ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
What Are the Goals of Language Teaching?
Author: Cook, Vivian
Date: 2013-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Instruction,Student Educational Objectives,Bilingual Education,Multilingualism,Linguistic Competence,Holistic Approach,Language Acquisition,Thinking Skills,Language Attitudes,Metalinguistics,Second Language Learning

For many centuries people who speak more than one language, that is to say second language (L2) users, have been admired. In the 16th century an advisor to Elizabeth I of England said: &quot;For even as a hawk flieth not high with one wing, even so a man reacheth not to excellency with one tongue.&quot; (Roger Ascham, &quot;The Scholemaster,&quot; 1570). In the 21st century the education minister for Elizabeth II proclaimed: &quot;It is literally the case that learning languages makes you smarter. The neural networks in the brain strengthen as a result of language learning.&quot; (Michael Gove, UK Education Secretary, 2011). Yet, despite these public statements, bilingualism is more often seen as a problem to be solved than an asset to be developed. Second language (L2) users indeed have problems, whether social, psychological or economic--like everyone else. But few of these stem from their bilingualism itself.
Fostering EFL Learners' Autonomy in Light of Portfolio Assessment: Exploring the Potential Impact of Gender
Author: Hashemian, Mahmood
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Portfolio Assessment,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Personal Autonomy,Gender Differences,Foreign Countries,Writing Ability,Language Tests,Questionnaires,Factor Analysis

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of portfolio assessment as a process-oriented mechanism on the autonomy of Iranian advanced EFL learners. A particular concern was to examine the potential effect of gender on portfolio assessment by taking the learners' writing ability into account. The participants were 80 male and female advanced EFL learners to whom the Learner Autonomy Questionnaire (Kashefian, 2002) was administered to check their homogeneity prior to the study in terms of autonomy; a truncated form of a TOEFL test was also given to the participants to assess their language proficiency. The participants were then randomly divided into 4 groups: 2 experimental groups (20 females in class A and 20 males in class B) and 2 control groups (20 females in class C and 20 males in class D). The portfolio assessment was integrated into the experimental groups to explore whether and to what extent their autonomy might enhance and also to investigate the possible effect of gender on portfolio assessment in writing ability. The portfolio assessment was based on the classroom portfolio model adopted from Hamp-Lyons and Condon (2000), consisting of 3 procedures: collection, selection, and reflection. In contrast, the control groups received the traditional assessment of writing. The data were analyzed using 2 independent samples t tests, mean, and the effect size. The results showed that the portfolio procedures considerably improved the autonomy of the participants. Also, gender had no impact on portfolio assessment.
Culture in Foreign Language Teaching
Author: Kramsch, Claire
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Indo European Languages,Cultural Awareness,Role,Stereotypes,Discourse Analysis,Correlation,Multilingualism,Professional Associations,Postmodernism,Intercultural Communication,Educational Research,Foreign Countries

In foreign language education, the teaching of culture remains a hotly debated issue. What is culture? What is its relation to language? Which and whose culture should be taught? What role should the learners' culture play in the acquisition of knowledge of the target culture? How can we avoid essentializing cultures and teaching stereotypes? And how can we develop in the learners an intercultural competence that would shortchange neither their own culture nor the target culture, but would make them into cultural mediators in a globalized world? This paper explores these issues from the perspective of the large body of research done in Australia, Europe and the U.S. in the last twenty years. It links the study of culture to the study of discourse (see, e.g., Kramsch 1993, 1998, 2004) and to the concept of translingual and transcultural competence proposed by the Modern Language Association (e.g., Kramsch, 2010). Special attention will be given to the unique role that the age-old Persian culture can play in fostering the cultural mediators of tomorrow.
Educating Educators about Second Language Idiomaticity through Action Research
Author: Liontas, John I.
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Figurative Language,Linguistic Theory,Teaching Methods,Educational Benefits,Qualitative Research,College Faculty,Language Teachers,Action Research,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes,Administrator Role,Faculty Development,English (Second Language),Case Studies,Semi Structured Interviews,Surveys

Idiomaticity is central to linguistic theory. Despite the pervasiveness of idioms in language, pedagogical articles in professional journals have yet to pay attention to the benefits of idiom instruction in the second language (SL) classroom. Addressing this concern, this article reports the results of an exploratory qualitative research study conducted with sixteen SL university instructors and two Language Program Directors (LPDs) at two large universities in the Southwest (United States of America) that explored teachers' own knowledge and theories about SL idiomaticity. Survey and interview data indicate that university instructors and LPDs share beliefs and assumptions about how best to teach idioms and assess students' knowledge of SL idiomaticity. It was concluded that both university instructors and LPDs have an important role to play in the development of idiom pedagogy and that such pedagogy can be greatly enhanced through action research. Recommendations are included for further study of the issues surrounding SL idiomaticity, and teaching implications are considered for the development of meaningful pedagogical practices suitable for the promotion of idiomatic learning.
Critical Incident Analysis through Narrative Reflective Practice: A Case Study
Author: Farrell, Thomas S. C.
Date: 2013-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Critical Incidents Method,Case Studies,English Teachers,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Narration,Reflective Teaching,Feedback (Response),Teaching Experience,Foreign Countries

Teachers can reflect on their practices by articulating and exploring incidents they consider critical to themselves or others. By talking about these critical incidents, teachers can make better sense of seemingly random experiences that occur in their teaching because they hold the real inside knowledge, especially personal intuitive knowledge, expertise and experience that is based on their accumulated years as language educators teaching in schools and classrooms. This paper is about one such critical incident analysis that an ESL teacher in Canada revealed to her critical friend and how both used McCabe's (2002) narrative framework for analyzing an important critical incident that occurred in the teacher's class.
Identity, Literacy, and English Language Teaching
Author: Norton, Bonny
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Literacy,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Identification (Psychology),Educational Practices,Teaching Methods,Communities of Practice,Popular Culture,Student Characteristics,Teaching Experience,Foreign Countries

In the field of English language teaching, there has been increasing interest in the way literacy development is influenced by institutional and community practices, and the way power is implicated in language learners' engagement with text. In this paper, I trace the trajectory of my research on identity, literacy, and English language teaching, informed by theories of investment and imagined communities. Data from English language classrooms in Canada, Pakistan, and Uganda suggest that if learners have a sense of ownership over meaning-making, they will have enhanced identities as learners, and participate more actively in literacy practices. The research challenges English teachers to consider what pedagogical practices are both appropriate and desirable in the teaching of literacy, and what practices will help students develop the capacity for imagining a wider range of identities across time and space. Such practices, the research suggests, will necessitate changes in both teacher and student identity.
Contrastive Analysis of Place of Adjuncts in English and Persian Sentences
Author: Mirzahoseini, Zeynab
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Indo European Languages,English,Contrastive Linguistics,Sentence Structure,Form Classes (Languages),Grammar,Novels,Books,Translation,Statistical Analysis

This study investigates the position of adjuncts in sentences in English and Persian languages. The numbers of 136 sentences are collected from English story books and their Persian translations. The frequencies of each position (initial, middle, final) of adjuncts are determined by SPSS software and frequencies in English sentences are matched with Persian sentences. The results show that there is a meaningful difference between English and Persian regarding to place of adjuncts in sentences. In English the adjuncts are placed in initial and middle and final position, the initial and middle positions have the most frequency. In Persian the initial position is the most frequently used position. The frequency of middle position is less than initial and there is no adjunct in final position. The conclusion of this study is beneficial for translators, teachers and students that use the two languages.
Sophocles' &quot;Oedipus Rex&quot;: A Deconstructive Study
Author: Akhter, Javed
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Classical Literature,Literature Appreciation,Philosophy,Literary Criticism,Postmodernism,Theater Arts,Language Usage,Semiotics

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is the most prominent figure in contemporary philosophical and literary debate. He originates a trend-breaking theory of deconstruction. He opines the persistence in west European philosophical tradition of what he labels is logocentric metaphysics of presence. He argues that the different theories of philosophy, from Plato until structuralism are versions of a single or authoritative system. Though we cannot hope to escape this system we can at least identify the conditions of thought it imposes by attending to that which it seek to impress. Derridean deconstruction may present a new perspective to Sophocles' &quot;Oedipus Rex&quot;, which has always been a research target for world researchers. The researchers studied it from different angles, but the present study tries to reveal different facets of the play on Derridean deconstructive bedrock. Applying Derrida's deconstruction to the text of the play, the study tries to present it in a new and innovative way. The study will discuss how Western logocentric tradition of the metaphysics of presence and its compelling repercussions ground human thought in stable and pre-determined meaning. In its concluding mode, the study analyses preventive stumbling aporic blocks of fossilized logocentric structure of the minds of characters in the play.
The Effect of Test Specifications Review on Improving the Quality of a Test
Author: Zandi, Hamed
Date: 2014-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Test Reliability,Test Validity,Language Tests,Test Items,Feedback (Response),Program Validation,Test Reviews,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis,Graduate Students,English Teachers,College Second Language Programs,English (Second Language),Nonmajors,Item Analysis,Educational Quality,Foreign Countries

Reviewing the test specifications to improve the quality of language tests may be a routine process in professional testing systems. However, there is a paucity of research about the effect of specifications review on improving the quality of small-scale tests. The purpose of the present study was twofold: how specifications review could help improve the validity of a test in the context of assessment for learning (AFL) and to what extent qualitative review of items can identify poor ones. To this end, a group of trained test specifications reviewers (No = 7) provided feedback on the specifications of a test and the quality of the items. Analysis of feedback showed that pedagogical concerns naturally emerged during the specifications review and led to concrete suggestions on how the specifications could be revised so that the resulting test could become more useful in a classroom context. Moreover, the test items were administered to a group of (No = 40) test-takers and a set of quantitative item analyses was carried out. Comparison of the results of qualitative judgment of reviewers with the quantitative analyses showed about 38% of the items suggested for revision by the reviewers were also identified as poor by the classical test theory (CTT) analysis. The findings highlight the potential of specifications review as part of the a priori validation of tests in small-scale assessments where conducting statistical analysis is not usually feasible.
The Representation of Women in Street Songs: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Egyptian Mahraganat
Author: El-Falaky, Mai Samir
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Sexual Identity,Males,Females,Singing,Folk Culture,Cultural Influences,Social Influences,Gender Differences,Discourse Analysis,Ideology,Sex Role,Human Body

The study investigates the representation of male and female gender identities in Egyptian street songs called &quot;Mahraganat.&quot; The study discusses the issue with reference to two common songs spreading among young commoners. Since the songs are written by writers who descend from low-standard social group, the analysis exhibits both cultural and societal notions related to how males and females are portrayed in such kind of music. This study attempts to describe how males describe their social group in comparison to the social group to which the women belong. It, thus, constructs the social identity of males and females through the lyrics of this new genre of music. The findings from such an analysis answer the question about such genre within its social context and the ideologies by which it is dominated reflecting the discursive construction representation of gender and sexual identity.
Iranian University English Learners' Discursive Demotivation Construction
Author: Rashidi, Nasser
Date: 2014-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Discourse Analysis,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Foreign Countries,College Students,Motivation,English Language Learners,Interpersonal Relationship,Interaction,Universities,Interviews,Diaries

Investigating how foreign language learners' discourse mediates their demotivation construction is a relatively new area of inquiry. This paper examined the discursive construction of four (two males and two females) Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' demotivation at Shiraz University, Iran. Employing Fairclough's (2003) critical discourse analysis framework, the present study revealed that demotivation is not uni-dimensional and static; rather, it is complex, multi-dimensional, and dynamic, which is discursively constructed in the constant interaction between the individual and the social context. Findings also indicated that the discursive construction of demotivation involved simultaneous interaction of multiple levels of learners' interpersonal relationships, their future self-guides, and factors in local and broader social, cultural and political milieus.
L2 Motivation Profiling and the Role of Context: A Study in Exploratory Statistical Procedures
Author: Vahtrick, Lousia
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Context Effect,Second Language Learning,Student Motivation,Student Characteristics,Profiles,College English,English (Second Language),College Second Language Programs,Factor Analysis,Educational Environment,Online Courses,Questionnaires,Likert Scales,Multivariate Analysis,Self Esteem,Foreign Countries,Statistical Analysis

Two studies were carried out in order to create distinct motivational profiles of students, examine the way in which context had an effect on motivational styles, and attempt to collaborate these findings with the L2 Motivational Self-System. The research questions for this study were concerned with ascertaining whether or not it is possible to identify distinct learner types in terms of their motivational profiles; and to what extent different aspects of motivation contribute towards distinguishing different motivational profiles. The participants for the first study were 42 Dutch university students of English; and the participants for the second study were 26 adult learners of English at a language school in Sydney, Australia. In order to construct the motivational profiles, several exploratory statistical procedures were carried out, including principal components analysis and cluster analysis. The results found that the strength of the factors extracted in the principal components stage differed depending on the context of each study. In addition, the motivational profiles that were formed during the cluster analyses revealed distinct subgroups of learners which displayed varying levels of homogeneous characteristics.
A Corpus-Based Stylistic Analysis of &quot;Body-Soul&quot; and &quot;Heaviness-Lightness&quot; Metaphors in Kundera's Novel &quot;The Unbearable Lightness of Being&quot;
Author: Hussein, Khalid Shakir
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computational Linguistics,Novels,Semantics,Figurative Language,Psycholinguistics,Language Styles,Literary Devices,Creativity,Cognitive Mapping,Concept Formation,Linguistic Theory

This paper represents an attempt to conduct a corpus-based stylistic analysis of two conceptual metaphors in &quot;The Unbearable Lightness of Being,&quot; which is a novel written by Milan Kundera. &quot;Soul-body&quot; and &quot;lightness-heaviness&quot; metaphors are foregrounded as being central themes all through the novel. The way such metaphors are used in the novel indicates an insightful employment of metaphor as a cognitive tool which empowers language users with a capacity of conceptualizing different experiences. The researcher adopts &quot;conceptual metaphor theory&quot; to produce a sort of conceptual analysis incorporating Leech's semantic componential analysis within the overall analytic procedure. Different techniques are figured out in relation to the creative ways of manipulating the cognitive level of language, such as &quot;conceptual switching,&quot; &quot;conceptual extension,&quot; and &quot;conceptual fusion.&quot; These creative techniques are carefully used in the novel under investigation with different ranges of metaphorical creativity. Conceptual switching might be simple but very active in deviating from the conventional conceptual system. Conceptual extension marks certain minute elaborations conventional metaphors undergo extending the limits of cognitive conceptualization. As for conceptual fusion, it proves to be interestingly powerful in producing certain aggregations of metaphorical mappings.
The Effect of Incidental Focus on Form on EFL Learners' Grammatical Accuracy
Author: Abdollahzadeh, Somaieh
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Grammar,Accuracy,Teaching Methods,College Students,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Comparative Analysis,Feedback (Response),Language Tests,Pretests Posttests,Statistical Analysis,Hypothesis Testing,Form Classes (Languages),Morphemes,Incidental Learning,Females,Scores

Focus on form instruction is a kind of instruction that draws students, attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in meaning based instruction. There are different types of focus on form instruction. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of incidental focus on form on grammatical accuracy among Iranian L2 learners. Eighty learners from Sahand language Institute in Miandoab after taking grammatical judgment test which was administered to homogenize them, were placed in two control and experimental groups. Learners in experimental group received feedback through recasting during retelling the reading passage according to principles of Jigsaw task. But learners in control group did not receive any feedback. After treatment, which lasted for eight sessions, post-test was given to both control and experimental groups to observe the difference resulted from the treatment. To be sure about the significance of the difference between post-test means of both groups, a t-test was used. The results at the end supported the hypotheses of the study and positive effect of incidental focus on form on grammatical accuracy of L2 learners. After that, for the purpose of analyzing the effect of incidental focus on form on accuracy of pronouns, tenses, articles and propositions separately, other tests (pronoun, article, tense, proposition tests) was given to the learners in both control and experimental groups. The data collected was computed through t-test which revealed that the effect of incidental focus on form on grammatical accuracy of articles is greater than pronouns and tenses but incidental focus on form didn't have any effect on accuracy of propositions. Pedagogical implications have been discussed.
Peer Leadership as an Emerging High-Impact Practice: An Exploratory Study of the American Experience
Author: Keup, Jennifer R.
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Peer Relationship,Peer Influence,Peer Counseling,Student Surveys,Student Attitudes,Student Leadership,National Surveys,College Freshmen,Student Experience,Skill Development,Institutional Characteristics,Time on Task,Program Effectiveness,Student Satisfaction,Statistical Analysis

Given the powerful and ubiquitous qualities of peer influence, higher educators have begun to harness this resource in student support and service delivery by using undergraduates as leaders, mentors and educators for their fellow students. This paper analyses data from 1,942 students from 142 institutions in the United States who responded to a national survey of peer leaders administered by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition in 2009. Descriptive and inferential analyses indicate that survey respondents often hold more than one peer leader position, academic positions were the most common peer leadership experiences, and they receive extensive training for their peer leader roles in the form of initial training, ongoing support and supervision by professional staff. Further, the overwhelming majority of survey respondents felt that their peer leadership experience was highly beneficial to their skill development, nature of interactions and campus integration. Students engaged in community service peer-leader roles reported positive change on more outcomes than peer-leader roles in academics, residence halls and orientation and peer leaders who received financial compensation reported positive differences on a wider range of self-rated outcomes than those students not receiving remuneration. In sum, the examination of peer-leader structures and outcomes provide suggestive evidence that peer leadership meets many of the criteria to be considered as a high-impact practice.