3324 research outputs found
Sort by
PROCESNI INSTRUMENTI U FUNKCIJI ZAŠTITE PRAVA NA ZAKONSKO IZDRŽAVANJE DETETA
Get PDFAutorka u radu, polazeći od značaja procesnih rešenja za ostvarenje svakog supstancijalnog prava, pa i prava dece na zakonsko izdržavanje, analizira zakonodavna rešenje jednog broja država regiona i iznosi teorijske stavove o specifičnim načelima koja se u parnicama za zakonsko izdržavanje prihvataju i primenjuju. Prati način regulisanja i primenu, putem konkretnih procesnih instituta, pre svega istražnog i načela oficijelnog postupanja sudova, kao i prava na pristup pravosuđu, posebno principa suđenja u razumnom roku. Pri tome, pokušava da odgovori na pitanja koliko su, i da li su, adekvatni usvojeni procesni instrumenti koji se primenjuju u postupcima za izdržavanje, a pre svega da omoguće brzu, efikasnu, a onda i potpunu zaštitu dece kojima je izdržavanje neophodan, a često i jedini, izvor sredstava za egzistenciju i razvoj. Takođe, nastoji da prepozna nedostatke regulative i predlaže izvesne smernice za izmenu propisa koji regulišu ovu oblast.
Ključne reči: parnični postupci za izdržavanje, istražno načelo, oficijelnost, suđenje u razumnom roku, hitnost postupanj
Activism of the European court of justice in determining the relations between the EU and third countries in the field of private international law
Get PDFThe author of the paper analyzes the opinions and decisions of the European Court of Justice that established the external competence of the EU to regulate issues in the field of private international law with third countries. Activism of the European Court of Justice, which is reflected in the unique and consistent application of EU legal sources as well as strengthening of EU competence for regulation of this area, has a direct impact on the formation of a coherent legal system and the smooth functioning of the EU internal market. However, such a role of the European Court of Justice can negatively reflect on the relations of the Member States and third countries. The above is a consequence of the fact that the EU will not always have the interest to conclude an agreement in the field of private international law with third countries, i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, while in the same time there is a need for the same in the case of some Member States. In this sense, this article discusses the approach according to which the effects of the European Court of Justice Activism in this regard could be mitigated
Conceptual Blending in Children’s Games as a Model for Double-Scope Creativity and New Learning Opportunities
Get PDFFauconnier and Turner (2002, pp. 389-396) provide an overview of how blending affects the course of a human life, and more specifically, how young children are engaged in building complex blends in very early stages of their lives. Their detailed analysis shows that only after the young child is able to master culturally recognized blends will s/he be effectively ‘living in the blend’ and prove capable of further achieving other blends with more flexibility.
During early childhood, it appears that learning and mental development are intrinsically linked to our human ability to blend and deblend. Besides engaging in direct cultural blends, the young child can operate on conceptual blends that are not physically (biologically) given. For instance, this may happen when their imaginative processes are at work in a wide variety of games or fun activities, starting with Lego construction sets to fictive interactions with imaginary companions. In such games and activities, children manifest an extraordinary capacity for double-scope blending. Therefore, by playing games or getting involved in free activities, young children will bring to mastery mental integrations that are essential for their lives as adults.
In this light, the paper examines a set of children-designed games and activities that can all account for cases of fictive or potential reality. That is, the mental spaces created do not refer directly to entities in the outside world. I argue that an analysis of such fantasy mental spaces (with the tools of the mental space theory) can shed new light on learning and human creativity. While playing and blending mental spaces with their counterfactual counterparts, the young subject has to manipulate his/her ‘split self’ (Lakoff & Johnson 1999) or counterfactual self. With the knowledge of early evolution of conceptual blending in children’s games, I propose that educators may apply the results in diverse areas of instruction and learning in order to better deal with the cognitive side of learning, and eventually come to terms with human creativity.
Keywords: blends, early childhood, mental development, children-designed game
A controversy in presenting new vocabulary in an EFL class: semantically related sets (SR), semantically unrelated sets (SU), thematically related sets (TR)
Get PDFThe 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
PRAVNI ASPEKT ZAŠTITE POTROŠAČA KOD UGOVORA O KREDITU S VALUTNOM KLAUZULOM VEZANOM ZA ŠVICARSKI FRANAK
Get PDFAutori u radu analiziraju pravne učinke problematike ugovora o kreditu s obzirom na činjenicu da je glavnica predmetnog ugovora indeksirana u stranoj valuti. Poseban aspekt rada čini prikaz ugovora o kreditu s glavnicom indeksiranom u valuti švicarski franak. Sustavnim prikazom predmetne problematike autori ukazuju na informiranje prosječnog potrošača od strane zajmodavca (banke) o prednostima i nedostacima postojećih rješenja. Autori u radu ukazuju na (ne)zakonitost odnosno (ne)ustavnost valutne klauzule kao takve i pravne učinke primjene navedenih klauzula u ugovoru o kreditu istovremeno analizirajući odluke Visokog trgovačkog suda Republike Hrvatske i Vrhovnog suda Republike Hrvatske, te rješenja europskih pravnih sustava glede ugovorene valutne klauzule u švicarskom franku, te dopuštenosti i određenosti ugovaranja promjenjive kamatne stope u Ugovorima o kreditu u kojima je ugovorena valutna klauzula.
Ključne riječi: zaštita potrošača, ugovor o kreditu, valutna klauzula, švicarski franak, promjenjiva kamatna stop
VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION MODEL AS A FOUNDATION FOR READING ACADEMIC ARTICLES IN THE ISRAELI ACADEMIA
Get PDFA firm mastery of target language vocabulary is crucial for academic reading performance. Therefore, teachers should equip learners with tools that would help them understand and learn lexical items.To this end, we propose a graded instructional model, which combines strategies for decoding the meaning of novel words as well as learning and retaining them. In order to understand an unfamiliar word a student is encouraged to either guess it or consult a dictionary. Following lexical deciphering, the teacher assists the student in selecting the most frequent and useful words to be learnt. The learning process requires explicit focus on novel words. First, the learner copies the new word into his notebook alongside its dictionary definition and the context it was used in. Next, the student creates a keyword association which helps him retain the word. The learner then attempts to learn it using his preferred perceptual learning style. Since
long-term retention of vocabulary requires multiple repetitions in varied contexts spaced at increasingly larger intervals, the teacher provides the learner with plentiful opportunities at novel vocabulary reinforcement. In addition, testing vocabulary progress guarantees further encounters with the target words. The graded vocabulary instruction model may be successfully integrated in versatile pedagogical frameworks aimed at lexical expansion
TEACHERS AS PATIENCE STONES: A METAPHOR ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF EFL TEACHERS IN TURKEY
Get PDFWith the application of cognitive linguistics to language teaching and learning, metaphor analysis has gained interest among researchers in recent years. This study, which is conducted in an EFL language environment in Turkey, aims to investigate students’ metaphors that underlie their conceptualizations on English language teachers. Participants are students of English (n=83) studying at a university in Turkey during 2014-2015 academic year. Students were first instructed on the concept of metaphor, then they were asked to complete the metaphor elicitation sheet including the prompt “An English teacher is like ... because ...” Data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Conceptual Metaphor Theory defined and developed by Lakoff & Johnson (1980), who consider metaphors as mental constructs that shape human thinking about the world and reality, is used as the theoretical background for this study. The linguistic metaphors provided by the participants were first categorized thematically and then examined in parallel with previous studies (Oxford et al., 1998; Saban et al., 2006). Results revealed a variety of underlying conceptualizations that reflect different individual mappings across conceptual domains. The findings yielded new categories, which imply that culture as well as students’ personal experiences might shape their perceptions on language teachers. The study is significant in the sense that it highlights the use of metaphor as an effective cognitive tool to better understand students’ beliefs of their language teachers and their language learning process. In addition, it provides an opportunity for the teachers to have a self-reflection on their roles as language teachers
READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES & MOTHER TONGUE USE IN EAP COURSES IN ISRAELI ACADEMIA
Get PDFThe goal of this paper is two-fold. First, we outline the various reading comprehension strategies employed in teaching EAP courses in Israel, and discuss challenges faced by students- native speakers of various Semitic languages (Hebrew, Arabic, and Amharic). Second, we advocate the use of L1 in our L2 classrooms and explore the contexts in which this practice is most beneficial for the learner.
The ultimate goal of an EAP course in Israeli academia is to equip students with tools for coping with academic texts in English, thus rendering a central role to teaching a wide array of reading comprehension strategies (cf. Raftari, Seyyedi, & Ismail, 2012; Rraku, 2013 for similar views). Proficient readers need to employ a variety of reading strategies (Anderson, 1991, 2005; Block, 1986, 1992; Carrell, 1998; Hock & Mellard, 2005), including word-, sentence-, paragraph-, and text-level strategies. In order to achieve high level of proficiency, reading strategies are explicitly taught and practiced by means of authentic academic texts of varying length and structure/complexity.
The need to teach and train students in the various text-coping techniques brings us to the second challenge: the use of L2 vs. L1 in our EAP classrooms. Efficient teaching involves imprinting reading strategies in the students' metacognition (Carrell, 1998; Farrell, 2001; McNeil, 2011; Song, 1998; Winograd & Hare, 1988), hence the importance of students' understanding of the teacher's explanations. In this context, the use of the students' mother tongue (L1) in EAP instruction gains higher importance. Numerous advocates of L1 in ESL/EFL classrooms have outlined a comprehensive list of efficient uses of L1 (Atkinson, 1987; Auerbach, 1993; Cook, 2001; Schweers, 1999). We strongly believe that, especially in the case of weaker students, the use of L1 will facilitate their understanding and internalization of various reading comprehension strategies. To this end, we advocate presentation of (some of) text-coping techniques using the students' L1, as well as initial exemplification of these techniques using an authentic academic text in the students' mother tongue
EFL ACADEMIC READING ISSUES: MANAGING READING RATE/SPEED FRUSTRATION AND COMPREHENDING TEXTS
Get PDFAn issue that until recently has been “irrelevant” for me personally and for many other English teachers, is the issue of reading rate/speed. I presumably believe that most teachers have never thought of this issue because of limited time for classroom instruction or simply because as teachers, the level of reading and preparation for classroom instruction is usually plenty. EFL academic reading however, involves reading different materials in different subjects and courses and being able to “interact” with them. The issue of interacting with books and texts depends a great deal on the level of comprehension. At university studies, students are overloaded with different materials and deadlines that are in fact frustrating. Students are obliged to read “thick books” in different academic subjects and courses and are over-flooded with known and unknown terminology, both scientific and professional in the specific field of study. They now must get the most out of books and must perfectly understand course books in order to pass exams and gain overall success. For such reasons, students either learn to read faster or don’t read at all. According to Anderson (1999) “knowing how to read more efficiently and adjusting reading speed to reading task are critical to this success. (1999:56). Therefore, “increasing students’ reading rates makes them able to devote greater cognitive capacity to comprehension skills” (1999:54). The study aims at testing students’ overall comprehension skills using timed-reading activities and questionnaires over a period of 4 weeks (12 instruction hours). It will be conducted with 3 and 4 year students of the English department during their English reading instruction classes. Other matters of study will be students’ anxiety, frustration, previous experience with reading, motivation etc
PROVERBS TEACHING IN EFL CLASSES: “WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY”
Get PDFThe present study aimed at investigating the presence of proverbs in English textbooks taught to EFL Arab learners as well as investigating the attitudes of English language teachers towards proverbs as part of the EFL teaching materials. Results of the content analysis which has been carried out on four English textbooks of the Enterprise series show that teaching proverbs is included as part of the teaching material presented to the students. Proverbs are presented in different ways: sometimes they are used as titles of units, in vocabulary exercises, or as separate sections at the end of each unit. And they appear either in their original form or truncated. On the other hand, teachers' attitudes towards teaching proverbs to EFL learners show their belief in the importance of teaching proverbs since they convey the culture and wisdom of their users, moreover, they provide students with a rich source of vocabulary. They also give them an opportunity of making comparisons between their own proverbs and the English ones thus broadening their knowledge of the world; finally, they help students to express themselves in English in a more natural, native-like way