bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Demystifying Phraseology: Implications for Translating Quranic Phraseological Units
Authors: Badr Hassan Hassan , Menacere Karim
Published: September 2019

This paper examines phraseology as a lexical feature from a Quranic perspective. It explores the importance of demystifying the phraseological theoretical base in order to facilitate the task of translators and second language learners and deal more efficiently with the challenging language aspects of phraseology. Despite prolific publications and the growing interest that research on phraseology generates, too many grey areas still prevail, and many questions remain unanswered. There is a degree of inconsistency and stalemate in the phraseology debate, often yielding fragmented literature and inconclusive evidence. Research on phraseology remains stuck at the level of description and prescription. Similarly, research on translation studies seldom moves beyond comparative analysis of language pairs, examining cross linguistic and cultural differences. The literature does not have a strong theoretical base and is largely anecdotal, lacking empirical data from which to draw clear-cut conclusions on the key issues of translating phraseology. This paper focuses on five selected English translations of the Quran to assess the degree of faithfulness and accuracy in rendering the Quranic phraseology into English. Findings suggested that the five selected translators of the Quran fell short of checking exegesis of the Quranic text. The findings revealed that translations of the Quranic phraseological units gave an echo at best. Results showed the literal translation method was frequently used for translating phraseology; however, this often led to inaccurate and stilted English. The findings suggest that the translation of the Quran in English is still a work in progress, and it needs to be periodically evaluated and updated to address the flaws identified by researchers from different perspectives. Findings are polarised between those who advocate as close a rendering of the Quranic text as possible and those who believe in a ‘natural style’ in the target text. This study is pertinent because it has several practical implications. Firstly, it will benefit translators of the Quran by providing fresh insights on how to deal with some of the challenges of translating Quranic phraseology. Secondly, it will provide a platform for further research on translating Quranic phraseological units and addressing the current shortcomings. This study has also expanded the extant literature on translating Quranic collocations to benefit future researchers.
Learning Writing through Psychowriting Perspective
Authors: Ahmadi Anas , Sodiq Syamsul , Setiawan Slamet , Pratiwi Yuni , Reny Hariyati Nuria
Published: September 2019

All this time, writing is widely viewed from various perspectives, such as fragmentary and/ or integrative (mono-disciplinary studies), interdisciplinary studies, and multidisciplinary studies. In this article, learning writing based on psychowriting in the Department of Indonesian Language and Literature, State University of Surabaya is presented. Based on the results of the study, it was found that psychowriting-based writing lesson improves students’ writing skill, writing effectiveness, and the understanding of students’ psychological personality.
Reading Allen Ginsberg’s September on Jessore Road: An Attempt to Ruminate over the Horrific Reminiscences of the Liberation War of Bangladesh
Authors: Shuchi Israt Jahan , Islam A B M Shafiqul
Published: September 2019

Allen Ginsberg’s ‘September on Jessore Road’ captures the blood-stained history of the creation of Bangladesh through highlighting the unflinching struggle of the Bangladeshi people and their appalling plight that they went through during the country’s war of independence in 1971. This poem mainly reports on Ginsberg’s visit to the refugee camps located in the bordering areas of Jessore of Bangladesh and Kolkata of India in mid-September, 1971. Those camps sheltered millions of Bengalis who fled their homes fearing persecution and violence inflicted by the Pakistani occupation forces during the liberation war of Bangladesh. Ginsberg’s first-hand experience of encountering the refugees in those camps is reproduced in this poem where the poet very meticulously pens the untold sufferings that every individual experienced during that war time. The poem also criticizes the US government and all its state apparatus for not supporting the freedom loving Bengalis in that war. His original intent of composing this poem was to express solidarity with the Bengalis’ resolute craving for freedom on the one hand and to create awareness among the masses and form public opinion against Pakistani atrocities on the Bengali people on the other. This paper thus attempts to depict how Ginsberg puts all these aspects into words with a view to reminding us of the gory history behind the establishment of the modern state of Bangladesh.
Second Language Acquisition: The Case of Filipino Migrant Workers
Authors: Meniado Joel C.
Published: September 2019

Many Filipino migrant workers (overseas Filipino workers) in their status as adult learners struggle in learning the local language of their host countries to native-like proficiency level. With the aim of establishing a second language (L2) acquisition pattern that may be useful in designing responsive adult training and welfare programs, this study examines how these workers acquire their L2s and what factors influence their rate and success in L2 learning. Utilizing mixed methods research design with 15 overseas Filipino workers as samples who learned various local languages in 10 different host countries, this study reveals that immersion and actual use of the target language in authentic communicative situations can make language acquisition easier. Findings of this study also confirm that instrumental and integrative motivation coupled with strong target language (TL) community support can make L2 learning faster, while old age and non-necessity of the L2 at work can make the whole process slower. In terms of communication strategies, findings show that syntactic avoidance is the most common communication strategy used, followed by direct appeal to authority (native speakers) and use of gestures, facial expressions, and translation tools. As foreign workers, their motivational orientations in learning their L2 are for employment, cultural understanding, and cultural integration. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to second language teaching among adult language learners and overseas workers.
An Analysis of Arabic-English Translation: Problems and Prospects
Authors: Faruquzzaman Akan Md. , Rezaul Karim Md. , Kabir Chowdhury Abdullah Mohammad
Published: September 2019

This research paper is designed with a view to looking into various problems of translating Arabic texts into English and fixing them with prospective and suitable solutions. As translation is a very sensitive and subtle task of language studies, it involves some serious issues to deal with. However, it becomes a more complex task when we translate from Arabic to English. So, a translator must have the critical linguistic knowledge in tackling both the surface and underlying relations of language. Translation also entails the transferring and transforming a variety of characteristic elements from one language into the other. As Arabic and English are of different and distant origins, any translation from one script into the other poses a lot of difficulties such as in the areas of vocabulary, grammar, sound, style and usage. The present paper addresses the problems relating to translating the Arabic texts, specially of the language, into English as well as resolving the obstructions in a practical, possible and acceptable way on the bases of types of readership, text, context, culture and so forth. To make this work more accessible to the non-native users of the Arabic language, Arabic IPA transcriptions are furnished wherever necessary.
Wordsworth and the 18th Poetical Creative Ability
Authors: Shahwan Saed Jamil
Published: September 2019

Wordsworth stands as a supreme poet in nature. He is a devotee and worshiper of nature. His affection for nature is more evident than any other poet who writes about nature. Wordsworth has an original and full-fledged philosophy about nature. In his poetics works, there are three notable aspects of nature that are identifiable. One of the facts is that Wordsworth believes that nature is a living person. He believes that nature has a divine spirit and it is available in all objects of nature. This divine spirit is known as mystical pantheism and illustrated in The Prelude. Wordsworth also believes that there is joy in the company of nature. Nature has healing attributes and heals hearts struck by sorrow. Wordsworth also emphasizes the influence of nature on morality. He depicts nature as a great teacher because of the great morals taught to man. He believed that there is consciousness between man and nature. In his writings, there is an inclination towards nature. There is no writing that does not have significance to nature. His writings warns the readers about the neglect of nature, but the people do not take her writings seriously. The writings foresee a harsh environment that makes the life of man difficult. Many years after his writing, people face numerous environmental challenges that make life very difficult.
Rhetorical Analysis on Expectations and Functions in Jawaharlal Nehru’s Eulogy for Mahatma Gandhi
Authors: Lai Kangsheng
Published: September 2019

The paper introduces the life story of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and then analyzes the relationship between the two great people in India. After Gandhi’s death, Jawaharlal Nehru delivered the eulogy for commemorating his intimate comrade and respectful mentor Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of India. Under generic constraints based on audience’s expectation and need, the eulogy is analyzed from the perspectives of two major expectations and five basic functions. Through the rhetorical analysis of Jawaharlal Nehru’s eulogy, it can be concluded that a good eulogy should meet audiences’ two major expectations and five basic functions.
Analysis on Obama’s Eulogy for Mandela
Authors: Chen Jingming
Published: September 2019

This paper aims to analyse Obama’s eulogy for Mandela. After careful reading and analysis, the eulogy was found to have met al. the requirements of an eulogy, such as the two expectations, and five functions, which are the focus of the study of this paper. Meanwhile, the life story about both Mandela and Obama have been briefly examined, and their similarity in their experience of a multiracial society explains Obama’s sympathy with Mandela’s life, and their common view on a multiracial society in which all the people can enjoy freedom, equality, and democracy, no matter what races they belong to.
ArabicYahya Saleh Hasan Dahami*
Authors: Saleh Hasan Yahya
Published: September 2019

The impetus for studying this topic is self-obligation to reveal the Arabic language and Arab cultural heritage as well as the old sense of worth. A’mru ibn Kolthoum is one of the greatest poets who expounded graceful portraits of gifted Arabs in the pre-Islamic period by intellectuality of using the classical language. The researcher in this article undertakes to probe the depth of the poetry of A’mru ibn Kolthoum as an illustration of the immensity of the Arabic language as well as being a symbol of pride. A’mru ibn Kolthoum deserves literary analysis, paying attention mainly to his Mua’llagah as an inheritance of the standard Arabic language. The poetry of A’mru ibn Kolthoum, as one of the Mua’llaqat inventor, has been barely studied. His poetry of superiority is paid less investigation. This study aims to shed light on the way A’mru ibn Kolthoum thrived in writing an impressive piece of poetry called Al-Mua’llagah. The study is an attempt to reveal, to what extent; ibn Kolthoum has done to contribute to the enrichment of classical Arabic language via his Mua’llagah. The study, using the critical-analytical approach, opens with an introduction on Arabic as a medium poetic language, making clear the significance and prominence of the Arabic language and its influence and contribution to the heritage of Arabs. Then the paper moves to sort out the creator of this literary piece under-study, focusing on the personality of the poet-knight A’mru ibn Kolthoum, his poetry, and his tribe. Thenceforth, the researcher shifts to the central part which is an analytical examination of his Mua’llagah revolving about pride and dignity and tyranny. The paper concludes with an afterword viewing the findings and recommendations if any.
Half Arab, Half American: Searching for Cultural Roots in Mona Simpson’s The Lost Father (1992)
Authors: Mohammed Ahmed Riham Fouad
Published: September 2019

This paper investigates the effect of being culturally hyphenated in the formation of identity as represented in Mona Simpson’s The Lost Father (1992), in which the female protagonist is an Arab-American who belongs ethnically to Arab culture and culturally to American one. Because of the absence of her father, she knows nothing about her homeland (Egypt) and/or Arab culture. The protagonist has only slight and superficial image on Arabs derived from TV and her racist grandmother. This hazy background on Arabs makes her unable to identify her own cultural space, so she decides to travel to Egypt to make a journey of self-discovery. During her journey, she is disappointed in more ways; her father is not like what she thinks, and Egypt is not the best place for her. However, she, there, discovers her true self and searches for the true image of Arab culture and traditions away from imposed American representations, stereotypes, and labels.
The Perceptions and Preferences of the General Foundation Programme Students Regarding Written Corrective Feedback in an Omani EFL Context
Authors: Trabelsi Soufiane
Published: September 2019

Despite the fact that there has been a growing body of research investigating the effectiveness of written corrective feedback (WCF) for improving L2 learners’ writing accuracy, fewer studies have investigated learners’ preferences and perceptions of WCF. This paper, which is based on a doctoral research project, reports on an exploratory study that investigated the preferences and perceptions related to the aspects of WCF in an EFL context. Qualitative data was collected from focus groups administered to a sample of intermediate and pre-intermediate General Foundation Programme (GFP) students. The results showed that the students valued feedback and preferred the comprehensive feedback approach. They wanted it to be indirect and unfocused as well as teacher initiated. The findings also showed that they perceived their teacher feedback as timely, involving a variety of techniques, sufficient, efficient, clear, explicit, familiar to them, comprehensive. Despite all that, they sometimes faced some challenges in understanding their teachers’ comments. The paper concludes with some implications for teaching and learning.
Investigating the Use of Ancient Fertility Themes in Malcolm Bradbury’s Eating People Is Wrong
Authors: Friji Noureddine
Published: September 2019

Employing James George Frazer’s anthropological book The Golden Bough (1890) as a theoretical background, this paper examines the ways in which Malcolm Bradbury’s academic novel Eating People Is Wrong (1959) builds on ancient fertility rituals to delineate the divide between past and present moods and modes of thought and to illuminate the emotional and intellectual sterility afflicting the modern academy and its population. It will be clear that although their names and conduct resonate with echoes of the celebrations and rites of savage tribes and subsequent societies, Bradbury’s characters fail to enact the roles of ancient fertility divinities and to maintain the essential flavour of remote antiquity’s culture. This is best illustrated by the vain attempts of a number of ardent suitors to marry the leading but misleading character Emma Fielding, a latter-day fertility goddess who heartlessly hurts their hearts. While ancient fertility goddesses’ suitors or consorts were concerned about the welfare of the community on the whole, alongside their own welfare, their modern counterparts merely seek to enhance their narrow interests. Predictably, all the characters in the novel finish up helpless and hopeless. Finally, grounded on the premise that scholarly disciplines tend to crisscross in a mutually enriching manner, this investigation aims to prove how helpful it is for Bradbury to explore the academic soul and soil through the employment of studies from other fields and how interesting it is for the researcher to spot out this cultural trend and to bring it to the attention of the reader.
Analyzing Cross-Cultural Writing Differences using Contrastive Rhetoric: A Critical Review
Authors: Almuhailib Badar
Published: September 2019

This paper presents a critical review of the cross-cultural writing styles in the light of contrastive rhetoric approach established by Kaplan in 1966. Although Kaplan compared different writing styles depending on the culture each language was attached to, his comparison was criticized by some scholars the prominent one of which is Conor 1996. Advantages and disadvantages of the approach being utilized to find the cultural influences in L2 writing was discussed detail. Further, the implementation of such approach was shed light on, apart from how policy makers would benefit from the approach in teaching the L2 writing skill.
The Struggle this Time is the Struggle for Our Independence: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Historic 7th March Speech
Authors: Nur Shakila
Published: September 2019

Political speeches are not mere linguistic texts encoded in verbal or written form. They also carry covert ideologies which are embedded in a country’s social, political and cultural context. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) can be used to investigate such interaction between discourse (speech/text), its covert ideology and the context. This paper sets out to analyse the historic 7th March, 1971 speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which has lately been recognised by UNESCO as part of the world’s documentary heritage. Based on the work of Fairclough (1989, 1992, 2001) and Halliday (1978, 1994), a shared, discursive analytical framework within the CDA paradigm was employed to carry out the investigation. The analysis of 94 clauses identified a mutual existence of multiple linguistic and ideological patterns and strategies including the personal pronouns, mood blocks, modality and tense, the reference of the then-socio-political situation as well as the depiction of power relations between the speaker and the audiences. These strategies were intertwined in a wholesome way, thus revealing the ingenuity of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s leadership and his rhetoric skill. The study, by analysing the selected speech, attempts to fill the gap in CDA-based linguistic studies of political texts in the Bangladeshi context. The author believes that this attempt, in tandem, will act as a motivation and centre of attention for further scholarly endeavor in this field.
How to Analyze Local Wisdom Contains in the Novel Series and their Relation with the Author’s Society
Authors: Jemy Polii Intama , Muqit Bdul
Published: September 2019

The literary is a type of an original work by the author, as an impression of the life combined with the power of imagination and the creative ability which is also supported by the experience and the observation of life. The authors who live amidst society appreciate and know the intricate details of that secular society presence. This research discusses the method to analyze local wisdom contains in the novel series and their relationship with the author’s society. The sample novel series used in this study entitled Full Moon (Padang Bulan/PB) and Love in the Glass (Cinta Dalam Gelas/CDG) by Andrea Hirata, one of Indonesia’s novelist. The analysis combines the analytic-descriptive techniques, the content analysis, and the hermeneutics. The local wisdom and their contradiction can be traced and uncovered in light of the author’s idea, which represents his society. Methods apply in this study can be easily applied to other similar stories which can help the readers understand the purpose of the story. Besides, the conflicting interest and the local wisdom can be compelling to be studied, while we can take the real lessons and the knowledge of another culture and their perspective to solve the issues of their life. This manuscript will help many of the analysis to traces, not just the explanation but forget the true wisdom contains in every stories and matter.
A Critical Review and Analysis: What Role of ICT Plays in Improving Professional Teachers’ English Instruction?
Authors: Yang Xiaoyu
Published: September 2019

This article reviews the Information and Communications Technology(ICT) in improving College English Language Teaching(ELT) of China. Drawing upon evidence and theories in the preliminary literature, the study reveals that it could be seen that in the long run of history, the application and adoption of ICT on English intrusion has many merits in Chinese Colleges environment; And insufficient teachers’ development needs to improve during the Implementation of specific ICT. It reflects the literature and provides useful evidence in the field; Also, gaps in the current knowledge in question and the possible future exploration are shown. It summarises some new directions for future explorations, particularly regarding Digital-assisted teaching research in China.
The Exploitation of African Women: A Feminist Exploration of Darko’s Beyond the Horizon
Authors: Fafa Nutsukpo Margaret
Published: September 2019

Gender and social inequalities in the African society have rendered African women vulnerable and susceptible to subjugation and various forms of exploitation. However, the insidious nature of women’s exploitation, the factors responsible for it, its magnitude, and overwhelming impact on both victims and society are yet to be fully comprehended and tackled in the African society. Bearing this in mind, this paper adopts the feminist perspective in its identification and exploration of the three major forms of women’s exploitation - socio-cultural, economic and sexual exploitation - highlighted by Darko in Beyond the Horizon. It is evident that the perceptions, systems, and structures in society that impel women’s exploitation repress and deny them of avenues of self-expression and development and, by implication, society loses potential contributors to its growth and advancement. It then becomes necessary to expose the strategies of the exploiters and proffer solutions to this anomaly.
Investigating the Impediments to Reading Comprehension in Junior Secondary Schools: Evidence from JSSII Students in Nsukka Metropolis
Authors: Agbo Isaiah I. , Kadiri Goodluck C. , Ekwueme Joekin
Published: September 2019

There has been an outcry concerning Junior Secondary School students’ abysmal performance in reading comprehension in internal and external examinations in Nsukka Metropolis; hence, the reason to investigate the factors responsible for this abysmal performance becomes necessary. We adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of this study comprises one hundred (100) Junior Secondary School II students from five (5) randomly selected secondary schools in Nsukka Metropolis. The sampling technique which the researchers adopted was the simple random sampling and utilized questionnaire as research instrument which was developed on a 4-point scale of strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree and disagree. Again, a reading comprehension test was administered to the students for correlational purposes. Statistical analysis was used. The findings showed that students performed very poorly in reading comprehension as a result of inadequate and unqualified language teachers, inadequate instructional materials, poor educational background of both students and parents, and the language style and background of some comprehension texts. The implication is that students’ comprehension ability maybe determined by their ability to recognize individual words in a passage or text, group words into units and relate those units into meaningful sentences or paragraphs. When students are able to do the above, they will surely have a meaningful comprehension of a text at these three distinct levels of comprehension: (i) factual; (ii) interpretative; and (ii) evaluative. Thus the researchers made strong suggestions and recommendations that would mitigate these problems.
Exploring Linguistic Representation of Women on Facebook: A Study in Pakistani Context
Authors: Humayun Shamim , Sartaj Shabana , Ali Shah Waqar
Published: September 2019

Facebook is an online platform where people form a self-presentation and construct an identity through a personal ID or profile. Use of this social website fully depicts the norms and perceptions of patriarchal society. This study aims to explore the waymen of society speaks to the women as well as the speaking of women with other women that reflects an idea of women in Pakistani society on Facebook through quantitative study. The Analysis revealed that the women, in Pakistani society in particular and elsewhere in general is linguistically expressed as a being that is not equal to men in intellect, bodily strength, wisdom, knowledge, forbearance and bravery thus dubbed as timid, weak, sexy, fool, cute hot and so on by society as a whole.
A Linguistic (Critical Discourse) Analysis of Consumer Products’ Advertising in Nigeria
Authors: Alli Oyedokun , Ademola Wasiu
Published: September 2019

Language is the chief means by which humans communicate among themselves; it is also a veritable means of socialisation. In essence, language is an important arsenal used to influence others around us. Clive Johnson and Jackie Keddie (2011) assert that “the impact of what and how we communicate can be very profound for others”. This paper examines the use of language in the advertising industry and posits that in advertising, not only is language used to inform or sensitize, but it is also used to deceive. Language has immense power, and its impact depends entirely on how we wield it. Advertising has a great influence on our purchasing decisions. Consumers are exposed to countless commercial messages everyday “persuading them to buy brand name products”. This is achieved through certain contrivances, which the paper fully discusses. The searchlight of this paper beams on such questions as: does advertising tempt us into buying things we don’t need; does it affect us subliminally in ways we can’t control; how much latitude should marketers have in the kind of products they promote and how they advertise them; do consumers have some responsibilities in the process; what is the proper role of government, especially in protecting the consumers? In sum, the paper sets for itself the task of determining the “border line” between persuasion and deception, in the language of advertisement. It finds that through the subtle means of “appealing” and “persuading, certain deceptive contrivances and even outright falsehood are sued to hoodwink the consumer. The implications are that consumers are “tricked” to buy what they don’t really need; advertisers “overstretch” claim on their products and services; and, finally the advertising, not the product itself, becomes the selling point. It also recommends among others that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Advertisement Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria and such other regulatory agencies should be empowered to verify all claims in advertisements before such claims are published.
Tribal Folklore as ELT Material for First-Generation Learners
Authors: Viswanath K. , Mohanty Seemita
Published: September 2019

An important component of any ELT programme is the content. A course-book ensures that the required course content is presented in a uniform format for ready implementation. In most cases where English is taught as the second or foreign language, a course-book is ‘the only point of contact with the language’ for learners. Available research has established that appropriate language content motivates learners to acquire language skills. In the eastern Indian state of Odisha, that has a high tribal population, a government sponsored scheme named Anwesha exists, which aims at providing quality English medium education to underprivileged rural tribal children, in urban public schools. But it is widely observed that these first-generation tribal learners in the English Medium Instruction (EMI) system are being deprived of the desired results. Finding no motivation to study a foreign language with unfamiliar content, and facing unfair competition from city-bred privileged learners, many of them drop out midway. Tribal communities in India have a rich tradition of folklore but it has by and large remained oral and no serious attempts have been made to use it as material for ELT. A pilot-project with ELT material drawn from the local tribal-folklore, aimed at providing familiar course content, was conducted to encourage students to learn better. Improvements in compliance of the assigned classroom tasks were noticed and the familiar content did bring in an element of enthusiasm among the young learners. It is believed that the findings of this study will be helpful in contextualising ELT course content using materials from learners’ own folklore.
Developing EFL Writing Skills through WhatsApp Dialogue Journaling
Authors: Noyan Ebru , Kocoglu Zeynep
Published: September 2019

The present study attempts to explore the effects of WhatsApp and Pen/Paper dialogue journal writing techniques on university students’ writing performance. 45 freshmen students from Sociology department of State University in Turkey, participated in the current study forming three homogenous groups of 15, namely WhatsApp dialogue journaling (WDJ), pen/paper dialogue journaling (Pap DJW) and the control group. The experimental groups (WDJ and Pap DJW) received 12 treatment sessions expecting students to create dialogues through dialogue journaling while the control group had no treatment except weekly class requirements. Data were collected through a pre- and post-writing test administered to all groups and an open-ended questionnaire on attitudes administered just to the experimental groups. Paired-samples T-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to determine the differences among the three groups while a content analysis was carried out to examine the attitudes. The findings related to the pre- and post-tests of all groups indicated a significant progress in overall writing production. When considering each of writing components separately; however, the differences between the pre and post tests revealed no improvement in vocabulary competence of WhatsApp group or organization skills of control group. On the other hand, pen and paper group students made a remarkable progress in all writing components. In addition, ANOVA results showed no significant difference among the groups regarding writing overall production or any component performance. Finally, both pen and paper and WhatsApp group indicated positive attitudes and a great desire towards utilizing dialogue journaling in EFL writing classes. This study will help teachers and learners of English and researchers to find out the efficacy of target writing techniques and thus make appropriate decisions concerning EFL learning.
The Politics of Canons, Identity and Representation: A Study of the Counter Canonical Discourse Strategies in Arundhati Roy’s Novel the Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Authors: Ahmad Iesar
Published: September 2019

This study is an attempt to investigate the widespread diffusion of the dominant western canonical practices embedded in the western discourses, which simultaneously, entail the counter canonical practices in terms of the ambivalence, language, representation, identity and culture in the postcolonial narratives. This study primarily bases on Arundhati Roy’(Henceforth, on ward Roy) novel ‘The ministry of utmost Happiness’ (MOUH, Henceforth on ward) how does She deconstruct the western dominant discourses, but simultaneously install the counter narratives in the context of the irreducible complex lived experiences of the linguistic and cultural hybridity. The research methodology of the study is to identify and to analyze the selected counter canonical strategies inducted by Roy in the novel MOUH in the context of the deconstructionst and postcolonial discourse perspective. In addition, the study also analyzes the identified texts in the framework of the multi canons and pluralistic perspective. Similarly, the polemical concern of the western canonical practices and Counter discursive strategies are still engaging the perennial and irresolvable debate among the critical literary theorists,cultural theorists, modern linguists and postcolonial discourse critics in the academic landscape across the globe. Accordingly, the study sums up that the counter discursive strategies deployed by Arundhati Roy in MOUH are also, trustworthy, pragmatic and authentic in terms of the western canonicity. In addition, the study concludes that the counter canonical strategies deployed by Arundhati Roy in her novel foreground the subtle issues of identity, language, culture and literary norms; which are also realistic and authentic on the bases of sameness but with difference.
Factors Causing Demotivation in EFL Learning Process and the Strategies Used by Turkish EFL Learners to Overcome their Demotivation
Authors: Han Turgay , Takkaç-Tulgar Ayşegül , Aybirdi Nilüfer
Published: September 2019

The purpose of the current study is to determine main demotivating factors affecting Turkish EFL university students’ English language learning process and to identify the ways they apply to cope with these negative experiences from their own perspectives. The participants were 469 first and second year Turkish EFL university students. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect data in the study. First, a demotivation questionnaire (Sakai & Kikuchi, 2009) was administered to the participants, and then interviews were conducted, face-to-face, with some of the students. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed on the quantitative data, while coding and classifying approach was used to analyze the qualitative data. Quantitative results revealed that are significant differences between female and male students in terms of the factors related to characteristics of classes and experiences of failure. Qualitative findings indicated that major factors that demotivate students are negative attitudes of the classmates, teacher-related factors, personal issues, class characteristics, test anxiety, failure experiences, and education system. Also, strategies for overcoming demotivation were determined as self-studying, asking for assistance, changing perspective, thinking positively, ignoring what others think, and being goal oriented. It is implied that the results obtained from this study might be helpful for both language learners and teachers in developing effective coping strategies to overcome demotivation.
The Analysis of a Tour Guide Yong Ding Earth Building Based on Systemic Functional Grammar
Authors: Cui Huanle , Liu Lingling , Li Juanjuan
Published: September 2019

It is widely believed that tourist trade has been the fastest developing trade in the world. In China, with the development of economy and the improvement of people’s living standard, travelling has been an indispensable part of living. Therefore, tourism text becomes one of the most effective publicity tool to attractive tourists. A tour guide presentation is a kind of tourism texts. And as a new text type, it arouses many scholars’ attention. Many scholars pay much attention to analyze the tour guide presentation based on translation, such as principles and strategies of translation. Few scholars try to analyze it from an angel of linguistics. Both spoken language and written language are tools of human communication. And they all bear different function. According to Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar, he holds an idea that language has three metafunctions. They are ideational, interpersonal and textual function. This paper tries to analyze a tour guide presentation based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar. And this paper points an asymmetrical power structure between a tour guide and tourists. And this paper also presents some suggestions about how to write a good tour guide presentation for effectively delivering information and attracting tourists.
Acquisition of English Tense and Aspect Translation Competence by Behdini Students: An Experimental Study
Authors: Toma Shivan , Saddiq Mahdi
Published: September 2019

This study is an attempt to investigate the acquisition of translation competence of the English tense and aspect system by Behdini learners who are students at the Translation Department at the College of Languages in the University of Duhok. This paper is an experimental study that adopts the Translation Competence Acquisition model. There are many morphological and syntactic differences between English and Behdini tense and aspect and there are differences in terms of the usage of the tense and aspect between the two mentioned languages too. A Judgement Elicitation Task is employed as a tool to collect data in this study. 4o English sentences with their translations into Behdini are included in this task. Behdini learners are asked to make their judgements on each translated sentence. These test items are a mixture of four tenses: present continuous, present perfect, past continuous, and past perfect. Two subgroups of learners are involved in this study: the senior subgroup and the fresher subgroup in an attempt to investigate the effect of participants’ English language level and proficiency. Mixed-effects modeling has been used for analysing the data statistically. The lmer package (version is 3.3.1) has been employed with logit link function and binomial variance for the judgement data in R, which is an open-source language and environment for statistical computing. The main hypothesis of the study is that Behdini learners are not expected to attain a complete translation competence regarding the English tense and aspect system due to the differences between the two languages. The main results of the study show that while Behdini learners were able to attain a good translation competence in terms of accepting the grammatical translations, they failed to reject the ungrammatical translations. These findings implicate that Behdini learners’ acquisition of translation competence is not attained fully. It is also shown that Behdini students at lower proficiency levels employ their L1 grammar as the first stage of their translation process, but at later stages of proficiency parameter resetting becomes more possible.
Consonantal Adaptation of Arabic Loanwords in Kiswahili and Kisukuma: A Phonological Explanation
Authors: Batais Saleh
Published: September 2019

Based on three lists of well-established Arabic lexical borrowings in Standard Kiswahili and Standard Kisukuma, the study attempts to answer two questions. First, the study explores what consonantal repair strategies are triggered by both Standard Kiswahili and Standard Kisukuma to ensure the conformity of the Arabic consonants with the consonantal inventories of the two borrowing languages. Second, it investigates whether these repair strategies are phonological operations. It was found that nine of the ten consonantal repairs employed by both Standard Kiswahili and Standard Kisukuma are governed by the hypothesis and principles proposed by Paradis and LaCharité (1997, 2001, 2005), that is, the Non-Availability Hypothesis, Category Proximity and Preservation Principles, and the Threshold Principle. These findings lend strong support to the argument that loanword adaptation processes are phonologically motivated. In conclusion, the paper aims to contribute primarily to the research on loanword adaptation in general, and to the literature relevant to the consonantal repair strategies in Standard Kiswahili and Standard Kisukuma, in particular.
Sentence-level vs. NP-level Genericity: Are Arabic Learners of English Sensitive to Genericity Type?
Authors: Alzamil Abdulrahman
Published: September 2019

The study was conducted to investigate the L2 acquisition of English generics by L1 Arabic speakers. The present study considered the two types of genericity (NP-level vs. sentence-level). Since generics in Arabic are always definite, the study investigated whether L1 Arabic speakers perform similarly in both types. The study recruited 43 participants (36 Saudi-Arabic-speaking participants and seven native English speakers). The Saudi-Arabic-speaking participants were assigned to two proficiency levels (23 elementary and 13 lower intermediate) in accordance with the Oxford Quick Placement Test. An Acceptability Judgement Task was administered to test their use of English generics. Five types of nouns were used (definite singulars and plurals, indefinite singulars and plurals, and bare singulars). The results revealed that: a) statistically, the Arabic speakers were significantly less accurate than the native English speakers; b) the Arabic speakers rated the non-target definite plurals highly in both types of genericity; and c) they rated the target indefinite singulars low with sentence-level genericity. These findings demonstrated that Arabic speakers were sensitive to genericity type, and that their selections cannot be explained solely in terms of their L1.
Transcriptional downregulation of miR‐127‐3p by CTCF promotes prostate cancer bone metastasis by targeting PSMB5
Authors: Fan Jiaxing , Du Wenzhi , Zhang Hui , Wang Yunchao , Li Kai , Meng Yong , Wang Jianning
Published: September 2019

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers in males and particularly tends to metastasize to bone. Currently, metastatic bone disease is incurable, and new therapies need to be developed. Our study aims to determine the role of miR‐127‐3p in PCa metastasis to bone. The results demonstrate that miR‐127‐3p is markedly reduced in bone metastasis‐positive PCa tissues relative to that in bone metastasis‐negative PCa tissues. Furthermore, overexpressing miR‐127‐3p inhibits PCa cell invasion and migration in vitro by targeting the proteasome β‐subunit PSMB5. Moreover, CCCTC‐binding factor (CTCF) transcriptionally inhibits miR‐127‐3p by interacting with the miR‐127‐3p promoter. Collectively, this study uncovers a novel mechanism of the CTCF/miR‐127‐3p/PSMB5 axis in promoting PCa bone metastasis, indicating that miR‐127‐3p could function as a promising therapeutic target against bone metastasis.
Inhibition of sodium‐glucose cotransporter 2 ameliorates renal injury in a novel medaka model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis‐related kidney disease
Authors: Nagoya Takuro , Kamimura Kenya , Goto Ryo , Shinagawa‐Kobayashi Yoko , Niwa Yusuke , Kimura Atsushi , Sakai Norihiro , Ko Masayoshi , Nishina Hiroshi , Terai Shuji
Published: September 2019

The effect of sodium‐glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2I) on nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has been reported, but there are few studies on its effect on NASH‐related renal injury. In this study, we examined the effect of SGLT2I using a novel medaka fish model of NASH‐related kidney disease, which was developed by feeding the d‐rR/Tokyo strain a high‐fat diet. SGLT2I was administered by dissolving it in water of the feeding tank. SGLT2I ameliorates macrophage accumulation and oxidative stress and maintained mitochondrial function in the kidney. The results demonstrate the effect of SGLT2I on NASH‐related renal injury and the usefulness of this novel animal model for research into NASH‐related complications.
First Validation of the Full PROMIS Pain Interference and Pain Behavior Item Banks in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Crins Martine H. P. , Terwee Caroline B. , Westhovens Rene , van Schaardenburg Dirkjan , Smits Niels , Joly Johan , Verschueren Patrick , Van der Elst Kristien , Dekker Joost , Boers Maarten , Roorda Leo D.
Published: September 2019

Objective

Pain interference and pain behavior are highly relevant outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The Patient‐Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) is a universally applicable set of item banks measuring patient‐reported health, and if applied as computerized adaptive tests (CATs), more efficiently and precisely than current instruments. The objective was to study the psychometric properties of the Dutch‐Flemish PROMIS pain interference (PROMIS‐PI) and the PROMIS pain behavior (PROMIS‐PB) item banks in patients with RA.

Methods

A total of 2,029 patients with RA completed the full PROMIS‐PI (version 1.1, 40 items), and 1,554 patients completed the full PROMIS‐PB (version 1.1, 39 items). The following psychometric properties were studied: unidimensionality, local dependence, monotonicity and graded response model (GRM) fit, cross‐cultural validity (differential item functioning [DIF] for language [Dutch versus Flemish]), other forms of measurement invariance, construct validity, reliability, and floor and ceiling effects.

Results

The PROMIS‐PI and PROMIS‐PB banks were sufficiently unidimensional (Omega‐hierarchical [Omega‐H] 0.99, 0.95, and explained common variance 0.95, 0.78, respectively), had negligible local dependence (0.3–1.4% of item pairs), good monotonicity (H 0.75, 0.46), and a good GRM model fit (no misfitting items). Furthermore, both item banks showed good cross‐cultural validity (no DIF for language), measurement invariance (no DIF for age, sex, administration mode, and disease activity), good construct validity (all hypotheses met), high reliability (>0.90 in the range of patients with RA), and an absence of floor and ceiling effects (0% minimum or maximum score, respectively).

Conclusion

Both PROMIS‐PI and PROMIS‐PB banks showed good psychometric properties in patients with RA and can be used as CATs in research and clinical practice.
Impact of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion on Access to Care and Hospitalization Charges for Lupus Patients
Authors: Brown Elizabeth A. , Dismuke‐Greer Clara E. , Ramakrishnan Viswanathan , Faith Trevor D. , Williams Edith M.
Published: September 2019

Objective

To examine the impact of the Affordable Care Act on preventable hospitalizations and associated charges for patients living with systemic lupus erythematosus, before and after Medicaid expansion.

Methods

A retrospective, quasi‐experimental study, using an interrupted time series research design, was conducted to analyze data for 8 states from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project state inpatient databases. Lupus hospitalizations with a principal diagnosis of predetermined ambulatory‐care sensitive (ACS) conditions were the unit of primary analysis. The primary outcome variable was access to care measured by preventable hospitalizations caused by an ACS condition.

Results

There were 204,150 lupus hospitalizations in the final analysis, with the majority (53.5%) of lupus hospitalizations in states that did not expand Medicaid. In unadjusted analysis, Medicaid expansion states had significantly lower odds of having preventable lupus hospitalizations (odds ratio [OR] 0.958); however, after adjusting for several covariates, Medicaid expansion states had increased odds of having preventable lupus hospitalizations (OR 1.302). Adjusted analysis showed that those individuals with increased age, public insurance (Medicare or Medicaid), no health insurance, rural residence, or low income had significantly higher odds of having a preventable lupus hospitalization. States that expanded Medicaid had $523 significantly more charges than states that did not expand Medicaid. Older age and rural residence were associated with significantly higher charges.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that while Medicaid expansion increased health insurance coverage, it did not address other issues related to access to care that could reduce the number of preventable hospitalizations.