example, how to organize a higher streaming class or how to handle the problems that usually accompany the gifted (self-esteem, self-concept, affective needs of gifted students).At University of Mostar, pre-service teachers study all factors influencing learning (including intelligence, aptitude, social-psychological factors, etc.) from the perspective of their role in the second-language acquisition and within the foreign language-teaching methodology courses. Since the importance of gifted children's relationships with their teachers is emphasized in many research studies (Kessner, 2005), the aim of this study was to contribute to advancement of foreign language teaching through examination of the position of pre-service teachers on teaching gifted students. Based on the obtained data, we can examine the pre-service teachers' position on teaching the gifted and whether they feel prepared to teach them. Methodology In this study, we combine the use of practitioner knowledge (Johnson, 2009) and the reflective practice within the exploratory practice framework. We use them to examine the teaching practice in the context of preparing future foreign language teachers to address the needs of gifted students. The term “reflective practice”is differently defined, but it includes processes that involve “meta-thinking” (Shkedi, 2000; Loughran 2002) and is based on a belief that 138 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics teachers can improve their understanding of teaching and the quality of their teaching by reflecting critically on their experiences related to teaching (Richards, 2002).Halbach (2002, pp. 245-246) writes that the type of reflection the students are able to produce and whether they comment on the course methodology indicates the course’s effect on their ability to be reflective and tothink critically. She distinguishes three degrees of reflection:summarizing (a simple summary of the ideas covered in class), exemplifying (a certain degree of introspection supported with their personal experience as students), and commenting (meaningful reflection including comments and questions that indicate critical thinking). We used the principled framework of exploratory practice to investigate the students’ reflection on their own learning and teaching in classes preparing them to become English teachers. Exploratory practice helps them better understand the quality of foreign language classroom life. It also helpsto teach pre-service teachers how to develop reflective mind habits when the content to be reflected upon and the quality of reflection are determined (Valli, 1997).The present study used the reflective practice of pre-service teachers when asking them to reflect on their training and preparation for teaching gifted students. The subjects are 19 second-year graduate students (pre-service English teachers)at the University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina who have met all the requirements (completed teaching practicums and colloquiums) in 2013. They were asked to write a reflective essay on “Are future English teachers are prepared to teach gifted children?” The suggested time for essay writing was 45 minutes and the essay length was not specified. As far as the quality of reflection was concerned, they were told that their essay should reflect their pre-service teacher experience and training, and that their essays would be taken into consideration for initiating an elective coursecalled “Gifted children and foreign language teaching”. Results Although the group of 19 students (pre-service teachers) included 14 women and 5 men, only three of them (two male students and one female student) signed their essays. They were allowed not to sign their essays in order to express themselves more freely, knowing that they would not be judged or evaluated. They were also allowed to choose the languagein which they wanted to write the essay. Two students wrote their essays in English, one student combined both English and Croatian and 16 students wrote them in Croatian. The reflective data analysis was conducted after we had sorted the essay data according to three degrees of reflection as suggested by Halbach (2002): summarizing, exemplifying, and commenting. 139 �Are future foreign language teachers prepared to educate the gifted and talented in schools in Herzegovina? Interestingly, all 19 essays are classified as the third degree of reflection. The students do not summarize what was covered in the classes about the gifted. They provide their position based on their experience as students (pre-service teachers) and directly proceed to express their opinion on how well the future English teachers are preparedto teach gifted children. They support their position by providing interesting comments and suggestions that indicate critical thinking. They all agree that the needs of gifted children in public schools in the region are not met. Eleven pre-service teachers believe that they are prepared to teach gifted children in the public schools. Five pre-service teachers consider “the educational system”, “schools”, “the wider community” and “the cantonal government”to be responsible for problems gifted children and teachers might face. Three students particularly blamethe foreign language teachers who currently teach in the public primary and secondary schools as not being motivated and properly trained to cater to gifted students. Only one student specifically states that no elective course should be introduced, while the other 10 do not mention it at all. Three pre-service teachers believe that they are not ready to teach gifted students. They also believe that they are not prepared to teach the non-gifted children. They consider their practical experience to be limited and propose that courses on practical teaching issues should be added to the curriculum starting from the first year of their college education. They strongly recommend that the elective course on teaching English to gifted children should be introduced. Five students state that they are prepared to teach the foreign language, but they need additional training on how to teach gifted children and how to manage the classroom and teach gifted and non-gifted children together. Discussion Reflective essay analysis suggests that the observed pre-service teachers believe that the needs of gifted students in the region are not met. One might argue that gifted and talented children do not require supplemental resources at all and that their needs should be considered in the same way as the needs of the other non-gifted children. This is a view supported by the standard-based cost-function educational model (Baker, 2001) where the gifted must fit into the general public educational system and no supplemental resources are available for their education. The alternate resource educational model provides for special programs for gifted children and they vary depending on available funds. As far as the situation in the HercegovinaNeretva canton is concerned, these pre-service teachers correctly identified that there 140 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics is no cantonal educational policy with clearly established procedures for identification and assistance that would aid gifted elementary and secondary students. The foreign language teachers currently employed and teaching in the public schools have not been trained how to identify, assist and help gifted students reach their educational goals based on their special needs. Three students feel that they are not prepared to teacheither gifted or non-gifted students. Further analysis of their essays suggests that the reason for this position is that they do not consider that the practical training they received in the process of obtaining their teaching degree adequately prepares them for the challenges of teaching in the real classroom away from the micro-teaching context.Wellich and Brown (2012)point to the particular challenge related to the identification of gifted students proposing their classification into gifted achievers and gifted underachievers. As a result of interplay of different factors (motivation, confidence, lack of certain skills, socio-emotional adjustment) some gifted children do not achieve their educational goals in school and are not recognized as exceptional. They also state that gifted students may be misunderstood by their parents, by their peers at preschool and school, and by their teachers because of their style of communication and their different needs. As a result of these failing experiences coming from the primary social context, they might become underachievers. Based on their experience and practice in Herzegovina’s public schools, five preservice foreign language teachers think that they are prepared to teach non-gifted students but are not trained adequately to face the challenge of teaching gifted and non-gifted studentsin the same classroom. Mandatory or elective courses as a part of foreign language-teacher education might help better prepare the future teachers for this challenge. Beyond the curriculum additions at the university level, some authors suggest the adjustments and changes in the (foreign) language curriculathat would take into consideration the nature of the learner, theselection of thegrouping model, and theliterary and linguistic material. This curriculum treatment resulting in differentiated curricula would help gifted students produce significant and important learning outcomes (Van Tassel-Basko et al., 2002) and it might result, if funding is provided, in the establishment of special “gifted programs” like the program based on a small-group affective curriculum (Peterson &Lorimer, 2011). All observed pre-service teachers state that gifted children in public schools in Herzegovina need special attention in foreign language classrooms.Foreign language teachers must aim to develop positive attitudes in all children and need training to help gifted students utilize their general or specific cognitive abilities, combined with their foreign language learning ability, to master a foreign language. Conclusion 141 �Are future foreign language teachers prepared to educate the gifted and talented in schools in Herzegovina? The practitioner knowledge becomes part of the knowledge base of teacher education after it is made public for examination and discussion (Hiebert, Gallimore, and Stigler, 2002) and we hope that our workwill initiate a discussionon whether preservice teachers are prepared to teach gifted students in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on this practitioner research and our findings we propose that preparatory courses for teaching gifted children should become a part of foreign languageteachereducation and training. References Baker, B.D. (2001). Gifted children in the current policy and fiscal context of public education: a national snapshot and state-level equity analysis of Texas. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23(3), 229-250 Halbach, A. (2002). Exporting methodologies: The reflective approach in teacher training. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 15 (3), 243-250. Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R., & Stigler, J. W. (2002). A knowledge base for the teaching profession: What would it look like and how can we get one? Educational Researcher, 31(5), 3-15. Johnson, K. E. (2009). Trends in Second Language Teacher Education. In A. Burns and J. C. Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education (pp. 20 – 29). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kessner, J. E. (2005). Gifted children’s relationships with teachers, Interntional Education Journal, 6(2):218-223 Krause, K., Duchesne, S.K.,Bochner, S. & Duchesne, S. (2003). Educational Psychology for learning and teaching.Southbank, Victoria: Thomson Langrehr, J. (2006), New ways for identifying gifted thinkers. Gifted, 140, 11-14. Loughran, J. J. (2002). Effective reflective practice: in search of meaning in learning about teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53 (1), 33-43. Page, J. S. (2010). Challenges faced by “gifted learners” in school and beyond, Student Pulse, 2(11) retrieved from www.studentpulse.com/prin?id=330 Peterson, J.S. &Lorimer, M. R. (2011). Student response to a small-group affective curriculu, in a school for gifted children. Gifted Children Quarterly, 55(3), 167-180. 142 �Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Richards, J. C. (2002). Theories of teaching in language teaching. In J. C. Richards and W. A. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice (pp. 19-25). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Shkedi, A. (2000). Educating reflective teachers for teaching culturally valued subjects: Evaluation of a teacher-training project. Evaluation and Research in Education, 14 (2), 94-110. Valli , L. (1997). Listening to other voices: A description of teacher reflection in the United States. Peabody Journal of Education, 72, 67-88. Van Tassel-Basko, J., Zuo L., Avery, L.D. and Little, C.A. (2002).A curriculum study of gifted-student learning in the language arts.Gifted Child Quarterly, 46(1), 30-44. Wellich, M. & Brown, J. (2012). An integrated identification and intervention model for intellectually gifted children.Journal of Advanced Academics, 23(2), 145167. Zovko, G. (1996). Odgojizuzetnedjece.Zagreb: Hrvatskaakademijaodgojnihznanosti 143 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2814 Title A name given to the resource Are future foreign language teachers prepared to educate the gifted and talented in schools in Herzegovina? Author Author Dankić, Izabela Matić-Raguž, Ana Abstract A summary of the resource. The aim of this study was to contribute to advancement of foreign language teaching and to direct attention to exceptional children as a group of students very often neglected in the elementary and high-school educational system in Herzegovina-Neretva canton. Data are collected using reflection and we attempt to answer the question whether the future foreign language teachers, upon completion of their foreign language-teacher education, feel prepared to work with the gifted and talented. The results suggest that work with gifted and talented children should be included in FL-teacher education in the future. Keywords: language teaching, talented students, Herzegovina canton Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-05-03 Keywords Keywords. Article PeerReviewed L Education (General),LF Individual institutions (Europe),LT Textbooks,P Philology. Linguistics,PE English,PG Slavic, Baltic, Albanian languages and literature