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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Culture, Identity and Foreign Language Teaching And
Learning
Tatjana A. Dumitrašković
University of East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Submitted: 15.04.2014.
Accepted: 06.11.2014.
Abstract
Language, culture and identity are essentially connected. But, it often happens that in
foreign language classrooms teachers give little attention to the identity of the
student. A student enters the classroom with his own identity and culture. When
learning a foreign language, it is necessary for the student to learn and understand the
culture of the foreign language, too. This is where the problem arises of culture and
identity influencing teaching and learning foreign languages. In general, students are
representatives of the identity and culture of their first language and where they come
from. In order for the student to learn the foreign language he must feel that he can
express himself freely in the classroom. However, the students are likely to become
confused when they are faced with the new culture of the foreign language. They
now have to understand and adjust this to their sense of identity and their culture, and
this can often lead to uncertainty. It can result in the student feeling unsure as to
where they belong in the community.
The teacher needs to be aware of this issue and should include it to the method of
teaching and resources used. The paper deals with the question of how the process of
teaching and learning a foreign language affects the students’ identity and sense of
belonging to a community.
Keywords: foreign language, culture, identity
Culture refers to our way of life, including everything that is learned, shared, and
passed from one generation to the next. Although culture endures over time, it is not
static. Language, values, rules, beliefs are all part of one’s culture. Culture is passed
on from one generation to the next through the process of socialization. Although
there are many aspects of everyday life that are shared by most members of society,
there are different conceptions and definitions of culture within this general
�Culture, identity and foreign language teaching and learning
approach. The dominant culture of a society refers to the main culture in a society,
which is shared, or at least accepted without opposition, by the majority of people.
Identity is a process of identifying or non-identifying with a particular position in life
and continually modifying this position and attitudes toward it (Crawshaw, 2001,
p.101). It is about how individuals or groups see and define themselves, and how
other individuals or groups see and define them. Identity is formed through the
socialization process and the influence of social institutions like the family, the
education system and the mass media. The concept of identity is an important one, as
it is only through establishing our own identities and learning about the identities of
other individuals and groups that we come to know what makes us similar to some
people and different from others, and therefore form social connections with them.
The identity of individuals and groups involves both elements of personal choice and
the responses and attitudes of others. Individuals are not free to adopt any identity
they like, and factors like their social class, their ethnic group and their sex are likely
to influence how others see them. The identity that an individual wants to assert and
which they may wish others to see them having may not be the one that others accept
or recognise.
Often, in foreign language classrooms, the teacher or curriculum pays little or no
attention to identity of the student. A student enters the classroom with his own
identity and culture. When learning a foreign language, it is necessary for the student
to learn the culture of the foreign language, too (Spackman, 2009, p.2). This is where
the question of culture and identity influencing foreign language acquisition happens.
In many ways students are representatives of the identity and culture of their first
language and where they come from.
In order for the students to learn the foreign language, they must feel that they are
comfortable in the classroom and can express themselves freely. However, they tend
to become confused when they are faced with the new culture of the foreign
language. What they often try to do is to adapt that new culture, in their sense of their
identity and their culture and this often leads to uncertainty. Additionally, it results in
the students feeling unsure as to where they belong in the community.
Culture and Foreign Language Learning
Language is something that people do in their daily lives and something they use to
express, create and interpret meanings and to establish and maintain social and
interpersonal relationships. This understanding of language sees language not simply
as a body of knowledge to be learnt, but as a social practice in which to participate
(Kramsch, 1993). It is not enough for language learners just to know grammar and
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
vocabulary. They also need to know how that language is used to create and
represent meanings and how to communicate with others and to engage with the
communication of others. This requires the development of awareness of the nature
of language and its impact on the world (Svalberg, 2007). The role of language in
learning cannot be over-emphasised. Language is the prime resource teachers have
and use for mediating learning. When learning languages, then, teachers and students
are working with language simultaneously as an object of study and as a medium for
learning. In teaching languages, the target language is not simply a new code – new
labels for the same concepts; rather, when it is effectively taught, the new language
and culture being learned offer the opportunity for learning new concepts and new
ways of understanding the world.
Gunderson suitably describes language and culture: “Language and culture are
inextricably linked. Unlike the Gordian knot, nothing comes from separating them
because they have little or no meaning apart from each other. And English has
become a world language, one that dominates business and science. In many respects
it is hegemonic. To participate in the world economy and to benefit from the
advances of science, it is believed, one must know English” (Gunderson, 2000,
p.694). It is suggested that social class can also affect identity in language learners.
This is due to a particular aspect such as financial matters. For instance, if a language
learner does not have similar financial access, he will be somewhat left out or feel
like an outsider to an extent. He will feel that he is not socially equal to his colearners. Another aspect affecting identity may be the personal abilities of the
student. A personal ability is the competence to do something well. Those two
factors can harm the students' sense of belonging to a community (identity) and
perhaps obstruct their learning. "Although identity is conditioned by social
interaction and social structures, it conditions social interaction and social structures
at the same time. It is, in short, constitutive of and constituted by the social
environment" (Block, 2007, p. 866).
On the other hand, being successful in school means that students must "surrender
great parts of their language and culture" and that "culture is part of identity, and
identity relates to how well a student does in school and in society" (Gunderson,
2000, p. 693). There are several factors to think about within culture, identity and
language that indicate how they are mutually connected. This is due to the country
and its people uniting through language. It is implied that language is a way of
expressing one’s culture and identity, among other things.
An approach to language teaching that has intercultural language learning at its heart
involves developing with students an understanding of their own culture, and the
recognition of the same in others. It also involves understanding the way in which
this recognition influences the process of communication within their own language
�Culture, identity and foreign language teaching and learning
and culture, and across languages and cultures. Through intercultural language
learning, students engage with and learn to understand and interpret human
communication and interaction in increasingly sophisticated ways. They do so both
as participants in communication and as observers who notice, describe, analyse and
interpret ideas, experiences and feelings shared when communicating with others. In
doing so, they engage with interpreting their own and the meanings of others, with
each one's experience of participation and reflection leading to a greater awareness of
self in relation to others. The ongoing interactive exchange of meanings, and the
reflection on both, the meanings exchanged and the process of interaction is an
integral part of life in our world. As such, intercultural language learning is best
understood not as something to be added to teaching and learning but rather
something that is integral to the interactions that already takes place in the classroom
and beyond.
Identity and Second Language Acquisition
More often than not, the identity and culture of the first language are quite different
from the culture of the foreign language. This may lead to the students' identity
changing or leaving them feeling lonely and isolated. Some teachers are not aware of
this effect and thus make the problem even bigger. The curriculum contains cultural
components and the teacher transmits this either wittingly or not. Learning a foreign
language will theoretically demand the learner to adapt his/her values and behaviour
(Jund, 2010). This implies that there is a strong connection between the language and
culture and that it is represented in the culture of the speakers. It includes aspects
such as beliefs, values and needs.
The sociolinguistic aspect of communication refers to the attributes of speech, which
rely on social, pragmatic, and cultural elements. This is notable, as language and
interaction might depend on the social status of the speaker or hearer, as well as on
social factors. It is essential to develop an awareness of socio-cultural and
sociolinguistic differences between the first language of the student and foreign
language. Such awareness may help both the teacher and the student understand
issues of accidental failure and difficulties of communication (Cakir, 2006, p.158).
Additionally, it may result in the discovery of a suitable solution. When individuals
face new social cultures, they find that their sense of identity is weakened and that
they suffer and are somewhat confused until a balance is reached. A transformational
phase happens in the identity of the learner. It is a notion regarding identity and the
essential idea that it revolves around is uncertainty. The feeling of uncertainty comes
from being a part of something and feeling apart from it. It is at the same time
confirmation and withdrawal of these feelings. This issue is important as it can create
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
an uncomfortable, unconfident learner, or if developed in the classroom, may result
in a 'positive', well-balanced identity in a foreign language learner.
The classroom environment can play a crucial part in the development of a learner's
foreign language identity. This idea focuses on the learner as an active participant in
the language learning process, and by extension, identity construction (Van Lier,
2008). Identity construction happens whenever learners are cognitively, emotionally
and physically engaged. Learners begin to understand the complexities of their own
language through classroom study of the target language. They also begin to select
and use functional language that supports their new communicative needs. The
process of integrating a new language into one's cognitive and psychological base
requires time.
Although the foreign language classroom defines a boundary between itself and the
target language community, learner interactions within this context still influence the
development of their foreign language identity. The classroom itself is a rich
environment where learners display evidence of academic and social orientations.
Whether interested in earning a particular grade or preparing for interactions in the
target culture, identity work is part of the foreign language classroom. So, the
acquisition process is dialectical. The learner discovers, deconstructs and analyzes
both the first and the foreign language at the same time.
It can be said that most students learn a foreign language thinking about it as an
advantage that will allow them to fit in and access certain parts of the community to
which they wish to belong. This reflects on the practices of language teaching. In the
process of learning a language, language is a method by which one can express
himself and his identity. It is also a means to challenge this socially constructed
identity, and express the learner’s prejudices. Regarding language learning, it is
important to take into consideration and understand how language is "constructive of
social formations, communities, and individual identities" (Luke, 1996, p.9). This
emphasises the importance of language learning when a student is trying to construct
an identity while at the same time being influenced by external factors such as
society and culture.
McCarthy, Fischer & Penny conclude that it is crucial for teachers to realise and
begin to discuss the issue of "cultural identity, cultural difference, and cultural
community" (McCarthy, 2003, p.445). In the meantime, it is crucial for curriculum
to develop and become more effective, as well as to construct forms of instructional
practice that accommodate and reflect images of self among foreign language
learners. This should begin with the realisation and acceptance that the students'
multilingual and multicultural backgrounds are important and admired as a necessary
instrument of learning. Moreover, it may even include new abilities to understand
�Culture, identity and foreign language teaching and learning
what the curriculum should provide. As a suggestion, the role of the school in this
context is to help, adapt and adjust the student population differences during the
learning process. It should concentrate on using the learners' needs, motivation and
affinities, among other things.
Conclusion
For meaningful and successful communication, students need to be aware of both the
subtle and obvious differences that exist between their first and foreign cultures. The
importance of interpreting speech styles and speech acts appropriately to
communicate effectively is a critical component of foreign language teaching and
learning. Confusion related to the appropriate and correct interpretation of speech
styles and speech acts in the foreign language can arise from differences between
their native language and the language they are learning.
Language-learner identity is socially and individually constructed. Learners place
themselves in relation to the situation at hand and take an active role in seeing
themselves and others around them. Identity work happens during the process of
language acquisition, no matter what the context. Language develops along with
cognitive and emotional development (Granger, 2004), and learning a foreign
language gives learners a new sense of who they are and their place in the world.
Various contexts provide models for learners to imitate, and, if they choose,
appropriate. The informal meetings language learners have with other learners,
whether they be experts or novices, help them to control their own linguistic
development, evaluate their communicative competence and (re)define their identity
within the context.
Our understanding of sociolinguistics has influenced our thinking about the way we
teach a foreign language by emphasising the importance of knowing the relationship
and the purpose of the exchange between speakers (Canale, 1983; Bachman, 1989)
As teachers, we need to value not only our students' native culture and language, but
also how and why their educational background might influence their foreign
language interpretation, acquisition, and production. Teachers need to consider the
social and affective aspects of learning and using a foreign language. When this
happens, new and better ways for students to relate to foreign language learning may
be provided.
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
References
Bachman, L.F. (1989). Learning testing - -SLA research interferences. Review of
Applied Linguistics, 9, 193-209.
Block, D. (2007). The rise of identity in SLA research post. The Modern Language
Journal. 91, 863–876.
Cakir, I. (2006). Developing Cultural Awareness In Foreign Language Teaching.
Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education. 7 (3) 12, 154-161.
Canale, M. (1083). From communicative competence to communicative language
performance. In J, Richards and R. Schmidt (Eds). Language and
communication, 2-27. New York: Longman
Granger, C. A. (2004). Silence in second language learning: A psychoanalytic
reading
Crawshaw, R., Callen, B., & Tusting, K. (2001). Attesting the self: Narration and
identity change during periods of residence abroad [Electronic version].
Language and Intercultural Communication, 1(2), 101-119.
Gunderson, L. (2000). Voices of the teenage diasporas. Journal of Adolescent &
Adult Literacy, 43 (8), 692-706.
Jund, A. (2010). Toward a pedagogy of intercultural understanding in teaching
English for Academic Purposes. The Electronic Journal for English as a
Second Language, 14 (1), 1-13.
Kramsch, Claire. (1993). Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford
University Press.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral
participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Luke, A. (1996) Text and discourse in education: An introduction to critical
discourse analysis. In M.W. Apple (ed), Review of Research in Education
(pp. 3-48). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association
McCarthy, C. et al (2003).Contesting Culture: Identity and Curriculum Dilemmas in
the Age of Globalization, Postcolonialism, and Multiplicity. Harvard
Educational Review, 73 (3), 449 - 465.
�Culture, identity and foreign language teaching and learning
Spackman, Christopher L., (2009) Culture and Second Language Acquisition. Ohio:
Dominican University.
Svalberg, A. (2012). Language Awareness in language learning and teaching: A
research agenda. Language Teaching, 45/3, 376-388.
Van Lier, L. (2008). Agency in the classroom. In J. Lantolf & M. Poehner (Eds.),
Sociocultural theory and the teaching of second languages (pp. 163-186).
London: Equinox Publishers.
�
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2826
Title
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Culture, Identity and Foreign Language Teaching And Learning
Author
Author
Dumitrašković, Tatjana A.
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Language, culture and identity are essentially connected. But, it often happens that in foreign language classrooms teachers give little attention to the identity of the student. A student enters the classroom with his own identity and culture. When learning a foreign language, it is necessary for the student to learn and understand the culture of the foreign language, too. This is where the problem arises of culture and identity influencing teaching and learning foreign languages. In general, students are representatives of the identity and culture of their first language and where they come from. In order for the student to learn the foreign language he must feel that he can express himself freely in the classroom. However, the students are likely to become confused when they are faced with the new culture of the foreign language. They now have to understand and adjust this to their sense of identity and their culture, and this can often lead to uncertainty. It can result in the student feeling unsure as to where they belong in the community. The teacher needs to be aware of this issue and should include it to the method of teaching and resources used. The paper deals with the question of how the process of teaching and learning a foreign language affects the students’ identity and sense of belonging to a community. Keywords: foreign language, culture, identity
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-04-15
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
H Social Sciences (General),L Education (General),P Philology. Linguistics
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Collaborative Learning –An Effective Method for Teaching
Native Arabic Speakers
Reena Mathew
American University of Kuwait, Kuwait
Submitted: 15.04.2014.
Accepted: 21.11.2014.
Abstract
Native Arabic speaking students of the Gulf Middle East region are descendants of
tribes and nomadic families which may be a possible reason why they are social
constructivists when it comes to learning. Most prefer a learning environment in which
they are actively engaged learners within a group. Native Arabic speaking students are
social so best benefit from collaborative learning methods in particular from
cooperative learning. Collaborative learning is an educational approach that involves
groups of learners working together to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a
product. (Lejeune, 1999). Cooperative Learning is a teaching arrangement that refers
to small, heterogeneous groups of students working together to achieve a common goal
(Kagan,1994). According to Vygotsky’sSocial Development Theory; social interaction
plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. The purpose of this
paper is to illustrate why collaborative learning is an effective teaching method in
language education with non-native English speakers (with focus on native Arabic
speakers). Collaborative and cooperative learning styles are effective in the ESL
classroom with native Arabic speakers because it helps students to share ideas,
stimulates critical thinking, helps students to take control and invest in their learning
with structural guidance from their teachers, teachers take the role of learners, students
can become teachers, and every student gets to be an equal participant in the given
task. Collaborative learning is also an effective teaching style that promotes social
skills amongst students that can be used both in the classroom and outside in natural
situations. It helps introverted students feel more confident about socializing with their
peers. When I divide my students into groups or pairs using collaborative or
cooperative learning styles; work is done with deeper concentration along with higher
critical thinking skills.
Keywords: Native Arab students, language learning, collaborative learning,
cooperative learning
Introduction
�Collaborative Learning –An Effective Method for Teaching Native Arabic Speakers
The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the collaborative learning
method in particular the use of cooperative learning in the English as a Second
Language (ESL) classroom among native Arabic speaking students in the Intensive
English Program at the American University of Kuwait. Arabic students are strong oral
communicators and work well when placed in groups in the classroom. Cooperative
learning is particularly helpful for students learning a second language.
Cooperative/collaborative learning activities encourage peer interaction, which aids
the development of language, sharing ideas, gender equality, equal participation from
all students, positive classroom environment, higher critical thinking skills, peer
support, and increased participation. Other benefits of collaborative learning in the
ESL classroom among native Arabic speaking students include students taking control
and investing in their education, improved social skills, building of confidence, getting
classwork done with better focus and results. Local populations in present day UAE,
Kuwait, Bahrain etc. are tribal in origin. The students in my study mainly come from
a country in the Gulf region of the Middle East called Kuwait. Gulf Arabs came from
a tribally structured highly organized culture and have managed to retain their tribal
structures and their community. To me this tribal structure can be observed when
native Arabic speaking students are placed into cooperative learning groups in the ESL
classroom.
Purpose of the study
This study examined the effectiveness of the collaborative learning method in
particular the use of cooperative learning style in the ESL classroom with native Arabic
speaking students in the Intensive English Program at the American University of
Kuwait, in Kuwait.
Research Questions
The research questions examined in this study were:
1. Is cooperative learning as a part of collaborative learning an effective method
to use in an ESL classroom with Native Arabic Speakers who are part of a
foundational pre -university English program?
2. Does collaborative learning produce better results, critical thinking, and more
focus among native Arabic speakers in the ESL classroom?
3. Does collaborative learning promote a positive learning environment among
native Arabic speakers where students develop better socialization skills with
their peers?
Literature Review
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Research relevant to the study has been divided into four sections. The first section
describes what cooperative/collaborative learning means to different theorists. The
second section describes how collaborative learning is an effective method in the ESL
classroom. The third section describes how collaborative learning produces better
results, critical thinking, motivation, and more focus. The fourth section explains how
collaborative learning is an effective instructional method that can be used to support
social development.
Section 1 - What is Cooperative/Collaborative Learning?
Whatis collaborative or cooperative learning? These terms have different meanings to
various theorists and educators. Cooperative learning is referred to as collaborative
learning or small groups of students working together. “Vygotsky viewed
collaborative learning as part of a process leading to the social construction of
knowledge” (as cited in Mueller & Fleming, 2001, p. 259). Some theorists perceive it
as “a strategy to help students improve intellectual and social skills” (Burron, James
& Ambroing as cited in Mueller & Fleming, p. 259). According to Johnson and
Johnson, cooperative learning “involves students working together in small groups to
complete shared academic tasks and is characterized by division of labor,
interdependence to reach a mutual goal and group rewards for goal attainment” (
Siegel, 2005, p. 220).
Section 2 - Effectiveness of Collaborative/Cooperative Learning in the ESL Classroom
Collaborative learning has been an effective method to use with native Arabic speaking
students in the ESL classroom of the intensive English Program at the American
University of Kuwait. Small groups are used so that students work collectively to
achieve individual and common goals. During cooperative activities, students seek
results that are beneficial to themselves and to all the group members. The results of
most studies reveal the following; academic gains, enhanced positive relationships
among students, and improved social and affective development (Johnson et al., 1998
& Kagan, 1994). According to ColorinColorado (2007) cooperative learning is
effective for students learning a second language because this method encourages peer
interaction which helps with language development, allows ELLs to pick up
vocabulary and observe how their peers learn and solve problems.
Section 3 - Collaborative learning promotes better results, critical thinking, higher
motivation and student focus
When students are placed into cooperative learning groups they share more ideas, learn
from each other, teach each other and are more actively engaged in their learning.
�Collaborative Learning –An Effective Method for Teaching Native Arabic Speakers
When students work in pairs one person is listening while the other is discussing the
question under investigation. Both are developing valuable problem solving skills by
formulating their ideas, discussing them, receiving instant feedback and replying to
questions and comments (Johnson, D.W. 1971; Peterson & Swing 1985).
Collaborative learning promotes learner autonomy and less dependence on the
instructor. They are not simply sitting in their classroom seats passively absorbing
whatever the teacher says and it helps them to not depend on the teacher as their only
source of knowledge and understanding (Felder 1997).Through collaboration or
cooperation with their peers they are building independence, critical thinking skills,
have more motivation to learn and focus more on the content being learned.
Cooperative learning adopts higher levels of performance (Bligh 1972). Critical
thinking skills grow and retention of information and interest in the subject matter
improves (Kulik & Kulick 1979). Felder (1997) believes that cooperative learning
leads to the generation of more and better questions. Cooperative learning creates a
positive cycle of good performance building higher self-esteem which in turn leads to
more interest in the subject and better performance (Keller, 1983). Students are less
likely to be bored and are more likely to complete their assignments with greater
enthusiasm. Cooperative learning increases students' perseverance in the completion
of assignments and the possibility of successful assignments (Felder 1997).
Section 4 - Collaborative Learning and Development of Social Skills and Creation of
a Positive Learning Environment
Cooperative learning is an effective instructional strategy that can be used to support
the social development of ESL students. Social skills developed in class though
collaborative learning can be used in authentic settings. For example, these social skills
can be applied when they join the work force, during social gatherings, and while
traveling. Collaborative learning has helped my students to learn about being patient,
waiting turns to speak, to interrupt politely, not to cut a person when he/she is speaking,
to respect each person’s thoughts, to help guide each other, and to work as a team.
Students help each other and in doing so build a supportive community which raises
the performance level of each member (Kagan 1986). There is less competition and all
students have the chance to participate in class. Collaborative efforts among students
result in a higher degree of accomplishment by all participants as contrasting to
individual, competitive arrangements in which many students are left behind (Slavin
2010).
Methodology
For this study 40 of my spring 2014 students participated. The students participated by
answering survey questions, having pictures taken during cooperative group work,
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
informal teacher observations, and general feedback from questions I asked them about
group work. The students were awarded classroom participation points for completing
the survey. All participants are native Arabic speakers from Kuwait with a few
students from Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Palestine. The participants consisted of 20
males and 20 females with ages ranging from 17-24 years. The students were tested
into level 020 section (high-intermediate English proficiency) of the intensive English
program at the American University of Kuwait. The results in this study are based on
classroom observations of my IEP students and the survey responses. All observations
were done during class time throughout the semester and students responded to the
survey on their computers in class after completing a grammar quiz.
Activities Used for collaborative learning
A. Grammar - groups of 3-4 students were given a picture. Students
create as many sentences as possible using the present progressive
tense in 8 minutes.
B. Group Presentations- Students are given a topic based on the unit
theme and create a group presentation
C. Vocabulary- students define the word, put it in a sentence, then create
a non-linguistic representation of the vocabulary term
Survey Questions and Results
Survey Question
Response
A- Response BNumber
of Number
of
students
and students and
percentage
percentage
OtherNumber
of
students and
percentage
1. I like working
in groups to
complete
assignmentstrue/false/other
True=34,85%
False=
10%
5,
Other=
5%
2,
2. I
prefer
working alone
on classroom
assignmentstrue/false/other
3. I share and get
more
ideas
when I – work
True=9, 23%
False= 27,
68%
Other=
10%
4,
Work in
group=36,
90%
Work
alone=
10%
Other=0,
0%
a
4,
�Collaborative Learning –An Effective Method for Teaching Native Arabic Speakers
in
a
group/work
alone/other
4. I
participate
more and feel
less left out of
class when I –
work in a
group/work
alone/ other
5. Group
work
helps
shy
students build
more
confidence –
true/false/other
6. I have more
control
over
my
learning
when I –work
in
a
group/work
alone/other
7. I concentrate
better when I –
work in a
group/work
alone/other
8. I think more
critically when
I –work in a
group/work
alone/other
9. Which do you
prefer in the
classroomgroup work or
working alone
Work in
group=27,
71%
a
Work
alone= 11,
29%
Other=0,
0%
True=38, 97%
False=1,
3%
Other=0,
0%
Work in a
group=
22,
55%
Work
alone= 18,
45%
Other=0,
0%
Work in
a
group=
17,
43%
Work
alone= 22,
55%
Other=1,
3%
Work in
group=31,
78%
a
Work
alone=7,
18%
Other=
5%
Group
work=35, 92%
Working
alone=3,
8%
NA
2,
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
on
an
assignment?
Group
work
creates
a
“friendly”
classroom
environmenttrue/false/other
I discuss more
ideas when I –
work in a
group/work
alone/other
Group
work
allows me the
chance to be
the teacher and
teach
other
members in my
grouptrue/false/other
I feel that I
learn
more
when I –work
in
a
group/work
alone/other
I have better
results
on
assignments
when I- work
in
a
group/work
alone/other
Do you prefer
mixed group of
males
and
females
or
unmixed
groups
of
males
or
females only?
True=38, 95%
False=2,
5%
Work in
group=38,
95%
Work
alone=
5%
a
Other=0,
0%
Other=0,
0%
2,
True= 34, 87%
False=3,
8%
Other=2,
5%
Work in a
group=35,88
%
Work
alone=5,
13%
Other=0,
0%
Work in a
group=
32,
80%
Work
alone=6,
15 %
Other=2,
5%
Mixed
groups=
63%
Unmixed
groups=5,
13 %
Either=9,
23%
25,
�Collaborative Learning –An Effective Method for Teaching Native Arabic Speakers
16. Does
group Yes=25, 63%
No=9, 23%
work help you
feel
more
comfortable
when working
with
the
opposite
gender?yes/no/other
17. Has
group Yes=38, 95%
No=1, 3%
work helped
you
build
better
communicatio
n skills in the
English
language?Yes/No/Other
18. I
have Group
Working
improved my
work=37, 93%
alone=3,
use of the
8%
English
language and
sharing ideas in
English
through- group
work/ working
alone/other
19. Rate: I like 1->3, 8%
3->2, 5%
working
in 2->0,0%
4->15,
groups in class
38%
– 12345 1= it’s
ok, 5= I love it
20. Rate: I like 1->14, 37%
3->9, 24%
working alone 2->9,24%
4->3, 8&
in class -12345,
1= it’s ok, 5= I
love it
21. What is the Friends help Discuss and
main
reason
each
share new
you like group
other=11,28%
Other=6,
15%
Other=1,
3%
Other=0,
0%
5->20, 50%
5->3, 8%
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
work?- friends
help
each
other,
learn
from
other
group
members,
discuss
and
share
new
ideas,
assignment is
easier
22. From
you
experience this
semester what
is the best part
of working in
groups?-open
answer
23. List
one
activity
you
that you do
outside of the
university that
involves you
being in a
group.- open
answer
ideas=22,
55%
Assignment
is easier=1,
3%
Learn
from
other
group
members=6,
15%
Sharing
ideas
Discussing
Go to the
gym
Study group
Playing
soccer
Speaking
in
English
Learning
from each
other
Diwaniya
Soccer
Sharing
ideas on
Whatsap
p
Fixing
mistakes
Helping
each other
Family
gathering
s
Conclusion
Collaborative learning is a widely used method that has been extensively researched
and due to positive results it is a method that I believe should be used with ESL
students. From my classroom observations, survey responses, and collected classwork
assignments I can conclude that for my native Arabic speaking ESL students in the
IEP program collaborative learning is an effective teaching method that helps them to
be active learners in the classroom. From the survey responses85% of the students
prefer group work, and 78% agree that working collaboratively promotes critical
thinking through discussion, explanation and evaluation of ideas, better results and
social skills, and a positive learning environment. Based on the survey, 55% of the
students enjoy working in groups because they have the opportunity to discuss and
share ideas which in turn leads to higher critical thinking, better understanding and
�Collaborative Learning –An Effective Method for Teaching Native Arabic Speakers
results. Using collaborative learning in the ESL classroom is also beneficial because
students have the chance to practice and think in the English language. One negative
aspect of collaborative learning according to the survey is less concentration. 55% of
the students feel that they focus better when working alone. When asked why, students
said that sometimes group work wastes time because they go off topic, certain students
are hesitant to participate, or the group gets noisy. I find it useful to shuffle students
between groups and mix male and female students so that they are comfortable with
the opposite gender. It is important to walk around, monitor students, and provide
guidance and support. Along with creating a friendly classroom environment my
students always seem happier after working in a group because they had the chance to
socialize through learning. Collaborative learning is also helpful in developing social
skills among ESL students. It helps shy and introverted students build confidence, and
it creates a sense of security among my native Arabic speaking students; especially my
female students who are shy to communicate with their male counterparts. It decreases
gender segregation in the classroom which is common in the Arab culture and
increases gender tolerance. My students feel a sense of securitythrough collaborative
learningwhich increases their class participation as well. I highly recommend ESL
teachers to incorporate collaborative learning as an effective method for teaching
nonnative Englishspeakers into their daily teaching so that we move further away from
the traditional and give way for the transformative classroom.
References
Bruner, J. (1985). Vygotsky: An historical and conceptual perspective. Culture,
communication, and cognition: Vygotskian perspectives, 21-34. London:
Cambridge University Press.
Colorín Colorado (2007).Cooperative learning strategies. Retrieved from ¡Colorín
Colorado!
Website:
http://www.colorincolorado.org/educators/content/cooperative
Felder, R. (June 1997). Beating the Numbers Game: Effective Teaching in Large
Classes. 1997 ASEE Annual Conference, Milwaukee, WI, viewed on the
web
05/10/2006,
URL:
http://www.ncsu.edu/felderpublic/Papers/Largeclasses.htm
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1999).Learning together and alone: Cooperative,
competitive, and individualistic learning (5th Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon
Johnson, D.W. (1971). Role Reversal: A summary and review of research.
International Journal of Group Tensions, 1, 318-334
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Kagan, S. (1994).Cooperative Learning. San Clemente, California: Kagan Publishing
Keller, J. M. "Motivational design of Instruction." in C. M. Reigeluth (ed.)
Instructional Design Theories and Models: An Overview of their Current
Status. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 386-434, 1983
Kulik, J.A., and Kulik, C.L. "College Teaching." In P. Peterson and H. Walberg
(Eds.) Research in Teaching: Concepts, Findings and Implications. Berkeley,
CA: McCutcheon Publishing, 1979
Mueller, A., & Fleming, T. (2001). Cooperative learning: Listening to how children
work at school. Journal of Educational Research, 94(5), 259–265
Peterson, P.L and S.R Swing (1985) Students’ cognitions as mediators of the
effectiveness of small group learning. Journal of Educational Psychology,
77,218-312
Siegel, C. (2005). Implementing a research-based model of cooperative learning. The
Journal of Educational Research, 98 (6), 339-349.
Slavin, R. (2010), "Co-operative learning: what makes group-work work?", in The
Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice, OECD Publishing.
�
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Collaborative Learning –An Effective Method for Teaching Native Arabic Speakers
Author
Author
Mathew, Reena
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Native Arabic speaking students of the Gulf Middle East region are descendants of tribes and nomadic families which may be a possible reason why they are social constructivists when it comes to learning. Most prefer a learning environment in which they are actively engaged learners within a group. Native Arabic speaking students are social so best benefit from collaborative learning methods in particular from cooperative learning. Collaborative learning is an educational approach that involves groups of learners working together to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a product. (Lejeune, 1999). Cooperative Learning is a teaching arrangement that refers to small, heterogeneous groups of students working together to achieve a common goal (Kagan,1994). According to Vygotsky’sSocial Development Theory; social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive development. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate why collaborative learning is an effective teaching method in language education with non-native English speakers (with focus on native Arabic speakers). Collaborative and cooperative learning styles are effective in the ESL classroom with native Arabic speakers because it helps students to share ideas, stimulates critical thinking, helps students to take control and invest in their learning with structural guidance from their teachers, teachers take the role of learners, students can become teachers, and every student gets to be an equal participant in the given task. Collaborative learning is also an effective teaching style that promotes social skills amongst students that can be used both in the classroom and outside in natural situations. It helps introverted students feel more confident about socializing with their peers. When I divide my students into groups or pairs using collaborative or cooperative learning styles; work is done with deeper concentration along with higher critical thinking skills. Keywords: Native Arab students, language learning, collaborative learning, cooperative learning
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-04-15
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
L Education (General),LG Individual institutions (Asia. Africa),LT Textbooks,P Philology. Linguistics,PE English,PI Oriental languages and literatures
-
https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/ad400da70d930b2b8a602336577cdee0.pdf
398a0323373cb4ff892aad57edd59d5f
PDF Text
Text
Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Running Rabbits and Shoulder Markings: Metaphorical
Terms in Aviation English
Ana Ostroški Anić
Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics, Croatia
Submitted: 15.04.2014.
Accepted: 14.11.2014.
Abstract
The role of metaphor as a basic cognitive mechanism in the construction and
retrieval of specialized knowledge has been well studied within cognitive
terminological theories (Faber, 2012; Tercedor Sánchez et al, 2012; Temmerman,
2000). However, the results of these analyses have mainly been applied in designing
or improving terminological resources, leaving somewhat aside the impact metaphor
has on bridging general and specialized knowledge, especially in the acquisition of
new knowledge.
This paper discusses the role of metaphor as a cognitive process in the
conceptualization of certain key concepts in the domain of aviation. A number of
terms and their collocations that reflect metaphorical mappings from the source
domains the HUMAN BODY and ANIMALS have been extracted out of a corpus of
English aviation textbooks and manuals related to the field of air traffic management.
Instances of metaphorical conceptual mapping are identified and analyzed both at the
conceptual and terminological level.
Ana Ostroški Anić is a research assistant at the Department of General Linguistics of
the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics in Zagreb, Croatia. Her research
interests lie in the areas of terminology, specialized translation, LSP, phraseology,
and cognitive semantics. She has been working on several terminological projects
within the Croatian Special Field Terminology (Struna) program.
Keywords: ESP, LSP, terminology, Aviation English
Introduction1
1
This research has been done within the project Terminology and specialized translation in the service
of cross-cultural dialogue and specialized communication within the Croatian-French program
COGITO.
17
�Running Rabbits and Shoulder Markings: Metaphorical Terms in Aviation English
The theory of conceptual metaphor has been widely researched in various fields of
linguistics over the past thirty years because its apparent simplicity allows for an
explanation of fundamental human cognitive processes such as categorization and
conceptualization. Metaphor provides insight into how we conceptualize one mental
domain in terms of another, thus transferring experience and knowledge previously
acquired and organized into another domain of human activity. A conceptual
metaphor consists of two conceptual domains, usually an abstract and a concrete one,
while the metaphorical linguistic expressions that reflect the conceptual metaphor in
language belong to the language or terminology of the more concrete domain
(Kövecses, 2010, p. 4).
The role of metaphor as one of the basic cognitive mechanisms in the construction
and retrieval of specialized knowledge has also been extensively studied within
cognitive terminological theories (Tercedor Sánchez et al, 2012; Ureña & Faber,
2010; Temmerman, 2000). The insights on metaphoric and metonymic dimensions of
specialized knowledge concepts serve as proof that specialized knowledge domains
are conceptualized in a manner similar to the cognitive structuring of our everyday
knowledge. However, the role of metaphorical conceptual mapping on bridging
general and specialized knowledge, especially in the acquisition of specialized
knowledge, has been left somewhat aside.
Aviation English is one of the varieties of Languages for Special Purposes that
requires its users to be fluent in the phraseology and terminology of the domain, but
at the same time to reach a high level of knowledge of general English. An attempt of
defining aviation lexical domains was made in the Manual on the Implementation of
ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements (International Civil Aviation
Organization, 2004), intended as a guidance material in developing an appropriate
English language training curriculum for pilots and air traffic controllers. The
somewhat random list of work related and priority lexical domains included in the
Manual presents domains such as animals and birds, causes and conditions,
geography, topographical features, nationalities or perception, senses, numbers, etc.
(ICAO, 2004, p. 3-7).2 Although not explicitly included in the Manual’s list, the
human body has served as a fruitful source domain for metaphorical mapping and the
creation of lexicalizations in various specialized domains, aviation being no
exception. Some of the “work related topics” that the Manual does list, e.g. behavior
and activities, perception and senses or causes and conditions are nevertheless
closely related to the human body and the way it shapes embodied cognition (Lakoff
& Johnson, 1999). This paper analyzes metaphorical expressions that are the
2
A more detailed inventory of domains characterizing the day-to-day communication of pilots and air
traffic controllers is provided in Appendix B, Part II.
18
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
realizations of conceptual mapping from the source domains of the human body and
animals as two of the most common source domains in the creation of conceptual
metaphor (Kövecses, 2010, pp. 1819).
Objective
The aim of the paper is to analyze metaphorical terms that exploit general language
lexical units to designate certain key aviation concepts that are perceived according
to their resemblance to either human body parts or various animals. The analyzed
terms include single word metaphorical terms named after a general language lexical
unit (wing, tail, arm, rabbit), and multiword terms in which general language lexical
unit makes one element of the term or collocation (butterfly tail, negative arm,
downwind leg, heading bug). Lexical units taken over from general language to
designate concepts of a specialized domain are more likely to trigger the occurrence
of metaphorical expressions in texts because they are usually polysemous words in
general language, and their diversity in meaning is already the result of metaphorical
extensions of some sort. Metaphorical motivation of many terms can be found in
general or everyday concepts because experts establish an analogy between a
specialized concept that needs to be designated, and an already familiar concept in
our environment (Ureña, 2011, p. 71).
Methodology
Since aviation is a very interdisciplinary field, this analysis takes air traffic
management as the most representative part of aviation, with several of its domains
(e.g. airspace, air traffic, flight) organized around concepts that are prototypical for
the whole field. Corpus-based methods of extracting relevant metaphorical
information have been applied, focusing on the application of a target domain
oriented metaphor extraction using key terms and collocations.
A number of terms containing general language lexical units for body parts and
certain animals are extracted out of a corpus of English aviation textbooks and
manuals on the field of air traffic management, intended for training students or
novice pilots. The list of extracted terms is complemented with manually selected
terms from the Aviation English Terms and Collocations (Bratanić, Ostroški Anić &
Radišić, 2010). Sketch Engine tools are used both for corpus compilation and for the
analysis of the extracted data. After the term identification, concordances of these
terms are then extracted, and identified as either literal or metaphorical
lexicalizations.
The human body and animals as source domains
19
�Running Rabbits and Shoulder Markings: Metaphorical Terms in Aviation English
If we understand metaphor as a cognitive mechanism that helps to structure human
conceptual systems, one of its functions is to connect the cognitive structures of our
general or everyday knowledge to conceptual structures of particular specialized
knowledge domains. Metaphorical transfer between the source and target domains is
constrained by our central knowledge of the source domain, and by the invariance
principle (Lakoff, 1993; Ruiz de Mendoza, 1998). The metaphor MACHINES ARE
HUMAN BEINGS3 thus shows that the conceptual mapping from the domain of the
human body to the target domain of the aircraft systems preserves the topology of the
source domain (cylinder neck, hand pump, stressed skin, head of pressure, rotor
head, venturi throat).
The relationship between the two domains can be either of correlation or
resemblance, which has an effect on the ontology of metaphors or the type of
concepts connected as well as on the directionality, conventionality and grounding of
conceptual metaphors (Stanojević, 2009). Grady (1999) distinguishes between two
classes of metaphor: the resemblance class, and the correlation-based metaphors that
include primary metaphors. Unidirectionality in the case of correlation metaphors
means that the source domain is always a concrete one, while the target domain is
abstract. It appears that most metaphors in the domain of air traffic management can
be categorized as resemblance metaphors because both domains are concrete (e.g.
MACHINES ARE HUMAN BEINGS, AIRCRAFT IS A BIRD). As opposed to
correlation metaphors, resemblance metaphors allow for bidirectionality, meaning
that the features of both domains can be projected in either direction (Grady, 1999, p.
96), i.e. they can be equally abstract or concrete (Stanojević, 2009, p. 348).
Ureña and Faber (2010) found that Grady’s distinction between correlation and
resemblance metaphors, as well as Lakoff’s (1993) between conceptualstructural/conventional and image metaphors is lacking when it comes to the
description of metaphors the basis of which is mental imagery. They propose a
classification into resemblance and non-resemblance metaphors, with resemblance
metaphors further divided into static and dynamic. They conclude that instead of
being classified as belonging to two different categories of image metaphors and
behavior-based metaphors, resemblance metaphors should be considered as a graded
category the members of which differ according to the dynamicity of their images
(Ureña & Faber, 2010, p. 124).
3
According to standard practice, the names of all metaphors are written in capital letters.
20
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Inanimate objects are human beings
The human body is without doubt a source domain that initiates conceptual mapping
to various target domains, general and specialized knowledge alike. In the domain of
air traffic management, several conceptual metaphors related to the human body can
be observed, all of them belonging to a more general metaphor INANIMATE
OBJECTS ARE HUMAN BEINGS. Thus we find linguistic realizations of the
resemblance metaphor MACHINES ARE HUMAN BEINGS in which the parts of
the human body – both external and internal – are mapped onto the structure of
machines: body of an airplane, body station, nose of the aircraft, venturi throat, hand
controls, aircraft skin, stressed skin, cylinder head, pitot head, rotor head, cylinder
neck, etc. Machines and automatic systems are often attributed features and
qualifications of a living being, as in the following examples of metaphorical
constructions that show how the function of a body organ is mapped onto the
function of a machine, and how activities typical of humans are mapped onto the
machine’s activity or behavior:
(1) TCAS is designed to provide a set of electronic eyes (...)
(2) (...) ATC will keep an electronic eye on them (…)
(3) The heart of the airspeed indicator is a diaphragm that is sensitive to
pressure
changes.
(4) Movement of the aneroid element is transmitted through gears to the
three
hands that indicate altitude.
Terms designating certain aerodrome surfaces (runway shoulders, taxiway shoulders,
shoulder markings, apron) or aerodrome facilities (pier finger terminal) can be said
to be metaphorical expressions for the metaphor AERODROME IS A HUMAN
BEING. A pier finger terminal is a type of the terminal configuration that resembles
the position of fingers on the hand, so there is a static image evoked by this
metaphorical term. Runway shoulders and taxiway shoulders can also be considered
instances of an image metaphor because they are based on resemblance in shape.
Shoulders are paved parts of runways and taxiways that provide additional area in
case the aircraft veers off the runway, but are also used for the passage of
maintenance and emergency vehicles. Their primary function is, however, to prevent
blast and water erosion of the central area of runways and taxiways. Just as shoulders
on the body act as joints of arms and the upper part of the human body, runway
shoulders connect the runway to the rest of the movement area and provide
additional support to the main part or the body of the runway. Therefore the
resemblance to the shoulders on the body is not on shape only, but in the function as
well, which makes this image metaphor not prototypical.
21
�Running Rabbits and Shoulder Markings: Metaphorical Terms in Aviation English
Parts of the air traffic pattern (departure leg, base leg, upwind leg, downwind leg,
crosswind leg, final leg) and holding pattern (inbound leg, outbound leg) are all
designated by terms containing a polysemous general language lexical unit leg. In
specialized communication metaphor and metonymy also serve as crucial
mechanisms that lead to the creation of meaning specializations of a certain word, as
can be seen in other collocations with leg: overwater leg, navigation leg, landing
gear leg, RNAV leg, or straight leg. While the first group of terms refers to leg in the
meaning of a part of the traffic pattern and holding pattern (i.e. segments of air
traffic), overwater leg, navigation leg and RNAV leg use the term leg in the meaning
of a segment of flight. General language units that are used as terms or parts of terms
in a terminology of a certain specialized domain carry the polysemous meaning over
from the general language.
Animals in aviation
The lexical domain of animals has a particular role in the conceptualization of certain
concepts in aviation, especially in the designation of parts of machines and technical
concepts in general. Animals are an important part of the natural environment in
which airports and their infrastructure is usually located, and as such they create a
basis for the metaphorical description of many concrete concepts in the field of
aviation.
Metaphors involving mappings from the domain of animals are clearly all
resemblance metaphors, but some of them are more image, and others more
behavior-based metaphors. The terms airspeed bug, heading bug, bear paws,
butterfly valve or butterfly tail evoke mental images of a bug or a butterfly because
they resemble them in shape. The terms wing and the tail of the aircraft evoke more
dynamic images, and the resemblance with a bird is not merely based on shape, but
also on behavior and function. The metaphor AIRCRAFT IS A BIRD is thus a
dynamic resemblance metaphor according to the classification by Ureña and Faber
(2010), both a behavior-based and function-based metaphor. The aircraft acts as a
bird because it can fly, and the aircraft’s wings and the tail have the function of
generating lift and keeping the aircraft aloft in the same way they serve birds in
flight.
Other examples of expressions based on image metaphors are the terms squirrel cage
rotor and dog-tooth clutch. A dog-tooth clutch is a type of a dog clutch that
“provides non-slip coupling of two rotating members” (Manual transmission, n.d.),
the teeth of which resemble dog teeth. The squirrel cage rotor is a rotor of an AC
induction motor, and it is a term widely used in engineering. All constructions with a
22
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
squirrel cage have a cylinder mounted on a shaft, resembling a cage for catching
squirrels or other small animals.
The term running rabbit or simply the rabbit is a colloquial term referring to bluishwhite sequenced flashing lights installed along the approach lights on the runways of
many large airports. The term was derived because of the lights’ rapid flashing that
gives an effect of a white ball of light travelling towards the runway threshold about
once per second. The mental image of a rabbit is evoked because of the color of the
lights, but also because of their movement speed. This resemblance metaphor cannot
therefore be classified as either image or behavior-based metaphor, and should be
best described as a dynamic resemblance metaphor.
Conclusion
Based on the examples of metaphorical linguistic expressions extracted for this
analysis, metaphors involving terminological realizations referring to the lexical
domains of the human body and animals mostly belong to the resemblance class of
metaphors. Although not of the same relevance, both the motivation for correlation
and resemblance metaphors can be regarded as experiential motivation. Without
being able to rely on our experience, we could not have been able to recognize and
establish resemblance in form, color or function between source and target domain
elements. When specialized communication is analyzed, the interlinguistic and
interdomain variation of metaphors and metaphorical motivation is less due to
cultural differences, but rather more to differences in the conceptual systems of
domains in question. Aviation is more a multicultural professional community with
prescribed set of rules and customs applying to all of its members than it is a
community of different multicultural practices based on individual languages and
cultures. What makes the mappings from the domain of the human body applicable
to all specialized domains is the universal experiential motivation that relates our
body to the environment. Although animals create rather a homogenous lexical
domain, the members of the domain are, however, very dependent on the culture a
lexical domain is set in, and on a particular environment surrounding the professional
community using this specialized language. In that sense it is a domain more
restricted by our cultural experience as well as by our physical environment.
23
�Running Rabbits and Shoulder Markings: Metaphorical Terms in Aviation English
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Grady, J. (1999). A typology of motivation for conceptual metaphor: Correlation vs.
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linguistics (pp. 79100). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
International Civil Aviation Organization (2010). Manual on the Implementation of
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Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor – A practical introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and
its challenge to western thought. New York: Basic Books.
Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.),
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understanding metonymy. In A. Barcelona (Ed.), Metaphor and metonymy at
the crossroads (2nd ed.) (pp. 109–132). Berlin, New York: Mouton de
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pojmova. Suvremena lingvistika 68, 339–369.
Temmerman, R. (2000). Towards new ways of terminology description: The
sociocognitive approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Tercedor, M., López Rodríguez, C. I., Márquez Linares, C., & Faber, P. (2012).
Metaphor and metonymy in specialized language. In P. Faber (Ed.), A
24
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
cognitive linguistics view of terminology and specialized language (pp. 33–
72). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
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25
�
Dublin Core
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Extent
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2803
Title
A name given to the resource
Running Rabbits and Shoulder Markings: Metaphorical Terms in Aviation English
Author
Author
Ostroški Anić, Ana
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The role of metaphor as a basic cognitive mechanism in the construction and retrieval of specialized knowledge has been well studied within cognitive terminological theories (Faber, 2012; Tercedor Sánchez et al, 2012; Temmerman, 2000). However, the results of these analyses have mainly been applied in designing or improving terminological resources, leaving somewhat aside the impact metaphor has on bridging general and specialized knowledge, especially in the acquisition of new knowledge. This paper discusses the role of metaphor as a cognitive process in the conceptualization of certain key concepts in the domain of aviation. A number of terms and their collocations that reflect metaphorical mappings from the source domains the HUMAN BODY and ANIMALS have been extracted out of a corpus of English aviation textbooks and manuals related to the field of air traffic management. Instances of metaphorical conceptual mapping are identified and analyzed both at the conceptual and terminological level. Ana Ostroški Anić is a research assistant at the Department of General Linguistics of the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics in Zagreb, Croatia. Her research interests lie in the areas of terminology, specialized translation, LSP, phraseology, and cognitive semantics. She has been working on several terminological projects within the Croatian Special Field Terminology (Struna) program. Keywords: ESP, LSP, terminology, Aviation English
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2015-04-15
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P Philology. Linguistics,PE English
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Lexical Availability and L2 Vocabulary Acquisition
Marjana Šifrar Kalan
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Submitted: 15.04.2014.
Accepted: 10.11.2014.
Abstract
Vocabulary research has followed a different path in English and in Spanish applied
linguistics. Spanish applied linguistics has paid more attention to available lexicons
of speakers than to word frequency. The measure of lexical availability combines the
frequency at which a word is produced as a member of a semantic category (e.g. dog
in category Animals) and the position in the list of associations provided by a group
of individuals. It focuses on the words retrieved by speakers in response prompts
(word stimulus) related to daily situations.
This paper intends to present some of the aspects of lexical-availability research that
are interesting for L2 vocabulary acquisition. It attempts to show the potential of
lexical-availability research as an alternate approach for vocabulary planning (the use
of L1 lexical-availability measures to select the teaching vocabulary for L2) as well
as the study of some psycholinguistic aspects of vocabulary acquisition, such as the
organization of learners' mental lexicons, the similarities and the differences between
response patterns, the kinds of semantic associations that learners activate in
response to prompts (semantic categories), the consideration of the most available
words obtained by lexical-availability research as semantic prototypes. Likewise, the
study of learners' lexical availability can uncover sociolinguistic and cultural issues.
Furthermore, this paper wishes to inspire researchers of languages other than Spanish
to apply this methodology to different languages.
All these aspects are hereby presented on the basis of the Slovene learners' available
lexicons in Spanish as L2 (N=200) (Šifrar Kalan, 2009; 2012; 2014b) and English as
L2 (N=20) (Šifrar Kalan, 2014a).
Keywords: foreign languages, vocabulary acquisition, lexical availability, word
associations
Lexical availability
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�Lexical Availability and L2 Vocabulary Acquisition
Vocabulary research has followed different paths in English and Spanish applied
linguistics. In English applied linguistics, developing word frequency lists from
corpora, elaborating dictionaries containing frequency data, designing vocabulary
tests and above all, compiling corpora and using it for vocabulary research have been
the predominant research concerns. By contrast, Spanish applied linguistics has paid
more attention to the available lexicons of speakers than to word frequency, although
we could not say that the former has been totally neglected in the recent decades,
because the new technologies have enabled the creation of numerous dictionaries and
corpora of Spanish language (for more information see Almela et al, 2005; Lavid,
2005). The creation of a PanHispanic dictionary on the basis of available lexicons of
speakers from different Spanish-speaking countries and regions has been one of the
major projects in Spanish applied linguistics in the last two decades. This paper
attempts to present some of the aspects of lexical-availability research that are
interesting for L2 vocabulary acquisition and to inspire researchers of languages
other than Spanish to apply this methodology to different languages.
Studies on lexical availability have a tradition in the Hispanic world since the 1970's
when López Morales conducted the first investigation in Spanish as L1 in Puerto
Rico. But the studies began in France in 1950s with the aim of selecting vocabulary
for teaching French (in former French colonies) as a complementary approach to
basic vocabulary, which at that time meant the most frequent words. When it was
observed that some words, well known and used by French speakers, the words with
specific semantic content did not appear in the frequency list, the concepts such as
frequent, basic and usual vocabulary started to be defined as different notions. It had
become clear that some words regarded as common or everyday words were not
actually frequent and that their use was conditioned by the discourse theme; they
were therefore called thematic words. On the other hand, certain words would almost
always appear, regardless of the theme, the so-called nonthematic words. (López
Morales, 2014, p. 2) The idea of artificial gathering of associations through word
cues known as centres of interest (Parts of the body, Clothes, etc.)¹ was borrowed
from the empirical psychology of the time. "Lexical availability came to be
understood as the vocabulary flow usable in a given communicative situation.
Behind this concept lies the belief that the mental lexicon includes words that are not
realised in practice unless they are needed to communicate specific information.
Such words make up the available lexicon." (López Morales, 2014, p. 3) French took
the lead in lexical-availability research for several years, both in France and in
Canada, but in 1969 the Yugoslav Naum Dimitrijević published the results of his
lexical-availability study carried out in English as L1 among Scottish school
students. He used open lists for 11 semantic fields, as opposed to former closed list
of 20 associations. The same technique was followed closely by American linguist
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Bailey (1971), who compared available lexicons of monolinguals and bilinguals of
English and Spanish.
During the last two decades, lexical-availability studies have focused almost
exclusively on Spanish, mainly as studies of Spanish as L1 within the PanHispanic
project, but also with the students of Spanish as L2 in Finland (Carcedo González,
2000), Poland (López González, 2010), China (Jing, 2012), Island (Magnúsdóttir,
2012), Turkey (González Fernández, 2013) and Slovenia (Šifrar Kalan, 2009, 2012,
2014b). Similar studies have been carried out with foreign students in Spain (Samper
Hernández, 2002; Sánchez Gómez, 2005; López Rivero, 2008; Pérez Serrano, 2009;
Fernández-Merino Gutiérrez, 2011; Sánchez-Saus Laserna, 2011; Jiménez Berrio,
2013 as cited in Šifrar Kalan, 2014b: 64). Some studies have been conducted on
English as L1 or English as L2 (Jiménez Catalán, 2014).
The lexical-availability studies are being renewed constantly and will probably
trigger new interdisciplinary studies in addition to the main disciplines sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics and ethnolinguistics.
Word frequency versus lexical availability
Both word frequency and lexical availability deal with the assessment of vocabulary
knowledge. In the former, the reference is always the written and/or oral text and in
the latter, it is the speaker's mental lexicon. In the first case, the words are actually
used; in the latter, the words would be hypothetically used in connection with a
certain topic. Obviously, the frequency counts as well as the available lexicons have
its limitations. A frequency count is only as good as the corpus it is based upon, and
every corpus has limitations. No corpus can truly mirror the experience of an
individual person and there are some language types that are very difficult to collect.
On the other hand, the available lexicons are always based on individual associations
that are calculated according to the frequency and the order of appearance of
responses to make collective lists. Reliability is questionable because the availability
tests would show different results on each occasion for it is not only a linguistic but
also a cognitive activity. Corpus presents the most frequent words, which are usually
those with grammatical functions; meanwhile, the most available words are usually
those that carry content or meaning. A similar distinction between function and
content vocabulary has been pointed out by Schmitt (2010, p. 54): "Corpus word
counts consistently show that function words are among the most frequent in
language, which is not surprising because they are necessary for communicating
about any topic, from daily life to astrophysics. This holds true regardless of whether
the discourse is general in nature, technical, or academic." All this speaks in favour
of the idea that these two methodologies are complementary.
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�Lexical Availability and L2 Vocabulary Acquisition
There are many limitations in both measurements of vocabulary, but this should not
invalidate the arguments in favour of vocabulary research from these two different
methodologies. The concept of word frequency is based on some very basic and
important assumptions. First, the most important group of words is the high
frequency words of the language. Most lists of high frequency words consist of
around 2,000 word families. This number has been generally accepted as highfrequency vocabulary (Nation, 2008, p. 7; Schmitt, 2010, p. 69): "In most texts
around 80% or more of the running words are from the most frequent 2000 words of
English. In friendly conversation, over 90% of the running words tend to be from the
high frequency words of English." (Nation, 2008, p. 8). But Schmitt (2010, p. 69)
states that these traditional frequency levels have been called into question by
Nation’s recent research and that they will need to be reappraised. Second, the most
frequent words are acquired before the least frequent words. A greater knowledge of
infrequent words is related to lexical richness and therefore higher lexical
competence, more comprehension and more language production. (Nation & Waring,
1997). In contrast, "lexical availability research focuses on the words retrieved by
speakers in response to prompts related to daily situations; particularly it focuses on
an analysis of the positions of words in the ranking of elicited responses." (Jiménez
Catalán & Fitzpatrick, 2014, p. 85). The lexical-availability research in L1 and L2
has shown that the first word associations or responses are the most available in the
speaker's mental lexicon, but all responses reflect the organization of the speaker's or
learner's mental lexicon.
Can these two methodologies be studied in tandem? This novel complementary
approach has been proposed by Jiménez Catalan and Fitzpatrick (2014) by applying a
word-frequency framework to data produced in English L2 lexical-availability
studies. By means of Lexical Frequency Profile designed by Laufer and Nation (as
cited in Jiménez Catalán and Fitzpatrick, 2014) they measure lexical richness in the
words retrieved by 50 Spanish sixth- and eighth-grade learners of English as L2 in
response to nine prompts (semantic categories). One of their research hypotheses was
that a lexical-availability frequency profile reveals qualitative differences in the
output of English L2 learners in the sixth and eighth grades. An increase of lowfrequency words would be expected as learners advance in language level, but the
results of their study showed that "this increase in learners' word types does not result
automatically in a more advanced frequency profile" (2014, p. 96) although the study
has also shown that the "EFL learners' lexical availability increases as the course
grade increases." (2014, p. 98) According to the authors. a possible interpretation of
these results is that vocabulary still has room to grow in the most frequent bands.
(2014, p. 97). This study indicates a great potential for further comparative research
of lexical availability and word frequency.
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Vocabulary selection and lexical availability
Another important area in which word frequency should be complemented with
available lexicons is vocabulary selection. There is no doubt that "frequency has long
informed the principled selection of vocabulary in L2 teaching pedagogy" (Schmitt
& Schmitt, 2012, p. 1). For a long period, 2,000 word families have seemed to be the
most cited initial goal for foreign language learners, but Norbert and Diane Schmitt
(2012) have now proposed an increase of high-frequency English vocabulary to
3,000 word families: "We suggest that, as a minimum, English language programs
emphasize teaching of high-frequency vocabulary up to the 3,000 frequency level."
(2012, p. 15) However, frequency is not the only criterion for choosing words to
teach explicitly. Another criterion is the words that are particularly useful in a
specific topic area, the so-called technical vocabulary recommended to be learned
after having mastered the foundation of 5,000 word families. The third category is
the words that students want to learn for various reasons. The fourth category,
especially important at the beginning of the course or language study, is the
classroom management vocabulary. (Schmitt, 2000, p. 144) To these four categories
Schmitt and Schmitt (2012) later add the importance of teaching the mid-frequency
vocabulary for proficient language use.
In the field of lexical-availability research a slightly different approach was
established on the assumption that "the fundamental vocabulary of a given
community consists of basic lexicon and the available lexicon. The identification of
this available lexicon is an essential underpinning for any planning related to the
lexicon" (López Morales, 2014, p. 7). From this perspective, the frequency words,
among which the most frequent are the grammatical words, are completed with
specific thematic words needed to address certain themes in daily life. The studies of
available lexicons among native speakers provide us with vocabulary that they would
potentially use in connection with a certain topic. Consequently these are the words
that foreign speakers should also know. For example, if in the category "Food and
drink", one of the most frequent words and first associations of Spanish native
speakers is garbanzo (chickpea) and lenteja (lentil), we should include these words
in explicit teaching regardless of their position in frequency list.² These two words
are not included among the 10,000 most frequent words in the Corpus of Royal
Spanish Academy. Another example to illustrate the necessity of taking into account
the criterion of available lexicon is taken from the category of "Professions and
jobs": ganadero (rancher) and barrendero (sweeper). The latter is not listed in the
first 10,000 Spanish word frequency list (CREA); and ganadero occupies the 8,566th
position on the same list, while they are both among the most available words in
available Spanish lexicons. These two occupations are also very rarely presented in
Spanish L2 textbooks. How can a learner get to know these words if they are neither
included in the category of frequent words nor in the specific topic category, and are
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�Lexical Availability and L2 Vocabulary Acquisition
not the words that a learner specifically wishes to learn? In this case, the category of
available lexicons should be applied. Very often the most available words among
native speakers reflect customs and habits. Likewise, the study of learners' lexical
availability can uncover many interesting sociolinguistic and cultural issues.
Psycholinguistic aspects of lexical availability
The studies of lexical availability present an important tool for psycholinguistics
because they clearly capture the relationships the speakers establish between lexical
units. The present paper addresses some issues of the L2 mental lexicon based on the
results of the lexical-availability research carried out among Slovene secondary
(N=100) and university students (N=100) (Šifrar Kalan, 2009; 2012; 2014b) as well
as English as L2 (N=20) (Šifrar Kalan, 2014a). The results of these studies prove that
more advanced learners of Spanish and English produce a higher number of
association responses to specific domains, but still fall behind the native speakers'
production of associations. Similar conclusions were made in other L2 studies
(Schmitt, 2000, p. 42). The studies of Slovene students also show that the most
available words, both in Spanish and English, and with different levels of
proficiency, correspond to the more typical examples of the category. "This tendency
seems to confirm the universality of semantic prototypes based on human experience
regardless of the language as advocated by Aitchison (1994) and Kleiber (1995)."
(Šifrar Kalan, 2014a, p. 134) These studies also confirm the syntagmaticparadigmatic shift as a person's language matures (Schmitt, 2010, p. 40): Slovene B1
(CEFR level) Spanish students produced more syntagmatic associations than B2
students, and while B2 students produced more paradigmatic associations. The study
of individual-association chains of B1 and B2 students shows that words are mainly
related by meaning. Nevertheless, there were some form-based responses noted as
well. According to these results we agree with Singleton's claim (1999, p. 189) that
in L1 and L2 lexical units are increasingly processed by meaning rather than by form
as their integration into the mental lexicon progresses. Aitchison (1994) lists three
basic findings regarding associations that can offer important insight into the mental
lexicon. These findings strongly correspond to Slovene studies. First, the responses
are almost always items from the same semantic field, which speaks in favour of
creating dictionaries of available lexicons on the basis of semantic domains. Second,
adults usually give a response that is the same word class as the prompt word, which
is the reason for noun superiority in available lexicons. The introduction of new,
experimental semantic category entitled "Actions Carried Out Every Day" (Šifrar
Kalan, 2014b), on the other hand, resulted in 72% of verbs. Third, if a stimulus word
is part of an obvious pair, the partner word is usually given as the response. The
prevalent association pair in our results is in a coordinate relation within the same
word class, followed by synonyms, hyperonyms and antonyms, respectively.
194
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Undoubtedly, these findings help us understand the organization of mental lexicons,
yet there are still many things to be discovered. "It is important that future studies
investigate the similarities as well as the differences between L1 and L2 response
patterns, and the differences and similarities within each subject group." (Fitzpatrick
as cited in Schmitt, 2010, p. 62)
Conclusion
Originally, lexical-availability research was regarded as an alternative approach for
vocabulary selection for teaching French as L2. Some years later it was adopted by
Hispanic linguists in order to create a great PanHispanic dictionary of available
lexicon. During the years of collecting data for the available lexicons in Spain and
Latin America, the linguists started to use the data in L1 for research in
sociolingustics and dialectology. During the last two decades the research has
refocused on foreign language teaching, namely to vocabulary teaching and research.
The available lexicons provide an important tool for vocabulary planning and
material designing and should be used together with other tools, such as frequency
lists. Likewise, the association responses offer a great potential for research in
psycholinguistics. Exploring lexical availability in L1 and L2 in combination with
other study areas, such as, vocabulary tests, word frequency, CEFR levels and others,
can provide us with valuable data concerning vocabulary acquisition in the future.
1 Traditionally 16 categories or centres of interest are used in lexical-availability
studies: Parts of the human body, Clothing, Parts of the house, House furniture,
Food and drink, Objects on the table for the meal, The kitchen and its utensils,
School furniture and materials, Heating and lighting, The city, The countryside,
Means of transport, Farm and garden work, Animals, Games and entertainment,
Jobs and professions. These categories were already chosen by Gougenheim, a
French pioneer of lexical-availability study.
2 The Spanish words garbanzo and lenteja are among the most available words in the
available lexicons of different regions of Spain. For example, garbanzo is in Position
6 in Asturias's lexicon, Position 10 in Cádiz and 45 in Valencia. Lenteja is in Position
4 in Asturias, 6 in Cádiz and 26 in Valencia. Meanwhile, not even one out of 200
Slovene students of Spanish who participated in the study of lexical-availability
failed to write the word lenteja as a response. Garbanzo is among the available
words for Slovene students, but with a very low index of availability. (Šifrar Kalan,
2012)
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References
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Lexical Availability and L2 Vocabulary Acquisition
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Šifrar Kalan, Marjana
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Vocabulary research has followed a different path in English and in Spanish applied linguistics. Spanish applied linguistics has paid more attention to available lexicons of speakers than to word frequency. The measure of lexical availability combines the frequency at which a word is produced as a member of a semantic category (e.g. dog in category Animals) and the position in the list of associations provided by a group of individuals. It focuses on the words retrieved by speakers in response prompts (word stimulus) related to daily situations. This paper intends to present some of the aspects of lexical-availability research that are interesting for L2 vocabulary acquisition. It attempts to show the potential of lexical-availability research as an alternate approach for vocabulary planning (the use of L1 lexical-availability measures to select the teaching vocabulary for L2) as well as the study of some psycholinguistic aspects of vocabulary acquisition, such as the organization of learners' mental lexicons, the similarities and the differences between response patterns, the kinds of semantic associations that learners activate in response to prompts (semantic categories), the consideration of the most available words obtained by lexical-availability research as semantic prototypes. Likewise, the study of learners' lexical availability can uncover sociolinguistic and cultural issues. Furthermore, this paper wishes to inspire researchers of languages other than Spanish to apply this methodology to different languages. All these aspects are hereby presented on the basis of the Slovene learners' available lexicons in Spanish as L2 (N=200) (Šifrar Kalan, 2009; 2012; 2014b) and English as L2 (N=20) (Šifrar Kalan, 2014a). Keywords: foreign languages, vocabulary acquisition, lexical availability, word associations
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-04-15
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
L Education (General),P Philology. Linguistics,PE English
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https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/b503c0a12a7e69f64c5a739e600ca8c4.pdf
eea289ad23e21ef3e2df4d36928b5af6
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Text
Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Metaphor translation in subtitling
Goran Schmidt
University of Osijek, Croatia
Submitted: 13.04.2014.
Accepted: 13.11.2014.
Abstract
The paper aims to shed light on how subtitlers cope with metaphor translation. The
paper presents the results of a case study on a set of English subtitles of one Croatian
movie. Metaphor translation procedures were analyzed using Conceptual Metaphor
Theory. There are four basic ways to translate metaphors: a. using the same
conceptual metaphor, b. using a different conceptual metaphor, c. using a nonmetaphorical paraphrase; and d. deleting the metaphor. In addition, a nonmetaphorical expression can be translated by a metaphorical expression. Metaphors
are mental, linguistic, but also cultural entities. Since translation in the contemporary
age is recognized as both linguistic and cultural transfer, translating metaphors is at
the core of the translation task. Many conceptual metaphors are universal and can be
found in (almost) all languages, but some are culturally specific, appearing in just
one language (group). This case study shows that the universality of metaphor
influences the choice of a metaphor translation procedure, in a way that shared
metaphors are mostly translated using the same conceptual metaphor, whereas nonshared metaphors are translated by a different metaphor or a non-metaphorical
paraphrase. The paper also explores the ways in which the specifics of subtitling as a
constrained type of translation influence the choice of a translation procedure. The
results are compared to the results of a previous study, which dealt with the
translation of metaphors in literature.
Keywords:
conceptual
metaphor,
translation,
conventionality, temporal and spatial constraints
subtitling,
universality,
Introduction
This paper deals with translation of metaphors in interlingual subtitling. The focus is
on the kinds of procedures (solution types) for the translation of metaphorical
expressions. In addition, the distribution of the procedures in the TT (target text) is
explored, as well asfactors potentially motivating the use of a particular procedure.
One of the examined motivating factors is the universality of metaphor, i.e. to what
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�Metaphor translation in subtitling
extent is the choice of a particular procedure conditioned by the fact that a certain
conceptual metaphoror metaphorical expressionis or is not shared between the SL
(source language) and the TL(target language). Other explanatory variables are
connected with the characteristics of subtitling as a special kind of translation. The
typology of procedures is basedon the methodological apparatusof Conceptual
Metaphor Theory (CMT),formulated by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). The results are
compared to the results of our previous research on metaphor translation in the
context of literary translation (Schmidt, 2012).
Conceptual metaphor and its linguistic expression
In the cognitive-linguistic view, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual
domain in terms of another conceptual domain (Kövecses, 2002: 4ff.). A convenient
shorthand way of capturing this view of metaphor is the following: CONCEPTUAL
DOMAIN (A) IS CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN (B), which is called a conceptual metaphor. It is
important to distinguish conceptual metaphors (in this paper labeled ‘M’)from
metaphorical linguistic expressions (lowercase ‘m’), the latter resulting from
mapping of elements of one domain onto the corresponding elementsof another
domain. For example, ARGUMENT IS WAR is a conceptual metaphor, while
expressions like ‘Your claims are indefensible’,‘He attacked every weak point in my
argument’, etc. are metaphorical linguistic expressions, i.e. linguistic manifestations
of that conceptual metaphor.
Typology of metaphor translation procedures
The translation solutions were classified according to a new typology, which
combines CMT with the typologies developedwithin translation studies. Specifically,
our typology combines the one by the translation scholar Gideon Toury(cf. Prunč,
2002: 244) and the one by the cognitive linguist Zoltan Kövecses (2004).1
The following typology of metaphor translation procedures is proposed:
1. (M → M)2
a.m → m
1
a metaphorical expression is translatedbyametaphorical
expression of the sameconceptual metaphor with the same
mapping and the same meaning
For a detailed description of Toury's and Kövecses's typologies, and the way they were combined, see
Schmidt, 2012: 88-91.
2 M → M and M → M1 refer to the higher, conceptual level, i.e. whether the target expression belongs
to the same conceptual metaphor, or to a different one, respectively. This higher level is in a way
superimposed on a typology based on the more basic level of metaphorical expressions.
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
b.m → m’
2.(M → M1)
m → m1
3.m → non-m
4.m→Ø
5.non-m → m
6.Ø→ m
a metaphorical expression is translated by a metaphorical
expression of the same conceptual metaphor with a different
mappingand a similar meaning
a metaphorical expression is translated by a metaphorical
expression of a different conceptual metaphor with a
different mapping and a similar meaning
a metaphorical expression is translated by a nonmetaphorical expression with a similar meaning (also known
as a paraphrase)
a metaphorical expression is translated by a zero-element
(also known as deletion, omission or zero-translation)
a non-metaphorical expression is translated by a
metaphorical expression with a similar meaning
a zero-element is translated by a metaphorical expression
Each type (1-6)isexemplified and defined in Section 4. The above typology was
tested on a corpus of literary translations (Schmidt, 2012), and it proved to be
adequate for the analysis of metaphor translation; no further types were recorded.
Research design
As the source text (ST) we used the Croatian movie Što je muškarac bez
brkova?('What Is a Man without a Moustache?'). As the TT we useda set of English
subtitles of that movie. The identified ST metaphorical expressions were matched
with their TT equivalents. The ST-TT segments were thenanalyzed and the
translation procedures were classified. The corpus was analyzed both qualitatively
and quantitatively.
Analysis
Altogether6 types of translation procedures (solution types) were identified. In the
following sections each of the identified procedures isexemplified anddefined.
M→M
1.1.1.
m → m (1a)
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�Metaphor translation in subtitling
ST: ne znaš ti šta sam ja sve proša u životu3('you don't know what I've
been through in life')4
TT: You have no idea what I'vebeen through in my life. [00:39:25,500]5
The metaphorical expressionsin the ST and TT are the same;they belong to the same
M and have the same meaning.
(1)
1.1.2.
m → m’ (1b)
(2) ST: đava te odnija Luka ('May the devil take you away, Luka')
TT: Go to hell, Luka! [00:59:32,740]
The metaphorical expressions in the ST and TT are different, but they belong to the
same M and have a similar meaning.
m → m1
(3) ST: reci meni dal ću biti tvoja ('tell me ifI'll be yours')
TT: Tell me will you always hold my hand [00:00:53,660]
The metaphorical expressions in the ST and TT are different; they belong to
differentMs, but their meaning is similar.
m → non-m
(4) ST:
[to
je]
sve
naopako!
(‘[it
is]
all
upside
down/reversed/inverted/wrong side out’)
TT: [This is] all totally wrong![01:04:57,340]
The ST metaphorical expression is translated by a non-metaphorical expression with
a similar meaning.
m→Ø
(5) ST: ...na nebu misec mlad(‘up in the sky the moon is young’)
TT: the moon is up[01:22:10,940]
The ST metaphorical expression is omitted (deleted) in the TT.
3
The ST examples are written without observing the spelling and punctuation conventions because they
were transcribed directly from the spoken dialogue.
4 In round brackets is a rough, literal translation of the ST.
5 The numbers in square brackets indicate the exact time the subtitle appears on the screen.
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
non-m → m
(6) ST: čuo sam da je sestra progovorila (‘I heard [your] sister started to
talk’)
TT: I heard your sister broke her silence. [00:11:02,300]
The ST non-metaphorical expression is translated by a metaphorical expression with
a similar meaning.
Ø→m
This procedure implies an appearance of a metaphorical expression in the TT which
cannot be matched to anything in the ST.No examples of this procedure were found
in the corpus.
In comparison with our previous research on metaphor translation in literature, the
types of procedures used are largely the same. The only procedure not used in
subtitling is the addition of a footnote, since this is technically impossible for the lack
of space.
Distribution of translation procedures
Table 1. Distribution of metaphor translation procedures in the TT
Procedure
1a
M→M
1b
2 (M→M1)
3 (m→non-m)
4 (m→ Ø)
total
N
52
32
31
17
6
138
%
38
23
23
12
4
100
61
The left-hand column in Table 1lists the types of procedures. Five procedures were
used (procedure 5, Ø → m, is not included, since it does not refer to the translation of
metaphor butinto metaphor).The middle column shows the number of times a
particular procedure was used. For example, procedure 1a was used 52 times. The
total number of identified metaphorical expressions is 138. The right-hand column
shows the same data expressed in percentages.
The most frequently used procedure was 1a (38%). Procedures 1a and 1b are grouped
together, since both imply translation by an expression of the same M. Together, 1a
+1b were used in 61% of the cases. Procedure 1 is followed by procedure 2 (23%), 3
(12%) and 4 (4%), respectively.
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�Metaphor translation in subtitling
Figure 1 shows the same data ina pie chart. The identified procedures are numbered
according to our typology, and the percentages represent the rates with which each
procedure is used in the TT.
Figure 1. Distribution of metaphor translation procedures in the TT
4
0% 4%
3
12%
1a
38%
2
23%
1b
23%
Another frequent procedure in the corpus is Ø → m(not included in Table 1 and
Figure 1), represented with 35 cases. It refers to cases in which a non-metaphorical
expression was translated with a metaphor. One way of looking at this procedure is
as a compensation procedure. It compensates for the loss of metaphorical expressions
resulting from the use of procedures 3 (paraphrase) and 4 (deletion).Of the total 138
metaphorical expressions in the ST, 115 were translated by metaphorical expressions
(procedures 1+2), while 23 were either translated non-metaphorically or deleted
(procedures 3+4). However, if we bring the 35 cases of procedure 5into the equation,
we can see that the TT actually contains more metaphors than the ST (115 transferred
from ST + 35 new ones = 150). The loss was thus more than compensated by using
procedure 5.
In comparison with the previous study, procedures 2 and 4 arehere used more
frequently, and procedure 3 less frequently. The reason for using m→m1 more than
m→non-m could be that metaphorical language is more concisethan the non100
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
metaphorical, which is important given the time and space constraints of subtitling
(see Section 5.8.2). Or, the subtitler wanted to keep the metaphoricity of the
dialogue. Procedure 4 is used more often than in literature translation probably for
the same reason of saving space and time. The number of occurrences of procedure 5
was not counted in the previous study, so there is no ground for comparison.
In the following section we try to account for the motivation for using a particular
procedure.
Motivational factors
Universality of metaphor
If a metaphor is shared by most languages, we can call it universal. When we
consider just a pair of languages, a metaphor can be either shared or non-shared.
However, in some cases a conceptual metaphor is shared, but the particular mapping
(and the linguistic expression) is not. This gives us three categories of
‘sharedness’/universality: 1. the metaphor is shared and so is the linguistic
expression, 2. the metaphor is shared, but the linguistic expression is not, and 3. the
metaphor is not shared. Consider Table 3 below.
Table 3. Universality categories in relation to type of translation procedure
ST
metaphorical
expressions
1a)
(N)
m→m
(1) shared M, 81
52
shared m
(2) shared M, 38
0
non-shared
m
(3) non-shared 19
0
M,
nonshared m
total N:
138
52
1b)
m→m’
6
2)
m→m1
14
3)m→non- 4)
m
m→Ø
4
5
26
4
8
0
0
13
5
1
32
31
17
6
Table 3 shows the three universality categories in relation to the type of translation
procedure used in our TT. For each category, first the total number of metaphors is
given, then a breakdown by a particular procedure. For example, category (1)
contains 81 metaphorical expressions, of which 52 were translated by procedure 1a, 6
by procedure 1b, 14 by procedure 2, 4 by procedure 3, and 5 by procedure 4.Thus,
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�Metaphor translation in subtitling
the majority of category 1 metaphors were translated by procedure 1a (52 out of 81,
or 64%). The remaining 36% were distributed across other types of procedures
(1b=7%, 2=17%, 3=5%, 4=6%). Other two categories also show a significant
correlation with a particular type of procedure. Category(2) is most frequently
translated by procedure 1b (26 out of 38, or 68%), followed by procedures 3 (21%)
and 2 (11%). Category (2) shows zero correlation with procedures 1a and 4.
Category(3) is most frequently translated by procedure 2 (13 out of 19, or 68%),
followed by procedures 3 (26%) and 4 (6%). There is no correlation with 1a and 1b.
In other words, if the TL had the same expression as the SL, that same expression
was indeed used in the TT in most of the cases (1a); if the same expression was not
used, it was most frequently substituted by an expression of a different M with
similar meaning (2), and less frequently it was translated by a different expression of
the same M (1b), or deleted (4), or paraphrased by non-metaphorical language (3),
respectively.If the TL had the same M, but not the same expression, a different
expression of the sameMwas used in most of the cases; alternatively, a nonmetaphorical paraphrase was used, or an expression of a different conceptual
metaphor with similar meaning. Finally, if the TL did not have the same M, the
STexpressionwas in most cases substituted in the TT by an expression of a
differentM with a similar meaning; alternatively, a non-metaphorical paraphrase was
used, or the ST expression was deleted.
Thedataindicates that the category of universality of metaphor does have an impact
on the choice of procedure; moreover, it allows us to predict to an extent which
procedure will be used.
However, there is also variation that we have to account for. In a number of cases, a
procedure other than the ‘default’ was used, which means that there have to be other
factors apart from universality influencing the choice of procedure.
Table 3 can also be read vertically. The first column on the left shows the number of
metaphorical expressions belonging to a particular universality category. Out of the
total 138 expressions, 81 (or 59%) were attributed to category 1; 38 (27%) to
category 2, and 19 (14%) to category 3.The second column from the left shows that
procedure 1a was used 52 times, exclusively for the translation of category 1
metaphors; there was no correlation with categories 2 and 3, etc.
In sum, there is a strong correlation between the universality category 1 and
procedure 1a, category 2 andprocedure 1b, category 3 and procedure 2.Universality
was found to be an important factor in the previous study as well.
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Other motivational factors
Apart from the universality of metaphor, other factors potentially influencing the
choice of translation procedure are the conventionality of the TL expression, and
temporal and spatial constraints of subtitling. Due to the lack of space, each of the
above factors is only briefly exemplified and defined.
(7) ST: kad se podnapiju kao svinje (‘when they get as drunk as pigs’)
TT: When they're totally pissed [01:15:43,900]
In example (7) the translator chose the more conventional expression ‘to be totally
pissed’ (m→m1) over the less conventional ‘to get drunk as a pig’ (m→m).
Conventionality here means greater frequency of use. In certain contexts (e.g. in
informal register), as shown in example (8), using a metaphorical expression is more
conventional than non-metaphorical language.
(8) ST: razumin, razumin (‘I understand, I understand’)
TT: I get it, I get it [00:23:57,140]
In example (9) the metaphor is omitted because the meaning is clear from the co-text:
(9) ST: a vrime nikako okriće na jugo pa... (‘Well, the weather is turning to
sirocco, so...’)
TT: With this sirocco [...][00:37:08,980]
Subtitlers frequently have to shorten the dialogue, omitting everything that is
redundant, because of the technical constraints of subtitling. Namely, “people speak
more quickly than they can read so most language needs to be summarized in
subtitles. Space constraints arise [as well] because there is room for only about 30 or
40 characters/spaces across a screen”, and a maximum of two or three lines of text.
(O’Connell: 129).This often confines subtitling to an auxiliary function, that of
complementing the dialogue rather than duplicating it.
Conventionality was significant for motivation in the previous study as well, while
temporal and spatial constraints are specific to subtitling.
Conclusion
The proposed typology was found to be adequate for the description of metaphor
translation in subtitling. There areindications that the universality of metaphor, the
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�Metaphor translation in subtitling
conventionality of expression and the technical constraints of subtitlinginfluence the
choice of translation procedure.
References
Kövecses, Z. (2002). Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford, New York, etc.:
Oxford University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2004). Metaphor in Culture. Universality and Variation. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, G., Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. (+Afterword, 2003).
Chicago,
London: The University of Chicago Press.
O’Connell, E. (2007). Screen translation. In Kuhiwczak, P., Littau, K. (eds.) A
Companion to Translation Studies. Clevedon, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual
Matters, 120-134.
Prunč, E. (2002). Einführung in die Translationswissenschaft. Band 1:
Orientierungsrahmen. Graz: Institut für Translationswissenschaft.
Schmidt, G. (2012). A Cognitive-Linguistic Approach to the Translation of Metaphor
from English into Croatian. Doctoral dissertation. Osijek: Filozofski
fakultet.Available
at:http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/580531.Goran_Schmidt_disertacija-edited1_4.pdf
Data sources
Što je muškarac bez brkova?[Video file]. (2005). Directed by Hrvoje Hribar, based
on a novel by Ante Tomić.
Miskon (2007, March 21).What Is a Man without a Moustache?[.srt file]. English
subtitles of the movie Što je muškarac bez brkova? Retrieved 13 January 2014
from
http://www.podnapisi.net/sto-je-muskarac-bez-brkova-2005-subtitlesp496917
104
�
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Title
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Metaphor translation in subtitling
Author
Author
Schmidt, Goran
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The paper aims to shed light on how subtitlers cope with metaphor translation. The paper presents the results of a case study on a set of English subtitles of one Croatian movie. Metaphor translation procedures were analyzed using Conceptual Metaphor Theory. There are four basic ways to translate metaphors: a. using the same conceptual metaphor, b. using a different conceptual metaphor, c. using a non-metaphorical paraphrase; and d. deleting the metaphor. In addition, a non-metaphorical expression can be translated by a metaphorical expression. Metaphors are mental, linguistic, but also cultural entities. Since translation in the contemporary age is recognized as both linguistic and cultural transfer, translating metaphors is at the core of the translation task. Many conceptual metaphors are universal and can be found in (almost) all languages, but some are culturally specific, appearing in just one language (group). This case study shows that the universality of metaphor influences the choice of a metaphor translation procedure, in a way that shared metaphors are mostly translated using the same conceptual metaphor, whereas non-shared metaphors are translated by a different metaphor or a non-metaphorical paraphrase. The paper also explores the ways in which the specifics of subtitling as a constrained type of translation influence the choice of a translation procedure. The results are compared to the results of a previous study, which dealt with the translation of metaphors in literature. Keywords: conceptual metaphor, translation, subtitling, universality, conventionality, temporal and spatial constraints
Date
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2015-04-13
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics,PE English,PR English literature
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https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/ac4104b48187d842150d5c9acacc8459.pdf
e3537b50b7b199436656aa18b8f4d1db
PDF Text
Text
Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Konceptualna metaforizacija stihova
sastavnicom srce unutar sevdalinki
sa
somatskom
Indira Smajlović-Šabić
Marijana Nikolić
University of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Submitted: 12.04.2014.
Accepted: 18.11.2014.
Sažetak:
Rad će se baviti iznalaženjem odgovora dvama pitanjima: dinamikom mogućeg
udjela metaforiziranih stihova sevdalinke sa somatskom sastavnicom srce, u
kognitivnoj perspektivi, s jedne strane, i pojavnošću odgovarajućih konceptualnih
modela, s druge strane. Kognitivna lingvistika u ovom smislu obuhvata teoriju
pojmovne metafore kao sredstava da se konceptualizuje svijet, ali i uže specifično,
kao sredstvo perspektivizacije i usmjeravanja pažnje s dvojakim ciljem: da se
naglase željeni stavovi, pogledi i mišljenja i da se odagnaju nebitni i nepoželjni
aspekti ostalih pojava. Na taj način sevdalinka konceptualizuje svijet oko sebe, svijet
primarno bošnjačko-muslimanski, sa mnogim socijalnim netrpeljivostima koje u ovoj
perspektivi bivaju odagnane, jer ne umire se od njih već od sevdaha.
Ključne riječi: sevdalinka, sevdisanje, kognitivna lingvistika, konceptualna metafora
i metonimija, domene izvora i cilja
Abstract
The purpose of the study will be to explore the following questions: the dynamics of
the possible contribution of metaphorical lyrics in sevdalinka song with the heart as a
somatic component, in a cognitive perspective, on the one hand, and the occurrence
of corresponding conceptual models, on the other hand. In this sense, cognitive
linguistics covers the theory of conceptual metaphor as means of conceptualizing the
world, but also in the narrow sense specifically, as means of perspectivisation and
directing the attention with a twofold purpose: to emphasize the desirable attitudes,
views and opinions, and to dispel unimportant and undesirable aspects of other
phenomena. In this manner, sevdalinka conceptualizes the world around it, primarily
a Bosniak-Muslim world, with many social animosities being dispelled in this
perspective because one dies, in figurative sense, because of sevdah and not because
of them.
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�Konceptualna metaforizacija stihova sa somatskom sastavnicom srce unutar sevdalinki
Keywords: sevdalinka, sevdah, cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor and
metonymy, domains of source and purpose
Metafore su u prošlosti bivale vezane uglavnom s književnošću, i pri tome su imale
samo ukrasnu i retoričku funkciju. Posmatrane su kao jezičke neobičnosti, ali
savremena metaforička lingvistička zanimanja prave iskorak iz nevedene
interpretacije. Kognitivna lingvistička teorija počinje u kasnim sedamdesetim
godinama s publikacijamaMetaphor and thought Ortonya (1979), i Metaphors we
live by Lakoffa i Johnsona (1980), a njihovu su teoriju podržali i naučnici Cameron i
Low (1999), Cameron (2003), koji također na metaforu gladaju kao na kognitivni
koncept. Prema Cameron, metafora je fenomen ljudskog misaonog procesa.
Shvatanje kako se metafora koristi može pomoći boljem razumijevanju načina kako
ljudi misle, kako bi se lakše razumio svijet ili kako bi ljudi jedni druge lakše
razumijeli i olakšali komuniciranje (Cameron, 2003:2). Prema Lakoffu i Johnsonu
suština metafore je shvatanje i doživljavanje neke stvar u odnosu na drugu (1980:5).
Metafore su dio svakodnevnog jezika i misli (Lakoff, 1980: XI), jer obični ljudi
koriste metafore nesvjesno, automatski, čak ne primjećujući ih. Lakoff i Turner
(1989: XI) navode da je metafora toliko obična i učestala da se čak nesvjesno i
automatski koristi, s tako malo truda da ju je lakše producirati nego prepoznati u
govoru. Metafora je u osnovi kognitivni proces, koji zahtijeva obrazloženje za
tumačenje. S tim u vezi, metafora je iznad jezika jer uključuje energiju, trud i
kreativnost za svoje tumačenje.
Korpus na koji će se primjeniti teorija konceptualne metafore i metonimije obuhvata
bosanskohercegovačke sevdalinke koje su se od XVI stoljeća, u vremenu naglašenih
imagoloških tendencija, vjerskih, kulturnih i običajnih, uspijele samodefinirati u
pitomom obrascu odašiljača ljubavnih stihova, pri tome u službi pomirenja starih i
novih prilika, stvaranja izvijesnog vida homogenizacije, izmiješanog etnosa ili
konfesija, na bosanskome jeziku, narodnome izrazu i u duhu narodne predaje. U
strogo definiranom topiku ljubavnih dešavanja, nailazimo na produkcije humora,
veselja, ljubavi, tuge, jada i čežnje, ali isključivo u domeni širokogrudnosti i
humanosti. Sevdalinka je opjevala ljubavne zgode koje su se odigrale u gradskim
sredinama i zapamtila djevojke i mladiće, vedre ili tužne junake opjevanih zbivanja
ili individue čuvene zbog svoje ljepote, držanja ili gizdavosti. Sa takvom intencijom
u sevdisanju pronalazimo metaforičko vrelo, koje ne doprinosi samo pjesničkoj
figurativnosti već i obrazuje način pogleda na svijet, razmišljanja o njemu i
projiciranja u njemu. Svijet sevdalinke je ogoljena ljubav, koja se bez retuša
reflektuje kikotom u zanosu, i kletvom u osamljenosti. Ljubav je važna emocija, i
vrlo česta motivika kod tekstopisaca različitoga pisanja. Zbog apstraktnosti ljubav
nije lako definirati ali upravo zbog toga u prvi plan stupa kreativnost i domišljatost u
106
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
opisivanju, u odabiru sredstava za izražavanje, pri tome se među plodonosnijim
sredstvima nameće metafora. Stoga ne čudi što pisci pri izražavanju osjećanja i
emocija o "ljubavi" pišu kroz metafore (Lakoff i Johnson, 1980: 85). Prema Prasit
Karpklon u Language and Thought (1980: 145), metafore mogu potaknuti maštu i
stvoriti osjećaje u ljudima učinkovitije nego doslovni izrazi.Sa čitanjem prve
sevdalinke jasno je da je metafora osnovna kognitivna struktura koja omogućuje
shvatiti apstraktni čulni koncept na temelju konkretnijih koncepta.
U shvatanju europske kulture osjećanja se skrivaju kako bi se zaštitila. Sve što je
vidljivo vanjskome svijetu, izloženo vanjskim podražajima je u potencionalnoj
opasnosti. Zato se osjećanja skrivaju „pakirajući” ih u posude ili spremnike. Shodno
ovakvome shvatanju očekivana je izrazita frekventnost konceptualne metafore SRCE
JE SPREMNIK OSJEĆANJA u definiranome korpusu, jer se sevdalinke
interpretiraju isključivo u kontekstu osjećanja. Također, kako bi se osjećanja skrila i
zaštitila od vanjskih podražaja, potrebno ih je uvući u nutrinu, što dalje od epiderme,
zato se najadekvatnijim lokalizatorom predočava SRCE jer se ono nalazi u samom
središtu tijela. U odnosu na svoj položaj srce je i dobilo naziv. To je stara slavenska
riječ, koja je najprije imala oblik srdce, jer je označavala ono što je u sredini. Da je tu
nekada bio fonem d, pokazatelji su izvedenice: srdačno, srdašce, ili množinski oblik
za srce – mnogo srdaca. U knjizi Vocabulary, Culture, Cognition, lingvistica Danica Škara
defnira odnose okoline, kulture i jezika u kognitivnoj lingvistici, s posebnim
naglaskom na metaforu, metonimiju i utjelovljenje. Empirijski ukazuje se na
nasredišnje mjesto ljudskog tijela u konceptualizaciji svijeta. Pri tome ljudsko tijelo
je konceptualizirano na temelju predodžbenih shema SPREMNIKA, NUTRINE,
VANJŠTINE, PREDNJE I ZADNJE, GORNJE I DONJE STRANE I
RAVNOTEŽE. Posebno se ističe povezanost konceptualizacije osjećaja i dijelova
tijela, kao što je slučaj različitih oblika metafore SRCE JE SPREMNIK ZA
OSJEĆAJE.
U tekstovima sevdalinki emocije seuglavnom iskazuju fgurativno, u tom pogledu
metafora predstavlja najkorisnije sredstvo izražavanja, pri tome je srcekao lokalizator
osjećanja,najčešće korištena izvornadomena.Somatizam GLAVA uvijek nosi
konotaciju razuma i razboritosti, s druge strane je SRCE s konotacijom
osjećanja.Pogledom na metaforu kao na kognitivnu sposobnost povezivanja dviju
domena, u sevdalijskom kontekstu uključuje i određena znanja u vezi sa datim
korpusom, koja će omogućiti konceptualnu analizu stihova autohtone
bosanskohercegovačke lirike - sevdalinke. Ta znanja se reflektuju kao sposobnost
povezivanja dviju domena, koja istodobno omogućuje prepoznavanje ustaljenihveza.
Ta se dvostrukost konceptualne metafore ocrtava i na razini kulturei utjelovljenja,
gdje osim uobičajene motiviranosti putem fizičkih čimbenika (tj. utjelovljenjem)
tvrdimo da je i kultura čimbenik koji je istodobno odgovoran za varijaciju i kulturna
ograničenja. Model će biti utemeljen na Langackerovu i Kövecsesovu prijedlogu
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�Konceptualna metaforizacija stihova sa somatskom sastavnicom srce unutar sevdalinki
središnjeg znanja. Dvostruki karakter metafore vidljiv je i u načinu njezine analize
ponajprije kao ustaljene strukture znanja (u Lakoffovoj i Johnsonovoj prvotnoj teoriji
konceptualne metafore) ili kao povezivanja domena u stvarnom vremenu (putem
konceptualne integracije). U radu se nudi integracija te zagovara središnje rješenje u
kojem se koriste oba modela ovisno o značajkama analiziranog
materijala.(Stanojević, 2009:340)
Dakle, metaforu smatramo kognitivnom sposobnošću koju koristimo u stvarnosti, a
koja nam omogućuje povezivanje dviju domena znanja, i to tako da ciljnu domenu
(ili neke njezine aspekte) shvaćamo pomoću (nekih aspekata) izvorne domene.
Moguća preslikavanja s izvorne na ciljnu domenu ograničena su našim središnjim
znanjima o izvornoj domeni i nekim znanjima o ciljnoj domeni (načelo
nepromjenjivosti). Odnosno, konceptualnu metaforunajlakše je definirati kao
kognitivni mehanizam pomoću kojeg se teško dostupni (apstraktni) entiteti
konceptualiziraju preko lakše dostupnih (konkretnih) entiteta. Primjenimo li to na naš
korpus sevdalinki unutar kojih se naročito tematizuju ljubavne refleksije u produkciji
humora, veselja, ljubavi, tuge, jada i čežnje, pri tome isključivo u domeni
širokogrudnosti i humanosti, lahko nam je zaključiti da čulne entitete
konceptualiziramo konkretnijim entitetima. Važno je naglasiti da se konceptualnom
metaforom povezuju slični elementi dviju različitih domena, izvorne i ciljne. Izvorna
domenapruža osnovne informacije za stupanje u korelaciju s drugom, ciljnom
domenom, koja se treba definirati. Kako bi taj proces bivao izravniji i lakši, izvorne
domene uglavnom bivaju konkretni entiteti, a u sevdalinci to su orijentacija,
materija, temperatura,životinje, biljke, tijelo, dijelovi tijela, primjerice srce što je
unaprijed zadana domena ovoga rada. Ciljna domena, koja je predmetmetaforičkog
preslikavanja i predmet koji se treba objasniti, su većinom apstraktni pojmovi kao
um, emocije (ljubav, čežnja, žalost), namjere i sl. Važno je istaknuti da izvorna
domena pomaže pobliže označiticiljnu, ali ne i obrnuto, jer proces preslikavanja kod
metafore nikadane teče od ciljne prema izvornoj domeni.
Na sljedeći način funkcionira konceptualna metafora unutar lirskog sevdisanja: kad
je netko zaljubljen umire od sevdaha, srce je puno rahatluka, ono gori i od sevdaha
puca,u ašikluk se hodi, pod prstenom se završi. Svaki put kad se upotrijebi koji od tih
konvencionalnih metaforičkih izraza, u umu se odvija proces kognitivnog
povezivanja dviju domena na principu sličnosti, analogijom čije uspostave zapravo
nismo svjesni. Sevdah se kao apstraktan pojam može konceptualizirati preko domene
bolest. Sličnosti koje prepoznajemo svode se na osjećaj povrijeđenosti i boli,
psihičke i fizičke. Konceptualna metafora u pozadini tog konvencionalnog izraza jest
SEVDAH JE BOLEST, pri čemu je bolest izvorna domena preko koje objašnjavamo
teže dostupan pojam, a sevdah je ciljna domena, odnosno pojam koji je na zadatku
konceptualizacije.
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Prepoznavanje konceptualnih metaforičkih tipova i njihovih modela, podredit će se
podjeli koju su koncipirali Lakoff i Johnson (1980), začetnici kognitivne lingvistike
kao zasebne naučne dicipline. Lakoffova teorija konceptualne metafore
podrazumijeva dvodomenski pristup i povezanost prema načelu A je B.
Svaka metafora se sastoji od izvorne domene (engl. source domain) i ciljne domene
(engl.target domain), i pri tome izvorna omogućava shvatanje ciljne domene, dok
među njima postoje brojne motivacijske poveznice (Lakoff, 2004: 7‒14).
JE
A
B
SRCE
EMOCIJA
PREDMET
PROSTOR
Ontološke metafore (ontological metaphors) koje dozvoljavaju da se događaji,
aktivnosti, osjećanja, ideje i sl. shvataju kao entiteti i supstancije,
odnosno nematerijalne stvari se materijalizuju, apstraktne konkretiziraju (Lakoff i
Johnson, 1980: 25‒29). Metafore koje referiraju na apstraktno neki
nazivajureifikacijama(Pérez, 2008: 33). S intencijom konkretizacije srce može biti
dobro i zlo, veliko i malo, hladno i vatreno, ozeblo, ledeno itoplo, kameno i mehko,
lavlje i zečije, hrabro i kukavno, zaljubljeno, viteško,kraljevsko, djevojačko, ludo,
srcemože da boli, igra, kliče, raste, ludi, udara, kuca, (h)lupa, skače, puca, vehne,topi
se, daje, poklanja, gori, hladi, razbija, lomi, čupa, pripada, itd.
Ah, da mi se u cvijet pretvoriti,
ja bih znao gdje bih zimovao!
U njedrima među dukatima.
Dukat zveči, meni srce ječi!
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�Konceptualna metaforizacija stihova sa somatskom sastavnicom srce unutar sevdalinki
(Blago tebi cvijet karanfile)
Mene boli i srce i glava,
otkad Ahmo u haremu spava!
(Čudna jada od Mostara grada)
Srce traži, aman, srce traži, zaman,
srce traži čista drugovanja,
usne traže pusta sevdisanja.
(Dvore gradi Komadina Mujo)
Čuj kako srce umilno tepa,
ljubim te, ljubim, đaurko l’jepa.
(Đaurko mila)
ja b’ volila kugu bolovati,
nego dragog drugoj pokloniti.
Jer u kugi samo boli glava,
a za dragim i srce i glava.
(Kad Morija mimo Mostar prođe)
Prema arhetipu čovjek-karakter, srce može biti dobro i zlo, vatreno i kameno, lavlje,
zečije, junačko. Metafora SRCE JE HRABROST vezuje srce s određenim vještinama
i time ovaploćuje prisustvo ili nedostatak hrabrosti. Nije isto imati junačko srce
(hrabro i divlje) i kukavno srce:
Ja sam cv’jetak mirisao
kao s tvojih b’jelih grudi.
Bajan miris što ’no pjesme
u junačkom srcu budi.
(Sjećaš li se kad si lani)
Većina ovih konkretizacija ostvaruje se preko shvatanja da srce čine osjećaji, a
osjećaji ako se svedu na materijalno oni se mogu darivati, što definira konceptualni
tip SRCE JE POKLON/PREDMET DARIVANJA:
Srce više nije moje,
tebi, dragi, pripalo je!
(Ah, što ćemo ljubav kriti)
Dala bih mu, mamo,
dala bih mu, joj mamice,
dala bih mu srce iz njedara,
joj mamo, mamice!
(Crven fesić, mamo)
Kao i emocije, srce je osjetljivo i krhko, za posljedicu se lomi i razbija, takva
postavka definira koncept SRCE JE LOMLJIV PREDMET:
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Da sam drvce, puklo bi mi srce,
da sam kamen, bih se rastopio!
(Ašikovah tri godine dana)
Što ti pršte sahat na četvero,
to će naša srca popucati,
rastajuć’ se jedno od drugoga!
(Draga dragom na ruci zaspala)
O moj dragi, živa željo moja,
živom sam te željom poželjela!
Živoj mi je srce ispucalo,
baš k’o zemlja ljeti od sunašca.
(Drino vodo, živa žeđo moja)
Reci meni, Ajko mila, voliš me
da mi srce od sevdaha ne pukne.
(Po mjesečini kraj šimšira)
Sokole, pitom sokole,
puče mi srce na dvoje!
(Široka kita, rakita)
Od sevdaha i žalosti, kraj pendžera svog,
prepuče joj bolno srce, neće za drugog.
(Zmaj od Bosne)
Gledalo je momče preko Drine
Gledalo je, pa je dozivalo:
Sapni puce, dilber udovice,
Sapni puce, puknutće mi srce.
(Nasred Foče studena vodica)
U ovakvoj interpretaciji osjećanja se lokalizuju u srcu kao vrijedonosnome objektu.
Koncept skladišenja prisutan je još od starih vremena. Za Egipćane je srce bilo izvor
cjelokupnog života i mišljenja i vjerovalo se da u njemu boravi ono što se može
nazvati "dušom srca", tj. dušom fizičkog tijela. Babilonci su vjerovali da središte
svih strasti nije srce već jetra i da svaka strast, uzbuđenje ili osjećanje ima svoj
vlastiti, posebni odjeljak u jetri.U Turskoj se, primjerice, lokalizuju u jetri
My liver,my soul (Moja jetra, moja duša).
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�Konceptualna metaforizacija stihova sa somatskom sastavnicom srce unutar sevdalinki
Konceprualna metafora omeđenog prostora(engl. container metaphors) ima korijene
u sljedećem iskustvu: osjećanja se skrivaju kako bi se zaštitila. Sve što je vidljivo
vanjskome svijetu, odnosno izloženo vanjskim podražajima je u potencionalnoj
opasnosti. Zato se osjećanja skrivaju „pakirajući” ih u posude ili spremnike. Shodno
ovakvome shvatanju očekivana je izrazita frekventnost konceptualne metafore SRCE
JE SPREMNIK OSJEĆANJA. Kako bi se osjećanja skrila i zaštitila od vanjskih
podražaja, potrebno ih je uvući u nutrinu, što dalje od epiderme, zato se
najadekvatnijim lokalizatorom predočava SRCE jer se ono nalazi u samom središtu
tijela. Srce je projicirano kao POSUDA/SKLADIŠTE s jasno definiranim granicama,
limitirano i ograničeno, s unutra prožetim in-out orijentacijama i s vanjskim i
unutarnjim stranama. (Lakoff i Johnson, 1980:29)
Iz Bosne se tužna pjesma čuje,
to djevojka u srcu tuguje,
za lijepo momče Sulejmana,
jer ga voli tri godine dana!
(Iz Bosne se tužna pjesma čuje)
Zbogom, moja sliko bajna,
suzama ću da te rosim,
bolnoj duši zaft da dadnem,
i u srcu da te nosim!
(Što je život, Safvet-beg Bašagić)
Kad mi sanak spokoj dade
i duša se miru sprema,
kroz srce se glasak krade,
što te nema, što te nema?
(Što te nema? Hasan-agin sevdah)
U Omera šargija tambura,
kad god svira u srce me dira.
(Banjaluko i ravnine tvoje)
Konceptualna metafora SRCE JE STROJ počiva na principu on-off kojim
oplodotvorava mentalna iskustva i psihološka stanja kao unutarnji mehanizam, izvor
energije, pogonsko stanje, razinu učinkovitosti i proizvodnje kapaciteta. Ako srce
jače, više ili življe kuca ono je zaljubljeno, veselo i živahno, ako slabo kuca ili
naposlijetku prestane kucati, u tom slučaju srce je na izmaku snage ili mrtvo.
Sreži meni bejzan anteriju
pa mi kiti puca niz njedarca,
česta puca, gđeno srce kuca
(Kad se ženi Ćurčiću Lutvaga)
Još da nije te Velež planine,
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
čulo bi se ravnom Nevesinju,
čulo bi se Fazlagića Kuli,
čuo bi ga Ibro Fazlagiću!
Po kucanju sahta od čelika,
on bi čuo kucaj srca moga.
(Falila se Šarića kaduna)
Ljubav i ašikovanje su često nemogući i spriječeni nekim preprekama: daljinom,
porodičnim ili društvenim razlozima. U takvim prilikama ljubav se manifestira kao
najveći jad, a srce trpi bol, podnosi rane i definira se žrtvenikom. S tim u vezi,
strukturnim
tipom
definira
se
konceptualna
metafora
SRCE
JE
PACIJENT/BOLESNIK/ŽRTVENIK:
Ti ne haješ za bolove,
za bolove srca moga.
(Kradem ti se u večeri)
U ruci mu dvije dunje žute,
a na srcu dvije rane ljute.
(Mjesečina, mjesec u oblaku)
Ne bi li mu na srce pa’nula
i na srcu ranu načinila.
(Što sam mlada, da sam voda hladna)
Probiću ti granu na fermanu,
A kroz ferman muhtli koporan,
Kroz koporan svilenu košulju,
Kroz košulju tilo na petero,
A kroz tilo srce na sedmero.
(U Saraj'vu devetera vrata)
Zarobljeno srce moje,
prelazeći br’jeg i do.
Tražilom je ne bi l’ našlo
da ublaži srcu bol.
(Zarobljeno srce moje)
Bejturane, Bog t’ ubio grane,
tvoje grane, po mom srcu rane!
(Bejturane, Bog t’ ubio grane)
U mog babe dosta blaga ima,
ali nema pare carevice.
Carevica na srcu ranica!
Kupuj, ago, srmali kanicu
da zavijem na srcu ranicu!
(Crven katmer niz bezistan sađe)
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�Konceptualna metaforizacija stihova sa somatskom sastavnicom srce unutar sevdalinki
Dualnost toplo-hladno ima i negativne i pozitivne konotacije. Deignan (1995: 161) ističe da
se toplina uglavnom koristi za razgovor o jakim emocijama, prijateljskim i
pozitivnim, dok su hladna osjećanja također često jaka, ali inegativna. Prema Lakoffu
i Johnsonu (1980) metafore se temelje na ljudskomiskustvu. Primjerice, vrlo
česta metafora PRIVRŽENOST JE TOPLINA pro-izlazi iz ljudskog osjećaja topline
kada nas
netko
zagrli.
Najvjerojatnije,
većini ljudi na svijetu ne bi bilo iznenađujuće:
takvo poimanje
U Stambolu, na Bosforu,
a u silnog cara dvoru,
zaplakala Šećer Đula,
Osman-paše vjerna ljuba:
"Osman-pašo, đe si mori,
za tobom mi srce gori?
(U Stambolu, na Bosforu)
Na jagluku milo ime piše,
Koje ona žarom srca ljubi
I vjeruje da za njega diše.
(Vezak vezla dilber Ernevaza)
Kono mila, plav zumbule
za oči tvoje srce izgorje.
(Po mjesečini kraj šimšira)
Sad se srce grije kraj moje Rabije!
Ja zapalim škiju, poljubim Rabiju,
oj, Bože moj!
(Nema ljepše cure od malene Đule)
Da znaš, dragi, za bol i jad,
doš’o bi mi bar ponekad.
Nemoj, dušo, takav biti,
srcećeš mi zalediti!
(Bere cura plav' jorgovan)
Dok se kod metafora radi o supostojanju dvaju različitih domena, kod metonimije se
radi o istoj konceptualnoj domeni s aktivnim dvama zonama: ciljni koncept, ono na
šta se misli i svi elementi na koje se cilja, koji su istaknuti.
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Metonimija SRCE ZA OSOBU, pripada metonimijskome tipu DIO ZA CJELINU i
sljedeći su tipični primjeri ovoga vida: pripadanje srce srca, davanje srce srcu ili pri
obraćanju srce moje, čime se blago skreće i ka hiperboli.
Gledalo je momče s one strane,
sve gledalo, za njom uzdisalo:
Srce, dušo, Pembo Atlagića,
sedi sene, pogledaj na mene!
(Kolika je viš' Travnika Bojna)
Nju mi nađe Morić Mustaf-aga,
pa je njojzi tiho govorio:
”Srce, dušo, Odundžina Hato,
digni skute bejaz-anterije,
da ja prođem i čibuk pronesem!”
Njemu veli Odundžina Hata:
”Srce, dušo, Morić Mustafaga,
Ti podigni samur-ćurku skute,
da je prođem i kolo provedem!”
(Podigli se mladi Vratničani)
Odgovara Begza Himzagina:
Srce, dušo, Pridor-kapetane,
jagluk ću ti u ruhu donijeti,
a dukate pod bijelim vratom!
(Poručuje Pridor kapetane)
Govorila dilber Ćima mlada:
Mehemede, šta ćeš večerati?
Ćimo, srce, tvoje bijelo lice!
(Razbolje se gondže Mehmede)
Zaključak
Rad se bavi dvama pitanjima: pojavnošću konceptualne metafore i njezinim
postavkama unutar sevdalinki. Iz razloga što je čovjekova somatska dimenzija često
inferiorna emocionalnoj, u radu se nastoji prikazati učestalost metafora sa
somatskim sastavnicama koje su u službi osjećanja. Da bi se definirala stanja likova
koji sevdišu, potrebno ih je maksimalno približiti recipientu, toliko da ih je moguće
osjetiti u prostoru, što se najpodesnije shvata dekodiranjem orijentacijskih metafora
(engl. orientational metaphors), odnosno tipova RACIO JE GORE, EMOCIJE SU
DOLJE. U nastojanju da čulno učini toliko stvarnim i pipljivim javljaju se ontološke
metafore (engl. ontological metaphors), kojima se nematerijalne stvari objašnjavaju
kao materijalne, pa s tim u vezi srce boli i zarobljeno je, ili kuca i lomi se, pri čemu
su definirane konceptualne metafore SRCE JE STROJ ili PREDMET (često lomljiv,
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�Konceptualna metaforizacija stihova sa somatskom sastavnicom srce unutar sevdalinki
krhak). Metaforom omeđenog prostora (engl. container metaphors) srce postaje
SKLADIŠTE. Najfrekventniji metaforički tip biva strukturalna metafora (engl.
structural metaphors). Univerzalna metaforizacija producira srce paralelno
osjećanjiva, pa je ono uvijek u vezi s ljubavlju, osjetljivo i krhko, za posljedicu se
lomi i razbija. Srce uglavnom biva materijalizirano kao STROJ ili SKLADIŠTE
OSJEĆANJA u funkciji osjećanja spram GLAVE koja je u službi RACIJA.
Definiraju se i konceptualne metafore SRCE JE BOLESNIK/ŽRTVENIK jer u službi
emocija, u kontekstu neuzvraćene ljubavi, srce boli, ranjeno je i podnosi žrtvu, s
druge strane, ako je ljubav uzvraćena definira se koncept PRIVRŠENOST SRCU JE
TOPLINA.
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
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praksi...“ FLUMINENSIA, god. 22 (2010) br. 2, str. 111‒125.
Ungerer, Friederich and Hans Jörg Schmid (1996): An Introduction toCognitive
Linguistics. London: Longman
118
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Konceptualna metaforizacija stihova sa somatskom sastavnicom srce unutar sevdalinki
Author
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Smajlović-Šabić, Indira
Nikolić, Marijana
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
Sažetak: Rad će se baviti iznalaženjem odgovora dvama pitanjima: dinamikom mogućeg udjela metaforiziranih stihova sevdalinke sa somatskom sastavnicom srce, u kognitivnoj perspektivi, s jedne strane, i pojavnošću odgovarajućih konceptualnih modela, s druge strane. Kognitivna lingvistika u ovom smislu obuhvata teoriju pojmovne metafore kao sredstava da se konceptualizuje svijet, ali i uže specifično, kao sredstvo perspektivizacije i usmjeravanja pažnje s dvojakim ciljem: da se naglase željeni stavovi, pogledi i mišljenja i da se odagnaju nebitni i nepoželjni aspekti ostalih pojava. Na taj način sevdalinka konceptualizuje svijet oko sebe, svijet primarno bošnjačko-muslimanski, sa mnogim socijalnim netrpeljivostima koje u ovoj perspektivi bivaju odagnane, jer ne umire se od njih već od sevdaha. Ključne riječi: sevdalinka, sevdisanje, kognitivna lingvistika, konceptualna metafora i metonimija, domene izvora i cilja Abstract The purpose of the study will be to explore the following questions: the dynamics of the possible contribution of metaphorical lyrics in sevdalinka song with the heart as a somatic component, in a cognitive perspective, on the one hand, and the occurrence of corresponding conceptual models, on the other hand. In this sense, cognitive linguistics covers the theory of conceptual metaphor as means of conceptualizing the world, but also in the narrow sense specifically, as means of perspectivisation and directing the attention with a twofold purpose: to emphasize the desirable attitudes, views and opinions, and to dispel unimportant and undesirable aspects of other phenomena. In this manner, sevdalinka conceptualizes the world around it, primarily a Bosniak-Muslim world, with many social animosities being dispelled in this perspective because one dies, in figurative sense, because of sevdah and not because of them. Keywords: sevdalinka, sevdah, cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor and metonymy, domains of source and purpose
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P Philology. Linguistics,PG Slavic, Baltic, Albanian languages and literature
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Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
The Interconnection and Interrelation Features of Words and
Their Importance in Compiling Second Language Dictionaries
Azamat Akbarov
International Burch University
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hadicha Muhiddinova
Uzbekistan State World Languages University
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Submitted: 09.04.2014.
Accepted: 17.11.2014.
Abstract
In the process of teaching language the most important task is to know the
peculiarities of interconnection of words. And one of the effective factors of learning
and teaching Uzbek as a second language is to conduct specific research on
interconnection and interrelation features of words and to compose special
dictionaries of the Uzbek language for Russian-speaking students. Meanwhile, the
issue of interconnection and interrelation peculiarities of words has been investigated
not only by many linguists but by some psychologists as well.One of those prominent
psychological scientists is N.I.Jinkinn. According to him, the integration of speech
units is divided into two phases. He also relates “the grammar field” with the second
phase of speech-unitintegration. Furthermore, he points out that in the first phase of
this process, words and word forms are spread out in the “speech field”. In the
second phase a speaker selects the necessary words for the primary explanation of
the idea,which is followed by the correct grammar form, and then collocates with a
suitable word [1,45]. For instance, according to N.I.Jinkinn,a noun, an adjective and
an adverb do not usually collocate with other words. They are called as lexics, which
are spread in the “vocabulary field” but divided into characteristic groups.
Keywords: Uzbek
interconnection
language,
dictionaries,
interrelation,
second
language,
Introduction
It is necessary to know the interconnection of a particular word with other words.
The acquisition of the speaking process in a second language develops in uneasy way
comparing to the oral process in target language, because the students are not
familiar with the word-association systems of a foreign language. Moreover, critical
27
�The Interconnection and Interrelation Features of Words and Their Importance in Compiling Second
Language Dictionaries
thinking should be developed about the words in context. For instance, in the Uzbek
language conjunctions, auxiliaries and word-forming affixes are mainly used to link
words. However, these grammatical means are not enough to identify the features of
interconnection of words. So, it’s proved that in addition to word-forming affixes,
conjunctions and auxiliaries, there are other grammatical means that serve to connect
two words. Thus, this kind of phenomenon should be taken into consideration while
learning and teaching the language and developing the process of speech [2,53-55].
It is also important to explain the connection of a noun and a verb as key words and
identify their correct and incorrect interrelation meanings. It should be noted that
many handbooks by A.Pulatov, I.Muminova, I.Pulatov[4] and “Modern Uzbek
language,” and especially the research on enriching the speech of studentsby verbal
phrases in non-philological faculties by M.Karakhujaeva[3,23],are very useful. Yet
this represents a drop in the ocean, and classifying Uzbek words into key words,
dividing them according to interconnection features and several other issues have to
be resolved in the future.
G.Ahmedovahas done research on integrating and developing Russian-speaking
students’practice and experience. Her study shows that achieving effective results in
improving Russian speaking students’ skills concerning formed words depends on
successful consolidation of word-forming affixes and lexico-semantic relation
systems. The research also clarifies that one of the unresolved problems in
composing dictionaries is that each meaning of a word is taught individually. Here,
several meanings of words are not combined around one concept. As a result, they
are only learned and even soon forgotten by students [5,79].
In recent years our Uzbek linguists have done some studies on the systems and
interconnection of words. While M.Korakhujaeva is doing her research on linguistic
principles of economic terms, she informs about the interrelation systems in Uzbek
linguistics is studied as a language units and how to use the character of the language
units basing them on system characteristics. She also introduces the extent to which
lexemeshelp improve learners’ speech fluency. The study also declares that it
impossible to improve speaking skills without learning the ways of logical and
semantical interrelation. M.Korakhujaeva’s study deals with word interconnections,
their logical relations, the relation of economic terms with verbs and their
relationship within semantic-syntactic models [6,33].
However, it is investigated that the words different characteristics and features in a
speaking process is a whole dynamic process, while as the usage of oral lexics
features are seen in process. Thus, concrete language events are analyzed, connecting
them to the ways of communicative situations. This analysis is useful in learning
28
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Uzbek as a second language. Russian language-methodology and foreign-language
scientists link semantic principles with lexics and grammar forms in texts. For
example, T.P.Skorikova exemplifies A.A.Leontev’s ideas and agrees with him: “To
share two facts methodically in functional-semantic theory: it is focused on locating
one semantic language form and analyzing oral speech psycholinguistically” [7,8687].
One of the main functions of a good teacher is to pay attention to lexic forms’
relations with semantics, logical interconnection and differentiation features in a
foreign-language context. For instance,the phrase секингапирмоқ (to speak slowly)
in the Uzbek language has many meanings in context. 1) to whisper; 2) to speak at a
low speed. In order to differentiate this situation, one should pay attention to the low
pronunciation features of the word “секин”, when it is spoken about the word in the
meaning of “speed” in the word “секин”, it is pronounced [i:].When it is talked about
in the meaning of low voice the word “секин”is pronounced [i]. Such cases of
homophony can cause a number of difficulties in the process of language learning. In
the language spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina, homographs are numerous.
Bosnian, a language stemming from the Slavic family, bearing close ties to the
neighboring Croatian and Serbian languages, has a notoriously difficult system of
homographic, but not homophonic, words. Thus, words such as pas (belt) and pas
(dog) are differentiated via the length of the central vowel, [a:] and [ʌ] respectively.
Similarly, the vowel length determines the meaning in duga /du:gʌ/ (rainbow) and
duga /dugʌ/ (long), luk /luk/ (onion) and luk /lu:k/ (bow), kupiti /ku:piti/ (buy) and
kupiti /kupɪti/(pick up, collect). Additionally, functional lexemes such as the
auxiliary form of to be in Bosnian is a homograph with the word for solitude; thus
sam /sʌm/ (to be, present tense, nom.) and sam /sa:m/ (alone) can be differentiated
only through the slight tonal change. Finally, the numerous cases remnant in Bosnian
create homographs through case change. For example, the word unuka
/unʊkʌ/(granddaughter) is in the nominative case. The word unuka /unuka:/ is the
plural genitive form of the word grandchildren[12]. These kinds of differences of
oral forms are seen in use context.It is very important to differentiate functionalsemantic, phonetic, lexical, morphological and syntactic features in teaching oral
speech.
From this point of view, it is one of the problems at the center of attention of
lexicographers in the relation of systematic words.
The linguist L.M. Plehanova emphasizes that when composing dictionaries we have
to pay attention to the lexical feature of an idea. From this point of view, integration
lexicography dictionaries should be compiled as follows:1. An explanation of
words.2. The usage of words. 3. The origin of words. 4. Synonyms. 5. Antonyms. 6.
29
�The Interconnection and Interrelation Features of Words and Their Importance in Compiling Second
Language Dictionaries
Homonyms. 7. Association. 8. Lexical-syntactic connections (with nouns, adjectives,
verbs). 9. Predicative centers. 10. Phrases. 11. Illustrations [8,11-12]
These kinds of dictionaries havea great practical importance. In the future, serious
attention should be given to compiling Uzbek dictionaries and to make special
studies on teaching words and their interrelation, one stem words and how to show
their connection, their images in a mother tongue, their all parts and associations and
their active lexics help to activate passive words.
As a first experiment it was used for beginner classes as Uzbek-Russian picture
dictionary [9]. In the dictionary, some words are given as descriptive expressions, as
themes, and sometimes they are placed next to the dictionary articles. For example,
the word ўсимликлар, a big group name, was sub-grouped into by дарахтлар,
майсалар, гуллар, полиз экинлари. Dividing to the groups of thing-object nouns,
from general to specific helps students to learn the words better and use them their
ownways.
In some pictures it was associated to show all parts of a thing-object. For instance,
while giving the word дарахт (tree) it’s necessary to present the other tree parts as:
илдизи, танаси, пўсти, шох, барг, гул, новда, мева, because pupils imagine the
tree with all its parts and know how to name each part of a tree in their mother
tongue.
In that position, we should say that naming component parts and logical-semantic
relationship of a thing-objectnoun in mother tongue and learning language should be
differentiated. We can see this in examples from the Uzbek and Russian languages.
For instance, in Uzbek, the tree’s upper part is called пўстлоқ (bark) but a melon’s
and watermelon’s upper part called пўчоқ (peeling). In the Russian language it is
called корочка.
The inner seeds of melons are called as қовуннинг уруғи, while in a watermelon they
are called тарвузнинг дони. In other words, the words can differ from the semantic
relationship and interconnection. In the Russian language, both of them are translated
as косточка. So, the name of thing-object picture it’s good idea to give them as
dividing into component parts and show all their names separately.
Moreover, different exercises focused on synonym and homonym formations and
antonym-formed wordscan help learners to differentiate words and grammatical
ways of meanings. These types of exercises, according to linguist M.A.Jurabayeva,
should be accepted in addressing the following issues:
- the special difficulties of word forming;
30
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
-
from the simple to complex didactic principles;
written and oral exercises that serve for constructive structure;
learning process and self-study of students [10,13].
Certainly, in learning a language, one should be aware of the word-formation
possibilities. Learning and teaching the possibilities of word formation suffixes place
a great practical role for enhancing vocabulary and developing exercises. Nowadays,
this is the most important issue for compiling successful and useful Uzbek
dictionaries for use in mastering a second language. Moreover, it’s pleasant to know
that the Uzbek language is not only becoming known and taught in Uzbekistan, but
all over the world.
References
Жинкин И.Н. Речь как проводник информации. – М.: Наука, 1982. – С. 45.
Султонова О. Ўзбек тили дарсларида ўкувчилар нуткини ўстириш. // Тил ва
адабиёт таълимида янги педагогик технологиялар, 2-қисм. – Т.: 2006. 53-55-б.
Қорахўжаева М. Феълларни ўқитиш асосида нофилологик гуруҳлар
талабаларининг касбий нутқини шакллантириш методикаси: АКД. – Т.:
2002. - 23-б.
Пўлатов А., Мўминова Т., Пўлатова И. Дунёвий ўзбек тили. – Т.: ЎзМУ, 2003.
Абдураҳмонова М., Аббосова Г.. Нутқ ўстириш бўйича қўлланма (Ўзбекистон
Республикаси Президенти асарлари бўйича). –Т.: 1998.
Ахмедова Г.М.. Ўзбек тили дарсларида ўкувчилар нуткини ясама сўзлар билан
бойитишнинг методик асослари (таълим рус тилида олиб бориладиган
мактаблар мисолида): Пед. фан. ... номз. дисс. – Т.: 2003. - 79-б.
Қорахўжаева М. Феълларни ўқитиш асосида нофилологик гуруҳлар
талабаларининг касбий нутқини шакллантириш методикаси:
Пед.фан....номз.дисс. –Т.: 2002. - 3-б.
СкориковаТ.П.. Теория функционально-семантического поля и проблема
соотношения системности – функциональности – коммуникативности //
Языковая системность при коммуникативном обучении.– М.: Русский
язык, 1988. – С. 86-87.
Плеханова Л.М. Лингво стилистические особенности семантико31
�The Interconnection and Interrelation Features of Words and Their Importance in Compiling Second
Language Dictionaries
функциональный характер лексем, выражающих гуманистические
ценности: АКД. – Т.: 1998. – С. 11-12.
Ҳожиев А., МуҳиддиноваХ..С. Ўзбекча-русча ва русча-ўзбекча расмли луғат
(таълим рус тилида олиб бориладиган мактабларнинг бошланғич
синфлари учун). – Т.: Ўқитувчи, 2007.
Джурабаева М.А. Аффиксальная синонимия в узбекском языке: АКД,. – Т.:
1975. – С. 13.
Халиловић, С. Правопис Босанског Језика. Културно Друштво Препород, 1996.
32
�
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The Interconnection and Interrelation Features of Words and Their Importance in Compiling Second Language Dictionaries
Author
Author
Akbarov, Azamat
Muhiddinova, Hadicha
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
In the process of teaching language the most important task is to know the peculiarities of interconnection of words. And one of the effective factors of learning and teaching Uzbek as a second language is to conduct specific research on interconnection and interrelation features of words and to compose special dictionaries of the Uzbek language for Russian-speaking students. Meanwhile, the issue of interconnection and interrelation peculiarities of words has been investigated not only by many linguists but by some psychologists as well.One of those prominent psychological scientists is N.I.Jinkinn. According to him, the integration of speech units is divided into two phases. He also relates “the grammar field” with the second phase of speech-unitintegration. Furthermore, he points out that in the first phase of this process, words and word forms are spread out in the “speech field”. In the second phase a speaker selects the necessary words for the primary explanation of the idea,which is followed by the correct grammar form, and then collocates with a suitable word [1,45]. For instance, according to N.I.Jinkinn,a noun, an adjective and an adverb do not usually collocate with other words. They are called as lexics, which are spread in the “vocabulary field” but divided into characteristic groups. Keywords: Uzbek language, dictionaries, interrelation, second language, interconnection
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-04-09
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics,PE English,PR English literature
-
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e09477b38fa29aac527451e113c9b7d3
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Text
Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class:
semantically related sets (SR), semantically unrelated sets
(SU), thematically related sets (TR)
Fatma Aksoy
Anadolu University, Turkey
Submitted: 09.04.2014.
Accepted: 01.11.2014.
Abstract
The present study was designed to investigate if there is a significant difference
among SR clustering, SU clustering and TR clustering of vocabulary presented to
Turkish EFL learners, and if there is, which way of presentation would be a more
useful tool in a Turkish EFL classroom. A total of 46 preparatory school students,
studying at Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages, participated in this
study. The participants were required to provide Turkish equivalents of the 15 new
words presented in semantic, thematic or totally unrelated sets that they were
encouraged to learn through word cards. The data gathered from 37 of these
participants were analyzed. The results of the delayed tests revealed that semantically
related sets (SR) significantly differed from unrelated and thematic sets, and helped
the participants learn and recall more words, while the results of the immediate tests
did not yield to a statistically significant difference.
Keywords: Vocabulary presentation, semantic clustering, lexical sets, thematic
clustering.
Introduction
“Without grammar very little can be conveyed,without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed.”
David Arthur Wilkins, 1972
As the quotation above lays bare, vocabulary is vitally important for the generation
and maintenance of communication, which is the preliminary purpose of learning a
language. If we regard communication, either oral or written, as a wall that we put up
with the advent of every kind of new knowledge related to language, without a
shadow of a doubt, words constitute the bricks of this wall. Despite this importance,
69
�A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR),
semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
however, vocabulary has only recently gained recognition. As Decarrico points out
(2001):
Vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition, whether the language is
first, second or foreign. Although vocabulary has not always been recognized as a
priority in language teaching, interest in its role in second language learning has
grown rapidly in recent years, and specialists now emphasize the need for a
systematic and principled approach to vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner.
(p.285)
Perceiving vocabulary differently from time to time may be attributed to the
historical development process of language learning and teaching in general.
Although vocabulary teaching was notably important when Grammar Translation
Method and Reading Approach were the leading languageteaching methodologies
(the early decades of the 20th century), the emergence of Audio-lingual Method had a
devastating effect on vocabulary teaching and research, with the argument that too
much vocabulary learning would distract learners from the main purpose of language
learning, which was, at that time, basic habit formation of phonological and grammar
patterns. 1980s and after, however, have seen a resurgence of interest in vocabulary
instruction (Seal, 1990). Now, after having been of secondary importance for a
period of time, vocabulary instruction is coming into prominence with “the teachers
and researchers waking up to the realization that vocabulary is an important area
worthy of effort and investigation” (Seal, 1990:309).
Besides the significance of vocabulary instruction, yet another reality of the issue
that we need to embrace is that learning vocabulary poses a great challenge for EFL
learners due to the amount of the words that a learner needs to know and the
complexity of learning process. As Schmidt(2000)alsospecifies,languages include
enormous numbers of words, “something that was probably already obvious from the
thickness of your dictionary.” (p.6) It is certainly not possible to learn all of these
words and “the learning process is not an all-or-nothing process in which a word is
suddenly and completely available for use.” (Schmidt, 2000:6)However, regarding
that the significance of vocabulary has been recognized, only recently though,
language teachers as well as authors and researchers in the field are faced with how
learners can best learn as many vocabulary items as possible. In an effort to seek
answers to this question, studies on such current issues as implicit learning versus
explicit learning, presenting vocabulary in context versus in isolation, monolingual
dictionaries versus bilingual dictionaries, etc. have emerged. Of these current issues,
an equally controversial one is presenting new vocabulary in semantic sets versus
thematic sets, which is the argument that this paper endeavors to tackle.
70
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
As will be mentioned later, not many studies have been recorded on this
controversial issue in Turkish context, which was the starting point of the present
study. In addition to the scarcity of related studies in Turkey, especially in
preparatory classes, the importance of how vocabulary is presented as well as what is
presented and how it is taught, on which a good number of studies have already been
carried out, played a crucial role on the emergence of this study. As for the
significance of this study, it is expected to reveal beneficial results for learners,
teachers and textbook writers with regard to the way of vocabulary presentation that
can pave the way for the most effective vocabulary learning. Below each side of this
argument, namely semantic clustering and thematic clustering of vocabulary, is
discussed referring to related empirical studies.
Review of Literature
Semantic Clustering
Semantic clustering of vocabulary simply means presenting words that share the
same semantic and syntactic features, generally grouped under a headword (e.g.
flower names or clothing items). (Mirjalili, Jabbari, Rezai, 2012)To be more precise,
they share the same semantic features, which means that they have similar meanings.
As for what is meant by “they share the same syntactic features,” itindicates that they
conform to the rules of syntax, a branch of linguistics that is interested in the way in
which words are put together in sentences.To give an example, dish-bowl-plate and
shirt-jacket-sweater are semantic clusters, with the headwords being kitchen utensils
and clothing items respectively. (Tinkham, 1997) They have similar meanings (share
semantic features) and they all belong to the same part of speech (share syntactic
features).Below semantic clustering is discussed referring to both supporters and
opponents considering that there is dichotomy in the research area regarding its use
in vocabulary teaching.
As AlShaikhi(2011) indicates, despite many a textbook writer who presents new
vocabulary in semantic sets without empirical basis, Seal(1990) explainsthe reasons
why he prefers such presentation in his book American Vocabulary Builder 1:
Semantic clustering makesmore sense in terms of vocabulary structure and progress
and enables learners to guess the meanings of the unknown words as they are
presented with other words that share similar characteristics. Other writers who
provide justification for semantic clustering include Neuner (1992) and Dunbar
(1992). Neuner maintains that learners need less effort to learn words in semantic
sets and it is easier to retrieve the words learned in such a way from memory.
Similarly, Dunbar puts forward that semantic sets provide learners with an
opportunity to see how information is organized and stored in the brain and also
enables learners to notice how the words are similar or different.
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�A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR),
semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
All in all, employing semantic sets in vocabulary teaching and thus textbooks dates
back to the advent of notional/functional syllabuses, developed by Wilkins (1976).
As Nunan (2001) states:
“Notions are general conceptual meanings such as time, cause and duration,
while functions are the communicative purposes that are achieved through
language such as apologizing, advising and expressing preferences (p.61).”
Considering that notions and/or functions are placed at the center of syllabus design,
it seems inevitably easier to present new vocabulary in semantic sets.
Other authors and researchers, on the other hand, hold the very opinion that semantic
clustering hinders vocabulary learning as words sharing similar syntactic and
semantic features interfere with each other (Higa, 1963; Laufer, 1986; Nation, 2001).
Nation (2002) provides language teachers with some guidelinesregarding deliberate
vocabulary learning through the use of word cards, which also includes a warning to
avoid interference as follows:
“Make sure that words of similar meaning or of related meaning are not
together in the same pack of cards. This means days of the week should not
be all learned at the same time. The same applies to months of the year,
numbers, opposites, words with similar meanings, and words belonging to
the same category, such as items of clothing, names of fruit, parts of the
body and thingsin the kitchen. These items interfere with each other and
make learning much more difficult.” (p.42)
So as to base the opposing ideas to semantic clustering on scientific grounds, it is
worth mentioning Interference Theory, developed by McGeoch (1992), which claims
that two learning materials interfere with one another and consequently learning is
impaired. As Baddeley (1990) indicates,“as similarity increases between targeted
information and other information learnt either before or after the targeted
information, the difficulty of learning and remembering the targeted information also
increases” (Papathanasiou, 2009: 318). Concordantly, it seems unequivocally
illogical to present word items sharing similar syntactic and semantic characteristics
together.
In a similar vein, Distinctiveness Hypothesis by Hunt and Mitchell (1982) also links
ease of learning to distinctiveness, in other words non-similarity, of the information
to be learned. In the light of these two sound supports against semantic clustering, we
can move on to adiscussion of the third method of vocabulary presentation
mentioned in this study.
72
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Thematic Clustering
Thematic clustering is grouping words that share the same thematic concept although
they may not share the same syntactic features (Mirjalil, Jabbari, Rezai, 2012). To
illustrate, as explained above, what is meant by “sharing the same syntactic features”
is thatwords may not be used in a sentence in the same way; in other words, they may
not belong to the same part of speech. Another characteristic of thematic clustering is
that the words presented in thematic sets are cognitively associated. To give an
example, beach, sunny and swim are thematic clusters(Tinkham, 1997), and although
they share the same thematic concept, they all come from different parts of speech,
noun, adjective and verb respectively.
Of the key principles of teaching vocabulary, such as presenting new vocabulary in
rich contexts to provide learners with clues and multiple exposures to target
vocabulary, one principle suggests “exercises and activities include learning words in
word association lists” (Decarrico, 2001:288).Such cognitive associations of words
are useful on the grounds that they reflect the relationships in the mind (Decarrico,
2001).Similarly,Haycraft (1987) holds the view that words related to a general theme
should be offered together. For example, teaching such words as brake, crash, door,
engine, seat, speed, passenger, park (the words that means of transportation have in
common) is likely to come in more useful than teaching only all the means of
transportation such as cars, trains, aeroplanes, etc. at a time. The logic behind this is
that once the learners acquire the underlying vocabulary items, “the teacher can make
the application wider and more useful, and can revise the vocabulary later in different
situations” (p.46).
The scientific basis of thematic clustering can be attributed to Barlett’s Schema
Theory, whose foundations he laid in 1932(cited in AlShaikhi, 2011). Schema
Theory simply maintains that knowledge is organized into units and stored
accordingly. That is to say, just like in the mother tongue acquisition, a learner of a
second or foreign language forms a schema with the advent of a new word and
company of thematically related words expands this schema and thus the vocabulary
knowledge of the learner. In this sense, Schema Theory can be said to closely relate
to Haycraft and Deccario’s viewpoint mentioned above.
Having reviewed the concepts of semantic clustering, along with arguments for and
against, and thematic clustering,along with their scientific bases, it is well worth
peeking over the empirical investigations into the issue.
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semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
Related Research Studies
As a result of having placed much importance on teaching and learning vocabulary in
recent years, a good number of studies have been conducted to gain insights into, in
semantic and lexical terms, which way of presenting new vocabulary proves to be a
more useful tool. (Tinkham, 1997, Waring, 1997; Finkbeiner and Nicol, 2003;
Hashemi and Gowdasiaei, 2005; Erten and Tekin, 2008; Papathanasiou, 2009;
Hoshino, 2010; Bolger and Zapata, 2011; Mirjalili, Fabbari and Rezai, 2012) It is
worth mentioning that these studies have come up with different findings, although
many of them are in favor of making use of either semantically unrelated sets or
thematically related sets in vocabulary teaching.
To begin with,Tinkham(1997)explored the effects of semantic and thematic
clustering on L2 vocabulary learning, and concluded that the latter facilitates
vocabulary learning, whereas the former hinders it. He carried out two separate
experimentsin which he compared the effect of semantically related artificial words
with that of unrelated artificial words and thematically related artificial words
respectively. To reinforce the findings that semantically related sets are superior to
semantically unrelated sets, but inferior to thematically related sets in terms of
learning and recall of vocabulary, subject perceptions of relative difficulty of the
aforementioned vocabulary sets were also recorded on a short questionnaire.
Waring(1997) carried out a close replication of Tinkham’s, in which he paired
Japanese words with artificial ones. This replication study also brought the
facilitative effect of thematic related and unrelated sets over semantically related sets
to the light, supporting the findings from the original study. Additionally, Waring, in
his study, administered a trials-to-criterion test to find out which of the two sets in
each experiment (1. Semantically related sets versus semantically unrelated sets, 2.
Semantically related sets versus thematically related sets) was learned completely
before the other one.
Similarly, Finkbeinerand Nicol (2003) conducted a study, in which the participants
learned 32 new words in either a related or unrelated way, and were asked to
translate these words at test. The researchers found that the participants translated the
words learned in semantic sets more slowly and their translation performance was
reported to be lower in proportion to the unrelated sets.
A similar study from Turkish context, by Erten and Tekin(2008), indicated that
presenting words in semantically unrelated sets proved to be a more useful tool than
presenting vocabulary in semantically related sets. The researchers also confirmed
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
that, with help of delayed post-test, the positive effect of the unrelated sets persisted
in the long term. It was also established that the participants completed the test for
semantically related vocabulary at a longer time then they did at the test for unrelated
vocabulary, which demonstrates that it takes more time and is relatively more
difficult to recall the words learned in semantically related sets.
Papathanasiou’s(2009) action research, in which the Greek EFL learners learned and
were tested on six related word lists (either sense relation such as synonyms,
antonyms and homonyms, or topic relation) and six word lists that did not have any
relationship at all, investigated which of the aforementionedmethods was more
useful. The findings suggested that presentation of unrelated vocabulary facilitated
vocabulary learning among adult learners at beginner level.
A recent study whose findings are compatible with the previous ones listed here
isBolger and Zapata’s (2011) extension of Finkbeiner and Nicol’sresearch, in which
they presented 32 artificial words in either semantically related or unrelated sets,
embedding them in story context. Apart from making use of context, what makes this
study differ from previous ones is that it included three phases, in the third of which
a stimulus template was introduced to make stimulus match verification with eyetracking possible. The researchers concluded that semantic relatedness inhibited
vocabulary learning or delayed it. However, it was also noted that use of context
moderated the negative effects of semantic clustering.
The latest of the related studies mentioned above was conducted by Mirjalili, Fabbari
and Rezai (2012), whoexamined the effects of semantic, thematic and unrelated
clustering of vocabulary for different proficiency levels, namely elementary, preintermediate and intermediate, under two instructional approaches of isolation and
context. The results demonstrated that semantically related words were recalledleast
frequently, and the participants recalled more words when they were exposed to
thematically related sets. Another finding of the study was that the participants
performed better when the words were presented in isolation rather than in context.
As a result, the findings of this study are also in line with Interference Theory,
Distinctiveness Hypothesis and Schema Theory.
Despite the abundance of research in favor of presenting new vocabulary in
semantically unrelated sets, there are few studies with findings in the opposite
direction. Hashemi and Gowdasiaei(2005)managed a study to assess the
effectiveness of lexical sets and semantically unrelated vocabulary instruction on 60
EFL learners from Iran. In contrast to the findings mentioned above, lexical sets
proved to be more useful for upper- and lower-level students, with the upper-level
students making more progress.
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semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
Accordingly, AlShaikhi (2011) obtained results against thematic clustering in his
thesis study for his Master of Arts degree. Although he hypothesized that the most
effective way would be thematic clustering among semantically related, semantically
unrelated and thematically related vocabulary lists, the results revealed that
semantically related and unrelated sets are better to gain new vocabulary with no
statistically significant difference, whereas thematically related setsare the least
effective.
The final research study to mention is by Hoshino (2010), who investigated which of
the five types of word lists –namely, synonyms, antonyms, categorical, thematic and
arbitrary (unrelated)–contributed to maximum learning of new vocabulary in a
classroom setting. According to the results, neither semantically related (synonyms
and antonyms) nor thematic lists, but categorical lists proved to be the most effective.
As an example of a 10-item vocabulary list and test offered by the researcher
indicates, “categorical list” meansa list that contains two words from five different
semantic categories; to exemplify, moth-wasp, asthma-diabetes, calf-chick.
In a nutshell, clashing points of view and research findings confront us with a
controversy. Despite this controversy, most textbooks keep presenting new
vocabulary in semantic sets with no empirical justification. Along with this being a
controversial situation and the prevailing presentation of new vocabulary in a
semantically related way, scarcity of related research studies in the Turkish context
addressing preparatory school learners also paved the way for the present study to be
conducted with the intention of seeingwhether presenting vocabulary in semantically
related, semantically unrelated and thematically related sets yields to statistically
significant difference as the previous studies suggest. Therefore, the present study
sought answers to the following research questions:
1. Is there a significant difference between SR clustering, SU clustering and TR
clustering of vocabulary presented to Turkish EFL learners?
2. If there is, which way of presentation would be a more useful tool in a Turkish
EFL classroom?
Methodology
Participants
Forty-six Turkish EFL students studying at the preparatory school of
AnadoluUniversity participated in the present study. According to Common
European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR), the participants were at
B2 level. However, Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages prefers to split
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
B1 and B2 levels into two as B1.1 - B1.2 and B2.1 - B2.2, aiming to elaborate the
learning outcomes for each level and better equipthe learners with these outcomes. In
light of this fact, the participants of the current study fall into B2.1 level, which is
assumed to correspond to intermediate level. It is worth mentioning that they were
two repeat-classes (not mainstream); that is to say, it was the second time the
participants were studying at the mentioned level. It is equally necessary to note that
most of the participants had been studying at this school for four semesters,
indicating that they also repeated some of the previous modules (A, B1.1, B1.2,
B2.1).
The participants’ language-proficiencylevel was determined by the proficiency exam
of the schoolthat they sat after a placement test at the beginning of the fall term
(2013). Each module takes eight weeks on average, at the end of which learners sit
an end-of-module test. Those who get 60 and above are entitled to pass to the next
level, whereas those who obtain less than 60 are required to repeat the same module.
This study was carried out at the beginning of the spring term (2013), namely at the
third module of the year. Since the experiment was conducted only one week after
the end-of-module exam of the previous module, and the participants sat the very
same exam, they were assumed to be at the same level.
Materials and Instruments
Three word lists, (semantically related (SR), semantically unrelated (SU) and
thematically related (TR)), each containing fifteen words, were utilized during the
implementation of the present study. Benefiting from a number of similar studies
(AlShaikhi, 2011; Papathanasiou, 2009; Erten&Tekin, 2008) thefollowing criteria
were determined to decide on the words to be used in each list:
The words must be unfamiliar to the participants
The words must not contain cognates.
Borrowed words should be abstained from.
Words with idiomatic meaning should be avoided.
Concrete words should be chosen as much as possible. (The logic behind
this is the ease of teaching and testing rather than the cognitive development
of the participants.)
The words on semantically related list should belong to the same part of
speech. As mentioned before, it is not possible to control the parts of speech
of thematic clusters. Unrelated sets could have contained the words that
belong to the same part of speech; however, in this study, different parts of
speech were chosen.
With the aforementioned criteria having been considered, three word lists were
formed.
The
words
on
SR
list
were
taken
from
a
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�A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR),
semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
website(http://www.enchantedlearning.com/wordlist/landforms.shtml),with
the
headword landforms. The 15 words were all nouns and the mean of letters was 5.86.
The words on the TR list, including five verbs, four nouns and five adjectives, were
taken from another website (http://www.majortests.com/word-lists/word-list11.html), with the mean of letters being 5.73. Nine words out of 15 on the TR list
were taken from AlShaikhi’s (2011) master’s thesis, in which the thematic set of
words concerned ahospital theme, whereas the other six words were added by the
researcher herself. This list included six verbs, five nouns and four adjectives, with
the mean of letters being 7.4. In order to ensure that the participants were unfamiliar
with every one of the words, a pilot study was conducted with 10 students sharing
similar characteristics with the participants. The attendants of the pilot study were
provided with the word lists, and asked to tick the words they know or have seen
before.
Another material used was the small word cards with which the participants were
provided to write the English words on one side and the Turkish equivalents on the
other in orderto learn and practice the target words. The reason why word cards were
preferred over word lists was to preventlist-effect(Nakata, 2008).The word lists were
also used as the testing material, with the words having been reshuffled to avoid the
risk that the participant may have recalled the meanings of the words to be learned
thanks to visual memory if they had been tested in the same order. Finally, a short
questionnaire of four open-ended questions were employed in which the participants
were asked about their perception of the difficulty of learning the words on each list
and the immediate tests subsequent to each teaching session. The open-ended
questions were taken from Tinkham’s (1997) experimental study and included which
set the participants found the most difficult, why they thought it was difficult, which
set they found to be the easiest and why they thought it was easy. It is worth
mentioning that the Turkish translations of the questions were addressed to the
participants, and they were asked to respond in Turkish as well. The reason why the
native language was preferred although the participants would have been able to
comprehend and answer the questions in English was to enable them to express
themselves better. (See Appendix for the instruments)
Data Collection
Once it was confirmed that the participants were unlikely to know or recognize the
words to be used, the data-collection procedure was started. The study was conducted
with two classes, each containing 23 students, during normal 45-minute class hours,
and was completed within two weeks. The first week was allocated for learning the
new words and immediate tests, and a delayed test was administered in the following
week. Subsequent to the delayed tests, the participants were requested to answer four
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open-ended questions, adapted from Thinkham (1997). The purpose was to gain
insights into students’ perception of the difficulty of the different types of clustering.
Each intact class was offered each word list with the same order (SR-SU-TR) on the
same day in two different class hours. Word sets were presented every other day,
namely Monday (SR), Wednesday (SU) and Friday (TR). Since, based on the pilot
study, the participants were assumed not to know or have seen the target words
before, no pre-test was administered prior to the presentation. Therefore, each lesson
had three main steps, presentation, practice and immediate test respectively. The
same procedure was followed for each word set.
Ten minutes were allocated for the presentation phase, in which the participants saw
a list of the 15 words with their parts of speech projected on the thin client. The
teacher first read aloud the words so as to familiarize the students with the form of
the target words and then provided the Turkish translations. The participants were
asked to write the new English words on one side of the small cards provided by the
teacher and the Turkish translations on the other. The purpose was to enable the
participants to learn the new vocabulary at a receptive level only; that is, they were
merely expected to learn and recall the meaning of the words.
The second step of each lesson was the practice, for which twenty minutes were
allocated. The participants were encouraged to learn the words with help of
repetition. While they were practicing the words by turning the cards over and over,
the teacher walked around the class to provide help if necessary. After the students
went through the cards as many times as they needed (they were encouraged to do it
at least five to six times), the teacher asked them to orally provide Turkish
equivalents of the words she uttered.
Once the time allocated for the practice was over, the word cards were collected and
immediate test sheets were distributed. It is worth mentioning that the test paper was
the same as the list provided at the very beginning of the lesson, with a different
order of the words and, needless to say, without the Turkish equivalents. The
participants were required to write the Turkish translations of the target words at
their own pace. The words were presented in isolation because the purpose of the
assessment here was to see if the participants could recall the words they had just
learned and find out which way of vocabulary presentation (SR, SR, TR) better
facilitated learning and recollection. Depth of processing, a theory by Craik and
Lockhart (1972) (cited in Brown &Perry, 1991)that suggests“retention is dependent
on the level at which information is processed” (p.657), had to be disregarded;
translation was preferred because it was quick and practical.
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semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
Data Analysis and Results
In both the immediate and the delayed tests, the participants were required to provide
the Turkish translations of the 15 words given, and each correct translation was
considered as one point, making the total score in every list 15. It is worth
mentioning that the data provided by the participants who did not sit any of the six
tests (three immediate and three delayed) were excluded. The remaining data
gathered from the tests (of the 37 participants who sat all the tests) were computed
through IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive
statistics along with a one-way Repeated Measures ANOVA test were run. One-way
Repeated Measures ANOVA was used because the data were collected from the
same participants at different time periods (Larson-Hall, 2010). Additionally, content
analysis was used to analyze the participants’ answers to the questions regarding the
difficulty of the word sets. The findings of these tests as well as the participants’
answers to the questionnaire are expressed below.
Quantitative Results
The participants’ scores on the immediate tests for each clustering were quite close to
each other. The mean scores for SR, SU and TR were M=14.35, M=14.46 and
M=14.62 respectively. Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the immediate test
results for each clustering.
Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of the Immediate Test Results
Group
SR
SU
TR
Number of
Participants
37
37
37
Mean
Scores
14.35
14.46
14.62
of Standard
Deviation
1.418
1.426
.861
Minimum
Score
9
7
12
Maximum
Score
15
15
15
Although the mean scores for each clustering were slightly different from one
another, a one-way Repeated Measures ANOVA (RM ANOVA) was run to see if
this is statistically the case. Regarding the immediate test scores, the one-way
Repeated Measures ANOVA revealed a non-significant difference amongthe three
types of vocabulary clustering, F(2.72)=.480, p>.001.
The delayed test results, on the other hand, differed from one another to a larger
extentcompared to the immediate test results. It was revealed that the participants
performed better on the SR test (M= 11.05), while their performance wasreported to
be considerably similar concerning SU and TR sets, with the mean scores being
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
M=8.16 and M=8.08 respectively. Table 3 displays the descriptive statistics of the
delayed test results for each clustering.
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of the Delayed Test Results
Group
SR
SU
TR
Number of
Participants
37
37
37
Mean
Scores
11.05
8.16
8.08
of Standard
Deviation
3.636
4.622
3.244
Minimum
Score
2
1
2
Maximum
Score
15
15
14
As the descriptive statistics indicate, there seemed to be an important difference
between SR clustering and the other two types of clustering. To be able to ensure this
difference and if it is statistically significant, a one-way Repeated Measures ANOVA
was run on the data gathered from the delayed tests. The one-way Repeated
Measures ANOVA revealed a significant difference among the three types of
vocabulary clustering, F(2,72)=13.118, p<.001. To see which types of sets caused
this difference, a follow-up independent samples t-test was conducted.
Table 3. Paired Samples Statistics
Std.Error Mean
Pair 1: SR
SU
Pair 2: SR
TR
Pair 3: SU
TR
Mean
11.05
8.16
11.05
8.08
8.16
8.08
N
37
37
37
37
37
37
Std. Deviation
3.636
4.622
3.636
3.244
4.622
3.244
.598
.760
.598
.733
.760
.533
The independent samples t-test revealed a statistically significant difference between
SR (M=11.05, SD=3.636) and SU (M=8.16, SD=4.622),t(36)=4.535, p<.001.
Another statistically significant difference was reported between SR (M=11.05,
SD=3.636) and TR (M=8.08, SD=3.244),t(36)=4.857, p<.001. However, no
significant difference was found between SU (M=8.16, SD=4.622) and TR (M=8.08,
SD=3.244), t(36)=.111,p>.05. Table 4 below displays the results of the paired sample
t-test in more detail.
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�A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR),
semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
Table 4. Paired Samples Test
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Std.
Error
Mean
95%Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper t
df
Sig. (2tailed)
Pair
SR
SU
1 2.892
3.879
.638
1.559
4.185
4.535
36
.000
2.973
3.723
.612
1.732
4.214
4.857
36
.000
Pair
SR
TR
2
.081
4.431
.728
-1.396
1.558
.111
36
.912
Pair
3SU
TR
Qualitative Results
Once the six sessions (three teaching sessions followed by immediate tests – three
delayed tests) were completed within two weeks, each participant was asked the
following questions:
1. Which set did you find to be the most difficult?
2. Why do you think it was difficult?
3. Which set did you find to be the easiest?
4. Why do you think it was easy?
Thirty-seven participants answered the questions.Table 5 displays the data gathered
regarding questions 1 and 3. As the results indicate, the participants reported to find
the semantically unrelated set the most difficult (n: 24 - %64.86), whereas semantic
clustering seemed to be the easiest to the participants (n:20 - %54.05). The
qualitative results related to the easiest set are congruent with the quantitative results,
namely the test scores of the participants. However, a great number of the
participants said they found the semantically unrelated set the most difficult, even
thoughit was the thematic set in which they performed the worst.
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Table 5. The Participants’ Perception of the Difficulty of the Word Sets
The most difficult
The easiest
Word Sets
Number *
Percentage
Number *
SR
6
%16.21
20
SU
24
%64.86
2
TR
7
%18.91
15
37
%100
37
Total
*Number refers to the number of the participants.
Percentage
%54.05
%5.4
%40.54
%100
Regarding questions 2 and 4, inquiring as to the reasons why the participants found a
particular type of clustering easiest or most difficult, inductive content analysis was
used since “the data moves from the specific to the general, and particular instances
are observed and then combined into a general whole” (Elo, &Kyngas, 2007).
As stated above, the participants reported to have found the SU set the most difficult.
Regarding the reasons, most of the participants agreed on that no relationship among
the words in terms of meaning as well as different parts of speech made learning and
recalling process difficult. Some of the participants noted that SU set was easy to
learn but difficult to retrieve from the memory. Still some other participants stated
that they had great difficulty associating the words with one another, thus could not
remember a good number of them.
In reply to question 4, most of the participants conveyed to have found the SR set the
easiest. Most of the participants stated that they found the SR set to be the easiest
because they came from the same part of speech and were similar in terms of
meaning. According to the participants, it was easy to learn and recall these words
because they were semantically related to each other. Some participants also reported
that this set was easier since it enabled them to visualize the words better. Other
participants claimed that the words in this set were shorter and easier to pronounce,
thus making these words easier to learn and retrieve from the memory. A few
participants noted that this set was easier because it was the first to be presented.
Lastly, one participant expressed that theSR set was the easiest because s/he was
interested in geography (all the words on SR set were related to landforms). Below
the findings of the present study are discussed with reference to related studies.
Discussion
This study was conducted to find out if three different approaches topresenting new
vocabulary (Semantically Related, Semantically Unrelated, Thematically Related)
differ significantly when it comes to learning and recalling vocabulary; and if so,
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�A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR),
semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
which set causes this significance.To achievemore reliable and valid results,
quantitative data were reinforced with qualitative data, gathered from the
participants’ responses to a four-item questionnaire about their perception of the
relative difficulty of the word sets.
The descriptive statistics of the immediate tests showed that no big difference came
into discussion concerning the different types of clustering. With relatively slight
differences, the participants performed the best in thematic set test (M=14.62),
followed by semantically unrelated set test (M=14.46) and semantically related set
test (14. 35). That this difference was not statistically significant was also confirmed
with a one-way Repeated Measures ANOVA test, F(2.72)=.480, p>.001.
The descriptive statistics of the delayed tests, however, revealed that the difference
was not slight. To ensure this, another one-way Repeated Measures ANOVA was run
and a significant difference was found among the three types of vocabulary
clustering, F(2,72)=13.118, p<.001. This barelymeans that the way in which new
vocabulary is presented has a significant effect on learning and recalling this
vocabulary.
To explore which word set/s gave way to this significance, a paired samples t-test
was conducted for further analysis. For the instruction of paired samples t-test, the
word sets were paired and the results showed that there was a statistically significant
difference between SR (M= 11.05) and SU (M=8.16). This means that the
participants performed significantly better in theSR delayed test in proportion to
theSU test, indicating that presenting new words with sharedsemantic and syntactic
features is much more advantageous than organizing and presenting new vocabulary
in an unrelated way in terms of semantics and syntax.
Another significant difference was found between SR (M=11.05) and TR (M=8.08),
accordingly signifying the advantage of semantic sets over thematic sets. The
participants confirmed this finding by clearly reporting to have found the
semantically related sets as the easiest and the semantically unrelated set the most
difficult. At this point, it is worth mentioning that although the participants
performed the worst in thematic set test, they said they found TR slightly less
difficult than SR and much more easier than SU, indicating that the quantitative data
are not congruent with the qualitative data concerning TR set. Why this is the case
can be explained by the effect of the order in which the words sets were presented in
this study. TheTR test was the last to be presented, and accordingly, the delayed TR
test was conducted in the sixth (the penultimate) session. The participants must have
been bored towards the end. Another interfering effect, as observed by the
researcher, may be the different parts of speech that the words belonged to. Even
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
though the words in SU test also belonged to different parts of speech, and the part of
speech that each word belonged to was written next to that word in the tests, the
participants had difficulty in retrieving that right word in the thematic word set. They
may not have interfered with the parts of speech in SU test because the words were
totally different from one another, whereas in TR test similar words along with
different parts of speech may have raised difficulties on the participants’ side.
These findings do not support many of the previous related studies that found
thatsemantically related word sets hinder learning and recalling, whereas words
organized and presented regardless of any semantic and syntactic relationship at all
and thematic sets facilitate both learning and recalling (Tinkham, 1997, Waring,
1997; Finkbeinerand Nicol, 2003; Erten and Tekin, 2008; Papathanasiou, 2009;
Bolger and Zapata, 2011; Mirjalili, Fabbari and Rezai, 2012) On the other hand, the
aforementioned findings of the present study were congruent with Hashemi and
Gowdasiaei(2005) and AlShaikhi (2011), whose findings also indicated that lexical
or semantic sets proved to be more useful in terms of learning and recalling new
vocabulary.
Finally, no significant difference was found between SU (M=8.16) and TR
(M=8.08), claiming that presenting new vocabulary in either unrelated sets or
thematic sets do not yield much difference.
In qualitative terms, it was revealed that SR clustering proved to be a more useful
tool in learning new vocabulary, whereas SU clustering was regarded as the most
difficultapproach with respect to learning and recalling new vocabulary.This finding
is in line with the quantitative data. However, regarding TR clustering, the two types
of data contradict each other. Almost 40% of the participants (n: 15) reported to have
found TR clustering the easiest; however, this type of clustering also produced the
lowest scores in the delayed test. At this point, it is necessary to look into the reasons
why the participants reported thusly. The participants claimed that the TR set was
easy because the wordscentered ona specific theme (hospital scene). In addition, the
participants also stated that it was easy to visualize these words; these words are
associated with a single event, and are likely to be encountered in real-life
situations.On the other hand, participants’ perception of this set’s difficulty (n: 7)was
reportedlybecause the words in this set were relatively longer and the participants
lacked motivation towards the end. Other reasons included some participants’ lack of
interest in hospital-related words and the fact that this set was presented last.As a
consequence, the reason why the participants were not able to perform onthe TR test
as well as they did on the SR test may be attributed to the limitations of the study to
be explained below.
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semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
Limitations and Further Research
The present study has some limitations and missing points that can be considered for
further research. Some of these limitations and missing points are related to the
participants, while some others stem from factors such as time concern and
practicality. Regarding the participants, first of all, the sample size could have been
bigger, which would have made itpossible to reach more generalizable results.
Another factor that could have affected the results of the study is the participants’
lack of motivation. Considering the fact that the study was conducted during the last
module of the semester, it has to be accepted that the participants were tired and not
eager to do a single thing that would not be covered in either the mid-module or endof-module exams. In addition, the study was completed within a total of seven
sessions, which may have bored the participants. In this regard, one suggestion for
further researchisto better motivate the participants is to form the word lists from
their textbooks or other teaching materials, if possible.
As for the other factors mentioned above, first, the order of the word lists could have
influenced the results. In the current study, the participants were first provided with
the semantically related set, followed by the semantically unrelated and thematic sets
respectively. It would have yielded to more reliable results if each group had taken
each word list as the first, the second and the third. In that case, each group would
take nine word lists as well as nine immediate and delayed tests, although thiswould
be a rather long and impractical process. Second, the participants were encouraged to
learn the target vocabulary via repetition only. Both teaching and testing were based
on recognition rather than production, which led to ignoring depth of processing, as
mentioned above. The logic behind this was to enable the participants learn the target
vocabulary within the shortest time possible. As for testing, a definition recall test
was determined as the assessment and evaluation instrument so as to offer more
objective and standard results. One drawback, which is rooted in the way the
participants learned the target vocabulary and were tested, was that the learners with
good memory skills had an advantageover the learners with relatively poorer
memory skills. However, the present study came up with some basic insights as to
which way of presenting new vocabulary is more efficient in proportion to the others
concerning Turkish EFL preparatory school learners. Finally, in order to obtain a
particular pattern of results, the present study was conducted only on intermediate
level students, which is regarded as a threshold according to Common European
Framework References. Testing various level students and including language
proficiency level as a variable can lead to insights into the results and their
interpretation on a wider scale.
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Given the aforementioned limitations and missing points, further research with a
bigger sample size, including participants from different levels of language
proficiency is required either to substantiate the present results or give way to
contradictory ones. So as to come up with more accurate findings, the prospective
effect of the order in which the different types of clustering are presented should be
reconsidered. Additionally, the advantage of good memory skills can be eliminated
by incorporating different learning styles rather than resorting to repetition only.
Conclusion
The primary purpose of this particular study was to find out which way of organizing
and presenting new vocabulary, namely semantically related sets, semantically
unrelated sets and thematic sets, help EFL learners learn and recall the most words.
For this purpose, the participants’ scores from three definition-recall tests, each
organized and presented in semantically related (SR), semantically unrelated SU) and
thematic sets (TR) respectively, were compared with a one-way Repeated Measures
ANOVA, in terms of immediate and delayed tests. The results of this present study
revealed that the participants learned and recalled the most words when they were
presented in semantic sets. Semantically unrelated and thematic sets, on the other
hand, resulted in students learning and recalling fewer words.The findings
obtainedthrough statistical analysis were also supported by the participants, who
reported to have found the semantically unrelated set the easiest. Similarly, in
response to the question about the most difficult word set, the semantically related set
was rated the lowest. The participants also cited the semantically unrelated set as the
most difficult in terms of learning and recalling, whereas the qualitative results
showed that the participants performed the worst in thematic set test, although the
mean scores of the thematic set test and semantically unrelated set test were quite
close to each other.
As the aforementioned findings of the current study suggest, it can be concluded that
the Turkish EFL preparatory school learners best learn and recall new vocabulary
when it is organized and presented in semantic sets, which means a group of words
that share the same semantic and syntactic features. Semantically unrelated sets –
groups of words that share neither semantic nor syntactic features – seem to pose the
greatest difficulty for Turkish EFL preparatory school learners, as both the test scores
and the comments of the participants of this particular study indicate. Although the
participants reported that the thematic set wasclose to the semantically related set in
terms of both ease and difficulty, the delayed test scores showed that the thematic set
was on the negative side, just like the semantically unrelated set. Following the
results of the present study, some implications concerning the way new vocabulary is
organized and presented in a Turkish EFL context can be made. First, the findings of
this particular study do not support presenting new vocabulary in either unrelated sets
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�A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR),
semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
or thematic sets. Although further research is requiredto verify the findings of the
present study, organizing and presenting new vocabulary in semantic sets can be
recommended.
In summary, how vocabulary is organized and presented is of crucial importance as it
may facilitate or obstruct the learning and recalling process. In this sense, the current
study may provide some contributions to EFL teachers, learners and even textbook
writers; and it supports presenting and testing new vocabulary in semantic sets.
However, the present study is not free from drawbacks, necessitating further research
to validate the findings.
APPENDICES
A- WORD LISTS
Semantically Related Set (SR)
Landforms
1. Atoll (n)
: Mercanada
2. Bight (n)
: Koy
3. Brook (n)
: Dere
4. Dune (n)
: Kumtepesi
5. Estuary (n)
: Haliç
6. Gully (n)
: Küçükvadi
7. Meander (n)
: Menderes
8. Pond (n)
: Gölet
9. Scarp (n)
: Yamaç
10. Tributary (n)
: Akarsu
11. Escarpment (n) : Kayalık
12. Mound (n)
: Höyük, tepecik
13. Ravine (n)
:Hendek
14. Inlet (n)
: Körfez
15. Prairie (n)
: Çayır
*All nouns
*Mean of letters:5.86
Semantically Unrelated Set (SU)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
88
Boor (n)
: Çokkabainsan
Abate (v)
: Azaltmak
Nugatory (adj.)
: Değersiz
Blunder (n) : Gaf, pot
Abjure (v)
: (Hakkından) Vazgeçmek; Feragatetmek
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Glib (adj.)
: Üstünkörü
Whittle (v) : Yontmak
Repine (v)
: Şikayetetmek
Feint (n)
: Sahtesaldırı
Caret (n)
: Düzeltmeişareti
Runic (adj.) : Gizemli
Probity (n) : Dürüstlük
Supine (adj.)
: Uyuşuk
Augury (n) : Falcılık
Coerce (v)
: Zorlamak
*Five verbs
*Five adjectives
*Four nouns
*Mean of letters:5.73
Thematic Set (TR)
Hospital Scene
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Alleviate (v)
Drip (v)
Sanitize (v)
Suture (n)
Convalescence (n)
Incise (v)
Debilitated (adj.)
Wail (v)
Deteriorate (v)
Lazaret (n)
Matron (n)
Infirm (adj.)
Robust (adj.)
Vaccinated (adj.)
Balm (n)
: (Ağrıyı) Hafifletmek
: Damlatmak
: Temizlemek
: Dikiş
: İyileşme
: Kesmek
: Zayıflamış
: Bağırmak, inlemek
: (Durmu) Kötüleşmek
: Karantinayeri
: Başhemşire
: Halsiz
: Güçlüvesağlıklı
: Aşılanmış
: Merhem
*Six verbs
*Five nouns
*Four adjectives
*Mean of letters:
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�A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR),
semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
B- TESTS
Start Time:
Finish Time:
Please give the Turkish translations for the following words.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Brook (n)
Scarp (n)
Inlet (n)
Bight (n)
Meander (n)
Prairie (n)
Atoll (n)
Gully (n)
Ravine (n)
Mound (n)
Dune (n)
Pond (n)
Estuary (n)
Escarpment (n)
Tributary (n)
Start Time:
Finish Time:
Please give the Turkish translations for the following words.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Probity (n) :
Augury (n) :
Runic (adj.) :
Supine (adj.)
Feint (n)
Boor (n)
Blunder (n) :
Nugatory (adj.)
Coerce (v)
Abate (v)
Repine (v)
Glib (adj.)
Caret (n)
Whittle (v) :
Abjure (v)
90
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Start Time:
Finish Time:
Please give the Turkish translations for the following words.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Lazaret (n)
Incise (v)
Matron (n)
Deteriorate (v)
Alleviate (v)
Debilitated (adj.)
Drip (v)
Infirm (adj.)
Balm (n)
Sanitize (v)
Vaccinated (adj.)
Suture (n)
Wail (v)
Robust (adj.)
Convalescence (n)
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
C- QUESTIONNAIRE
Please answer the following questions.
1. Which set did you find to be the most difficult?
1
2
3
2. Why do you think it was difficult?
3. Which set did you find to be the easiest?
1
2
3
4. Why do you think it was easy?
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�A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR),
semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
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�
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Title
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A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR), semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
Author
Author
Aksoy, Fatma
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
The present study was designed to investigate if there is a significant difference among SR clustering, SU clustering and TR clustering of vocabulary presented to Turkish EFL learners, and if there is, which way of presentation would be a more useful tool in a Turkish EFL classroom. A total of 46 preparatory school students, studying at Anadolu University School of Foreign Languages, participated in this study. The participants were required to provide Turkish equivalents of the 15 new words presented in semantic, thematic or totally unrelated sets that they were encouraged to learn through word cards. The data gathered from 37 of these participants were analyzed. The results of the delayed tests revealed that semantically related sets (SR) significantly differed from unrelated and thematic sets, and helped the participants learn and recall more words, while the results of the immediate tests did not yield to a statistically significant difference. Keywords: Vocabulary presentation, semantic clustering, lexical sets, thematic clustering.
Date
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2015-04-09
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
L Education (General),LT Textbooks,PA Classical philology,PE English,PK Indo-Iranian,PR English literature
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https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/573343de93bd5e5816a8ad7fbc1fe74d.pdf
ac1f797cc8362f28da9a773fce71feb7
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Text
Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
The relationship between english learning achievement and
perceived self-efficacy of the first-year studentsat Naresuan
University
Nattaporn Luangpipat & Watana Padgate
Naresuan University, Thailand
Submitted: 07.04.2014.
Accepted: 04.11.2014.
Abstract
This study aims to explore the relationship between English learning achievement
and students’ perceived self-efficacy, and the possible factors of the students’
perceived self-efficacy. Some 370 first-year students at Naresuan University were
randomly selected to fill in the questionnaires while grades representing students’
learning achievement were collected from the instructors.The collected data was
analyzed by Pearson’s Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression.
The result of the study showed that there was a statistically significant relationship
between English learning achievement and students’ perceived self-efficacy. The
factor related to students’ perceived self-efficacy was mainly from vicarious
experience, which was somewhat contradictory to the findings ofearlier studies
(Bandura, 1986; Kiran&Sungur, 2012; Lent, Brown et al., 1996; Luzzoet al., 1999;
Pajares, Johnson &Usher, 2007) Hopefully, the result of this studycan be utilized to
improve student performance in English learning through a better understanding selfefficacy and its related factors.
Keywords: Self-efficacy, English learning, Learning achievement
Introduction
Thailand, as a non-native English-speaking country, has recognized the importance
of English by means of introducing the English language in primary, secondary,
vocational and tertiary institutions for several decades (Anyadubalu, 2010).However,
according to an English Proficiency Index (EFI) survey in 2011 by Education First, a
leading international education company, Thai students’ English proficiency is in a
‘very low’ group, ranked 42 out of 44 non-native English-speaking countries
(Prasertsuk, 2012). Moreover, English is still the least favorite subject among Thai
students (Kaewmala, 2012). According to Kaewmala (2012), most Thai students feel
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�The relationship between english learning achievement and perceived self-efficacy of the first-year
studentsat Naresuan University
about an English class the same way they feel about a dentist
appointment;consequently, it is not so easyfor them to do well at what they are afraid
of. A bigger problem than their fear of English is their belief that they are poor
English learners. Students are always hammered as ‘not good enough’ learners
(Jabbarifar, 2011); therefore, they tend to believe it is difficult for them to succeed in
learning English.
Self-efficacy refers to individuals’ beliefs about their ability to accomplish a specific
task (Maddux 1995 cited in Weaver, 2008). According to Bandura’s work on
learning theory in the early 1960’s, self-efficacy has been denoted as a person’s
beliefs concerning his or her completion of a task and his or her perceived
competency level in performing the task (Bandura, 1986) – or, as simply concluded
by Jabbarifar (2011), as a matter ofthe learners’ believing “I can” or “I can’t”.
Although many studies (Jabbarifar, 2011; Mahyuddin, et al, 2006;
Tilfarlioglu&Cinkara, 2009) have explored students’ self-efficacy in areas such as
math, science, and sports, one domain has been surprisingly neglected is language
learning (Hsieh, 2004). Since language learning has different characteristics from
other types of learning, students’ self-efficacy in learning a language may vary from
other areas and may work differently in influencing their achievement (Gardner,
1982). Moreover, this topic hasrarely been researched in Thailand, especially at the
university level.
In order to make a difference in students who learn English, a positive self-efficacy
in learning a language, particularly English, should be fostered (Fukami, 2002). Also,
the experience of failure or success should be adjusted as a factor to raise students’
self-efficacy instead of decreasing it. Thus, the relationship between English learning
achievement and self-efficacy among the first-year students at Naresuan University
should be investigated. Furthermore, the factors that go into creating the students’
self-efficacy should be studied in order to assist students in generating the ‘can do’
belief and mitigate the ‘can’t do’ belief.
The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between English
learning achievement and perceived self-efficacy among the first-year students at
Naresuan University, and to investigate the factors related to the students’ perceived
self-efficacyin an attempt to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
208
Is there any relationship between English learning achievement and
perceived self-efficacy among the first-year students at Naresuan
University?
What are the factors related to the students’ perceived self-efficacy?
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Literature Review
Self-Efficacy Theory
Bandura (1977) formally defined self-efficacy as a person’s belief about their ability
to organize and execute courses of action necessary to achieve a goal. However, selfefficacy was considered a differentiated set of self-beliefs specific to different areas
of functioning, e.g. social self-efficacy or academic self-efficacy, since no person can
feel competent at all tasks (Bandura, 1997; Maddux, 1995cited in Weaver, 2008).
The concept of self-efficacy as domain- or task-specific has been proven to be a
better predictor of actual behavior than a general self-efficacy concept (Bandura,
1986, 1997; Multon, et al., 1991;Lent, Brown, et al., 1996).
Sources of Self-efficacy
According to Bandura (1997), there are four major sources affecting self-efficacy:
mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, and physiological states.
Mastery experience refers to the past experience of success and/or failure (Bandura
1986). Successes raise efficacy appraisals; repeated failures lower them(Bandura,
1997).
Vicarious experiencehappens when people make judgments about their own
capabilities by watching other people perform certain tasks, or simply say, ‘if they
could do it, I could do it as well’ (Wikipedia, 2012).
Social persuasion generally manifests as direct encouragement or discouragement
from another person. Discouragement is generally more effective at decreasing a
person's self-efficacy than encouragement is at increasing it (Wikipedia, 2012).
Physiological statesare closely linked to arousal of the nervous system with various
states (Wikipedia, 2012).
Research Methodology
Population and sample
The population of the study comprised all first-year students who enrolled in
theFundamental English course (00112), a compulsory subject for first-year students.
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�The relationship between english learning achievement and perceived self-efficacy of the first-year
studentsat Naresuan University
These students, estimated at 3,890,were registered as students at Naresuan University
in the 2013academic year.
370of the first-year students, estimated based on Taro Yamane (1976), were selected
as thesample for the research to prevent the students’ self-efficacy from being
influenced by other English-language courses in higher years of study.
Research Instruments
The students’ self-efficacy was measured by means of a questionnaire. The
questionnaire includedquestions aboutthe students’ general information, their selfefficacy with respect to English language learning, and factors related to their selfefficacy. The students’ grades, as an indicator of the students’ English learning
achievement, were collectedfrom their instructors in the Fundamental English course.
Data Collection
The sample group was asked to fill in the questionnaire before their
Fundamental English mid-term examination in order to minimize the examination’s
influenceon the students’physiological or physiological states. Then, the data from
the questionnaire was analyzed.
Data Analysis
A quantitative design was chosen to analyze the data. The Pearson’s Product
Moment Correlation was used to explore the relationship between English language
achievement and students’ perceived self-efficacy. Multiple Linear Regression was
used to describe the possible factor of the students’ self-efficacy.
Resultand discussion
Discussion One
Research Question 1aimed to investigate whether there was any relationship between
English learning achievement and perceived self-efficacy among the first-year
students at Naresuan University. The result revealed apositive relationship between
English language achievement and the students’ perceived self-efficacy, even though
the degree of the relationship was rather low (r = .39).
The result of the study was similar to that ofChemers et al., (2001), Mahyuddin, et al.
(2006), Multon et al. (1991), andTilfarlioglu&Cinkara(2009).
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�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Chemers et al. (2001) identified self-efficacy as a significant predictor of academic
performance (r = .34) while Mahyuddin, et al. (2006) found the significant positive
correlations between several dimensions of self-efficacy and academic achievement
in English language learning (r = 0.48). While Multon et al. (1991) showed a
somewhat low relationship between self-efficacy and academic performance (r =
.38), the study of Tilfarlioglu&Cinkara (2009) illustrated that the EFL students’ selfefficacy levelsand their EFL success measured by end-of-the-year GPA also yielded
a significant correlation,but the degree of the relationship was fairly low (r= .37). It
was noticed that the participants and research material of those studieswere similar to
those used in this study. The participants were mostly the first-year undergraduate
students from diverse majors and different English proficiency backgrounds.
Furthermore, the questionnaire was used as the research instrument in those studies.
The possible reasons for the rather low relationship between the students’ perceived
self-efficacy and their English language-learning achievement could bethe research
instruments,achievement evaluation, and students’ learning condition.
The questionnaire might not bean adequate means ofassessing the students’ selfefficacy because self-efficacy is quite an individual construction. Also, grading was a
considerable factor in different results, since the English Foundation Course
comprised many aspects in evaluating the students’ learning achievement. The grade
the students acquired might have been contaminated by other factors such as class
participation, extra activities or a group project. Moreover, the participants were firstyear students; they might have been afraid or felt uncomfortable with the university
educational system, which was new to them. As a result, they reported their selfefficacyas quite low, while the grades they received seem pretty positive compared to
their perceptions.
Discussion Two
The purpose of the research question two was to examine the factors related to the
students’ perceived self-efficacy. Vicarious experience seemed to be the only factor
that had a statistically significant relationship with the students’ self-efficacy. The
other factors, which were mastery experience (ME), social persuasion (S), and
physiological states (PS), showed no statistical relationship with self-efficacy.
This result contradicted the findings ofmany studies (Bandura, 1986; Kiran&Sungur,
2012; Lent, Brown et al., 1996; Luzzoet al., 1999; Pajares, Johnson & Usher, 2007)
that identified mastery experience as the most powerful source.
Bandura’s study (1986) suggested mastery experience the most powerful source of
one’s self-efficacy since it involved students’ interpretation of their own past
211
�The relationship between english learning achievement and perceived self-efficacy of the first-year
studentsat Naresuan University
performance. Kiran&Sungur(2012) also implied that middleschool students’ selfefficacy was strongly informed by their mastery experiences. Lent, Brown et al.
(1996) indicated that mastery experience was listed as the most influential source of
self-efficacy, while Luzzo et al. (1999) reported that mastery experience significantly
contributed to improvements in self-efficacy. Pajares, Johnson, &Usher (2007) also
stated that mastery experience accounted for the greatest alteration in self-efficacy.
However, the study’s results were supported by many other studies (Bentz, 2010;
Pajares, 2002; Steven, et al., 2006; Usher &Pajares, 2006).
Bentz (2010) demonstrated that although students’questionnaire responses appeared
to favor mastery experience, when they were asked personally about their early
experiences learning to speak Englishduring interviews, the dominant factor they
mentioned was vicarious experience. They indicated that their learning occurred
mostly during the time they spentwith friends and siblings. Friends, siblings, and
similar-age cousins were identified as the primary drivers for building capacity in
oral English acquisition; they also provided feedback and judgments about the
subjects’ performance.Pajares (2002) stated that the effects of vicarious experience
can powerfully influence a student’s self-efficacy beliefs whileStevens et al. (2006)
reported that vicarious experience was a significant predictor of self-efficacy
beliefs.Usher &Pajares (2006) also illustrated that vicarious experience was a
significant predictor of self-efficacy.
It can be assumed that the reason vicarious experience (VE) became the most
significant factorrelated to the students’ self-efficacywas that the students considered
their peers to be a reliable source. Since a group has power over its
members(Newcomb, 1962), the data collection in classrooms, where the students
shared similar experiences and sat in groups, might explain this result. Bandura
(1997) and Pajares (2002) emphasized that vicarious experience could be the most
influential factor when students havelimited experiences or are uncertain about their
ability to accomplish a task. Given thatthe students in this study were between 17 and
19 years old, it is possible to assume that they had limited experience. Consequently,
they might need a role model to evaluate themselves, and their peers were likely to
be the most influential people.
Implications and recommendations
Implications for teaching and learning
The motivation for this study partially stems from a desire to improve student
performance in English language learning by better understanding self-efficacy.
212
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Hopefully, the results of this study canbe widely beneficial in English-language
education as well as other subjects.
Jabbarifar’s study (2011)stated that positive self-efficacy was one of the major
contributors to second-language success. Therefore, creating positive learning
conditionscould helpdevelop constructive self-efficacy. Morris (2004) suggested
thatteachersprovide more opportunities for students to receive encouraging mastery
experience in learning. Morris (2004) also recommended that helpful vicarious
learning, such as pair work or small-group work, should be introduced in class.
Kiran&Sungur (2012) suggestedthat teachers provide students a scaffold so they
could learn with their peers. Group work among students with diverse levels of
English-language achievementshouldalso be introduced in the classroom, since the
influence of other students can impact students’ perceptionsof themselves (Emmett,
Hall, & McKenna, 2013).
Recommendations for further studies
This current study tried to explore the relationship between learning achievement and
the students’ perceived self-efficacy, as well as the factors that make upself-efficacy.
However, the results from quantitative research might not be sufficientto ensurenew
sources of self-efficacy for students.Qualitative researchsuch as in-depth interviews
or observations should be added, so that the factors behind student self-efficacy can
be verified more accurately. Moreover, a longitudinal study should be conducted to
see how an individual’sself-efficacy is constructed and how it changes over time. In
addition, the factors related to student self-efficacy should be investigatedextensively
in other demographic contexts in order to obtain a specific understanding of student
self-efficacy and to provide greateropportunity to foster positive self-efficacy among
students.
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The relationship between English learning achievement and perceived self-efficacy of the first-year students at Naresuan University
Author
Author
Luangpipat, Nattaporn
Padgate, Watana
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
This study aims to explore the relationship between English learning achievement and students’ perceived self-efficacy, and the possible factors of the students’ perceived self-efficacy. Some 370 first-year students at Naresuan University were randomly selected to fill in the questionnaires while grades representing students’ learning achievement were collected from the instructors.The collected data was analyzed by Pearson’s Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression. The result of the study showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between English learning achievement and students’ perceived self-efficacy. The factor related to students’ perceived self-efficacy was mainly from vicarious experience, which was somewhat contradictory to the findings ofearlier studies (Bandura, 1986; Kiran&Sungur, 2012; Lent, Brown et al., 1996; Luzzoet al., 1999; Pajares, Johnson &Usher, 2007) Hopefully, the result of this studycan be utilized to improve student performance in English learning through a better understanding self-efficacy and its related factors. Keywords: Self-efficacy, English learning, Learning achievement
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-04-07
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
P Philology. Linguistics,PE English
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https://omeka.ibu.edu.ba/files/original/5f62e56768af5b849e3fa0aca12f961c.pdf
25cd39fb58112cb04e02021678657c4e
PDF Text
Text
Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Students’ Communicative
Program Evaluation
Competence
and
Language
Veronika Kareva
South East European University, Macedonia
Submitted: 02.04.2014.
Accepted: 25.11.2014.
Abstract
There is no dilemma at present times that language learning means learning how to
use the language and not learning to know about the language. Exactly for this
purpose, in today’s global world characterized by massification and mobility in the
field of education, the Council of Europe - Common European Framework of
Reference (CEFR), as a universal instrument allowing individuals to have a record of
the different elements of their language learning achievement, begins its treatment of
language use through the context of communication.Language programs at different
institutions organize their work in the way that learners use the general competencies
they bring with them, but also develop them further. Nonetheless, successful
completion of university language courses does not always mean that the student has
mastered the language and can use it for communication. This mostly refers to the
cases where the language courses are treated as part of the curricula while the other
instruction is in the L1. The fact that students at such institutions are not required to
take any standardized English proficiency test put the effectiveness of the complete
language program under a question mark. In order to provide evidence that its quality
language provisionresulted in improved communicative competencefor students, the
Language Center (LC) of the South East European University (SEEU) in Tetovo,
Macedonia, introduced final oral examination as a part of the course grading criteria.
The aim of this paper is to determine whether the introduction of the oral
examination as a part of the final achievement exam hashelped raise student’s
awareness of the need to improve their communication skills and thus attain better
performance. Participants of the study are 114 students from eight sections, two per
level, starting from beginner to upper intermediate, whose final scores will be
followed in the last three exam sessions. In addition, individual students will be
chosen and their progress followed during three academic terms in order to show the
development of their communication skills. The results are expected to be used as an
indicator for program evaluation by the University management and external
evaluation.
�Students’ Communicative Competence and Language Program Evaluation
Keywords: communicative competence, children, English language
Introduction
Language institutions, no matter whether they function independentlyor as parts of
Universities, are faced with the necessity of evaluating their programs. This
evaluation might be required by all stakeholders involved in their functioning,starting
withthestudents themselves, the management and administration, the parents, andin
the case of South East European University (SEEU), by potential employers. This
last stakeholder group is especially important nowadays when relevant international
bodies and national institutionsare issuing recommendationsfor strengthening the link
between universities and the economy in order to create a skilled labor force that can
respond to the needs of the employment market. (Conclusions of the Council of
Europe from Nov. 2012 on education and training in Europe 2020, Strategy for
Educational Development 2005 – 2015 by the Ministry of Education of RM).
As suggested by Lynch (1996), the program evaluation can take the form of student
course evaluations, teacher questionnaires, achievement tests at the beginning and
end of a period of instruction, or having an external expert prepare a report about the
particular program. All the information gathered in this way is useful, but we believe
that the most critical and valuable information about the strengths of a language
program can be obtained from how well students use the language(s) being taught for
communication or any other practical purpose, depending on the type of the program
– e.g.if the program prepares students to pass a language proficiency test that will
allow them to enter some other program or study.
In casessuch as ours, where the language program has multiple purposes – to prepare
students to function successfully in non-English speaking communities that aspire to
be internationally integrated; and to provide them with opportunities for mobility,
research and career development abroad – the necessity of knowing the language for
communication seems even more relevant.
The SEEU context
SEEU operates in three languages – English, Albanian and Macedonian – and
language-skills development within a multi-lingual society is a central part of every
SEEU student’s academic career profile, both as required subjects and as optional
elective courses. The University Language Center (LC) is an independent academic
unit that provides obligatory and elective language courses for the faculties of
Business and Economics, Law, Computer Sciences, Public Administration and
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
Political Sciences, and Languages, Cultures and Communication. All these courses
are integrated into the Faculties’ curricula and students gain ECTS credits upon their
completion. This means that the LC does not have its own students, especially since
there are no entry criteria for English; instead, students are tested at enrollment and
placed at different levels. However, the University realizes the value of learning
languages and its benefits for raising a student’s profile and competitiveness and
provides ongoing support, especially with regard to the English program, which
contributes to the internationalization strategy as well as the employability of its
graduates.
The English program is the broadest, since all students are required to take English
courses in the first four semesters. They must complete four levels of General
Englishand reach level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference
(CEFR, developed by the Council of Europe for the purpose of measuring foreign
language proficiency). After completing this requirement, students have the
opportunity to enter a subject-oriented English for Specific Purposes (ESP) class.
Those whose tests show that they have the required proficiency above level B1 (our
level 4) can take Academic English in semester 1 and Advanced Academic English
in semester 2 before starting ESP.
There are clearly defined and appropriately varied criteria according to which
students can receive a passing grade from the language courses: attendance,
participation, presentation or project, speaking and writing skills evaluation, quizzes,
and thefinal exam; these are all grading components. For evaluatingspeaking and
writings skills, the students are fully informed and have the opportunity to practice
with the published rubrics, following the recommendations on the practice and
application component of the SIOP Model. (Echevarria, Vogt and Short 2007). What
is more, the final exams are cross-moderated in order to achieve greater objectivity.
This is the area where we face the issue of balancing achievement and proficiency
and where program evaluation could bring evidence of the strengths and weaknesses
of the LC with regard to students’ ability to use the language for their career
development as well as for future study.
Measuring students’ progress and program effectiveness
Since the program in question aims to prepare students to use English for
employment, mobility and further study and does not require taking any standardized
proficiency test, and taking into consideration that all English final tests are
achievement ones, it seems that there is no ‘real’ measure of how well students can
use the language after graduation. We mustbear in mind that an achievement test
measures what a person knows, how much they know, and compares them with a
group that has the same knowledge, while a proficiency test measures what a person
�Students’ Communicative Competence and Language Program Evaluation
knows, but with an emphasis on how well they will be able to apply that knowledge
in the future. (Test English Proficiency, 2011). It would be ideal for students to take
both these tests during their academic study, but it would mean burdening them with
extra costs.
In order to provide information about student progress and program effectiveness in
the existing circumstances, we applied two instruments: First, we created our own
institutional proficiency test to be given to students at the beginning and at the end of
the semester. Our aim was to see whether there would be difference in the score
achieved at the end of the semester after 14 weeks of instruction and if so, how big
the difference would be. This instrument has been applied for two years and it shows
significant improvement of students’ scores at the final exam after a certain period of
instruction. What is more, one study conducted at SEEU demonstrated a correlation
between achievement and proficiency, meaning that good scores on the achievement
tests mean higher proficiency (Kareva, Deari &Ramadani, 2013).
The second instrument applied was the introduction of an oral examination as an
obligatory course-grading requirement at the end of the semester. Its main aim was to
raise awareness among students about the importance of the practical application of
their knowledge so that they can pay more attention to developing their speaking and
communication skills during English classes and to using every opportunity in and
outside the classroom to practice English. It was also expected to provide
teacherswith information onhow well students had learned the language for use in
real-life, authentic situations.
Communicative Competence
What is the best way to learn if students are competent in the target language? How
do we know that they can apply what they have learned in classroom and use it for
communication and social interaction? In order to define the term communicative
competence, Bagaric (2007) calls upon the work of Chomsky, who differentiates
between “competence (the monolingual speaker-listener’s knowledge of language)
and performance (the actual use of language in real situations)” (p. 95).
The model of communicative language competence described in the CEFR (2001) is
the closest to what we need in order to measure the language ability of our students,
which will bringfurther relevant information about the complete program evaluation.
In the CEF, communicative competence includes three basic components – language
competence, sociolinguistic competence and pragmatic competence. Language
competence refers to knowledge of and ability to use language resources to form
well-structured messages. Sociolinguistic competence refers to possession of
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
knowledge and skills for appropriate language use in a social context while
pragmatic competence refers to sequencing of messages in accordance with
intercultural and transactional schemata.
The oral examination that we introduced was based on the topics studied during the
course and the vocabulary and structure used (language competence). The
assessment rubric was based on the appropriateness of the answer in terms of
language use, as well as the social and cultural context (sociolinguistic and pragmatic
competence). For instance, if the topic was “Modern versus Traditional Education”,
one exam question would beto talk about the advantages and disadvantages of private
universities. The answer would require all three competences and would mean that
the student would be able to apply what she/he has learned to form her/his critical
and informed opinion about the matter and actually discuss it with the examiner.
Research Methodology
In order to see if students’ performance had improvedas a result of the introduction
of the oral examination, we have compared the scores obtained from the rubrics for
the oral-examination evaluation in the last three sequencing exam sessions
(Appendix 1). A total of 114 students from eight sections were included in this study.
Their level of English was different, starting from elementary to upper
intermediate(A1 to B2 according to CEFR).
Since the oral examination counted as 10% of the final grade, there were a
maximumof 10 points for the best answer distributed in the following way:three
points for fluency, three points for accuracy, two points for appropriacy (meaning,
content correctness of the answer) and two points for pronunciation.The points that
students accumulated through the last three exam sessions were followed and
compared with others to see if the introduction of the oral examination had led to a
certain progress and improvement of their speaking skills.
Since the examination topics were related to practical application of the material
presented during the lessons throughout the semesters, it was assumed that an
increase in the number of points would mean increased communicative competence.
For instance, if the lesson was about schools and education, examples of exam
questions related to that topic would be to talk about the advantages and
disadvantages of wearing uniforms at schools,a comparison between private and state
schools, a comparison between modern and traditional education, the happiest/the
most embarrassing memory from early school days, etc. A student’s ability to talk
about these topics would mean that he/she has acquired the key vocabulary and
become able to use it in context when talking about realistic situations.
�Students’ Communicative Competence and Language Program Evaluation
Data analysis
From the scores that students achieved on the oral examination as a part of the final
examination, we were able to follow the progress in their speaking skills over the
period of three academic semesters. This means that if a student started from level 1
(A1), his progress was followed until he reached level 4 (B2).In addition to every
single student’s progress, we were able to follow the average result in every exam
session and also the general progress at different levels of English. The figure below
shows the comparison between the scores achieved when passing level 2 (A2) and
level 1(A1).
The results show that the progress in students’ speaking skills demonstrated through
the number of points accumulated on the oral examination when passing level 2 (A2,
according to CEFR) was the lowest (Figure 1). The distribution of percentage in this
figure means that out of the total number of 114 students, only 20, or 18% had
increased their oral proficiency when passing level 2, compared to the points earned
when passing level 1.Some22,81% of students achieved the same number of points,
meaning their oral proficiency had remained the same. The biggest number of
students (57,02%) actually demonstrated lower oral proficiency in level 2 compared
to level 1.
Figure 1. Comparison of scores between oral exams in levels 1 and 2
Student Evaluation S1L1-S2L2
20,18%
22,81%
Equal
Less
57,02%
More
The next figure (Figure 2) shows the comparison and the progress with oral
proficiency scores between levels 2 (A2) and 3(B1). It can be noticed that in the
higher levels, the progress in oral proficiency had increasedcompared to the previous
�Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics
two levels.Some 50,88% of students achieved higher scores at the oral examination
compared with their achievement in level 2,35,96% remained at the same level of
proficiency and only 13,16% performed worse than in the previous oral examination.
Figure 2. Comparison of scores between levels 2 and 3
Student Evaluation S2L2-S3L3
50,88%
13,16%
Equal
Less
More
35,96%
There were similar results in the next exam session when the results of the oral
proficiency exam were compared between level 3 and level 4. Figure 3 shows this
comparison.
Figure 3. Comparison of scores between levels 3 and 4
Student Evaluation S3L3S4L4
46,49%
28,07%
Equal
Less
More
25,44%
The biggest percentage of students (46,49%) improved their scores on the oral
examination, 28,07% remained with the same skills and 25,44% had worse results
when they passed from level 3 to 4.
�Students’ Communicative Competence and Language Program Evaluation
Conclusions
Our assumption that the introduction of the oral examination will lead to better
speaking skills and increased communicative competence is only partially confirmed.
Students generally performedmore poorly when they took level 2 exams compared to
their results in the oral exam for level 1. However, in the next two sessions, the
general results were higher, both when passing from level 2 to 3 and from levels 3 to
4.
The lower result in level 2 exam weighted against those in level 1 can be explained
with the fact that at the beginning level, the speaking tasks were very simple and all
students performed well. By comparison, level 2 oral examinations were more
complex and students therefore achieved worse results. When they got used to these
oral examinations and probably practiced their speaking skills more both in and
outside the classrooms, the results improved. Better results in higher levels are also
an indicator of the program’s effectiveness.
It is therefore strongly recommended that oral examinations be introduced in parallel
with the final written tests in all University language programs in which language
courses are part of Faculties’ curricula. Students feel more motivated to practice and
improve their speaking skills when they are formally evaluated on them. This should
be done regardless of the fact that students’ class participation is one of the grading
components and they are expected to work on their speaking skills during every
lesson. The difficulty in measuring every student’s class participation and activity is
another argument in favor of having an oral component in the final examination.
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Kareva, V.,Deari F., Ramadani K. (2013). The Relationship between English
Achievement and Proficiency Tests. pp. 22-36. Albanian Journal of
Educational Sciences. Volume 1, nr.2, 2013. ISSN 2309-2769. Graduate
School of Education & Centre for Democratic Education, Tirana, Albania,
2013.
Nacionalna programa za razvoj na obrazovanieto vo Republika Makedonija 20052015. Ministerstvo za obrazovanie I nauka na RM. Retrieved on 13.01.2014
fromhttp://www.npro.edu.mk/dokumenti/strategija-mk.pdf
The Council of Europe. Education and Languages. Language Policy. Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching,
Assessment
(CEFR).
Retrieved
on
14.01.2014
from
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre1_en.asp
Appendix 1 – Students’ achievement per semester
�Students’ Communicative Competence and Language Program Evaluation
achievement by semester
Student ID Nam e
119467
119388
119437
119640
119821
119712
119557
120007
120006
120120
119581
119936
120004
119676
119786
119657
119706
119438
119872
119499
119543
119545
119589
119597
119610
119924
119747
119591
119628
119877
119882
119909
119910
119569
119615
120103
119390
119391
119733
120002
119692
119965
119892
119972
120024
119577
119465
119416
120038
119975
119739
119809
119512
119978
119925
119932
119727
119830
120040
120003
120067
120108
120111
119973
120107
120001
119954
119955
119415
119833
119804
119903
119696
120525
118710
119603
119948
119935
119558
119732
120050
119966
119907
119906
119411
119632
119418
118900
Musli
Fitore
Erduan
Ismail
Xhihad
Inis
Mentor
Asim
Fatmir
Hidije
Alban
Lirim
Ziqufli
Mirterzan
Qazim
Berat
Kushtrim
Filip
Piril
Ivana
Gzim
Elfatije
Lundrim
Luljeta
Armin
Besnik
Semra
Lavdrime
Ardiane
Majlinda
Valmira
Hafize
Valbon
Arjeta
Bujamin
Teuta
Festim
Argjend
Alajdin
Valbona
Albona
Shenazije
Bujar
Lavdrim
Rami
Ariana
Arlind
Arton
Arbresha
Shenur
Xheneta
Ardenis
Mihajlo
Mirsad
Kushtrim
Gafur
Gzim
Nuhi
Armend
Valdrin
Altrim
Albiona
Noli
Abdylgani
Hysnije
Valdeta
Sedat
Vedat
Albert
Senad
Orhan
Mirajet
Muhamed
Lulzime
Valbon
Florina
Fisnik
Sabidin
Bajram
Nadmir
Azra
Lejla
Selvete
Shenure
Besar
Zamir
Zilfi
Sedat
Surnam e
Faculty
Arifi
Fazliji
Selmani
Iseini
Nurishi
Ismaili
Islami
Osmani
Pajaziti
Bajrami
Alii
Emshiu
Rexhepi
Kamberi
Rakipi
Ajdini
Ljatifi
Veljanoski
Uzun
Serafimoska
Abdii
Beshiri
Rahmani
Rexhepi
Imshi
Abdiji
Emini
Nuredini
Murseli
Mustafi
Xhemaili
Dalipi
Arifi
Abazi
Dauti
Idrizi
Fazliji
Ibraimi
Zendeli
Ilazi
Ramani
Elezi
Adili
Bexheti
Salihi
Fetai
Daudi
Bexheti
Zenku
Saqipi
Rufati
Aliu
Dukoski
Bekteshi
Osmani
Sinani
Izairi
Alili
Tairi
Ilazi
Shabani
Elezi
Bicurri
Agushi
Jashari
Ilazi
Nesimi
Nesimi
Jonuzi
Sulejmani
Shasivari
Fazli
Ajrullau
Jusufi
Azizi
Imeri
Qamili
Omeri
Emini
Mehmedalija
Zulfiqari
Jonuzi
Limani
Memeti
Nuhiu
Saiti
Abdullai
Amedi
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Law
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Business and Economics
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Contemporary Sciences and Technologies
Languages, Cultures and Communication
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Public Administration and Political Sciences
Oral exam Oral exam Oral exam Oral exam
S1-level 1 S2-Level 2 S3-Level 3 S4-Level 4
7
9
6
8
6
2
8
7
7
10
9
2
10
8
2
2
3,5
6
8
6
5
10
7
8
5
5
9
10
10
7
10
10
10
9
10
6
7
6
7
9
8
8
8
9
4
8
9
7
9
10
9
4
9
7
10
10
7
8.5
10
9
8
10
10
10
1
6
10
10
8
10
8
9
9
10
4
4
10
3
4
9
9
10
10
5
8
5
3
8
8
6
6
7
7
6
2
4
5,5
6,5
9
2
6
6
3
6
8
8
10
7
5
10
5
10
4
3
10
10
7
6
8
10
6
9
7,5
6
5
4
4
6
7
8
6
6
3
9
8
1
6
8
8
4
4
8
9
10
4
8
9
4
3
10
9
8,5
5
6
10
10
8
8
8
7
7
8
4
2
9
2
2
6
4
8
10
4
7
5
4
4
7
3
4
5
5
4
6
5
6
10
9
4
4
8
6
4
4
5
10
5
7
10
8
10
7
8
9
6
5
6
7
9
8
7
4
10
3
4
8
8
6
8
8
/
3
8
5
/
8
10
9
4
9
6
9
7
8
4
/
6
7
10
/
9
4
5
10
/
4
4
6
6
10
9
/
5
6
6
6
8
5
7
8
8
6
3
4
6
10
4
5
3
8
6
10
5
6
/
8
2
6
8
4
9
3
/
/
/
/
10
10
/
/
9
9
6
5
7
7
9
7
7
4
10
7
6
9
4
4
6
7
/
8
7
5
/
5
10
9
7
9
7
/
/
9
5
/
4
4
7
/
9,5
2
4
8
/
4
4
5
4
7
5
/
7
6
/
/
4
6
10
8
8
4
7
/
7
Average S1L1-S2L2 S2L2-S3L3 S3L3-S4L4
8,00 More
Less
More
5,50 Less
Less
More
5,25 Equal
Less
More
5,75 Less
Less
Less
6,50 More
Less
More
4,50 More
Less
More
6,50 Less
More
More
5,25 Less
More
Equal
6,13 Less
More
Equal
8,83 Less
More
More
8,75 Equal
Equal
Less
2,50 Equal
More
Less
6,50 Less
Less
More
7,50 Less
More
Equal
3,75 More
More
Less
5,25 More
Less
More
4,63 More
Less
Less
6,33 More
Less
More
9,33 More
Equal
More
6,00 More
Less
More
5,67 Equal
More
More
10,00 Equal
Equal
Equal
7,50 Less
More
More
9,33 More
Equal
More
5,33 Less
More
More
6,25 Less
More
More
9,25 More
Less
Equal
8,00 Equal
Less
Equal
6,75 Less
Less
Equal
6,50 Less
Equal
More
8,00 Less
Less
Equal
9,50 Equal
Less
Equal
7,75 Less
More
Less
8,00 Equal
Less
Equal
6,38 Less
Less
Equal
8,00 Equal
More
Equal
5,50 Less
Less
More
5,00 Less
Equal
More
7,00 Less
More
More
6,75 Less
More
Less
6,25 Less
Less
Less
7,50 Equal
Equal
Less
7,25 Less
More
Less
7,50 Less
More
Equal
4,50 Less
Equal
More
8,00 More
Less
Less
6,75 Less
Less
Equal
1,00 Less
More
Equal
6,33 Less
More
Less
9,33 Less
More
Equal
8,75 Less
More
Equal
4,75 Equal
Equal
More
7,75 Less
More
Equal
7,00 More
Less
More
9,33 Less
Equal
More
9,00 Equal
Less
More
7,00 Less
More
More
5,67 Less
Less
More
9,00 Less
More
Equal
5,75 Less
More
Less
5,50 Less
More
Less
9,25 Equal
Equal
Less
9,50 Less
More
Equal
9,25 Less
More
More
3,00 More
Less
Less
5,25 Equal
Less
Less
9,50 Equal
Equal
Less
10,00 Equal
More
Equal
6,00 Equal
Less
Equal
6,50 Less
Less
Equal
6,75 Equal
Less
Less
6,50 Less
Less
Less
8,25 Less
More
Less
8,00 Less
More
Less
4,00 Equal
More
Equal
4,50 Less
More
More
7,75 Less
Less
Equal
3,67 Less
More
More
4,00 Less
More
More
6,75 Less
More
Less
6,00 Less
More
More
8,75 Less
Less
More
9,00 Equal
Less
Equal
6,25 Less
More
Equal
6,25 Less
Less
Less
5,00 Equal
Less
More
3,67 More
Equal
More
6,25 Less
More
More
�
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.
2828
Title
A name given to the resource
Students’ Communicative Competence and Language Program Evaluation
Author
Author
Kareva, Veronika
Abstract
A summary of the resource.
There is no dilemma at present times that language learning means learning how to use the language and not learning to know about the language. Exactly for this purpose, in today’s global world characterized by massification and mobility in the field of education, the Council of Europe - Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), as a universal instrument allowing individuals to have a record of the different elements of their language learning achievement, begins its treatment of language use through the context of communication.Language programs at different institutions organize their work in the way that learners use the general competencies they bring with them, but also develop them further. Nonetheless, successful completion of university language courses does not always mean that the student has mastered the language and can use it for communication. This mostly refers to the cases where the language courses are treated as part of the curricula while the other instruction is in the L1. The fact that students at such institutions are not required to take any standardized English proficiency test put the effectiveness of the complete language program under a question mark. In order to provide evidence that its quality language provisionresulted in improved communicative competencefor students, the Language Center (LC) of the South East European University (SEEU) in Tetovo, Macedonia, introduced final oral examination as a part of the course grading criteria. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the introduction of the oral examination as a part of the final achievement exam hashelped raise student’s awareness of the need to improve their communication skills and thus attain better performance. Participants of the study are 114 students from eight sections, two per level, starting from beginner to upper intermediate, whose final scores will be followed in the last three exam sessions. In addition, individual students will be chosen and their progress followed during three academic terms in order to show the development of their communication skills. The results are expected to be used as an indicator for program evaluation by the University management and external evaluation. Keywords: communicative competence, children, English language
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2015-04-02
Keywords
Keywords.
Article
PeerReviewed
L Education (General),LT Textbooks,P Philology. Linguistics,PE English