Facilitating Reflection on Implicit Learner Beliefs through Metaphor Elicitation

( Joe Sykes ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2011 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.15 No.1

This qualitative study aims to develop and evaluate a tool which can be used to help learners autonomously reflect upon their implicitly held learner beliefs, with a view to promoting language learning practices appropriate to the individual and addressing any issues of learner beliefs which may be preventing effective learning. Metaphor was selected to serve this purpose. Metaphor is now widely acknowledged as a cognitive as well as a linguistic phenomenon. This has resulted in a wealth of research utilizing metaphor to investigate aspects of the subconscious, including implicitly held beliefs. In the case of teacher training, metaphor was used to facilitate reflection, which resulted in the development of the beliefs of the subjects. It is the purpose of this study to ascertain whether same can be achieved for learners. Through the use of metaphor elicitation, written explanations and interviews it was found that the metaphors produced by the participants were representative of their implicitly held beliefs and the process resulted in an increase in perspective consciousness in all of the participants.

A Comparative Study of Iranian and Japanese English Teachers" Demotivational Factors

( Somayeh Baniasad Azad ),( Saeed Ketabi ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2013 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.17 No.1

This study examined demotivational factors among Iranian and Japanese college teachers of English. To achieve the purpose, the study used a 35- item questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results were compared with the similar study in Japan by Sugino (2010). The findings of the study revealed that Iranian and Japanese lecturers are much similar regarding motivation and demotivation in their teaching. However, there is difference with respect to the top items causing demotivation. For Iranian teachers, the most demotivating items were ``No consistency in curriculum with clear goals``, ``No bonus, ``Little appreciation from the administration``, ``Employment system is unstable``, ``When students are not interested in studying``, and ``Lack of research fund``. Whereas, the top demotivating items for Japanese college teachers were: students using cell-phones in classes, students sleeping in class, students taking rebellious attitudes, long meeting hours, much paperwork, and ``fixed teaching method. Implications for curriculum development, working conditions, and educational authorities will be discussed.

Writing for Journal Publication: An Overview of NNES Challenges and Strategies

( Ismaeil Fazel ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2013 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.17 No.1

After a brief discussion of the importance of publishing in academic journals, this paper provides an overview of studies on writing for publication of NNES (non-native English speaking) writers. Based on the related literature, different language problems facing NNES contributors, from the perspective of both NNES writers and journal editors, as well as strategies used to cope with challenges in writing for publication will be discussed.

The Effect of Language Immersion on Second Language Intonation

( Seokhan Kang ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2013 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.17 No.1

This study investigated the effect of language immersion in an Englishspeaking environment on the production of intonational features in L2 English sentences. It was hypothesized that the Korean group who had been immersed in the English language as children would have intonation patterns more similar to native English speakers than a nonimmersed group of Korean speakers, who shared otherwise similar experience and proficiency with English. Sixty subjects in three groups - 20 Korean adults in the immersed group, 20 Korean adults in the nonimmersed group, and 20 native English speakers (as a control group) - took part in the experiment. The immersed group was more native-like by having a steeper F0 declination tilt (a wider F0 range and a fast speech rate). However, the immersed group, like non-immersed group, exhibited difficulty in resetting F0 between adjacent phrases at boundary. These results suggest that the acquisition of second language (L2) intonation is affected by early immersion in an L2 environment, but the degree of intonational acquisition was shown to vary by subareas, in which some F0-related cues proved to be hard to acquire.

A Contrastive Analysis of the American and Persian Newspaper Editorials

( Maryam Homayounzadeh ),( Saeed Mehrpour ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2013 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.17 No.2

Based on the principles of critical discourse analysis this contrastive study sought to investigate the effect of culture on the journalistic style and the strategies used to report news in the American and Persian newspaper editorials. To this end, articles were selected from the New York Times, the Washington Post, Kayhan and Ettelaat, taking Iran``s nuclear dispute as the tertium comparationis for the selection of the articles. The analysis involved primarily a demarcation of the micro genres of the selected texts. Based on the principles of the newly developed appraisal theory, patterns of interpersonal rhetoric, devised in the texts to shape public opinion, were investigated. Attitudinal lexis and naming choices and expressions were also examined to discover the different strategies used in the editorials of the two languages to communicate their evaluations of the specified subject matter. Using a Chi-square test, no statistically significant difference was found between the editorials of the two languages for the selected criteria. Given the war of words between the two nations, the selected editorials were found to utilize quite similar strategies to perpetuate their own ideologies and to diminish the effects of the rival newspapers, leaving no room for culture to affect their strategies.

Some Phenomena on Negative Inversion Constructions

( Tae Soo Sung ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2013 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.17 No.2

We examine the characteristics of NDI (negative degree inversion) and its relation with other inversion phenomena such as SVI (subject-verb inversion) and SAI (subject-auxiliary inversion)1. The negative element in the NDI construction may be not, a negative adverbial, or a negative verb. In this respect, NDI has similar licensing environments to those of negative polarity items (NPIs). NPIs are licensed only in a negative environment. Borroff (2006) deals with characteristics of NDI in detail, but she does not explain the relation between NDI and other inversion phenomena in English. Therefore, she fails to capture the generality of the two. I argue that NDI is related to other ICs such as SVI and SAI, focusing on the very nature of these constructions. In English, degreemodified adjectives typically follow the determiner, but they may precede the article in NDI constructions. I argue that this noncanonical word order is related to a specific function, i.e., Green``s (1980) emphatic function. I also argue that the NDI shares this same function with other ICs, such as the SVI and SAI constructions. In this respect, the nature of the NDI will be more clearly revealed when we examine these inversion phenomena together, not respectively. Therefore, further studies should be focused on why a speaker uses this noncanonical word order instead of the canonical word order.

The Development of Evaluation Theories for Foreign Language Textbooks

( Sun Min Lee ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2013 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.17 No.2

This study aims to carry out a theoretical survey on the development ofevaluation theories for foreign language textbooks. This study also focuses on recognizing the importance of textbook development in the field of not only teaching English as a foreign language, but also teaching Korean as a foreign language. Recently, the field of teaching Korean as a foreign language has made progress and we should admit that the theoretical basis of Korean as a foreign language is closely related to English as a foreign language. So it is necessary to adapt the theories for evaluating EFL textbooks in the field of KFL. Hence, this study intends to pursue three aims: the first is to study the existing theories of English textbook analysis, classifying them by the time (1970s, 1980s and 1990s), the second is to examine the transitional aspects of theoretical analysis of English textbooks, in order to develop a textbook of Korean as a foreign language, and the third purpose is to suggest a direction for which the future textbooks of KFL (Korean as a foreign language) and EFL (English as a foreign language) should progress through studying the theoretical analysis of textbooks for teaching English as a foreign language.

Investigation of EFL Teachers" Career and Motivation at Universities in Japan

( Rie Tsutsumi ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2013 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.17 No.2

Motivation is one of the most popular topics on language teaching and learning. Many studies on language learning focus on students`` motivation; however, teachers`` motivation is easily overlooked in the area of the applied linguistics field. In this paper, the researcher presents a study to investigate how satisfied English teachers at private universities in Japan are with their work as English instructors. In this study, the researcher created questionnaires and conducted a survey of thirty English teachers at private universities in Japan. This study shows the perception and the degree of satisfaction in their jobs. The study vividly shows what the most significant obstacles are as well as approaches to solve the problems. The researcher asked participants what significant aspect of teaching is included in their personal teaching philosophy. The major question the researcher was looking for was the following: what the reward was, what obstacles existed, and what possible solutions were for the problematic aspects in the field. Overall, this study clearly provides the reader a clearer idea of what motivates teachers and how closely it is related to their productivity in their daily teaching.

Intercultural Exposure through English Language Teaching: An Analysis of an English Language Textbook in Bangladesh

( Shamsun Akhter Siddiqie ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2011 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.15 No.2

The treatment of culture in foreign language textbooks is comparatively a new trend in English Language Teaching (ELT) which is based on the growing consensus that language textbooks should attempt to raise students`` awareness of international culture as well as that of their own. Being influenced by this thought, Bangladesh too like many other countries has incorporated intercultural contents in English language textbooks at secondary and higher secondary levels as a part of a reformation process in the ELT sector. The present study examines the proportion and kinds of intercultural contents in one of those textbooks, English for Today (EfT), which is produced locally by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), Bangladesh. It also aims at investigating intercultural awareness and abilities promoted through such input.

Fundamental Concerns in High-Stakes Language Testing: The Case of the College English Test

( Yan Jin ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2011 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.15 No.2

The College English Test (CET) is an English language test designed for educational purposes, administered on a very large scale, and used for making high-stakes decisions. This paper discusses the key issues facing the CET during the course of its development in the past two decades. It argues that the most fundamental and critical concerns of large-scale high-stakes testing are test validity and fairness as defined in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, & NCME, 1999). The CET has a current annual test population of over 18 million, and the results of the test, intentionally or unintentionally, may affect university graduates`` employment opportunities, the conferment of a bachelor``s degree, and the granting of a residence permit in big cities. The CET test developer, therefore, has been taking measures to make sure that no test taker will be potentially disadvantaged by such factors as test content, test condition, response mode and format, scoring of constructed-response items, and use of test results. Considerable care has been given to the test``s validity as well as its operational standardization, which is critical to fairness in high-stakes testing. The paper begins with an overview of the major developmental stages of the CET since its inception in 1987 and the standardized procedures involved in the CET design, item construction, test administration, test form equation, scoring and score reporting. Following the introductory part, the paper discusses in turn the CET validation efforts in the late 1990s, major revisions of the test with a view to aligning its content and task format with the College English curriculum requirements, and the recent research on the validity of the newly developed internet-based CET, a central focus of which has been on possible biases against test takers who are less proficient in computer operation. Validity and fairness, however, cannot be exclusively addressed in psychometric and technical terms. The use of the test in a particular social context or with particular groups of test takers may be valid and fair or invalid and unfair. In the final part, the paper concludes with a brief discussion of the political dimension of high-stakes testing, with a specialfocus on Messick``s (1992) unified construct validity argument, which views validity not as a feature or a possession of a test, but a process to validate in a multifaceted approach the uses and interpretations of tests and their scores (Davies, 2003).