4 research outputs found
Prose reading: The influence of text-reader factors
No full textThis study highlights the importance of text-reader factors in prose reading. The study was carried out to identify the text-reader factors involved in enhancing reading comprehension. A qualitative research methodology was employed involving individual in-depth interview sessions with six average ability Form Two students from a secondary school. The interviews were conducted to gauge their views on the influence of text-reader factors in text comprehension. The interview questions centered on the literature textbook currently used in school and also the short story Cheat by Allan Baillie included in the book. Thematic analysis was carried out on the data collected. The findings show that text-reader factors affect text comprehension. The factors include pictures, font, the author, glossary, text organization, cover of the book and the length of the literary prose forms. The reader factors are related to the students life background, interest, and motivation in reading. The study implies that these text-reader factors must be met to ensure improved reading comprehension ability among students
Perception of the attitudinal function of intonation in responding to Yes/No questions: A study of non-native English language teachers
No full textThis study highlights the importance of intonation and its function for intelligibility in communication, particularly amongst teachers in ESL classrooms. It was carried out to ascertain non-native English language teachers’ awareness of the attitudinal functions that intonation carries in responding to yes/no questions. Thirty Malay English language teachers working in a language centre were taken as the sample. Two different tasks, a listening test and an open-ended questionnaire, were provided to test their knowledge and perception of the attitudinal functions of intonation with regards to the responses given to yes/no questions. The findings from this study suggest that these teachers demonstrated an intermediate level of knowledge about intonation and its attitudinal function. However, they were in agreement about the importance of intonation for communication in classrooms, with students from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The implication of this study is that teachers should provide students with sufficient exposure to the proper use of intonation in order to avoid miscommunication. Students must be made aware that correct intonation facilitates correct interpretations
Miscue analysis: A glimpse into the reading process
No full textThis paper aims to analyse Form One students’ ability in reading prose. A qualitative research method was carried out involving 6 average ability students. The prose “Fair’s Fair” byNarinder Dhami was used as an instrument to gauge students’ ability in oral reading. The assessment carried out on the reading is miscue analysis, a tool to measure oral reading accuracy at the word level by identifying when and the ways in which the students deviates from the text while reading aloud. Miscues analysed are insertions, hesitation, omission, repetition and substitution. Miscues that maintain the meaning of the sentences are the participants’ strengths while miscues which disrupt the meaning of the sentences are the participants’ weaknesses. The data collected are analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings show that the percentage of strengths outweighed the percentage of weaknesses for all the participants on the occurrences of miscues. The students’ reading behaviour has provided insights into their language cueing system and the strategies they use during the reading process to comprehend a text
Translation and westernisation in Turkey (from the 1840s to the 1980s)
No full textThis thesis examines the role and function translations played in Turkish history,
especially within the framework of its Westernisation movement from the mid-nineteenth
to the late twentieth centuries. A descriptive approach is adopted, aiming to identify
cultural patterns which shape and reflect translational decisions and help to a better
portrayal of the socio-cultural context of translation during the time span examined. To
this end, the thesis seeks to describe in detail historical, political, literary and linguistic
factors which have affected the translation activity.
The main assumption of this thesis is that acculturation was used as the main
strategy in translations from Western languages during the periods which were marked
with an extensive translation activity, especially during the nineteenth century and the first
decades of the Republican era. This acculturation strategy not only helped to enrich the
target literary system, bringing new literary models (genres), new subject matter,
developing the language and giving rise to a new Turkish literature, it also had an effect
upon the broader socio-cultural polysystem, especially on the process of identity creation.
The analysis of the social, political and cultural conditions and policies suggests
that the status given both to the source and target cultures has been the main factor for the
acculturation. As examined in the last part of the thesis, a shift of power relations in the
Turkish context, especially after the 1980s, marked a new kind of an acculturation
strategy and a certain movement of resistance.
The thesis concludes that there is need to know more about different translation
histories in order to learn more about the acculturation process and to move beyond a
Eurocentric view, and an interdisciplinary approach should be taken for such research
