Linguistic Forum (LinFo) (E-Journal)
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Turning Adversities into Opportunities: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Muniba Mazari’s Inspirational Speech
Get PDFThis study aims to analyse Muniba Mazari’s selected TEDx speech from the perspective of critical discourse analysis to reveal her motivational stance on turning the adversities of life into opportunities. Mazari's inspirational speech is primarily gender specific, and she discusses the physical and psychological trauma she experienced during her life struggle against the backdrop of Pakistan's sociopolitical context. Muniba Mazari, the Iron Lady of Pakistan, is the representative of Pakistani women on various national and international platforms. This research highlights the way the speaker, despite initially being the object of suppression and later abandoned by her husband, has positioned herself in her own words to portray a positive image of a woman who is a leading figure in the public sphere, who is not inferior to men, and who is also performing her duties responsibly in the domestic sector. This speech also reveals a beautiful face of society, in which she was treated with excessive care and attention by male members of her family while fighting physical and psychological injuries. Fairclough's (1989) three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis is used to study how the selected speech contributes to revealing the gender ideologies of Pakistani society and the persuasive techniques underlying the speech to inspire people on a broader level. This critical discourse approach is combined with Halliday's textual analysis model to address the textual dimensions of the speech.
Students’ and Teachers’ Attitude and Reasons for Code Switching, and its Role in Learning and Second Language Acquisition
Get PDFThis paper synthesizes the role of code-switching on academic performance and second language acquisition. Specifically, it aims to map relevant literature on codeswitching's attitude, reasons, and effects. Code-switching is using two or more languages- either alternate or combination- in a conversation. This paper collected and analyzed papers from different databases, considering recency, relevance, and the nature of the papers to identify general concepts of the topic. Reviewed papers are a combination of research designs to map general ideas quantitatively and qualitatively. The majority of the participating teachers and students perceive L2 classroom codeswitching positively. This paper identified pedagogic, affective, and personal-communicative as reasons for codeswitching and identifies positive and adverse effects of the process. The analysis concludes that the use of codeswitching in the classroom as a communicative purpose is a beneficial but not a pedagogical purpose for L2 acquisition. Thus, this paper recommends using codeswitching for affective function and English in L2 classrooms to promote conceptual and linguistic development
The Dilemma and Adaptive Skills of a Second Language Classroom: A Book Review
Get PDFLearning a language that is not your own tongue requires zealousness, hard labor, and confidence. One of the many ways to learn English as a second language is to take language courses. Among the four macro skills, speaking is the toughest task. Unfortunately, this problem is exacerbated by the fact that oral proficiency is often used as the primary criteria for evaluating the efficacy of different language programs regarding second-foreign language education. If one can speak the language with great eloquence, the purpose of learning a second language has likely been reached.
However, there could still be some paucity in acquiring knowledge of English as a second language. Despite their inadequate understanding of the target language, some successful L2 speakers may converse successfully in a foreign language. In order to cope with limitations, these speakers rely solely on their own resources and coping mechanisms. Creating communication in second language where there a communication gap is present necessitates the effective use of communication methods in the target language.
Depending on the writers’ qualitative research of English, which can be considered a foreign language in an oral communication situation, this book gives a complete synopsis and a systematic classification of learners' challenges and managing methods in second language speaking activities. It is organized into three chapters predicated on their prominent subject.
EFL oral communication is a multifaceted endeavor, and the Part I, which has five subparts, attempts to convey this complexity. This book starts with chapter written by Qian, he corroborates the silence in second language speaking courses to highlight the social character of second language oral communication. An EFL student’s stillness is not always a shortcoming in spoken communication, but rather an EFL student’s reaction to their social circumstances by situating themselves, classmates, and instructors in EFL situations.
Speaking about pragmatics in L2 oral communication, chapter 2 compares the spoken grammar of native speakers with that of EFL speakers. Because their various pragmatic purposes for native and non-native speakers, the researcher observed that grammatical traits are employed uniquely by each party. Using Niu’s chapter three submission as a case study, they examined how the environmental learning factors affect L2 verbal communication. The researcher used the tiered ecosystems model to analyze a collection of semi-structured interviews as well as journal writing to examine EFL oral communication. The process of learning oral communication of Chinese participants is considered as a conservational process that is formed by the collaboration of the learner with the four degrees of the teaching-learning surroundings.
Shokouhi continued his exploration of L2 communication from a cultural perspective in chapter five. It was also demonstrated how the absence of basic English proficiency of Iranian migrants in Australia has stemmed in their linguistic invalidation in in communicating using second language by focusing on a group of Iranians in Australia. Disappointingly, the lack of expressiveness about Iran's history and the lack of linguistic skills for critiquing others has a devastating impact on the Iranian people.
The final chapter of Part I offers a full summary of different approaches such as qualitative approach, quantitative approach, and mixed approach in second language oral communication research. A discussion of new ways to research pronunciation followed the introduction of the primary data gathering methodologies in each study method. This chapter concludes with an introduction to the book’s primary research strategy and how it fits within the numerous research approaches.
The second part discusses the nature and the natural dilemma in a second language classroom. The causes of these in second language learning have been studied through a linguistic approach that focuses on linguistic factors and individual characteristics and the interactional approach that pertains to societal concerns. The first chapter of this part emphasizes the causes of difficulties of learners in second language classroom. According to the related literature mentioned, individual attributes cause learners problem. For the collection of data and analysis, studies concentrate on ‘individual self-expression’, leaving behind ‘mutual achievement and comprehension’. Furthermore, communicators’ characteristics are found to be responsible for the learners’ difficulty in learning a second language and considered as an independent variable of learners’ performance in L2.
To identify the how these difficulties and learners’ characteristics are related in second language learning, the researcher evaluated and compared the factors affecting the establishment of difficulties that leads to social, cultural and situational nature of language use and learning. Along with this, problematic communication is also caused by interruption in the flow of interaction. There are arguments made of what observable evidence that bring problematic behavior in second language communication. Thus, the researcher dealt with this using three conversation turns, inference, and observable evidence.
In this chapter, it was also disclosed the communicators-oriented problems built by learners’ self-perception and interlocutors in second language communication. These and the fear of speaking in front of the crowd were said to be the main origin of the dilemma.
The next chapter discusses the language-oriented problems. Dornyei and Scott (1995), mentioned the four main categories of the sources of challenges in language learning. The researcher wanted to understand how target language and the context or background of L1 may be more troublesome in learning the second language. In EFL context, the author discusses how communicators and the language context interconnect with the establishment of challenge of second language learners. The thematic analysis of the data of L2 oral communication problems was condensed into language and content directed challenges.
The following chapter of part III explains the methods and techniques used by participants to explore their perception and use of the second language. This is to convey the message effectively and handle problems that occur inside the context. It was mentioned that vocabulary items are the often hindrance in starting communication and in order to manage this deficiency, scholars suggested the use of communication strategies.
The succeeding chapter talks about the language-oriented roles of methods of second language learning. Lack of language skills, or ability, a language-oriented problem, is one of the reasons why learners experience communication breakdown. This language-oriented challenges are mainly from the gap referring to resources in language learning. As mentioned, the challenges are the correctness and accuracy of expressions.
The chapter of content-oriented functions of strategies explains that language learners are being deprived of opportunities in oral communication of EFL contexts. Beside from the lack of opportunities, form-oriented system of education also interferes with the successful L2 communication due to unproductive environment. Despite these, there are still no agreed communication strategies to be used for the context-oriented problems. Therefore, the researcher provided new communication strategies in dealing with context-oriented problems.
As a conclusion, the book simplified the complexity and multidimensional given difficulties in second language learning. The participants of the study have shown their interests to be fluent speakers of second language. The cause of language learning challenges of learners led them in choosing communication strategies that is best fitted for them. The main problems as well as the subcategories and communication strategies were also summarized.
There is no particular classification of communication strategies. Learners have to work together and apply a series of CSs to have academic and social skills in an EFL context. It is also important for second language learners to build a social relationship with the speakers of language having interactional situations and communication with the native speakers of language. It is a must to have a friendly and comfortable environment in order to effectively master the language. Beside the formal education, interpersonal communication is said to be more effective in achieving interpersonal skills rather than just having language as a necessity
A Study of Polysemy and Metaphor of Hausa Perception Verbs of Vision: A Cognitive Linguistics Approach
Get PDFThis paper examines the polysemy and metaphor of Hausa perception verbs of vision from a cognitive semantics perspective, which is a sub-field of cognitive linguistics. The objective of the study is to identify how underlying polysemous extensions of the Hausa perception verbs trigger the conceptual metaphor of vision. In conducting the research, ethnographic research methods were employed in collecting the data for this study, while the conceptual polysemy model proposed by Ibarretxe-Antunano (1999) and the conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) propounded by Lakoff and Jhonson (1980) were adopted as the theoretical framework of the research. The outcome of the study reveals that Hausa perception verbs of vision, when polysemously extended conceptually, encode an array of conceptual metaphors that conceptually denote mental activity and experience, social activity, and evidential experience. Finally, the result of the study establishes a relationship between perception and cognition.
 
The Relationship Between Vocabulary Depth and Argumentative Essay Writing Proficiency Among IELTS Test Takers in Pakistan
Get PDFThe main object of this correlational study was to determine the relationship between vocabulary depth and argumentative essay writing proficiency among Pakistani IELTS test takers. Students with greater vocabulary knowledge and discourse expertise would produce texts of higher quality as compared to students with less of these skills. For this purpose, it manipulated three instruments for collecting the required data: a prompt for writing an argumentative essay, an IELTS band descriptor for scoring writing tasks, and the Word Association Test (WAT) for assessing vocabulary depth knowledge. It involved 129 Pakistani IELTS test-takers as its population. The sample comprised 42 females and 87 male participants. The data was analysed using SPSS version 23. Pearson's product moment analysis was used to determine the relationship between both continuous variables (vocabulary depth and argumentative essay writing), and the results revealed a negative or weak relationship between vocabulary depth and IELTS essay band scores (r = -.032, p =.721). The current findings concluded that there was no statistically significant correlation between both variables. Furthermore, this research study would have certain suggestions for teachers, test designers, and material originators on how to incorporate the dimension of word associations into the creation of word knowledge. It would have some pedagogical implications and instructions for increasing linguistic aptitude levels, which would be useful in academic institutions, language assessment, and language teaching and learning centres such as IELTS training centers.
 
Intelligible and Comprehensible Approaches in Teaching Pronunciation in the First Years of Studying English in the Philippines
Get PDFFilipinos are good speakers of English. Filipinos can communicate fluently and be understood by many foreigners. Even though Filipinos are known to have a sweetspot in speaking English,still, many foreignersfail to understand lots of theirspoken words and are too accented to speak due to the influence of their native language. The researcher finds it an issue and would like to think of the best approach to fit the teaching of pronunciation in the Philippine education system. This paper synthesizes the idea of promoting the teaching of comprehensibility and intelligibility in L2 pronunciation. This paper elaborates on the need to press these approaches in an English classroom. The collected information presented in this paper has been generalized to two: the nativeness approach in teaching L2 pronunciation and the intelligibility principles. The analysis concludes that applying the intelligibility teaching approach as a pedagogy for L2 learners’ pronunciation classes. In addition, this paper likes to specify the needs of executing this approach to the first years of education in the Philippines. Since the first years of learning hold the foundation years that can powerfully and significantly affect the students' learning attitude, it is essential to pinpoint that this approach is more suited for them. Thus, this paper recommends that the said approach is beneficial to promoting the students' pronunciation. Lastly, the researcher would like to exhort future researchers to make learning materials promoting the comprehensibility and intelligibility approach in teaching pronunciation
Readability Analysis of Text in English Textbooks of Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education for Higher Secondary Level
Get PDFThis study mainly focuses on the readability of the text of the HSSC-II textbook. Considering the importance of textbook evaluation, the study evaluated the English textbook of HSSC-II, which is taught at all the colleges affiliated with the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE). Selected texts from the book have been analyzed so as to determine their readability. The texts were analyzed through an online text evaluation tool, the Text Readability Consensus Calculator (TRCC), which determines the grade level, text readability level, and age of the reader as well as the appropriation of the text. The readability scores of the text yielded by the TRCC were compared with the students' results of the comprehension test. This comparison reveals that the original text is "fairly difficult to read" for 13–15-year-old native readers among 8th and 9th grade students, while the evaluator rates the simplified text as "fairly easy to read" for native readers among 12–14-year-old 7th and 8th grade students. While the results of the comprehension test for non-native readers show that the text is extremely difficult, non-native 12th graders with an average age of 17 could only get 39% in the original text and 47.6% in the simplified text. The research concludes with some suggestions for the text designer to consider various features for making text readability compatible with the grade level of the students
Role of the Dual-State Model of Creative Cognition for Evaluating Creativity in English Language Classrooms at the Primary Level
Get PDFThis study is an attempt to measure creativity in English-language classrooms through the dual-state model of creative cognition. Creativity may be assessed in Pakistani English-language classrooms because it is usually hindered in schools at the primary level. The model used was the dual-state model of creative cognition, i.e., generative and non-generative stages. The outline of the model proposes that individuals may benefit from both stages, but at individual stages, they benefit from one stage rather than both stages. Two abilities were tested. There is the ability to think logically and analytically, as well as make associations. The tests used were the Remote Associate Test (RAT) and the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT verbal part). The RAT test consisted of 30 items. A few items were selected from an online source, and a few were made manually. The TTCT test consists of nine statements to get feedback about teaching and learning practices. The tests were processed through statistical measures. The students were enrolled in a private school in Faisalabad. The sample of the study was class 7th and 8th of Al-Faisal Grammar High School, Faisalabad. The results proved the hypothesis correct: the model suggests that students would get more benefit from one stage than from two
The Relationship Between Vocabulary Size and Vocabulary Depth: A Study of IELTS Test Takers in Pakistan
Get PDFThis study investigated the relationship between the vocabulary size and the vocabulary depth of Pakistan's undergraduate college and university IELTS test-takers. It follows the correlation study. The receptive vocabulary size and the vocabulary depth were accumulated from one hundred ninety-one undergraduate IELTS test takers. It focused on the correlations between two language assessments: the vocabulary size test (VST) and the Word Associations Test (WAT). Receptive vocabulary size was calculated by using the VST by Nation and Begler and the Word WAT by Read (1993) and used for the depth of student vocabulary. The correlation and linear regression were analyzed using SPSS. The independent sample t-test was used to analyze the difference between male and female significant and minor city scores on the VST and WAT. The results reveal a strong and high relationship between vocabulary size and vocabulary depth. The group comparison results revealed no difference in the scores of males and females or major and minor cities on the VST. There was a minor difference in the scores of males and females or major and minor cities on the WAT. Teachers should teach many related vocabulary items as profoundly as feasible
The Impact of First Language on the Use of English Diphthongs of Pakistani Multilingual Females
Get PDFThis research elaborates on the production of diphthongs in Pakistani multilingual females and how vowels are used by Pakistani multilingual females. The research type is positivistic and objective. Results are collected only from females because there could be pitch variations between females and males. Both male and female speakers articulated the diphthongs in a singular manner. Both have articulated three central diphthongs, and three closing diphthongs, including two closings, are not realised as diphthongs. Both the vowels are articulated without gliding as monothongs. Pakistani multilinguals insert short vowels instead of long vowels; replacing one vowel with another is a mispronunciation of diphthongs. Sometimes diphthongs are mispronounced in Pakistani multilingualism and sometimes replaced by monothongs, which do not occur in English phonology. The difference between male and female speakers is duration of articulation. In this research, the female speakers articulated the five diphthongs. This research is not only based on auditory perception, which is subjective, but also on spectrogram evidence. The samples collected for this research are audio files of pronounced diphthongs converted to spectrograms. The research has analysed the diphthongs acoustically. This study focuses on Pakistani multilingual females in general. Pakistani English is associated with standard British English. Standard British English is like a mother to the Pakistani language because it laid the foundation for Pakistani English, which gradually changed under different factors. Changes are part of any variety of language. The same is true for multilingual Pakistanis. This research helped teachers focus on spoken English. Because this study was conducted on a small sample size, it can be applied to a much larger population sample. This study has revealed various barriers to Pakistani multilinguals understanding the pronunciation of diphthongs.