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FROM READING TO TEACHING, DULCE ET DECORUM EST IN EFL CLASSROOMS
Get PDFThis paper aims to represent the usage of literature in foreign language classrooms in order to deploy the students’ knowledge of English literature as an important part of learning English language. Introducing literature in the language classrooms as well as the benefits of reading it make the introduction lines of this paper. The core of the analysis is presented through the poem of Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum est. This postwar poem with its rich vocabulary is a great tool for a didactic initiation and proposition of EFL literature classroom instruction
CROSS-LINGUISTIC TRANSFER IN ORAL L2 PRODUCTION OF CROATIAN L1 SPEAKERS LEARNING ITALIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Get PDFThe acquisition process of the target language is characterized by the complexity of linguistic rules in learner’s L1 and linguistic purposes of that particular language. This process accomplishes a system called interlanguage (Selinker, 1972). In this system the linguistic transfer, especially a negative one, often causes a large number of cross-linguistic deviations in the target language. (Medved Krajnović, 2010). Previous research on L1 interference in the acquisition and production of Italian as a foreign language has shown that many different linguistic transfers take place at lexical, phonological, grammatical and morphological levels (Alujević Jukić & Brešan, 2010; Sironić Bonefačić, 1990). In this paper we focus on the negative transfer of lexical elements from L1 Croatian to L2 Italian by analyzing the most frequent errors occurred in the oral productions of a group of intermediate (CEFR levels B1-B2) Croatian-speaking learners (approximately 40 students). Our analysis shows that the Croatian L1 significantly affects the choice of lexical structures and words in Italian L2. Indeed, during the oral production in L2 language, we noticed that errors are mostly calques, substitutions and use of lexical structures based on L1 linguistic model. The examination of the negative transfer reveals useful to draw both didactic and learning suggestions, which can be beneficial for the whole language learning process. For learners, the implication is the possibility of developing and strengthening a strategy to memorize lexical words and structures. In doing so, they can be helped by different activities during the lesson, such as contrastive demonstrations of errors in both the languages involved, cloze tests, as well as presentations of the texts that are being studied. We therefore suggest that teachers should model their didactic approach by focusing more on systemic errors related to the structures already learnt by the student (Cattana Nesci, 2004)
THE ARABIC TEACHING IN PREPARATORY CLASSES OF THEOLOGY FACULTIES (THE SAMPLE OF KASTAMONU UNIVERSITY)
No full textPreparatory classes in theology faculties can be considered as foundation of Arabic teaching. Qualified teaching in these classes can be possible with planning, practicing and evaluating the teaching process by the data of educational sciences. The method used in Arabic teaching is one of the most important points that should be taken into consideration. Methods selected by taking into consideration of teaching elements and actively applied make learning easier. On the other hand, methods selected at random are not consistent with the conditions and reduce the success of teaching. Therefore, successful Arabic teaching largely depends on the methods that are selected and used considering the conditions. In this context, teaching methods must be primarily selected by considering teaching objectives. In this paper, it has been tried to find out which curriculum and methods are used, how students’ attitudes and instructors’ ideas are, in Arabic teaching in preparatory classes of theology faculties
PRAVO DETETA NA IZDRŽAVANJE U UPOREDNOM PORODIČNOM ZAKONODAVSTVU I SUDSKOJ PRAKSI: MODELI ODREĐIVANJA VISINE IZDRŽAVANJA
Get PDFRazvoj deteta, pored emotivne, zavisi i od materijalne sigurnosti. Dete, međutim, zbog svoje psihofizičke nezrelosti, nije u stanju da sopstvenim radom stiče prihode radi namirenja svojih potreba. U ovom, materijalnom aspektu, dete u potpunosti zavisi od svojih najbližih. Uobičajeno okruženje u kojem se zadovoljavaju životne potrebe deteta jeste porodica. Kada je ona funkcionalna, država se ne meša u međusobne odnose njenih članova. Međutim, kada se odnosi unutar porodice poremete, najugroženiji njen član postaje briga društva. U tom smislu, većina savremenih pravnih sistema pruža posebnu zaštitu položaju dece u pravnom poretku. U ovom radu nastojimo da prikažemo konkretna rešenja koja nude pojedine države u pogledu izdržavanja deteta.
U prvom delu rada analiziraju se opšta pravila za određivanje dečjeg izdržavanja u uporednom evropskom pravu i posebna pravila koja postoje u situaciji kada roditelji imaju zajedničko staranje posle razvoda braka, odnosno u slučaju naizmeničnog boravišta deteta. Opšta pravila se analiziraju u pravu Velike Britanije, Nemačke, Danske i Rusije, a posebna u pravu Velike Britanije, Švedske, Norveške i Holandije.
U drugom delu rada analiziraju se odredbe Porodičnog zakona Srbije koje se odnose na pitanja izdržavanja maloletnog deteta. S obzirom na to da je ovim Zakonom predviđeno da se izdržavanje određuje za svaki slučaj posebno, prikazana je relevantna sudska praksa u Srbiji, koja daje okvire tumačenju relevantnih okolnosti u pogledu izdržavanja, kao prava deteta.
Ključne reči: izdržavanje deteta, naizmenično boravište, zajedničko staranje, potrebe deteta, mogućnosti davaoca izdržavanja, visina izdržavanja
USVOJENJE KAO BIJEG IZ SIROMAŠTVA ILI KUPOVINA DJECE
Get PDFIako u skoro svim savremenim zakonodavstvima usvojenje prevashodno služi za obezbjeđivanje porodičnopravne zaštite djetetu bez odgovarajućeg roditeljskog staranja, nerijetko se dešava da se usvojenje koristi kao način pronalaska djeteta bračnim parovima bez prirodnog potomstva. U zemljama tzv. trećeg svijeta pod formom usvojenja odigrava se trgovina djecom iz siromašnih porodica. Bogati bračni parovi usvajaju djecu siromašnih roditelja koji zauzvrat dobijaju određenu materijalnu protivnaknadu koja je sakrivena od očiju javnosti. I na našim prostorima tokom proteklog rata događalo se da djeca iz siromašnih porodica budu data na usvajanje bez saglasnosti prirodnih roditelja. Da bi se spriječila mogućnost usvajanja djece od strane bogatih usvojilaca, samo iz razloga bogatstva usvojilaca i siromaštva prirodnih roditelja, treba predvidjeti precizne zakonske pretpostavke koje će to onemogućiti. U tom smislu, autor se zalaže za preciznije normiranje uslova u pogledu porodičnog statusa djeteta, najboljeg interesa djeteta, ličnih svojstava i državljanstva usvojioca, kao i zaštite prirodnog roditeljstva i pripreme za usvojenje.
Ključne riječi: Usvojenje, Trgovina djecom, Siromaštvo, Bogatstv
Investigating Croatian Inflation through the Cointegration with Structural Break Approach
Get PDFAbstract: This paper analyses the inflationary process in Croatia during the period 1992-2011, using a cointegration with structural break approach. Our results indicate that there is a long-run relationship between inflation, exchange rate, unit labour costs and money growth. Currency depreciation and unit labour costs are found to influence inflation positively, and money supply negatively. We argue that the latter occurs because exchange rate targeting policy in Croatia results in a situation where endogenous money moves in the direction opposite to the exchange rate, so as to keep the exchange rate fixed. We, furthermore provide some evidence that money supply need not mean risks to inflation in the presence of declining money velocity
Issues in acquisition of non-temporal meanings of tenses in English by native speakers of Croatian
Get PDFNative speakers of Croatian often have problems with appropriate usage of English tenses that do not exist in Croatian, frequently associating past forms in English with perfective meanings in Croatian and non-past forms with imperfective meanings (because Croatian has verb aspect). They also encounter difficulties with non-temporal uses of English tenses.
Apart from the central meaning of tense as temporal reference, there are four non-temporal meanings of English tenses (Tyler, 2000): (1) emotional distance or intimacy; (2) the relative salience or status of the information being conveyed; (3) negative epistemic stance towards a particular scenario; (4) to express requests, commands and invitations.
Although some non-temporal meanings are very similar to those in English, there are also significant differences that cause difficulties to native speakers of Croatian in learning English as L2. Some of the differences are caused by metaphorical and metonymical shifts in meaning between the source domain (time distance) and the target domain (distance between wish and reality, simulating of distance in order to avoid direct appeal, distance of the deictic centre, counterfactual possible situation, etc.). In order to examine those assumptions, 102 students – English learners – were tested. Differences mainly occurred in cases when the past tense is used in English to signal (1) a negative epistemic stance towards a particular scenario and (2) tense as an expression of attenuation: invitations, requests and suggestions, because Croatian speakers tended to use the present tense in some cases.
We argue that a consistent description of non-temporal uses of tenses in Croatian and English, with analysis of differences, can facilitate the learning of these frequently occurring non-temporal uses of English tenses.
Keywords: Croatian, English, meaning, second language acquisition, tense
Data elicitation through language testing: Challenges of test design
Get PDFThe paper discusses the challenges of test design in the context of a research project focusing on the analysis of tertiary students’ spoken production in English. One of the project aims is to create a corpus of learner-spoken English. The participants in the study are Czech first-year students in English language teacher education study programmes at three universities. In order to elicit samples of the students’ oral production, a test of speaking, including a pronunciation subtest,was designed with respect to the research aims and objectives and in accordance with the current trends in the field. The challenges faced by the research team may be divided into three groups – those pertinent to the construction phase of the research instrument, the pilot phase, and the data-collection phase. The paper discusses how the team responded to the perceived challenges.The process of test designing was informed by relevant literature (e.g. Bachman, 1990, Hughes, 2003, Luoma, 2004);the team strove to achieve the highest possible level of ‘test usefulness’, i.e. test qualities including reliability, construct validity, authenticity, interactiveness, impact and practicality, as introduced by Bachman and Palmer (2009). Consequently, the decisions regarding the abilities that the candidates, prospective English teachers, should demonstrate, as well as the decisions about the test format (elicitation techniques, number of tasks, etc.), were made with respect to the proposed ‘test usefulness’. The pilot phase confirmed the usability of the tool to elicit the required data, but also necessitated a few content- and procedure-related modifications. They reflected the results of the analysis of the performances recorded during the trial testing as well as the analysis of feedback questionnaires.Having revised the test, the researchers then implemented it in the data-collection processin three universities in the Czech Republic. The number of studentstested was 176.
Keywords: Diagnostic test, speaking, English, tertiary students, researc
Emotion and colour: Physiology, lexicalisation and conceptualisation
Get PDFIn English and in many other European languages, Croatian included, it is quite common to use colour terms as an indicator of different emotions. When we talk about colour and humans, we areactually referring to the colour of their skin, more precisely their face.
The main goal of this study is to investigate the correlation between the primary colour terms in collocational units and their corresponding emotions in English and Croatian. Since most of the current research on emotion concepts has focused on English, we would like to provide further evidence from Croatian expressions of emotions. A cross-linguistic corpus-based analysis of the two language corpora (the British National Corpus and the Croatian National Corpus) in the first part of the paper should offer a better insight into the salience of basic emotion categories in reference to basic colour categories. The second part of the paper investigates the motivation behind some of the linguistic expressions within the framework of cognitive linguistics. Despite the obvious cross-linguistic differences as to the system of preference by which each language links colours and emotions, some systematic patterns, due to their motivational force, are likely to appear in both languages under study.
Key words: emotion, colour, collocational units, conceptual metaphor, metonym
Collaborative Learning –An Effective Method for Teaching Native Arabic Speakers
Get PDFNative 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 learnin