Founded in 2019, International Journal of Language and Literary Studies (IJLLS) is an open access, double blind peer reviewed journal that publishes original and high-quality research papers in all areas of linguistics and literature. As an important academic exchange platform, scientists and researchers can know the most up-to-date academic trends and seek valuable primary sources for reference. All articles published in LLSJ will be peer-reviewed.
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Papers by International Journal of Language and Literary Studies (IJLLS)
The Silences and pauses, Harold Pinter has employed in his plays, have remarkably encapsulated hi... more The Silences and pauses, Harold Pinter has employed in his plays, have remarkably encapsulated his mastery of such theatrically effective techniques. Silence is not just a moment when characters keep silent and the audience cannot hear their utterances; it is a moment so pregnant with meanings that the readers find it difficult to find their way to the final meaning. Silence in Pinter’s plays are unexpectedly never silent. When it pervades, one has to think deeply of that moment. And when characters stop talking, one needs to contemplate their unsaid thoughts. This paper investigates the notions of fear, uncertainty, menace and death evoked when characters pause or keep silent in Pinter’s Silence and The Dumb Waiter. In other words, it is how those moments of silence mark a state of calmness on the one hand and how this state gives way to that of chaos and death on the other that this paper shall strive to prove with reference to the aforementioned plays.
The paper seeks to establish the level of lexical complexity in the discourse of Economic Communi... more The paper seeks to establish the level of lexical complexity in the discourse of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) peacekeeping agreements (EPKA) and to describe the lexical strategies through which the observed complexity is created. Many studies on linguistic complexity focus on second language acquisition, assessment and writing development. But, this article focuses on lexical choices that create complexity capable of hindering reader’s comprehension. It utilizes quantitative and qualitative designs in its analysis of corpus which consists of ten purposively selected EPKA texts. The data are analysed using Web-based Lexical Complexity Analyzer. The findings indicate that the language of the EPKA is complex. The complexity is attributed to high lexical density, lengthy words and long sentences in the corpus. Also, a large proportion of words in the corpus are redundant and vague. It is hoped that this article provides information about the lexical choices needed to improve the discourse of peacekeeping agreements.
It is widely accepted that the relationships of dominance between the Self and the other are conc... more It is widely accepted that the relationships of dominance between the Self and the other are concurrent to both the Gothic genre and postcolonial theory. In Gothic literature, this relationship has traditionally been expressed through the dichotomy self vs. other, in which the self is the male protagonist while the latter is “everything else in that world” (Day 19). Gothic literature is, thus, an exploration of the formation of identity. In colonial Gothic, this is brought under the axiom colonizer-colonized, and, therefore, characters are analyzed as manifestations of a dichotomy which usually links first the other to the monstrous, who is subsequently presented as the colonized subject. The Irish case further complicates this simple binary relation. The running argument of the present paper is that far from being a dichotomy, the Irish case is better understood as a triangle in which two of its vertices are fixed—Catholics/Irish and English—while the third vertex, that of the Anglo-Irish, gradually shifts positions from the English to the Irish one, following a creolization process in which they are both victims and victimizers. The characters in the fictions of J.S. Le Fanu all epitomize this constrained relationship, displaying an array of roles who do not comfortably fit into either category, showing a pervading feeling of being ill-at-ease. As this paper shows, a deeper reading reveals these figures to be just the opposite of what the prototypical colonialist figure ought to be—weak and feeble, terrorized rather than terrorizer, in awe of the other instead of subduing it.
This study was conducted to document and preserve folklore entitled Princess of the Runaway Valle... more This study was conducted to document and preserve folklore entitled Princess of the Runaway Valley by unveiling 31 functions of Vladimir Propp narrative structure. This is a historical qualitative and content analysis study. The approach used was an objective one by using narratology structuralism study. In this study, the literary text became the focus of the study in which the researcher focused on the structure of a text. Based on the analysis result, there were only 24 of the 31 functions of character according to Vladimir Propp narrative structure. Therefore, the complexity of the story was not too high because it did not fulfill all functions required. The 7 functions that were absent in the story were absentation, villainy, donor, return, exposure, punishment, and wedding/throne ascession.
This research paper is intended to shed light on the use of e-learning in learning and more parti... more This research paper is intended to shed light on the use of e-learning in learning and more particularly in foreign language learning by EFL students in higher education either to support the process of their traditional learning or for any other independent learning purposes. The aim is to identify how e-learning is used, the various existing e-learning strategies that students prefer to learn with and the extent to which EFL students are satisfied with the support offered by e-learning to assist the process of EFL learning. To answer these queries, a quantitative method is adopted for the collection of data using online tools in the creation and the administration of the questionnaire to the respondents. The findings of the study demonstrate that students usually use e-learning as it helps them to develop many language skills including communication skills, problem solving skills besides the four language skills. It has been shown also that students are highly satisfied with the use of e-learning which is usually used by traditional learning students to fulfill the missing gaps.
The sheer growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) has reshaped teaching and le... more The sheer growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) has reshaped teaching and learning practices tremendously in the learning environments all over the globe. Research reveals that teachers are the key agents in the integration of ICT in particular in language teaching and learning. However, some of the many factors, this ICT integration are associated with teachers’ personal characteristics such as gender. Therefore, the current study investigates the Moroccan male and female teachers’ level of ICT integration in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in the public secondary school EFL classrooms. This study aims to explore whether gender influences the way EFL teachers’ ICT use in the classroom. It is a survey which adopts a mixed-method approach of investigation, and two instruments are used to collect data: a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Eighty full-time teachers (45 male and 35 female teachers) belonging to different public secondary schools in the area of Agadir Idaoutanane and Inzegane Ait-Meloul participated in the study by answering a questionnaire, and eight teachers out of this sample (4 male and 4 female teachers) are interviewed. The results of data analysis reveal that although female teachers employed ICT in their teaching less than their male counterparts, there is no significant difference in using ICT in language teaching between the two groups. A number of propositions are presented as to how to incorporate ICT in language learning in the Moroccan secondary schools EFL contexts.
This paper employs a multimodal analytical approach in analyzing the theme of exodus in Bob Marle... more This paper employs a multimodal analytical approach in analyzing the theme of exodus in Bob Marley’s ‘Exodus’ album where attention is given to four main areas, namely, the album’s cover design, the employment of lexical items, the use of literary devices as well as aesthetics by which Marley conveys the theme of exodus throughout the album. Findings show that the album’s cover design is symbolically employed to project the theme of exodus. The choice of the gold color as the background as well as the inscription of ‘EXODUS’ in red in the heart of the golden background equivocally reveals Africa’s ‘golden’ contributions to the West while the Africans in the West are ‘bleeding’(red), a reason for which they must embark on an exodus. Lexically, Marley employs content emotion-packed lexical items, namely nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, to project the theme of exodus. Besides, Marley relies heavily on literary devices such as allusion, equivocation, metaphor, repetition and rhyme as tools for the projection of the theme of exodus in his ‘Exodus’ album. Finally, by deliberate design, the names of the songs of the album, their arrangement as well as their number all aesthetically tell a conscious but beautiful story in the name of the overall theme of exodus in the album by the same name, making Marley’s ‘Exodus’ album not merely a classical musical piece but a discourse masterpiece equivalent to one from a skilled troubadour.
This descriptive qualitative study seeks to unravel the microstructure elements of the interviews... more This descriptive qualitative study seeks to unravel the microstructure elements of the interviews of President Rodrigo Duterte and how he represents himself and his opponents using political discourse analysis. The corpora consisted of his 30 recent interviews at the time of writing this paper and were retrieved in an online archive of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO). The findings indicated that Duterte’s discourse has these various linguistic features: modality, attributions, disclaimer, presuppositions, validity claims, pronoun use, transitivity, passivation, number of game, lexicon, idioms, metaphors, intertextuality, and profanity. The study revealed that Duterte manipulatively uses language to reflect a positive representation of himself and negative representation of others, legitimizing his authority and delegitimizing those in opposition.
The English language has survived the pangs of giving birth to its variations commonly called as ... more The English language has survived the pangs of giving birth to its variations commonly called as World Englishes. Though there are many “Englishes” in the globe today, they do have similarities and differences which are manifested in the different styles employed by writers around the world. In this regard, the study aimed to analyze the structure of verb phrases in news headlines of the different countries in Kachru’s three concentric circles leading to the identification of types of verbs used. This is done to give fresher ideas into the style of headline writing by understanding what types of verbs are used by the writers from the inner, outer, and expanding circles. Using Brinton, L and Brinton, D’s (2010) structure of verb complementation, the researchers analyzed five news headlines per circle which served as their corpus in identifying the complements present in the verb phrases. This, furthermore, led to the following results: a) inner and outer circles mostly use monotransitive verbs, b) outer circle is characterized by its use of copulative verbs, inner circle by its usage of intransitive verb, and the expanding circle by its usage of prepositional and ditransitive verbs c) expanding and inner circles use diprepositional verbs while outer circle does not, d) the expanding and outer circles both use complex transitive, e) the expanding circle exhibits the characteristics of both inner and outer circles, and f) the circles overlap each other.
Acoustically, this paper investigates English stops consonants as produced by NYASE. The research... more Acoustically, this paper investigates English stops consonants as produced by NYASE. The researcher examines the voicing of six stops by the use of Voice Onset Time (henceforth VOT) method. This inquiry aims to identify how similar/different the VOT patterns produced by NYASE to the VOT-literature-based patterns produced by native speakers of English. The subjects of this study are two Yemeni adults doing their Ph.D. at Annamalai University, Center of Advanced Study in Linguistics. They were chosen based on a self-evaluation test. Those subjects who evaluated themselves as having an ‘excellent’ command over English were selected to participate in this study. Knowingly, the subjects are late bilinguals, who learned English in their adulthood. Later on, the targeted sounds in word-initial position, pre-vocalically, in monosyllabic words, and in their citation form, have been recorded and analyzed following Lisker and Abramson (1964) procedures. Wide-band spectrograms cross-checked with waveforms were made, and from them, VOT was measured by ‘marking off the interval between the release of the stop and the onset of voicing’. The acoustic measurements showed that NYASE produce long lag VOT patterns for voiceless stop, long lead VOT patterns for voiced ones.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, 2019
The Bilingual Revolution is a key piece in bilingual educational for both scholars and parents
as... more The Bilingual Revolution is a key piece in bilingual educational for both scholars and parents as it ties together learning and teaching aspirations with language ideologies and identities. Jaumont’s masterpiece engages readers in personal, political, and community stories of the country’s growing bilingual revolution and describes a systematic process recommended for parents and educational leaders who seek to create their own bilingual program. In the following sections, I summarize the main arguments of the book starting with the first chapter and ending with chapter thirteen. Then, I analyze the revolution Jaumont calls for and recaptures the book’s most important contribution: proposing a U-turn in our education to establish schooling practices that reflect the essence of our complex American identities and diverse linguistic ideologies.
This paper focuses on the implementation of using collaborative learning via
virtual communities... more This paper focuses on the implementation of using collaborative learning via virtual communities in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) with a vision to identify three things: students’ perception towards online collaboration, their active participation in virtual learning groups, students’ satisfaction with this new strategy of learning, and the relationship between gender and the latter. To answer these questions, the present research adopts a quantitative method using a questionnaire for data gathering and the use of IBM SPSS for data analysis. The findings of the present study demonstrate that students hold positive attitudes towards online collaborative learning, students are active participants in the online learning process, students are satisfied and able to develop many skills like, problem solving skills, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. Last but not least, the findings also show that gender does not affect the effectiveness of using collaborative learning in virtual communities. Thus, the implementation of this up-dated strategy of learning is useful and needed to fulfill the missing gaps in the traditional ways of teaching/learning English as a foreign language in the Moroccan higher education.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies , 2019
In the era of digital literacy, human relationships in virtual learning communities are governed ... more In the era of digital literacy, human relationships in virtual learning communities are governed by much social behavior that many students in higher education respect, in some cases, while others are rebellious against them. The aim of this article is to investigate if there is a correlation between ‘netiquettes’, which are the guidelines that should be developed by Internet users for an acceptable online behavior, and building human relationships in learning. It is a case study of one group in the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences in Moulay Ismail University in Meknes, Morocco. A questionnaire has been administered to measure the predicted relationship between netiquettes and relationship building. The sample includes fifty male and female respondents. The findings of the study indicate that there is a significant relationship between respecting netiquettes and building online relationships, set as a hypothesis for this study. The significance of the study lies in raising the university students’ awareness of respecting the netiquettes in online learning groups, which might contribute to academic research in the field of online communication behavior.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies (IJLLS), 2019
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet at the very beginning of the seventeenth century, at the height of his c... more Shakespeare wrote Hamlet at the very beginning of the seventeenth century, at the height of his creative powers. It is arguably the most popular and famous play ever written, and its hero seems to have exerted a huge fascination over theatre audiences of every age, nation, colour and creed. Shakespeare often borrowed plots and ideas from different sources, but they were transformed by his poetry and his dramatic talents, and this applies largely to Hamlet. He used an early version of Hamlet and rewrote it to suite his own idea and artistic purpose. It seems that he was casting an eye on the throne of Queen Elizabeth I while creating his paly. A lot has been said and written about this subject matter; therefore, some critical and theoretical views were introduced to discuss and consolidate the argument about the transformation of the type and the drama. In the same way Shakespeare anglicized the type of Hamlet and made it a representation of the Renaissance spirit and man. Anton Chekhov, on the other hand, in his full- length plays, russified it and made it a representation of the Russian life and characters of the intellectuals of the last two decades in the nineteenth century. The main point of this work is trying to put forward, critically and comparatively, is how the Hamlet- type was manipulated by two prominent dramatists, Shakespeare and Chekhov, to express their own feelings, intellectual questionings, and artistic concerns.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies (IJLLS), 2019
Undoubtedly, foreign language teaching intends to make students obtain the required competence so... more Undoubtedly, foreign language teaching intends to make students obtain the required competence so as to get the linguistic knowledge needed in a foreign language. With this respect, a textbook should supply to the users as much as possible, be satisfactory to fit into the syllabus, and meet all the needs and expectations of the students during the learning process in order to achieve required targets in foreign language learning. Particularly in English Language Teaching, textbooks as the basic instructional materials are expected to build learners’ four skills that are speaking, listening, reading and writing. Depending on this basic assumption, this study attempts to get in-depth evaluation of the textbook in terms of methodology and language content, language skills, practicality, topic, social and cultural values by taking into consideration university first year students and their instructors’ evaluations, observations, beliefs, and suggestions on the textbook. From the students’ perspectives, results reveal that the textbook is moderately efficient in terms of methodology and language content, language skills, practicality, topic, social and cultural values; however, instructors find some parts of the textbook weak; especially some aspects of language skills, practicality, social and cultural values. As a result, the textbook is neither completely insufficient nor perfectly adequate. At the end of the study some suggestions for instructors and material writers are provided.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies (IJLLS), 2019
Various aspects of second language learning such as motivation, social contexts, personality, lea... more Various aspects of second language learning such as motivation, social contexts, personality, learning styles or learning strategies should be taken into consideration when it comes to teaching and learning a new language. in this respect, one of the most overlooked factors is a language learning strategy. Language learners should be aware of “how to learn a language” to be a successful language learner. As language learning strategy has been recognized as the important factor in learning a second language (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990; and Oxford, 1990), this study therefore investigated language learning strategies employed by young and adolescent learners of English in Cambodia context. The data were collected through a questionnaire, developed by Oxford (1990) from 152 students. The findings showed that students mostly used cognitive, metacognitive and social strategies. In addition, when examining if young learners use different learning strategies from adolescent learners, no statistical difference was found, except for two learning strategies, namely, cognitive and compensation strategies used more frequently by young learners.
English as a global language has been used widely in various communication modes. The communicati... more English as a global language has been used widely in various communication modes. The communication in the automotive industry is highly characterized as technical therefore, it possesses certain features that may be exclusive to its communication type. Since today’s time veers on amalgamating World Englishes, this discourse analysis study investigates the stylistic features of Philippine English and Singaporean English. Three pairs of automotive review articles written by Filipino and Singaporean writers were subjected to compare and contrast the stylistic features of these two English varieties. The findings reveal that Philippine English and Singaporean English used in automotive communication are similar in terms of register, grammatical feature, and writer’s style. On the other hand, the two varieties differ in terms of article contents and conventions. The study has implications in the creation of curriculum in automotive engineering that emphasizes both technology teaching and language teaching.
Knowledge of a foreign language opens new possibilities of mobility and cooperation for professio... more Knowledge of a foreign language opens new possibilities of mobility and cooperation for professionals in the contemporary world. Policy makers acknowledge the important role that foreign languages, especially English, play in the professional development of experts and try to present this language at tertiary level. Generally, an ESP course is designed to improve students’ communication skills not merely for the exam, but also for situations in a specific workplace. This paper investigates the impact that English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curriculum has on Moroccan graduates in the career experience. It also explores whether the ESP courses are more expedient in the workplace than traditional English courses, and how ESP curriculum should be reshaped to adapt the needs of the job market. The data are collected through online interviews from 6 participants whose majors were English and who graduated from Moroccan universities and all the participants have at least one year of work experience in English-speaking countries. The results of this research indicate that universities ESP curriculum design, work place, and teachers’ specific field knowledge do have notable influence on participants in the work environment. They show that the current ESP in use fails to capture the learners’ needs and skills in the workplace communication. The study divulges that there is a huge discrepancy of the perceptions of the students’ needs between the ESP teachers and employers in both academic and occupational situations. Furthermore, the study’s findings recommended that Moroccan universities should re-design or develop their ESP curriculum to allow their students meet the future job requirements as well as supplementing extra materials through teachers’ continual needs analysis.
Interpretation plays a role of a paramount significance in sending and receiving messages between... more Interpretation plays a role of a paramount significance in sending and receiving messages between people all over the world. It is also of vital significance in international conferences, symposiums and workshops where the meaning must be transferred among the participants. In fact, proverbs can be considered as one of the most important elements which are used in speech and need to be exchanged among nations around the globe. However, interpreters usually encounter some challenges in interpreting proverbs from English to Arabic or vice versa due to the cultural differences between Arabic and English as well as the lack of equivalents for some proverbs. This study investigates the techniques of interpreting the English proverbs from English to Arabic. The data of this study are collected from two basic well-known dictionaries, namely, the Lamps of Experience: a Collection of English Proverbs by Ba’alabaki (1980) and a Dictionary of Proverbs: English – Arabic by Kilani and Ashour (1991). The analysis of data reveals that many techniques can be used for the interpretation of proverbs. Such techniques are highlighted and graded based on their own priorities. The present study provides recommendations for interpreters, translators, researchers which might improve the quality of interpreting and translating proverbs.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, 2019
This paper aims to explore Helen Cixous’ postmodernist trends in her formulations of a new form o... more This paper aims to explore Helen Cixous’ postmodernist trends in her formulations of a new form of writing known as ecriture feminine. It attempts to validate the view that Cixous’ “The Laugh of the Medusa” is regarded as the manifesto of postmodern feminism. This is done by attempting a critical discourse analysis of Cixous' narrative of ecriture feminine. Deploying a multifaceted-framework, ranging from postmodernism to psychoanalysis through poststructuralist theory and semiotics, the study reveals Cixous' metamorphosing and diversified trend of feminist writing that transposes the subversion of patriarchy into a rather bio-textual feminism, known as bisexuality. The paper highlights the significance of Cixous’ essay as a benchmark of postmodern feminism.
The Silences and pauses, Harold Pinter has employed in his plays, have remarkably encapsulated hi... more The Silences and pauses, Harold Pinter has employed in his plays, have remarkably encapsulated his mastery of such theatrically effective techniques. Silence is not just a moment when characters keep silent and the audience cannot hear their utterances; it is a moment so pregnant with meanings that the readers find it difficult to find their way to the final meaning. Silence in Pinter’s plays are unexpectedly never silent. When it pervades, one has to think deeply of that moment. And when characters stop talking, one needs to contemplate their unsaid thoughts. This paper investigates the notions of fear, uncertainty, menace and death evoked when characters pause or keep silent in Pinter’s Silence and The Dumb Waiter. In other words, it is how those moments of silence mark a state of calmness on the one hand and how this state gives way to that of chaos and death on the other that this paper shall strive to prove with reference to the aforementioned plays.
The paper seeks to establish the level of lexical complexity in the discourse of Economic Communi... more The paper seeks to establish the level of lexical complexity in the discourse of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) peacekeeping agreements (EPKA) and to describe the lexical strategies through which the observed complexity is created. Many studies on linguistic complexity focus on second language acquisition, assessment and writing development. But, this article focuses on lexical choices that create complexity capable of hindering reader’s comprehension. It utilizes quantitative and qualitative designs in its analysis of corpus which consists of ten purposively selected EPKA texts. The data are analysed using Web-based Lexical Complexity Analyzer. The findings indicate that the language of the EPKA is complex. The complexity is attributed to high lexical density, lengthy words and long sentences in the corpus. Also, a large proportion of words in the corpus are redundant and vague. It is hoped that this article provides information about the lexical choices needed to improve the discourse of peacekeeping agreements.
It is widely accepted that the relationships of dominance between the Self and the other are conc... more It is widely accepted that the relationships of dominance between the Self and the other are concurrent to both the Gothic genre and postcolonial theory. In Gothic literature, this relationship has traditionally been expressed through the dichotomy self vs. other, in which the self is the male protagonist while the latter is “everything else in that world” (Day 19). Gothic literature is, thus, an exploration of the formation of identity. In colonial Gothic, this is brought under the axiom colonizer-colonized, and, therefore, characters are analyzed as manifestations of a dichotomy which usually links first the other to the monstrous, who is subsequently presented as the colonized subject. The Irish case further complicates this simple binary relation. The running argument of the present paper is that far from being a dichotomy, the Irish case is better understood as a triangle in which two of its vertices are fixed—Catholics/Irish and English—while the third vertex, that of the Anglo-Irish, gradually shifts positions from the English to the Irish one, following a creolization process in which they are both victims and victimizers. The characters in the fictions of J.S. Le Fanu all epitomize this constrained relationship, displaying an array of roles who do not comfortably fit into either category, showing a pervading feeling of being ill-at-ease. As this paper shows, a deeper reading reveals these figures to be just the opposite of what the prototypical colonialist figure ought to be—weak and feeble, terrorized rather than terrorizer, in awe of the other instead of subduing it.
This study was conducted to document and preserve folklore entitled Princess of the Runaway Valle... more This study was conducted to document and preserve folklore entitled Princess of the Runaway Valley by unveiling 31 functions of Vladimir Propp narrative structure. This is a historical qualitative and content analysis study. The approach used was an objective one by using narratology structuralism study. In this study, the literary text became the focus of the study in which the researcher focused on the structure of a text. Based on the analysis result, there were only 24 of the 31 functions of character according to Vladimir Propp narrative structure. Therefore, the complexity of the story was not too high because it did not fulfill all functions required. The 7 functions that were absent in the story were absentation, villainy, donor, return, exposure, punishment, and wedding/throne ascession.
This research paper is intended to shed light on the use of e-learning in learning and more parti... more This research paper is intended to shed light on the use of e-learning in learning and more particularly in foreign language learning by EFL students in higher education either to support the process of their traditional learning or for any other independent learning purposes. The aim is to identify how e-learning is used, the various existing e-learning strategies that students prefer to learn with and the extent to which EFL students are satisfied with the support offered by e-learning to assist the process of EFL learning. To answer these queries, a quantitative method is adopted for the collection of data using online tools in the creation and the administration of the questionnaire to the respondents. The findings of the study demonstrate that students usually use e-learning as it helps them to develop many language skills including communication skills, problem solving skills besides the four language skills. It has been shown also that students are highly satisfied with the use of e-learning which is usually used by traditional learning students to fulfill the missing gaps.
The sheer growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) has reshaped teaching and le... more The sheer growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) has reshaped teaching and learning practices tremendously in the learning environments all over the globe. Research reveals that teachers are the key agents in the integration of ICT in particular in language teaching and learning. However, some of the many factors, this ICT integration are associated with teachers’ personal characteristics such as gender. Therefore, the current study investigates the Moroccan male and female teachers’ level of ICT integration in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in the public secondary school EFL classrooms. This study aims to explore whether gender influences the way EFL teachers’ ICT use in the classroom. It is a survey which adopts a mixed-method approach of investigation, and two instruments are used to collect data: a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Eighty full-time teachers (45 male and 35 female teachers) belonging to different public secondary schools in the area of Agadir Idaoutanane and Inzegane Ait-Meloul participated in the study by answering a questionnaire, and eight teachers out of this sample (4 male and 4 female teachers) are interviewed. The results of data analysis reveal that although female teachers employed ICT in their teaching less than their male counterparts, there is no significant difference in using ICT in language teaching between the two groups. A number of propositions are presented as to how to incorporate ICT in language learning in the Moroccan secondary schools EFL contexts.
This paper employs a multimodal analytical approach in analyzing the theme of exodus in Bob Marle... more This paper employs a multimodal analytical approach in analyzing the theme of exodus in Bob Marley’s ‘Exodus’ album where attention is given to four main areas, namely, the album’s cover design, the employment of lexical items, the use of literary devices as well as aesthetics by which Marley conveys the theme of exodus throughout the album. Findings show that the album’s cover design is symbolically employed to project the theme of exodus. The choice of the gold color as the background as well as the inscription of ‘EXODUS’ in red in the heart of the golden background equivocally reveals Africa’s ‘golden’ contributions to the West while the Africans in the West are ‘bleeding’(red), a reason for which they must embark on an exodus. Lexically, Marley employs content emotion-packed lexical items, namely nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, to project the theme of exodus. Besides, Marley relies heavily on literary devices such as allusion, equivocation, metaphor, repetition and rhyme as tools for the projection of the theme of exodus in his ‘Exodus’ album. Finally, by deliberate design, the names of the songs of the album, their arrangement as well as their number all aesthetically tell a conscious but beautiful story in the name of the overall theme of exodus in the album by the same name, making Marley’s ‘Exodus’ album not merely a classical musical piece but a discourse masterpiece equivalent to one from a skilled troubadour.
This descriptive qualitative study seeks to unravel the microstructure elements of the interviews... more This descriptive qualitative study seeks to unravel the microstructure elements of the interviews of President Rodrigo Duterte and how he represents himself and his opponents using political discourse analysis. The corpora consisted of his 30 recent interviews at the time of writing this paper and were retrieved in an online archive of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO). The findings indicated that Duterte’s discourse has these various linguistic features: modality, attributions, disclaimer, presuppositions, validity claims, pronoun use, transitivity, passivation, number of game, lexicon, idioms, metaphors, intertextuality, and profanity. The study revealed that Duterte manipulatively uses language to reflect a positive representation of himself and negative representation of others, legitimizing his authority and delegitimizing those in opposition.
The English language has survived the pangs of giving birth to its variations commonly called as ... more The English language has survived the pangs of giving birth to its variations commonly called as World Englishes. Though there are many “Englishes” in the globe today, they do have similarities and differences which are manifested in the different styles employed by writers around the world. In this regard, the study aimed to analyze the structure of verb phrases in news headlines of the different countries in Kachru’s three concentric circles leading to the identification of types of verbs used. This is done to give fresher ideas into the style of headline writing by understanding what types of verbs are used by the writers from the inner, outer, and expanding circles. Using Brinton, L and Brinton, D’s (2010) structure of verb complementation, the researchers analyzed five news headlines per circle which served as their corpus in identifying the complements present in the verb phrases. This, furthermore, led to the following results: a) inner and outer circles mostly use monotransitive verbs, b) outer circle is characterized by its use of copulative verbs, inner circle by its usage of intransitive verb, and the expanding circle by its usage of prepositional and ditransitive verbs c) expanding and inner circles use diprepositional verbs while outer circle does not, d) the expanding and outer circles both use complex transitive, e) the expanding circle exhibits the characteristics of both inner and outer circles, and f) the circles overlap each other.
Acoustically, this paper investigates English stops consonants as produced by NYASE. The research... more Acoustically, this paper investigates English stops consonants as produced by NYASE. The researcher examines the voicing of six stops by the use of Voice Onset Time (henceforth VOT) method. This inquiry aims to identify how similar/different the VOT patterns produced by NYASE to the VOT-literature-based patterns produced by native speakers of English. The subjects of this study are two Yemeni adults doing their Ph.D. at Annamalai University, Center of Advanced Study in Linguistics. They were chosen based on a self-evaluation test. Those subjects who evaluated themselves as having an ‘excellent’ command over English were selected to participate in this study. Knowingly, the subjects are late bilinguals, who learned English in their adulthood. Later on, the targeted sounds in word-initial position, pre-vocalically, in monosyllabic words, and in their citation form, have been recorded and analyzed following Lisker and Abramson (1964) procedures. Wide-band spectrograms cross-checked with waveforms were made, and from them, VOT was measured by ‘marking off the interval between the release of the stop and the onset of voicing’. The acoustic measurements showed that NYASE produce long lag VOT patterns for voiceless stop, long lead VOT patterns for voiced ones.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, 2019
The Bilingual Revolution is a key piece in bilingual educational for both scholars and parents
as... more The Bilingual Revolution is a key piece in bilingual educational for both scholars and parents as it ties together learning and teaching aspirations with language ideologies and identities. Jaumont’s masterpiece engages readers in personal, political, and community stories of the country’s growing bilingual revolution and describes a systematic process recommended for parents and educational leaders who seek to create their own bilingual program. In the following sections, I summarize the main arguments of the book starting with the first chapter and ending with chapter thirteen. Then, I analyze the revolution Jaumont calls for and recaptures the book’s most important contribution: proposing a U-turn in our education to establish schooling practices that reflect the essence of our complex American identities and diverse linguistic ideologies.
This paper focuses on the implementation of using collaborative learning via
virtual communities... more This paper focuses on the implementation of using collaborative learning via virtual communities in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) with a vision to identify three things: students’ perception towards online collaboration, their active participation in virtual learning groups, students’ satisfaction with this new strategy of learning, and the relationship between gender and the latter. To answer these questions, the present research adopts a quantitative method using a questionnaire for data gathering and the use of IBM SPSS for data analysis. The findings of the present study demonstrate that students hold positive attitudes towards online collaborative learning, students are active participants in the online learning process, students are satisfied and able to develop many skills like, problem solving skills, communication skills, and critical thinking skills. Last but not least, the findings also show that gender does not affect the effectiveness of using collaborative learning in virtual communities. Thus, the implementation of this up-dated strategy of learning is useful and needed to fulfill the missing gaps in the traditional ways of teaching/learning English as a foreign language in the Moroccan higher education.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies , 2019
In the era of digital literacy, human relationships in virtual learning communities are governed ... more In the era of digital literacy, human relationships in virtual learning communities are governed by much social behavior that many students in higher education respect, in some cases, while others are rebellious against them. The aim of this article is to investigate if there is a correlation between ‘netiquettes’, which are the guidelines that should be developed by Internet users for an acceptable online behavior, and building human relationships in learning. It is a case study of one group in the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences in Moulay Ismail University in Meknes, Morocco. A questionnaire has been administered to measure the predicted relationship between netiquettes and relationship building. The sample includes fifty male and female respondents. The findings of the study indicate that there is a significant relationship between respecting netiquettes and building online relationships, set as a hypothesis for this study. The significance of the study lies in raising the university students’ awareness of respecting the netiquettes in online learning groups, which might contribute to academic research in the field of online communication behavior.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies (IJLLS), 2019
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet at the very beginning of the seventeenth century, at the height of his c... more Shakespeare wrote Hamlet at the very beginning of the seventeenth century, at the height of his creative powers. It is arguably the most popular and famous play ever written, and its hero seems to have exerted a huge fascination over theatre audiences of every age, nation, colour and creed. Shakespeare often borrowed plots and ideas from different sources, but they were transformed by his poetry and his dramatic talents, and this applies largely to Hamlet. He used an early version of Hamlet and rewrote it to suite his own idea and artistic purpose. It seems that he was casting an eye on the throne of Queen Elizabeth I while creating his paly. A lot has been said and written about this subject matter; therefore, some critical and theoretical views were introduced to discuss and consolidate the argument about the transformation of the type and the drama. In the same way Shakespeare anglicized the type of Hamlet and made it a representation of the Renaissance spirit and man. Anton Chekhov, on the other hand, in his full- length plays, russified it and made it a representation of the Russian life and characters of the intellectuals of the last two decades in the nineteenth century. The main point of this work is trying to put forward, critically and comparatively, is how the Hamlet- type was manipulated by two prominent dramatists, Shakespeare and Chekhov, to express their own feelings, intellectual questionings, and artistic concerns.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies (IJLLS), 2019
Undoubtedly, foreign language teaching intends to make students obtain the required competence so... more Undoubtedly, foreign language teaching intends to make students obtain the required competence so as to get the linguistic knowledge needed in a foreign language. With this respect, a textbook should supply to the users as much as possible, be satisfactory to fit into the syllabus, and meet all the needs and expectations of the students during the learning process in order to achieve required targets in foreign language learning. Particularly in English Language Teaching, textbooks as the basic instructional materials are expected to build learners’ four skills that are speaking, listening, reading and writing. Depending on this basic assumption, this study attempts to get in-depth evaluation of the textbook in terms of methodology and language content, language skills, practicality, topic, social and cultural values by taking into consideration university first year students and their instructors’ evaluations, observations, beliefs, and suggestions on the textbook. From the students’ perspectives, results reveal that the textbook is moderately efficient in terms of methodology and language content, language skills, practicality, topic, social and cultural values; however, instructors find some parts of the textbook weak; especially some aspects of language skills, practicality, social and cultural values. As a result, the textbook is neither completely insufficient nor perfectly adequate. At the end of the study some suggestions for instructors and material writers are provided.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies (IJLLS), 2019
Various aspects of second language learning such as motivation, social contexts, personality, lea... more Various aspects of second language learning such as motivation, social contexts, personality, learning styles or learning strategies should be taken into consideration when it comes to teaching and learning a new language. in this respect, one of the most overlooked factors is a language learning strategy. Language learners should be aware of “how to learn a language” to be a successful language learner. As language learning strategy has been recognized as the important factor in learning a second language (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990; and Oxford, 1990), this study therefore investigated language learning strategies employed by young and adolescent learners of English in Cambodia context. The data were collected through a questionnaire, developed by Oxford (1990) from 152 students. The findings showed that students mostly used cognitive, metacognitive and social strategies. In addition, when examining if young learners use different learning strategies from adolescent learners, no statistical difference was found, except for two learning strategies, namely, cognitive and compensation strategies used more frequently by young learners.
English as a global language has been used widely in various communication modes. The communicati... more English as a global language has been used widely in various communication modes. The communication in the automotive industry is highly characterized as technical therefore, it possesses certain features that may be exclusive to its communication type. Since today’s time veers on amalgamating World Englishes, this discourse analysis study investigates the stylistic features of Philippine English and Singaporean English. Three pairs of automotive review articles written by Filipino and Singaporean writers were subjected to compare and contrast the stylistic features of these two English varieties. The findings reveal that Philippine English and Singaporean English used in automotive communication are similar in terms of register, grammatical feature, and writer’s style. On the other hand, the two varieties differ in terms of article contents and conventions. The study has implications in the creation of curriculum in automotive engineering that emphasizes both technology teaching and language teaching.
Knowledge of a foreign language opens new possibilities of mobility and cooperation for professio... more Knowledge of a foreign language opens new possibilities of mobility and cooperation for professionals in the contemporary world. Policy makers acknowledge the important role that foreign languages, especially English, play in the professional development of experts and try to present this language at tertiary level. Generally, an ESP course is designed to improve students’ communication skills not merely for the exam, but also for situations in a specific workplace. This paper investigates the impact that English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curriculum has on Moroccan graduates in the career experience. It also explores whether the ESP courses are more expedient in the workplace than traditional English courses, and how ESP curriculum should be reshaped to adapt the needs of the job market. The data are collected through online interviews from 6 participants whose majors were English and who graduated from Moroccan universities and all the participants have at least one year of work experience in English-speaking countries. The results of this research indicate that universities ESP curriculum design, work place, and teachers’ specific field knowledge do have notable influence on participants in the work environment. They show that the current ESP in use fails to capture the learners’ needs and skills in the workplace communication. The study divulges that there is a huge discrepancy of the perceptions of the students’ needs between the ESP teachers and employers in both academic and occupational situations. Furthermore, the study’s findings recommended that Moroccan universities should re-design or develop their ESP curriculum to allow their students meet the future job requirements as well as supplementing extra materials through teachers’ continual needs analysis.
Interpretation plays a role of a paramount significance in sending and receiving messages between... more Interpretation plays a role of a paramount significance in sending and receiving messages between people all over the world. It is also of vital significance in international conferences, symposiums and workshops where the meaning must be transferred among the participants. In fact, proverbs can be considered as one of the most important elements which are used in speech and need to be exchanged among nations around the globe. However, interpreters usually encounter some challenges in interpreting proverbs from English to Arabic or vice versa due to the cultural differences between Arabic and English as well as the lack of equivalents for some proverbs. This study investigates the techniques of interpreting the English proverbs from English to Arabic. The data of this study are collected from two basic well-known dictionaries, namely, the Lamps of Experience: a Collection of English Proverbs by Ba’alabaki (1980) and a Dictionary of Proverbs: English – Arabic by Kilani and Ashour (1991). The analysis of data reveals that many techniques can be used for the interpretation of proverbs. Such techniques are highlighted and graded based on their own priorities. The present study provides recommendations for interpreters, translators, researchers which might improve the quality of interpreting and translating proverbs.
International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, 2019
This paper aims to explore Helen Cixous’ postmodernist trends in her formulations of a new form o... more This paper aims to explore Helen Cixous’ postmodernist trends in her formulations of a new form of writing known as ecriture feminine. It attempts to validate the view that Cixous’ “The Laugh of the Medusa” is regarded as the manifesto of postmodern feminism. This is done by attempting a critical discourse analysis of Cixous' narrative of ecriture feminine. Deploying a multifaceted-framework, ranging from postmodernism to psychoanalysis through poststructuralist theory and semiotics, the study reveals Cixous' metamorphosing and diversified trend of feminist writing that transposes the subversion of patriarchy into a rather bio-textual feminism, known as bisexuality. The paper highlights the significance of Cixous’ essay as a benchmark of postmodern feminism.
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Papers by International Journal of Language and Literary Studies (IJLLS)
as it ties together learning and teaching aspirations with language ideologies and identities.
Jaumont’s masterpiece engages readers in personal, political, and community stories of the
country’s growing bilingual revolution and describes a systematic process recommended for
parents and educational leaders who seek to create their own bilingual program. In the
following sections, I summarize the main arguments of the book starting with the first
chapter and ending with chapter thirteen. Then, I analyze the revolution Jaumont calls for
and recaptures the book’s most important contribution: proposing a U-turn in our education
to establish schooling practices that reflect the essence of our complex American identities
and diverse linguistic ideologies.
virtual communities in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) with a vision to
identify three things: students’ perception towards online collaboration, their
active participation in virtual learning groups, students’ satisfaction with this
new strategy of learning, and the relationship between gender and the latter.
To answer these questions, the present research adopts a quantitative method
using a questionnaire for data gathering and the use of IBM SPSS for data
analysis. The findings of the present study demonstrate that students hold
positive attitudes towards online collaborative learning, students are active
participants in the online learning process, students are satisfied and able to
develop many skills like, problem solving skills, communication skills, and
critical thinking skills. Last but not least, the findings also show that gender
does not affect the effectiveness of using collaborative learning in virtual
communities. Thus, the implementation of this up-dated strategy of learning is
useful and needed to fulfill the missing gaps in the traditional ways of
teaching/learning English as a foreign language in the Moroccan higher
education.
as it ties together learning and teaching aspirations with language ideologies and identities.
Jaumont’s masterpiece engages readers in personal, political, and community stories of the
country’s growing bilingual revolution and describes a systematic process recommended for
parents and educational leaders who seek to create their own bilingual program. In the
following sections, I summarize the main arguments of the book starting with the first
chapter and ending with chapter thirteen. Then, I analyze the revolution Jaumont calls for
and recaptures the book’s most important contribution: proposing a U-turn in our education
to establish schooling practices that reflect the essence of our complex American identities
and diverse linguistic ideologies.
virtual communities in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) with a vision to
identify three things: students’ perception towards online collaboration, their
active participation in virtual learning groups, students’ satisfaction with this
new strategy of learning, and the relationship between gender and the latter.
To answer these questions, the present research adopts a quantitative method
using a questionnaire for data gathering and the use of IBM SPSS for data
analysis. The findings of the present study demonstrate that students hold
positive attitudes towards online collaborative learning, students are active
participants in the online learning process, students are satisfied and able to
develop many skills like, problem solving skills, communication skills, and
critical thinking skills. Last but not least, the findings also show that gender
does not affect the effectiveness of using collaborative learning in virtual
communities. Thus, the implementation of this up-dated strategy of learning is
useful and needed to fulfill the missing gaps in the traditional ways of
teaching/learning English as a foreign language in the Moroccan higher
education.