European Journal of Language and Literature
European Journal of Language and Literature Studies (EJLS) is an open-access, peer-reviewed research journal. EJLS welcomes and acknowledges high-quality theoretical and empirical original research papers in the fields of Language and Literature, case studies, review articles, literature reviews, book reviews, conceptual frameworks, analytical and simulation models, and technical notes from researchers, academicians, professional and practitioners from all over the World.
A Wayfarer in School Land: A Philosophical Time Trip to Civilisation
How does the spirit of an age influence the prevailing ideal of education and civilisation at any given moment? Do education, civilisation, cultivativeness, and refinement mean the same thing? Is the spirit of a place linked to different educational ideals? In contemporary discourse, does the concept of education and civilisation transform into nothing more than a pawn in the game of politics? Can we talk about the school of yesterday and the school of tomorrow? Or do they both just mean a similar kind of educational institution? Is the concept of a book-based education becoming entirely obsolete in this era that worships electricity and artificial intelligence as deities? There are many such questions. The philosophical wayfarer in school land, an educational time traveller, sets out in search of answers. His success in this endeavour is possible only if his cultural perspective is both essayistic and deeply reflective in nature. Thus, the school land wayfarer must be able to present himself simultaneously as a herald, as a messenger of both artisticness and scientific inquiry. Let us wish him luck in this demanding task.
Copyright (c) 2026 European Journal of Language and Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Competition for the Male Versus the Female in August Strindberg's The Stronger and Ali Abdulnibi Al-Zadi’s Summer Rain
This paper aims to analyze and discuss two distinct plays by two different playwrights hailing from divergent eras, countries, cultures, and nationalities: the Swedish playwright August Strindberg's The Stronger and the Iraqi playwright Ali Abdulnibi Al-Zadi's Summer Rain. Despite these geographical and temporal distances, the study identifies a unifying human struggle. The study relies on Frommian Humanistic Psychoanalysis to interpret the dramatic action and internal conflicts of the protagonists. The two main female characters—Mrs. X in The Stronger and Flana in Summer Rain—suffer from the same existential dilemma, manifested through the presence or absence of a male figure. The paper explains the situations and actions of both women through the lens of Erich Fromm's theory, examining how these characters compete to fulfill their fundamental human needs in the face of isolation. The characters in The Stronger and Summer Rain are nameless archetypes who struggle to maintain love, self-awareness, and identity. The research discusses the "basic anxiety" the protagonists experience throughout the two plays. Otherwise, the study implies a deep sense of conflict, collision, gender role negotiation, and the ultimate quest for women's self-realization in societies that often define them by their relationships to men.
Copyright (c) 2025 European Journal of Language and Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
On Stage in The Provinces – A Review on Willi Forst’s Early Career as A Theatrical Actor
This article explores the early stage career of Viennese-born filmmaker Willi Forst, who would later establish himself as one of the leading figures in German-language cinema. Although Forst’s directorial achievements—particularly his celebrated musicals and Viennese films of the 1930s and 1940s—have been the subject of increasing scholarly attention, his formative years as a theatrical actor have received little systematic study. With only limited references in existing literature, this period following the end of World War I remains largely overlooked. Drawing on contemporary reviews, archival sources, and biographical accounts, the article examines Forst’s theatrical performances during the 1920s and considers how his experience on stage contributed to his later work as both actor and director in cinema. In doing so, it seeks to broaden the understanding of Forst’s artistic trajectory and to highlight the significance of his neglected beginnings for the development of his multifaceted career.
Black Skin, Red Masks: Racism, Communism and the Quest of Subjectivity in Ralph Ellison’ Invisible Man
This essay aims at proposing a study of Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man (1952), where the author focuses on the difficult journey of black intellectuals in quest for a strong black identity in post-war America. The theoretical reflection in this paper is based, in a first phase, on the philosophical and political perspectives of thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Frantz Fanon, whose works and debates have articulated an important source to understand the quest of subjectivity and intellectual consciousness in the 1950s, a period marked not only by the emergence of civil rights movement and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also the progressive replacement of Communism by alternative emancipatory currents such as existentialism, postcolonialism and (post-) structuralism. From this discussion, the essay indicates, how (post-) Marxist thinkers, like Etienne Balibar, investigate the limits of the a priori paradigms promoted by the traditional humanistic (natural law-positive law) and communist narratives (alienation-emancipation), which lack conceptual and historical efficacy when it comes to understand and respond to new (bio-capitalist) forms of discrimination, which constantly evolve according to the epoch and the place.
Edmodo as an Assessment Tool in the Foreign Language Learning Process
Due to the rapid developments in educational technology, today’s professors are in search of exploring innovative techniques in order to promote involvement of students in the learning process in general and in the foreign language learning process in particular. This is why today’s students are seen as digital-natives and being motivated for the learning process is very difficult if the modern technology they are familiar with is not utilized effectively in the classroom. When it comes to the assessment part of this process, the situation may become worse, as most of the students feel unwilling due to anxiety problems in general and foreign language anxiety in particular. This study presents an innovative way of assessing students’ skills that they gain during foreign language learning process introducing Edmodo, which is an educational social network that provides a secure learning platform for students and educators. This study is a descriptive one, based on the analyses, surveys, and opinions of different researchers that have implemented this platform in their teaching process. The main objective is to introduce the implementation of various assessment applications through Edmodo.
Copyright (c) 2024 European Journal of Language and Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Similarities in the Syntactic Structure of the German and Croatian Language
The purpose of this paper is to analyse any potential similarities between the Croatian and German language and present them adopting a contrastive approach with the intent of simplifying the learning process in regards to the German syntactic structure for Croatian German as foreign language students. While consulting articles and books on the theories and methods of foreign language teaching, attention is usually drawn to differences between the mother tongue and the foreign language, especially concerning false friends etc. The same applies to textbooks, workbooks and how teachers behave in class. Thus, it is common practice to deal with the differences between the foreign language and the mother tongue but less with similarities. This is unfortunate considering that this would likely aid in acquiring certain grammatical and syntactic structures of the foreign language. In the author's opinion, similarities are as, if not more, important than differences. Therefore, in this article the existence of similarities between the Croatian and German language will be examined closer with a main focus on the segment of sentence types. Special attention is drawn to subordinate clauses as they play an important role when speaking and/or translating sentences from Croatian to German and vice versa. In order to present and further clarify this matter, subordinate clauses in both the German and Croatian language are defined, clarified and listed to gain an oversight and to present possible similarities between the two. In addition, the method to identify subordinate clauses in a sentence is explained as well as what they express, which conjunctions are being used for each type of subordinate clause in both languages and where the similarities and/or differences between the two languages lie.
Exploring Language Learning Dynamics within Albanian Educational Contexts: A Comprehensive Review
This study provides a comprehensive review of the evolving landscape of language learning in Albania, not only through analysis of its current traditional methods, but also towards its shift towards communicative, inclusive, and technologically integrated teaching methods. Accordingly, the author of the study conducted an analysis regarding its current global educational trends, such as approaches that prioritize real-world language application, learner autonomy, and the integration of digital resources, while valuing the incorporation of students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds into the curriculum. Indeed, the author’s findings suggest an interesting reality characterized by a paradigm shift on the one hand, and a form of resistance towards change in the other. However, despite its contributions and evidence-based analysis, the study acknowledges limitations due to its reliance on existing literature and potential biases towards positive outcomes. The research calls for further empirical investigation, comparative studies, and exploration of learner perspectives to refine and advance language education in Albania, perhaps one that utilizes a nationwide study from various stakeholders. On the other hand, this research underscores the importance of embracing linguistic and cultural diversity and digital innovation to enhance language learning in the face of global changes.
Analysis of Newspaper Headlines from The Times and The New York Times: UEFA Euro 2024 and Paris Olympics 2024
Sporting events have numerous positive impacts on individual communities, countries, and society in general. They transcend geographical and cultural boundaries, and contribute to societal well-being by connecting communities around the world. The Olympics and the Euro (UEFA European Football Championship) are among the most popular sporting events in the world. Mainstream media around the world have reported on these two major sporting events. Analysis of media language is an integral part of research into various contemporary aspects of social and cultural changes. Thus, analysis of media representation of important sporting events offers a valuable insight into linguistic and discoursal aspects of media power and the complex relationship between language and society. The aim of this study is to analyse media representation of the UEFA Euro 2024 and the Paris Olympic Games 2024 in The Times and The New York Times. The corpus is composed of headlines related to the UEFA Euro 2024 (published from 15 June to 16 July 2024) and headlines related to the Paris Olympics (published from 11 July to 12 August 2024). Headlines are analysed by using the theoretical and methodological framework of CDA, which is employed for describing, interpreting and explaining different aspects of discursive practices in newspaper discourse. The focus is on establishing correlations between particular examples of media language and societal, institutional and cultural contexts.
The figurative fabric of being can be embroidered with words, images, ideas and fantasies. After all, we find this embroidery in the reality of language. In English we see the idea in such words as ‘coloured’, ‘mottled’, ‘pied’, ‘diversity’, ‘multiplicity’, for example, all of which correspond to the Finnish word ‘kirjo’, used in describing, among others, a rainbow trout, a harbour seal and the magical artefact in the national epic Kalevala. Medicines described in English as ‘broad-spectrum’, i.e. effective against many things, micro-organisms, have a ‘broad embroidery’ in Finnish. What is the meaning of a time of ‘embroidered culture’, of cultural multiplicity, and what is it like? Multi-face man inhabits the age of cultural multiplicity. Just as one-look man does. They can also be different sides of the same person. In fact, to counteract or provide an inverse existential partner for multi-face man, one-look man must be created and brought into the world. Through these existential opposites, it is possible to achieve sufficient depth and dimensionality for examining things. Multi-face man is born from the sphere of inwardness; its starting point is always at the core of existential interiority. One-look man in contrast exists purely as an externality – a being guided and led by an external will. Multi-face man, on the other hand, contains elements beyond the reach and control of external will: his interiority makes him an existential mystery. One-look man has a rote-learned fashionableness. There is nothing surprising about him since the known past also makes the future known and predictable in advance. All that remains is the repetition of the once learned. In short, multi-face man is the independent subject of his own life. One-look man is the non-independent subject of his existence because his externality – devoid of self-illumination – reflects the will of an external interiority.
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The (Mis) Education of Immigrant Children in Today’s America
In today’s America, not every child starts on a level playing field, and very few children move ahead based solely on hard work or talent. Generational poverty and a lack of cultural capital hold many students back, robbing them of the opportunity to move up professionally and socially. Children of immigrants are especially at-risk because, in addition to facing poverty, race, geographical location or economic disadvantages, they are also confronted with failure due to their limited or non-existent English proficiency. This study focuses on the degree to which teachers in a mid-sized urban school district take into consideration the individual needs of immigrant children in the process of their education. The study also examines the preparation teachers have had to equip them with knowledge of best practices in teaching immigrant children, and the relationship between teachers’ practices, beliefs, and their demographic and personal characteristics (age, gender, years of experience, level of education, etc.). Quantitative data was collected via a survey. Interviews with teachers and one central office administrator provided data for the qualitative section of the study. The findings revealed that teachers, in general, appeared to lack knowledge of specific policies for mainstreaming immigrant students into general education classrooms; their use of effective teaching practices for working with immigrant children were limited; and most of the teachers had not participated actively in professional development that focused on teaching immigrant children.
Copyright (c) 2021 European Journal of Language and Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Correlation Between Extracurricular and Curricular Exposure to English and FLA Success in Students Learning English for More Than 13 Years
Today’s generations have been introduced to foreign language (FL) learning from an early age. In fact, in Croatia, English as a foreign language is mandatory from the 1st grade of the primary school and in some European countries even from kindergarten (Poland, Cyprus, some communities in Spain). However, children are also acquiring foreign language unintentionally through the exposure to different media such as TV, Internet and social networks as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. Successful L2 acquisition is often contributed to the age factor and individual differences between L2 learners (social, cognitive, affective), but contextual factors that include wider community, language policy, education system and formal, non-formal and informal opportunities for L2 development should not be neglected. Three different contexts of acquiring second language can be differentiated: at home context, where the new language is studied as foreign language, immersion context, which is characterised by the immersion in the language of the environment, and study abroad context, which takes place in the L2 setting (Collentine and Fred, 2004). Since at home context refers to formal learning of language in a formal environment, the terms such as local context and local environment in which a language is learned are used more often. In the present research, a questionnaire was administered to 40 university students of food technology with the aim of determining the correlation between curricular, extracurricular and students’ success in FLA based on the secondary school, secondary school leaving certificate and the university grades. The following conclusions that will be discussed later in the paper have been reached: the students’ final grade in English on the secondary school exit exam and at the 1st year of studying does not differ to a great extent (although there was a 38 % decline in the final grade in English at the university level); the students have been exposed to English primarily through watching films with the English subtitles, listening to English songs, using social networks, listening to podcasts, playing video games and reading books; most of the students think that their success in mastering English can be contributed to both curricular and extracurricular exposure to English; students mostly spend up to 10 hours weekly being exposed to extracurricular contents; most of the students started learning English in the first grade of the primary school; weak correlation was found between very early exposure to English (kindergarten) and the highest grade (A) in English; stronger correlation was found between the exposure to extracurricular contents and the final grade in English (A in English on secondary school exit exam and 1st year of studying), leading to the conclusion that extracurricular exposure to English is a factor contributing to higher achievements (when final grade is concerned) in English and as such should not be neglected.
Copyright (c) 2023 European Journal of Language and Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
The Influence of Arabic in an English Classroom
The teaching of English as a second or foreign language in Arab countries presents a challenge due to the cultural and linguistic differences between Arabic and English. While English is essential for academic, business, and research purposes, Arabic is deeply ingrained in the culture and life of Arab children. Many teachers in Arab countries use Arabic to aid students in their understanding of English, as well as to explain concepts more easily. However, the use of Arabic in an English-speaking classroom must be regulated to ensure that it does not hinder the development of English language skills. Literal translation should be avoided, and the use of Arabic must be limited to specific situations and governed by appropriate norms. The use of Arabic in the English classroom can be beneficial when used appropriately, but it can also hinder communication and diminish the instructional value of the classroom. The current research seeks to find a compromise approach to this contentious issue by explaining the importance of both languages within the classroom and justifying the usage of Arabic in certain situations. By recognizing the value of Arabic and English, teachers can create a classroom environment that fosters effective language learning while also preserving the cultural identity of Arab students.
The Dickensian Naples in Vladimiro Bottone's historical novel
The aim of this article is to analyse the literary prose of the Neapolitan writer Vladimiro Bottone through his five historical novels, all of which are set in Naples. With this study, I would like to highlight how much care and attention the author in question puts into his descriptions and dialogues, through which he provides an accurate overview of the historical and social facts of Naples in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, before the unification of Italy. The author adheres to Scotian teachings and the general lines of Lukacsian criticism in the historical process, skilfully mixing real and ideal characters, the latter fitting perfectly to the society and historical period of reference. Vladimiro Bottone, with his novels, takes us by hand into a Naples that is not the Naples of postcards, not the Naples of pizza and mandolins, but the Naples of lazzari, of blackmail, of corruption, of dark and unhealthy alleys that attract, that fascinate and that eventually crush in their coils whoever dares give in to their lure and fall into their trap; he reveals to us, therefore, the other face of Naples.
The Spirit of Intellectual Responsibility
The paper examines the intellectual engagement of the academic Šimun Musa, an Emeritus Professor, in all areas of his activity. His extensive erudition and scientific responsibility in scientific and teaching, professional, publishing and sociocultural work are presented in this paper in three parts. The first part focuses on his teaching contributions primarily in the field of higher education. The second part deals with his scientific work which consists of a large number of books, monographs, anthologies, numerous articles, prefaces, reviews and more than several manuals and textbooks. The third part of this paper explores his sociocultural engagement with a special focus on his significant contribution to the struggle for equality of the Croatian language in Bosnia and Herzegovina. By creating new values in all areas of his work, Musa has made significant contributions to science, education and culture.
Negotiating Between the Constant and the Changing: Balancing Acts in the Training of Writing Teachers
TA training is an important component of any rhetoric/composition program in American universities. As a faculty member in the Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics with a specialty in classical oratory and comparative rhetoric, I have been training TAs for over a decade as a significant portion of my teaching assignment. In my presentation, I would like to discuss the major factors that affect the quality of the TA training program and ways to balance these factors to maximize the learning experience for the TAs. TAs, short for “teaching assistants” or “teaching associates,” are graduate students in English who are assigned to teach a writing class or two, usually of beginning college level. It is essential that these graduate students be provided with detailed hands-on training both in theory and in practice every step of the way in order for them to feel confident and comfortable in the classroom. My role as their teacher and supervising instructor is to provide them with fundamental training, laying a solid foundation for them to grow professionally. As I see it, four major factors interact in the TA training process: the available theory, the institutional and academic expectations, the class of student writers they each teach, and the TAs themselves as a team. Some of these factors are relatively constant; others are fluid and always changing. They often present fresh challenges when they interact in the writing classroom. I would like to explore how these factors act upon each other and complement each other as I try to create an environment in which the TAs feel encouraged to learn and experiment on their own with a minimal amount of guidance. I will argue that, based on my years of experience and on the reflections by the TAs themselves, it is of critical importance that the focus be placed on the balancing of the four factors in an individualized approach for TA training.
Public Health Communication in France during the Spanish Flu and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Experts
In times of crisis, a government’s communication with the public is fundamental, as one of the government’s main tasks is to provide critical information to protect the population. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health communication has been paramount because of the elevated risk of contagion. Moreover, in public health communication, experts play a pivotal role by providing reliable information on the basis of their technical expertise. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is often compared to that of the Spanish flu, a pandemic occurring in 1918-1919, whose global spread decimated tens of millions of people. This contribution aims to assess the role of experts in the two crises by highlighting the differences in France’s public health communication during the two events. Assuming that the objectives of public health communication during the two pandemics were more or less identical, i.e. to prevent the spread of disease and inform and protect the public, the paper inquires about the means used to achieve them, focusing on the contribution of experts. The main characteristics of public health communication during the Spanish flu will be investigated by analysing articles published in the period between 1918 and 1919 in two French newspapers Le Matin and Le Petit Parisien. In terms of the current COVID-19 pandemic, this paper will probe articles published since December 2019 in the newspaper Le Monde.
Copyright (c) 2023 European Journal of Language and Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Intergenerational Discourse: Its Essence and Features
Generations, their values and preferences, generational gap, generational conflicts are among the most urgent topics in modern society. They are studied by marketers, sociologists, philosophers, and psychologists as generational differences affect the purchasing ability and consumer behaviour, communication in the workplace, involve the issues of ageism and appropriate and fair treatment of various age groups. However, the phenomenon of verbal interaction of representatives of different generations as represented in written texts has not deserved proper attention and, therefore, has not been studied thoroughly. The study of intergenerational discourse may serve this purpose and fill in the existing gaps determining the scope of this research.
Copyright (c) 2022 European Journal of Language and Literature
The Guatemalan Genocide Through Indigenous Mayan Literature Twenty Years After the Peace Accords: Rigoberta Menchú, Humberto Ak´Abal and Victor Montejo
Guatemala experienced a cruel genocide in the early eighties, in the context of a repressive Conflict. Due to the different governments´ repressive policies, this terrible social situation was little known abroad, and even in the own country. Just after the Peace Accords, several organisms worked to uncover the historical truth. In any case, we cannot forget that testimonial literature is a privileged mean to know this dark period of the contemporary history of Guatemala. This genre is particularly relevant, because the main writers are originally Mayans, and have directly suffered both repression and social exclusion due to ethnic reasons. Rigoberta Menchú, Unmberto Ak´abal and Víctor Montejo represent a new and original point of view in the measure in which they describe feelings and situations from the perspective of those who experience them personally. Testimonial literature or the Testimonio becomes an ethnographic document that allows us to know not just a period but a people who have suffered from repression and exclusion for centuries.
New Trends in the Teaching of the Intercultural Competence as Part of the Process of Teaching Foreign Languages in the Context of Higher Education in Spain.
Today we live in the era of globalization. We define our world by the coexistence of various different cultures. The present article seeks to clarify the concept of intercultural competence when teaching foreign languages and the new trends in the context of Higher Education in Spain. We will start with a short introduction on the various studies and research on the relationships between language and culture However, the main aim in this article will be to point out the new roles played by teacher and learners in the process, the creation of new materials to support the intercultural dimension and the new types of activities that could be done inside and outside the classroom, such as the use of tele-collaboration, social networks and others. In other words, the elements that make up and give meaning to a new methodology for language teaching and learning and that help language teaching to be an open window towards other cultures and to develop a new and open-minded attitude towards diversity. Therefore, we will try to study some of the main current methodological approaches, stereotypes and contents linked to that intercultural competence.
Between Parentheses: The Poetics of Irrelevance in Virginia Woolf’s Experimental Fiction
The understanding and appreciation of Virginia Woolf’s modernist fiction demands careful attention, not only for the obvious complexity of its experimental form but also for the apparent simplicity of certain typographical and stylistic devices. Among these is the use of parenthetical expressions, consisting of explanatory or qualifying remarks inserted into a passage and usually marked off by brackets, dashes, or commas. Generally speaking, the main functions fulfilled by parentheticals have been examined and classified by Woolf scholars. What has received less critical attention, however, is the intrinsic nature of parenthetical constructions and the subtle, multifaceted implications of their actual functioning within the overall economy of every single novel. The purpose of this paper is to address a similar question, beginning with a preliminary delimitation of the scope of the analysis. Firstly, among the different types of the so-called ‘parenthetical expressions’ only the explicit use of parentheses (in the form of round or square brackets) will be assumed as a distinctive feature in order to identify a specific category of stylistic and narrative devices. Secondly, and quite obviously, the novel under consideration will be, in particular, To the Lighthouse (1927), inasmuch as it provides the most striking examples of the disruptive potential contained in Woolf’s parenthetical writing. A good point of departure for such an analysis, however, can be found in Jacob’s Room (1922), Woolf’s first experimental novel, which shows a long and compound sentence, inserted between brackets, significantly placed in the opening page of the book.
The Most Valuable Discussion About the Nature of Language That Never Took Place: From Wittgenstein to Baldwin via Calvino
James Baldwin and Ludwig Wittgenstein were both concerned with what language use is capable of and what the duty of the thinker should be. This essay examines, via Italo Calvino’s ideas on the relationship between writing and world, what the contrast Wittgenstein/Baldwin tells us about the ethics of meaning, Wittgenstein’s ‘leaves everything as it is’ conception of thought is contrasted with Baldwin’s thoughts on racism, language and the duty of the writer. It is concluded that Baldwin drives Wittgenstein’s philosophical position further than Wittgenstein could do himself and that ethically neutral language use is itself a linguistic confusion.
Under the Savo Sky - A Philosophical Time-Travel Mosaic
Using his words, the essayist endeavours to build a mosaic-like Kuopio. To do so, he also needs the help of photographs. A time-trip will reveal the multifaceted nature of Kuopio, constructed from small pieces. The Savo sky is like a large existential mirror, reflecting past, present and future time. The vaulted mirror of life above the landscape reveals the everyday moments of various generations. Interspersed among the flickering images are glimpses of the joys and sorrows of individuals and of the whole nation. Individual and community are presented both alongside and nested inside each other. The market place, as a time-square, acts as the space where events unfold. It resembles an existential theatre where various sequences of events take place. An essayistic or philosophical time-travel mosaic means a flâneur’s wanderings through the existential stream of Kuopio city life. As an anonymous observer, the traveller notices many kinds of things. From these he formulates a coherent and confidently worded overall picture. In this way, an intellectual-artistic self-portrait of Kuopio takes shape. The role of the essayist is demanding: he must be able to act as a contemporary observer, critic and artist. He can therefore also be seen as an omniscient narrator – simultaneously both as a reader and a writer. The essayist thus lives and tells an existential story – a story of the forms of ’kuopioness’ across time. It is a story worth each and everyone of us listening to.
Over the Water: Glimpses into a Timescape
Above the waters wanders the spirit of the times, blowing the whirling bustle of modern life into being and drifting across the water’s surface, a wavelet of modernity. The mirror of the lake ripples. The sky is reflected in the water, and the water reflects the sky. At the point where sky and water touch lies the looking-glass of the planes of time. In it are days past, present and yet to come, layered into a cultural fabric, an entwined garland of moments. A photograph ? a light picture ? is a window into a timescape. A word picture is an attempt to interpret the view of existence that opens up from that window. An attempt that needs a pictorial language, as well as a language picture. A metaphor is also an essential verbal tool. The investigative gaze should reach into the core of being. It is not enough just to see the outer shell. Intuition and poetry go hand in hand. They paint a flawless picture of the object being observed, which is a prerequisite for interpreting and understanding. It also means a glimpse from home, a look out from the home. Attachment to hearth and home clarifies the homeward glimpse, how we look into that home. The tourist's eye is incapable of that, not going beyond the surface. The home-glimpsed Varkaus is a multifaceted place. Glimpsed by a visitor, Varkaus is a mere backdrop, a one-dimensional existential prop. Across the waters, you can hear the humming throb of the factory. It means the hubbub of modern times. It is that buzz of existence that this expedition is seeking ? and in the process of finding.
Writing and Metacognition: How Italian Students Represent the School Organization and the Assessment Processes
The importance of involving students in writing activities that encourage them to work on metacognitive processes is shared by educational experts (Albanese et al., 2003; Harris et al., 2010; De Simone et al., 2015). During the formative process, activities that require students to use judgment and critical thinking skills, as well as challenging them to reflect on themes close to their daily-life, are those reported to be more effective (Bruning - Horn, 2000; Boscolo - Gelati, 2007; Smith et al., 2007). The paper presents the results of a writing laboratory developed with Italian undergraduate students. The students were freshmen at the Department of Education of the Roma Tre University. The main objective was to work on the metacognitive skills of students, asking them to clarify their idea of "school organization and assessment processes in Italy", through a written paper. In addition to argumentative texts, students were asked to identify one or more illustrations to support their own judgment. The research hypothesis was that ideas that students have about scholastic organization and about assessment processes could considerably influence the way in which they approach their academic path. The products of the laboratory were systematically shared and discussed with the students. The result of the research confirms the importance of working with students on writing skills and on metacognition. These are shown to be relevant to the students' educational and professional future.
Aspect and Verbal Action in Albanian - Activity Verbs
In this article we introduce and analyze the morfo-syntactic behaviour of activity verbs in standard Albanian.The grouping of verbs by their lexical-semantic meaning deals with the study of the way of presentation of the action development. To the verbal action we refer when we are looking to analyze and classify the lexical meanings of different verbs, which are grouped or separated by the means of word formation. Even in the cases when for the expression of verbal action are used special syntactic constructions, these are, still, as a function of their respective lexical meaning. However, they don`t deal with the grammatical meanings but with the lexical meanings of these constructions. In the case of aspect there are grammatical oppositions, expressed with grammatical means, therefore with different forms of the same verb. The aspect in the Albanian language is realized, above all, by the change of tenses, as amongst the imperfective and the perfective (aorist), instead of the verbal action that, generally, it is not indicated by the means of conjugation. Finally, we will study the meanings related not from individual lexical meaning, but from the general lexical meaning. It is this feature that makes the verbal action in Albanian an objective category, different and distinguishable from the subjective category of aspect .
L2 Writing: A Comparison of Upper Intermediate and Advanced EFL Learners
The present study examines differences in syntactic complexity in English writing among advanced and upper intermediate undergraduates by means of quantitative measures of syntactic complexity. Participants were 250 Spanish undergraduates enrolled in a Degree in Modern Languages. A total of 121 students had an upper intermediate level (B2 level according to the CEFR) and 129 had an advanced level (C1 level according to the CEFR). Essays were evaluated by quantitative measures gauging different aspects of L2 complexity. Results indicate that the complexity measures chosen can capture significant differences in writing proficiency when comparing different proficiency levels. The scores on the general quality of the writings and on all syntactic complexity measures increased from B2 to C12 and for all complexity measures the increase was statistically significant.
Understanding Students’ Perspective and Use of Technology for Language Learning at Islamic Boarding School
Pesantren or Islamic Boarding school is one of the oldest Islamic Institutions in Indonesia, home to the the largest muslim population in the world. There are two types of pesantren, traditional (salafi) and modern (khalaf). In selected modern pesantren, students are obliged to communicate in Arabic and/ or English language as a part of their bilingual program. The implementation of English in daily conversation requires students to acquire high level of English proficiency. The purpose of this study is to provide insight of ESL acquisition and practice, technology use to enhance language learning, and future enhancement of language learning through students’ lenses. The writer distributed questionnaire and conducted focus group discussion to thirty Darul Ulum Islamic Boarding School students. The findings showed that while there are restrictions on the use of technology devices in pesantren, half of students feel that they have sufficient exposure to English through traditional teaching program. However, many students acknowledge that they have limited vocabulary that addresses to their daily lives, thus they would like to find more resources that accommodate this needs. Finally, based on the findings, this paper suggests that pesantren allows for more access to technology devices and diverse resources of ESL as well as availability of librarian or experts that can help students to use technology for learning efficiently.
The Rhetoric of First-Person Narration in Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders and Roxana
Most of the narratives constructed by Daniel Defoe represent the unfolding of the eponymous narrators’ adventurous lives. Despite the fact that Defoe’s narratives are not categorized as psychological novels, they are slightly coloured by the homodiegetic narrators’ evaluation of the events they lived, and the decisions they made at different points. By recounting their memories of episodes in their past lives, Defoe’s narrators mostly present us with the story of their own transformation or becoming. They narrate their life stories in an attempt to rationalize and justify past actions and decisions. In other words, they hope to persuade themselves, and at the same time their audience, about their transformed lives and identities at the time of narration. As this paper argues, narrating in Moll Flanders (1722) and Roxana (1724) is primarily used to relieve the tension between the two opposing versions of the narrators’ selves—the experiencing self and the narrating self. Moll’s and Roxana’s accounts represent an attempt to reconcile their identities and experiences throughout their lives. Thus, the paper aims to show how the uses of the first-person mode of narration has different uses in the two narratives. While the converging aspect of the two voices is dominant in Moll Flanders, it is the diverging nature of the remembering I and the remembered I which is highlighted in Roxana.
Contrastive Analysis of Arabic and Malay for Adjective Phrases in Short Stories
The influence of the Arabic language has permeated into the Malay language. The introduction of Arabic vocabulary into the Malay language resulted in the existence of Malay loanwords derived from Arabic. In addition, the influence of Malay as a mother tongue affects students in mastering Arabic. First language knowledge and experience are often used by students while learning a foreign language. This causes confusion to students in understanding and mastering the structure of Arabic phrases. This is because, the structure of adjective phrases differs between Arabic and Malay. Therefore, this study aims to determine the types of adjective phrases in Arabic and Malay and to study the similarities and differences in both languages based on short stories by Mustafa Lutfi al-Manfaluti and Shahnon Ahmad. The research methodology is through a qualitative approach by document analysis using library research. This study also uses the contrastive analysis approach pioneered by Robert Lado (1957) in his book ‘Lingustic Across Culturse’. This analysis is done systematically by comparing the two languages to determine the similarities and differences in terms of adjective phrases in selected short stories. The findings show that there are similarities and differences of adjective phrases in Arabic and Malay which include elements of single adjective phrases, working phrases as adjective phrases, noun phrases as adjective phrases and conjunctions as adjective phrases.
“I am afraid if my students can’t understand me.” - A Consciousness-Raising Approach to Teaching the Modal System
Teaching the modal system through Consciousness-raising is a way of educating the learner about grammatical features using form-oriented activities. It can indirectly facilitate L2 acquisition. Through this approach, learners identify modal usage. Ellis advocates that learners transform input into intake to facilitate learner output, increasing the probability that the output will be comprehensible. As Swain points out, output facilitates acquisition by making learners aware of gaps, enabling hypothesis testing, and allowing learners to reflect on their performance and develop linguistic meta-understandings (Swain 1985). The following can elicit learner output: 1) Consciousness-raising for explicit knowledge, 2) feature focus exercises, and 3) focused identifying activities. In line with Ellis' theory, a pedagogical design was created to allow learners to facilitate input into intake. As learners comprehend, they draw upon their general knowledge. Measuring such involves a grammatical Consciousness-raising task on the modal system with a pre and post-test. Moodle, a widely available LMS, was the learning management system used for data collection. It is hoped that this approach will highlight a student's implicit and automatic grammatical knowledge rather than explicit and controlled knowledge. Preliminary results will be shared.