Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 ISBN: 978-1-291-71811-9 Published by AIAC PTY.LTD. Advances in Language and Literary Studies [ALLS] All papers on which this is printed in this book meet the minimum requirements of "Australian International Academic Centre PTY. LTD". All papers published in this book are accessible online. Editors-in-Chief Amelia Ying Qin, University of Houston, United States Vahid Nimehchisalem, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Editorial Assistants Seyed Ali Rezvani Kalajahi Ruzbeh BabaeeJournal Information ISSN: 2203-4714 ISBN: 978-1-291-71811-9 Website: www.alls.aiac.org.au & http://www.journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/alls/index E-mail: editor.alls@aiac.org.au Publisher Australian International Academic Centre PTY. LTD. 59/48 Eucalyptus Drive Maidstone, VIC 3012 Australia Phone: +61 3 9028 6880 Website: http://www.aiac.org.au Hardcopy Provider Lulu Press Inc. 3101 Hillsborough Street Raleigh, NC 27607 USA Web: http://www.lulu.com & http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/AIAC 2010 – 2014 © ALLS No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photo print, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. ii ALLS Editorial Team Editors-in-Chief Amelia Ying Qin, University of Houston, United States Vahid Nimehchisalem, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Editorial Assistants Seyed Ali Rezvani Kalajahi Ruzbeh Babaee Advisory Board Andrew Weiler, Holmesglen Institute, Australia Brian Tomlinson, Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom John I. Liontas, University of South Florida, United States Mark Pegrum, The University of Western Australia, Australia NS Prabhu, National University of Singapore, Singapore Editorial Board Ahmar Mahboob, The University of Sydney, Australia Alex Ho-Cheong Leung, Northumbria University, Newcastle, United Kingdom Ali Miremadi, California State University, United States Andrés Canga Alonso, Universidad de La Rioja, Spain Anthony J. Liddicoat, University of South Australia, Australia Bakhtiar Naghdipour, Girne American University, Cyprus Canzhong Wu, Macquarie University, Australia Chamkaur Singh Gill, Bond University, Australia Darryl Jones, Trinity College, Ireland Dat Bao, Monash University, Australia iii Fadil S Elmenfi, Omar Al-Mukhtar University/Derna, Libya Holi Ibrahim Holi, Rusaq College of Applied Sciences, Oman I Wayan Arka, Australian National University, Australia Jason Brown, The University of Auckland, New Zealand Jayakaran Mukundan, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Karim Hajhashemi, James Cook University, Australia Leila Lomashvili, Shawnee State University, United States Kylie Cardell, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia Mahmoud M Gewaily, Minia University, Egypt Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz, Near East University, Cyprus Mohammad Reza Shams, University of Kashan, Iran, Islamic Republic of Mounir Jilani Ben Zid, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman Natasha Pourdana, Gyeongju University, Korea, Republic of Neil Anderson, James Cook University, Australia Shaofeng Li, The University of Auckland, New Zealand Siamak Babaee, University of Kashan, Iran, Islamic Republic of Vahed Zarifi, Iran, Islamic Republic of Wayne DeFehr, University of Alberta, Canada Wisdom Agorde, University of Alberta, Canada iv Vol 5, No 2 (2014) Table of Contents Articles The Shadow of Freudian Core Issues on Wuthering Heights: A Reenactment of Emily Brontë’s Early Mother Loss Moussa Pourya Asl 1-9 The Value Over Human Rights [A Short Communication] Angela K. Brown 10-11 Exploring Teachers’ Perception of the Efficacy of ELT in Iranian Public Schools and Private Language Institutes Mohammad Aliakbari, Mojtaba Gheitasi 12-18 The Potential of Incorporating Computer Games in Foreign Language Curricula Jayakaran Mukundan, Seyed Ali Rezvani Kalajahi, Bakhtiar Naghdipour 19-24 The Framework of Racism in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye: A Psychosocial Interpretation Md. Reza Hassan Khan, Md. Shafiqur Rahman 25-28 Gender Discrimination in Death Reportage: Reconnoitering Disparities through a Comparative Analysis of Male and Female Paid Obituaries of Pakistani English Newspapers Sajid M. Chaudhry, Anne A. Christopher, Hariharan A/L N. Krishnasamy 29-34 Canonical Word Order of Japanese Ditransitive Sentences: A Preliminary Investigation through a Grammaticality Judgment Survey Yasumasa Shigenaga 35-45 Speech Act of Responding to Rudeness: A Case Study of Malaysian University Students Maryam Frania, Hiba Qusay Abdul Sattar, Hooi Chee Mei 46-58 A Cross Cultural Analysis of Textual and Interpersonal Metadiscourse Markers: The Case of Economic Articles in English and Persian Newspapers Abbas Mehrabi Boshrabadi, Reza Biria, Zahra Zavari 59-66 The Extend of Adaptation Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain In English Questions Included in General Secondary Exams Mohammad Akram Alzu'bi 67-72 A Multidimensional Review of Bilingual Aphasia as a Language Disorder Mohsen Akbari 73-86 Enhancing Content Knowledge in Essay Writing Classes: A Multimedia Package for Iranian EFL Learners Marziyeh Tahmouresi Majelan 87-95 v Assessment Of The Implementation Of The Reading Component Of The English Language Curriculum For Basic Education In Nigeria Hanna Onyi Yusuf 96-102 Features Of Household Lexics, Their Characteristics And Structural Analysis In The Modern English Language Aygun Yusifova 103-107 An Angle of Seeing: Pornography and Profanity as Pharmakon in Darko’s Beyond the Horizon and The Housemaid Philomena Abeka, Charles Marfo, Lucy Bonku 108-114 Reflection of Learning Theories in Iranian ELT Textbooks Hossein Hashem Neghad 115-119 Textual Transformations in Contemporary Black Writing in Britain Jawhar Ahmed Dhouib 120-126 Linguistic Focus of Language Related Episodes in Intermediate and Advanced EFL Learners’ Group-based Interactions: A Case Study Zhila Mohammadnia, Abdolreza Khalili 127-133 EFL Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence and Their Personality Types: Exploring Possible Relations Roya Razavi 134-141 OUTSELVES Linked: Cultural Alienation in Literary Performance M. Gewaily 142-148 Teaching Semantic Prosody of English Verbs through the DDL Approach and its Effect on Learners' Vocabulary Choice Appropriateness in a Persian EFL Context Niloofar Mansoory, Mohsen Jafarpour 149-161 Study of "Stephen Dedalus ", the main protagonist of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Fatemeh Azizmohammadi, Sepide Kamarzade 162-165 Overcoming The Biological Trap: A Study Of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms And The Old Man And The Sea Tsavmbu Aondover Alexis, Amase Emmanuel Lanior, Kaan Aondover Theophilus 166-170 A CALL-based Lesson Plan for Teaching Reading Comprehension to Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners Hooshang Khoshsima, Mahboobeh Khosravani 171-176 A Study Of Power Relations In Doctor-Patient Interactions In Selected Hospitals In Lagos State, Nigeria Qasim Adam 177-184 vi Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia The Shadow of Freudian Core Issues on Wuthering Heights: A Reenactment of Emily Brontë’s Early Mother Loss Moussa Pourya Asl English Language and Literature Department Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University of Tabriz Tabriz, Iran E-mail: ms_pourya@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.1 Received: 02/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.1 Accepted: 19/03/2014 Abstract The study attempts to indicate how the manifest content of a text is in essence the projection of the obsessional thoughts of the neurotic author. The research approach adopted in this study is what is referred to as psychobiography or the Freudian psychoanalytic criticism. Freud's ideas have been employed due to the increasing shift to him in the recent decades, particularly in the discipline of psychobiography. The findings of this research underline that nearly all the characters of the novel are stricken by their mother's death, and they not only undergo the processes of dejection, melancholia, and hysteria, but also suffer from certain core issues—fear of intimacy, fear of abandonment, fear of betrayal, low self-esteem, insecure or unstable sense of self. The main conclusion to be drawn from this article is that Emily Brontë was a neurotic person whose unconscious obsession of psychoanalytic love of mother is projected in Wuthering Heights. Keywords: Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, Neurosis, Core Issues, Death, Oedipus Complex, Dejection, Hysteria 1. Introduction So far, critical reception of Wuthering Heights in psychoanalytic field has increasingly risen and has given critics many diverse elements for interpretation. Researchers like Margaret Homans in "Repression and Sublimation of Nature in Wuthering Heights" (1978), Kelly Hughes in "The Freedom of the Soulful Self: An Examination of the Tension Between the Self and Society Within Wuthering Heights" (2006), Laura Inman in "The Awful Event in Wuthering Heights" (2008) and Linda Gold in "Catherine Earnshaw: Mother and Daughter", have tended to concentrate on certain concepts like repression, death, rebellion, religion, etc. These critics have found many to talk about in these concepts, and were quick to explore the various meanings of the novel. Nonetheless, their theses, excellent as they are, fail to delve into the role and impact of Emily Brontë's personal life in/on the creation of Wuthering Heights. This study offers an interpretation of Wuthering Heights based upon the Freudian concept of mother fixation which underlies Emily Brontë's obsessions with emotional detachments and indicates the significance of her preoccupation with the common core issues. My chief conviction is that Wuthering Heights is basically a reflection of Emily Brontë's traumatic experience of mother's early death. Unless one appreciates the significance of the Freudian concept of mother fixation, one cannot appreciate the nature of emotional detachments prevalent in the novel, nor can one understand the reason behind the obsessional and phobic feelings of nothingness in Emily Brontë as well as her characters. I declare that Emily Brontë's own dejected, melancholic and hysteric life as well as those of her characters could be traced to an early childhood experience which might have been amplified and aggravated by later or contemporary painful experiences. Before turning to the discussion section, a couple of important issues need to be elucidated: first, the significance of and the need for conducting research on an outdated novel (written in 1847) in the current century, and second, explanation of the reasons why Freud rather than Lacan’s theories have been incorporated into this study. Despite its initial unfavourable public reception, Mrs Humphry Ward was right in claiming that Emily Brontë writes "for all time" (Winnifrith, "Rise and Fall" 18). In recent years, Emily Brontë's reputation has dramatically risen and the public has shown an enthusiastic interest in reading Wuthering Heights. A powerful instance of preference for Emily Brontë over other novelists can be found in an important survey accomplished in 2007 by The Guardian to find Wuthering Heights as the greatest love story of all time. According to Martin Wainwright, Wuthering Heights hit the heights and took the first place, seeing off beating authors like Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Barbara Cartland and her own sister Charlotte Brontë (par. 1). As for justification and rationalization of Freud over other theorists, I selected the Freudian approach due to some "remarkable shifts in opinion towards" him that has occurred in the 1980s and 1990s (Horracks 20). The latest scholarly studies on Freud have suggested that "the anti-Freudian moment may already have begun to pass" and have made Freud "the indispensable starting point for any serious student of psychoanalysis or psychotherapy, surely, and for (at the least) many serious students of psychology, psychiatry, and the other behavioral sciences" (4). ALLS 5(2):1-9, 2014 2 2. Discussion 2.1 Theoretical Background It is crucial to realize that throughout many of his articles—"The Interpretation of Dreams" (1900); "Analysis of a Phobia in a Five Year Old Boy" (1909); "Mourning and Melancholia" (1917); "New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" (1933), to name a few—Freud introduced six common core issues. In Critical Theory Today (2006), Lois Tyson has taken the trouble to collect these core issues in one place. Tyson discusses that Freud identified these major core issues as: fear of intimacy, fear of abandonment, fear of betrayal, low self-esteem, insecure or unstable sense of self, and Oedipal fixation or Oedipus complex (16). A very brief review of each of these issues will help us to better understand the psychological abnormalities that Emily Brontë and her characters were suffering from. Fear of intimacy is the persistent and overwhelming feeling that emotional attachment and closeness will eventually hurt us and the only way to remain safe is in keeping an emotional distance from others at all times. Fear of abandonment points to the unbending belief that our loved ones are going to desert us either physically or emotionally. Fear of betrayal is the distressing feeling that our loved ones could be no more trusted and the possibility of their cheating on us is escalating. By low self-esteem, the individual feels he is less worthy than other people and he does not deserve attention and reward; rather he deserves to be punished. Insecure or unstable sense of self is the individual's inability to maintain a feeling of personal identity. The person becomes easily influenced by others and he continually changes the way he looks or behaves as he gets involved with different people. And finally, the Oedipus fixation refers to a dysfunctional bond with a parent of the opposite sex (16-7). Freud's core issues are connected to one another and a given core issue can result from or can cause the emergence of another core issue. Each of the core issues might act as a defense and would leave the individual removed and isolated. The core issues stay with us throughout our life and define our being in fundamental ways. Unless the core issues are "effectively addressed, they determine our behavior in destructive ways", leading to melancholia and hysteria (17). Tyson maintains that one of the most important facts to remember is that fear of death is intimately linked to fear of abandonment. Death is the ultimate abandonment. When we die, we die alone. Fear of death, which includes death of the self and of the others, in turn leads to fear of intimacy. Thus, the individual's fear of death and of losing his life results in his fear of being intimately attached to life, i.e. fear of life. Freud declares that since life eventually results in death, the individual aims to reduce the imminent pain by believing that "I can't risk living my life. I must somehow remove myself from it by doing as little as possible and by feeling as little as possible. I will try to be emotionally dead to avoid being hurt by death" (23). As a result, the individual undergoes an intense psychological pain, which is triggered by loss. This pain leads to melancholia, or depression, whose features are "a profoundly painful dejection, cessation of interest in the outside world, loss of the capacity to love, inhibition of all activity and a lowering of the self-regarding feeling to a degree that finds utterance in self-reproaches and self-reviling" (Freud, "Mourning" 3042). The melancholic person develops an enormous sense of personal worthlessness, i.e. feeling of being poor and empty. This condition of low self-esteem and self-hatred leads to self-attack. Though a disguised form of aggression directed towards the loved ones, in turn, this self loathing could also lead to hysteria, i.e. "a temporary paralysis of limbs or sense organ dysfunction" (Heller 146). We may conclude that the painful experience of mother's early loss leaves the individual to develop certain core issues which in turn could end up with melancholia and hysteria. In "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" (1920), Freud argues that one way to obtain some control over those issues and to exorcise the pain is by repeatedly echoing what was traumatic and unpleasurable. In other words, the fascination with the projection of the fears and problems onto people and events outside oneself—particularly in phantasy worlds— operates as a defense, since the attention is diverted from oneself to the work of art itself (3720-3). In addition, Freud emphasizes that beneath the manifest content of a phantasy world exists the latent content which reveals the creative writer's obsessional thoughts, "yet, beneath this composite surface, which functions like a puzzle, lies the puzzle's solution. The dream-thoughts function like a 'latent content' behind the manifest content of the novel" (Leitch 916). With regard to Freudian psychoanalysis, an examination of Emily Brontë's Gondal poems and Wuthering Heights confirms that much of her writing reflects her obsession with themes of abandonment and isolation which appear in various forms like death, betrayal and imprisonment. Indeed, the people most dear to her in her own life either abandoned her or died. 2.2 Emily Brontë and the Psychological Wounds Accounts of Emily Brontë's personal life reveal that a fixation on a dead mother was to bar her forever from earthly love, and to make her shun health and vitality to her loved ones. She grew up as a dejected, melancholic and hysteric individual who endeavored to ease the pain of such a wound by reenacting, echoing and projecting her obsessions onto her phantasy world. In her "Editor's Preface to the New Edition of Wuthering Heights" (1850), Charlotte describes her sister as a true eccentric who is "not naturally gregarious". According to Charlotte, Emily Brontë had a tendency to seclusion, "though her tendency for the people round was benevolent, intercourse with them she never sought [….] with them, she rarely exchanged a word" (368). This fear of intimacy stemmed from some psychologically painful experiences that Emily Brontë had undergone: death of her mother, death of her siblings, death of her brother Bramwell and seclusion from society in Haworth. ALLS 5(2):1-9, 2014 3 Her mother's early loss left Emily Brontë and her siblings to be raised by their father. The loss was traumatic in that it made her believe that she was unworthy of love–low self-esteem in Freudian terms–and that she would ultimately be abandoned by anyone she loved–fear of abandonment. This fear led her to develop fear of intimacy, i.e. to avoid emotional intimacy in the belief that if she does not get too intimate to a person, she will not get hurt the time when that one abandons and betrays her–fear of betrayal. Thus, Emily Brontë became a very private person to the point that, as her sister Charlotte declares, "an interpreter ought always to have stood between her [Emily] and the world" (Charlotte, "Biographical" 366 ). Emily Brontë was later abandoned by her sisters, too, when they were all sent away to school. She remained lonely and was imprisoned in a gloomy parsonage on the desolate moors, feeling constricted and deprived. The isolation gave her a very low self-esteem that, according to Charlotte, "Emily would fail to defend her most manifest rights" (366 ). Gradually, Emily Brontë developed fear of intimacy, too. She was unconsciously convinced that if she avoids emotional intimacy and if she does not get too close to a loved one, she "won't be hurt when that loved one inevitably abandon[s] her" (Tyson 18). As a result, she grew an introverted nature and became the most domesticated of the sisters. Emily Brontë's core issues were further intensified by some other painful events. After the traumatic experience of her mother's early death when Emily was only two, she was also shocked, at the age of seven, by witnessing the death of her two young siblings, Maria and Elizabeth. These painful experiences, states Barnard and Barnard, led her to develop an "increasingly odd, remote, silent, and willful personality". Reclusive and introverted, Emily "stood alone" and did not want any contact with neighbors (46). Emily Brontë spent the greater part of her life at Haworth, a place "where she lived a private existence, with no close friends and little correspondence" (Bloom, Classic 123 ). The mentioned psychologically painful experiences triggered in Emily Brontë a feeling of melancholia and a cessation of interest in the outside world. She obviously demonstrated symptoms of hysteria. Charlotte reports that "Emily sank rapidly," hasting to leave the world, and "while full of ruth for the others, on herself she had no pity". The awful point was "the trembling hand, the unnerved limbs, the faded eyes." She was "long-suffering [and] self-denying" (Charlotte, "Biographical" 365). Perhaps the best and the last example of Emily's fear of life is demonstrated by "her refusal to see a doctor" and to get medical help (Chitham, Chronology 189). In a letter to Ellen Nussey, Charlotte writes, Emily is very ill … a more hollow, wasted pallid aspect I have not beheld. The deep tight cough continues; the breathing after the least exertion is a rapid pant – and these symptoms are accompanied by pain in the chest and side…. In this state she resolutely refuses to see a doctor. (qtd. in Margaret Smith 125) Not only Freudian core issues are applicable to Emily Brontë's personal life, but also they could be employed in the analysis of her only novel Wuthering Heights. Indeed, Wuthering Heights seems to be a documentation of Emily Brontë's own claustrophobic feelings. As a creative writer, she unconsciously sublimates her core issues to a work of art in which she keeps the repressed repressed by means of projection (Pourya, 49-50). Her phantasy worlds, either Gondal poems or Wuthering Heights, are fraught with numerous and repetitive instances of abandonment, dejection, depression and hysteria—e.g. the prevalence of death, imprisonment, entrapment, exile, and isolation, some of which will be explained below. 2.3 Wuthering Heights and the Recurring Pattern of Abandonment 2.3.1 A General Overview Apparently, Emily Brontë finds alleviation of her fears and painful memories in projection of them onto the characters in her novel. Directly and indirectly, she envisions a world in which everybody is ultimately abandoned by the loved one. Indeed, the novel involves the reenactment of the unpleasurable disappearances of her own mother. This fundamental pattern appears again and again in various ways and forms the matrix of Wuthering Heights. Either the characters are afraid of isolation and betrayal, or they abandon and betray deliberately to protect themselves from the imminent abandonment. The setting of the Wuthering Heights forecasts the forlorn and misanthropic personas of the novel. Emily Brontë places the characters in an isolated and separated locality. Lockwood declares "in all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society" (3; ch. i). This "solitary neighborhood" and remote setting of the novel is in keeping with the deliberate misanthropic behavior of its residents. The doors are barred and the antisocial inhabitants with their "regardless manner", which is "exceedingly embarrassing and disagreeable", would not allow anyone in (8; ch. ii). The aversion to emotional attachments is established at the very outset of the novel. As a reserved man in search of a quiet place, Lockwood finds the inhabitants "more exaggeratedly reserved than" himself (3; ch. ii). Nearly all the characters suffer from the painful experience of isolation. One by one, they undergo the processes of dejection, melancholia and hysteria. Being abandoned, they shun intimacy. Yet, the painful experience is reawakened in almost all of the characters. Each of them displays a deliberate misanthropic behavior, which according to J.H. Miller in his article entitled "Themes of Isolation and Exile" (1995), derives ultimately from ALLS 5(2):1-9, 2014 4 isolation (103). Besides, Miller states that Emily Brontë's characters suffer from "the loss of some past joy"—i.e. they endure the anguish of irremediable loss and they grovel in an abyss of nothingness. Miller declares that the characters "live separated from themselves" and from others. Such people build their present life upon a memory of an earlier experience, yearning "with impotent violence to regain their lost happiness" and are frightened by the possibility of the recurrence of such a loss in the present (101-5). Drawing upon Miller's article, I further extend to other characters in the novel, asserting that Lockwood, Catherine, Isabella, Frances, Hindley, Linton and Heathcliff speak for Emily Brontë and reveal her unconscious obsessions when they display their anxieties and core issues. 2.3.2 Lockwood Lockwood's fear of intimacy and abandonment is best exposed by his being difficult to love or be loved. Lockwood, who has a seduce-and-abandon pattern of behavior towards women, attempts to maintain an emotional distance from loved ones by breaking off romances the time when they start to evolve past the infatuation stage. He has a "reputation of deliberate heartlessness" and he elaborates on how he led a young lady into believing that he was interested in her, only to "shrunk icily into [himself], like a snail" (5; ch. i). Such a fear, as I claim, leads Lockwood to believe he is less worthy than other people, "I [Lockwood] proved myself perfectly unworthy" (5; ch. i). Low self-esteem brings Lockwood up as an introverted, shy person and as he grows up he develops "an aversion to showy displays of feeling— to manifestations of mutual kindliness" (5; ch. i). 2.3.3 Catherine Catherine Earnshaw is first introduced into the novel in Lockwood's dream as an abandoned sobbing child who mourns about being forlorn and forsaken for her whole life, "It's twenty years […] twenty years, I've been a waif for twenty years" (21; ch.iii). She begs for an admission into the house, or better to say, into the home. "I'm come home, […] let me in" (20; ch. iii). Catherine's beseeching to be allowed into the house might symbolize and could be interpreted, in Freudian perspective, as Emily Brontë's unconscious need for emotional nurturing. Having lost her mother, Catherine's sense of having been abandoned is intensified when her brother leaves her for college. This event reminds one of Emily Brontë's own feeling of having been forlorn after her siblings had been sent to college like Hindley. The concept of abandonment is amplified when Catherine's father holds his love from her, stating, "Nay, Cathy […] I cannot love thee; thou'rt worse than thy brother […] I doubt thy mother and I must rue that we ever reared thee! (34; ch. vi). As a hard blow to her self-esteem, this occasion played a substantial role in defining Catherine's being and initiated the development of an unstable sense of self. Having been emotionally harmed, Catherine learns to protect herself by distancing from others. However, the insecure definition of self made her vulnerable to the influence of other people. Accordingly, we notice how she repeatedly alters the way she looks and behaves. A major transformation occurs in Catherine after her five-week stay in Thrushcross Grange. She dramatically changes her attitudes and behaviors. Trying to raise her self-respect, she undergoes a "plan of reform". Her appearance is so altered that Hindley claims, "why, Cathy, […] I should scarcely have known you—you look like a lady now" (41; ch. vii). In fact, Catherine finds a new identity in Thrushcross Grange, while the previous one is still in her possession, too. Catherine alternates between two selves; in one, she seems relatively normal and ladylike; in the other, she hallucinates and demonstrates "fits of frenzy". Her mood changes rapidly; at one moment she had high spirits and at other times severe anxiety. "A minute previously she was violent; now […] she seemed to find childish diversion in pulling the feathers from the rents she had just made" (95; ch. xii). Unwittingly, Catherine embraces "a double character" without exactly aiming to deceive anyone (52; ch. viii). Such a "double character", in Freudian psychoanalysis, is a sign of her fear of intimacy which stems from her sense of loss. All the same, Catherine secures herself by not establishing profound intimacy with others. Moreover, Catherine is vexed by the thought of being abandoned by Heathcliff, whom she identifies as her complementary self. His physical or emotional desertion gives Catherine a sense of bereavement, punishment, nothingness and low self-esteem. In a speech with Nelly, Catherine rails against the idea of her separation from Heathcliff, stating that my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and, if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the Universe would turn to a mighty stranger. I should not seem a part of it [….] Nelly [.…]he's always, always in my mind [….]so, don't talk of our separation again—it is impracticable; and—. (64; ch. ix) Yet, the practicability of Heathcliff's departure produces an experience of anxiety in Catherine as an individual. In Freudian psychoanalysis, the person becomes anxious because he/she was wounded by a feeling of being abandoned when he/she was a child, and now, he/she is anxious because he/she does not want to admit to himself/herself that, in some important way, he/she was abandoned by his/her parents. The individual feels anxious because the thing he/she ALLS 5(2):1-9, 2014 5 has repressed—the painful and frightening memory of early mother loss—is resurfacing, and he/she wants to keep it repressed. It is this anxiety and the consequent destructive behaviors that Emily Brontë attempts to ascribe onto her characters. Catherine's fear of Heathcliff's desertion and the possible reappearance of her frightening childhood experience leads her to leave Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights for Edgar and Thrushcross Grange in the hope of protecting herself from the potential psychological destruction. As stated by Freud, by not permitting ourselves to get too close to significant others, we “protect” ourselves from the painful past experiences that intimate relationships inevitably dredge up. Having more than one romantic or sexual partner at a time, breaking off romances [are just two] of the many ways we can maintain an emotional distance from loved ones without admitting to ourselves what we are doing. (Tyson 16) In contrast to Thrushcross Grange, which is situated in a valley like situation, Wuthering Heights is positioned on top of a hill, standing upright and surrounded by "stunted firs" and "a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun" (4; ch. i). The upright and masculine imagery of Wuthering Heights is juxtaposed to the concave and feminine imagery of Thrushcross Grange. Therefore, Catherine's progression from Wuthering Heights to Thrushcross Grange symbolizes in concrete form Emily Brontë's yearning to obtain mother figure and to"regain her lost fullness of being" (Miller, "Isolation" 105). Catherine falls into a major depression when Edgar declares she has to choose either him or Heathcliff, "It is impossible for you to be my friend and his at the same time, and I absolutely require to know which you choose" (93; ch. xi). The imminent abandonment reawakens in Catherine the earlier traumatic experiences she had gone through, leading to manifestations of bizarre bodily symptoms which, by employing Freudian paradigms, could be recognized as hysteria. According to Freud, hysterical symptoms are triggered by "reminiscences", recurrence of the painful memory of loss and abandonment and will lead to expressions of self-loathing and self-destructive behaviors. Catherine's melancholia is disclosed by her "senseless, wicked rages". In chapter eleven of the novel, Nelly narrates, there she [Catherine] lay dashing her head against the arm of the sofa, and grinding her teeth, so that you might fancy she would crash them to splinters! […] She had no breath for speaking . […] In a few seconds she stretched herself out stiff, and turned up her eyes, while her cheeks, at once blanched and livid, assumed the aspect of death. (93; ch. xi) This temporary paralysis is followed by Catherine's refusal to eat and her self-imprisonment for three days. She starts hallucinating about her childhood in Wuthering Heights. She becomes 'delirious' and is scared of her own image in the mirror. Such an unexplainable behavior, according to Freud, has no physical basis; rather it is a symptom of hysterical neurosis (Heller 146-7). At last, the reawakening of the traumatic experience of loss and disappearance that Catherine had undergone in her childhood intensifies her anxieties to the point that she yields to the unconscious death wish. Catherine has no more self-esteem. As she grows weaker and depressed, she ceases interest in the outside world. The Universe has finally turned to a "mighty stranger". It is no more a place of individual happiness and 'union'; rather, it is a world of frustration and tension. Such a tension, Freud asserts in his "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" (1920), is to be lowered by Thanatos or death instinct, which reduces the tension created by instinctual demands and the impact of external reality on the individual. "Death is […] a matter of expediency, a manifestation of adaptation to the external conditions of life" (3747). Freud maintains that though some like Hartman may define death "as the termination of individual development" as well as the ultimate abandonment, the greatest comfort for hysterical neurotics is the religious assurance (3748). This religious assurance maintains that they will not die alone and their unfulfilled wishes will be awarded in after-life, "in a new kind of existence which lies on the path of development into something higher", or as Catherine says "beyond and above" all (Freud, "Future" 4429-31). Heathcliff's three-year-departure enhances her death wish and makes Catherine oddly alienated from the world around her. Frustrated by the traumatic experiences of abandonment, Catherine musingly utters, the thing that irks me most is this shattered prison, after all. I'm tired, tired of being enclosed here. I'm wearying to escape into that glorious world, and to be always there; not seeing it dimly through tears, and yearning for it through the walls of an aching heart; but really with it, and in it. Nelly, you think you are better and more fortunate than I; in full health and strength. You are sorry for me—very soon that will be altered. I shall be sorry for you. I shall be incomparably beyond and above you all. I wonder he won't be near me! (125; ch. xv) ALLS 5(2):1-9, 2014 6 2.3.4 Isabella Isabella's emotional and consequently physical decline corresponds that of Catherine's. Like Catherine, having lost her parents, she loses her only brother's attention, too. Assuming that she will find her lost self in Heathcliff, she elopes with him, "I had sought shelter at W.H., almost gladly, because I was secured by that arrangement from living alone with him" (109; ch. xiii). Yet, she confronts Heathcliff's inattentiveness and negligence, "you'll not be surprised, Ellen, at my feeling particularly cheerless, seated in worse than solitude on that inhospitable hearth, and remembering that four miles distant lay my delightful home" (108; ch. xiii). Her feelings of loss and hence melancholia stem from Heathcliff's rejection and abandonment, "I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death; and flung it back to me" (134; ch. xvii). Talking to Nelly, Isabella exhibits somewhat hysterical behavior desiring to flee from the two houses whose residents are accustomed to misanthropic behavior. 2.3.5 Frances Emily Brontë continues to afflict her characters with the pattern of abandonment, melancholia and hysteria. Frances is yet another character who is introduced into the novel with apparently no family background, "she had neither money nor name to recommend her" (35; ch. vi). Frances is probably suffering from a trauma, since it is revealed that the reenactment of a dead body's burial reawakens in her, painful memories that provoke hysterical symptoms. "[While] the preparing for the burial, and the presence of the mourners […] went on […] she ran into her chamber […] and there she sat shivering and clasping her hands and asking repeatedly 'Are they gone?'" (36; ch. vi). Obviously, Frances has a fear of death, which is further exposed by her dread of black color which is associated with dead bodies; "then she began describing with hysterical emotion the effect it produced to see black; and started, and trembled, and at last fell a weeping" (36; ch. vi). As a phobic neurotic, Frances is unreasonably afraid of death and whatever is linked with it, either actually or symbolically. "When I asked what was the matter? [Frances] answered, she didn't know; but she felt so afraid of dying"(36; ch. vi). Psychologically wounded, she develops ill-health and physical frailties and finally her hysterical condition succumbs to death. Frances's death, in turn, reawakens in Hindley the traumatic experience of parents' loss and a little brother's death. 2.3.6 Hindley In his teens, Hindley's Oedipal complex is stirred up by his father's adoption of Heathcliff as a family member. Soon, he sublimates his jealousy of his father to Heathcliff, calling him a "beggarly interloper", who "wheedle[s his] father out of all he has" (32; ch. iv). Unable to admit the "unconscious hatred that is felt for the loved one who has abandoned" him, Hindley redirects his hatred at Heathcliff. Having lost his parents' attention and love to Heathcliff, Hindley sinks into animality, "he falls into drink, opium, addiction, idleness, depression, and finally death" and starts torturing Heathcliff by 'thrashings', 'knocking', 'threatening' and wishing him dead (Lamonica 25). The desire to patricide, i.e. the unwitting longing of murdering the father and demolition of whoever and whatever is associated with him, further brings to light Hindley's Oedipal fixation which is originated by a feeling of abandonment and a loss, i.e. loss of the mother figure. On Oedipus complex, Freud states [when] the boy deals with his father by identifying himself with him. For a time these two relationships proceed side by side, until the boy’s sexual wishes in regard to his mother become more intense and his father is perceived as an obstacle to them; from this the Oedipus complex originates. His identification with his father then takes on a hostile colouring and changes into a wish to get rid of his father in order to take his place with his mother. ("Ego" 3965) Hindley's unconscious wish is revealed when he desires the day when he would be able to get rid of his obstacles. Heathcliff threatens "I'll tell how you [Hindley] boasted that you would turn me out of doors as soon as he [Mr.Earnshaw] died" (31; ch. iv). He is psychologically scarred by learning "to regard his father as an oppressor rather than a friend, and Heathcliff as a usurper of his privileges, and he [Hindley] grew bitter with brooding over these injuries" (31; ch. iv). Having been deserted by his mother, Hindley is exiled to another city and he is detached from other family members, too. Afraid of the reenactment of the painful losses he had experienced, Hindley defensively denies his wife's ill-health. By insisting that the problem does not exist and the unpleasant incident—Frances's abandonment—will never happen, he unconsciously attempts to keep the repressed repressed in order to avoid knowing what he feels he cannot handle knowing; "damn the doctor […] Frances is quite right—she'll be perfectly well by this time next week" (51; ch. viii). However, when doctor Kenneth warns him that at this stage of malady "his medicines were useless", he retorts, "I know you need not—she's well—she does not want any more attendance from you! She never was in a consumption. It was a fever; and it is gone—her pulse is as slow as mine now, and her cheek as cool" (51; ch. viii). ALLS 5(2):1-9, 2014 7 Hindley's wife's death precipitates and aggravates his psychological abnormalities. When she dies, quite unsurprisingly, Hindley is profoundly injured and he falls into a state of depression and melancholia; "for himself, he grew desperate; his sorrow was of that kind that will not lament. He neither wept nor prayed—he cursed and defied—execrated God and man, and gave himself up to reckless dissipation" (51; ch. viii). Hindley's addiction to heavy drinking could be explained as a form of escape from the actual world to the symbolic one. The escape enabled him to detach himself from the outside world in order to turn away from any activity that is not connected with the thoughts of the lost loved ones. He is no more able to adopt 'any new object of love', which would almost certainly abandon him again (Tyson 21-4). Hopeless, he sinks into animality and a delusional expectation of punishment. He "has shown himself sadly the worse and the weaker man. When his ship struck, the captain abandoned his post" (143; ch. xvii). 2.3.7 Young Linton In a similar way, Emily Brontë displays such pathological attitudes in young Linton as well. Linton Heathcliff is brought into the novel as an abandoned, "ailing and peevish creature", who is always on the verge of choking. His feelings of self-reproach and low self-esteem, which is originated by lack of father, is reinforced by his mother's early death, "its mother died before the time arrived" (142; ch. xvii). His normal process of mourning for a dead mother takes the pathological condition of depression and a cessation of interest in the others. His self-absorption is so complete that he is only conscious of himself. Day by day, he develops hysterical symptoms, especially in a form of hypochondria. His introverted nature and fake illness isolate him from others. He "does not want Cathy to kiss him because he is afraid of losing his breath" (Miller, "Isolation" 97). Nelly angrily calls him "the worst tempered bit of a sickly sip" that "the kinder he was treated, the more tedious and selfish he'd be" (186; ch. xxiv). Linton's interpersonal relations provide clues that low self-esteem is his major core issue. This issue triggers in him fear of abandonment and accordingly fear of intimacy. Linton believes he is less worthy than other people. Such a belief leads him to keep others at an emotional distance in the hope that they will not find out that he is unworthy of them. He is consciously aware of his low self-esteem which forms the basis of his feeling dejected, his "hysteria", and his "cessation of interest in the outside world". He says, you [Cathy] are so much happier than I am, you ought to be better. Papa talks enough of my defects, and shows enough scorn of me, to make it natural I should doubt myself. I doubt whether I am not altogether as worthless as he calls me, frequently; and then I feel so cross and bitter, I hate everybody! I am worthless, and bad in temper, and bad in spirit, almost always— and if you choose, you may say goodbye. You'll get rid of an annoyance. (194; ch. xxiv) Linton's hysterical symptoms parallel those of Catherine Earnshaw's. Like her, his mood changes rapidly. At one moment, he displays "selfishness and spite"; in the other, he shows "suffering", which is wholly demonstrated in his hysterical fear of Heathcliff, "with streaming face and an expression of agony, Linton had thrown his nerveless frame along the ground; he seemed convulsed with exquisite terror" (203; ch. xxvii). 2.3.8 Heathcliff The recurrent pattern of abandonment and the consequent destructive behavior is also applied to shape Heathcliff's personality. Similar to nearly all of the other characters, Heathcliff, I declare, has the core issue of fears of abandonment and betrayal, too. His aversion to emotional attachments is a reaction to "constant tormenting" traumas he had endured. As a seven-year-old boy, Heathcliff has no family. When he is brought into the Earnshaw home, "Mrs Earnshaw's first reaction is to 'fling it out of doors'" (Thompson, "Infanticide" 95-6). He finds himself in a fierce struggle for survival against the actively misanthropic people who,as I stress, have already been suffering from common core issues. Indeed, Heathcliff's own misanthropic tendencies stem partly from the painful experiences of loss and partly from hostile treatment he had received from the people around. Having lost his only benefactor and guardian—Mr. Earnshaw—he is frightened by the thought of being also abandoned by his only friend Catherine. As a marginal part of the Earnshaw family, who is apprehended by all and who is put on the landing in the hope that "it [Heathcliff] might be gone on the morrow", Heathcliff spontaneously believes he is less worthy than others and deserves to be punished. He "proves to be so self-possessed that he too is beyond the intimidation by pain or suffering" (98). Catherine's progression to Thrushcross Grange and her negligence of Heathcliff, leaves him "lonely, like the devil, and envious like him" (219; ch. xxix). Her so-called "infernal" betrayal strengthens Heathcliff's anguish of irremediable loss which in turn makes him feel insecure and develop an unstable sense of self. The recurrent pattern of abandonment and hysteria strikes Heathcliff, too. Traumatized by Catherine's death, he "dashed his head against the knotted trunk; and, lifting up his eyes, howled, not like a man, but like a savage beast getting goaded to death with knives and spears" (130; ch. xvi). Heathcliff falls into the state of melancholia and becomes "an alien and outcast from all world" (Miller, "Isolation" 105). The world around him has nothing more to offer; for instance, in chapter thirty-three of the novel, Heathcliff exclaims, ALLS 5(2):1-9, 2014 8 I have a single wish, and my whole being and faculties are yearning to attain it. They have yearned towards it so long, and so unwaveringly, that I'm convinced it will be reached—and soon—because it has devoured my existence. I am swallowed in the anticipation of its fulfillment. (248, ch. xxxiii) Like Catherine Earnshaw, the world for Heathcliff has turned into a shattered prison that he is yearning to be released from. He becomes laconic in company and has increasingly turned into a "fonder of continued solitude" (248; ch. xxxiii). 3. Conclusion A Freudian analysis of Wuthering Heights reveals that Emily Brontë peoples her imaginative world with figures marked with mother fixation. The Freudian conviction that a work of art is a fictive wish fulfillment of the creative writer's unconscious, elucidates how Emily Brontë projects her own fixation onto a dead mother and the consequent core issues onto her characters. The people in Wuthering Heights, one by one, suffer the "anguish of irremediable loss" (Miller, "Isolation" 102). Having lost the mother figure, they develop fears of intimacy, betrayal and abandonment. Similarly, they feel insecure, unstable and worthless. These people become depressed and melancholic and shun every possibility that might lead to reenactment of such a loss. However, Emily Brontë seems to be obsessed with the concept of dejection and she inflicts the characters of the novel with a feeling of being deserted. Consequently, the reappearance of abandonment reawakens in the characters the pathological condition of melancholia which leads them to display hysterical fits. Lockwood, Catherine, Isabella, Frances, Hindley, Linton, and Heathcliff all go through the processes of dejection, melancholia, reenactment, and hysteria. This process, indeed, is a replica of Emily Brontë's personal life. She underwent the traumatic experience of mother's early death, siblings' loss, father and brother's death, and social inequality. Finally, it is easy to conclude that the repetition of her obsessional thoughts in her novel functions as an assuagement of her psychological wounds. Lastly, the principle recommendation to be made is an in-depth study of Emily Brontë's other phantasy worlds. Admittedly, there are other areas of study that could benefit prospective researchers. For example, further research could focus on areas that were not touched on in this study, such as Emily Brontë's poems. It should also be acknowledged that the examination of her poems in the context of Freudian psychoanalysis, which deals with literary works as the outward manifestation of the artist's suppressed wishes, would have added further richness to the study. References Barnard, Robert, and Louise Barnard. (2007). A Brontë Encyclopedia. Blackwell Publishing. Bloom, Harold. (2008). The Brontës: Bloom's Classic Critical Views. U.S.A.: Infobase Publishing. Brontë, Charlotte. (1850a).Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell. In Jack, Ian and Patsy Stoneman (Eds.) Wuthering Heights Oxford World's Classics. Oxford University Press. Brontë, Charlotte. (1850b). Editor's Preface to the New Edition of Wuthering Heights. In Jack, Ian and Patsy Stoneman (Eds.) Wuthering Heights Oxford World's Classics. Oxford University Press. Chitham, Edward. (2001). The Birth of Wuthering Heights: Emily Brontë at Work. Hampshire: Palgrave. Dunn, Richard J. ed. (2003) A Norton Critical Edition: Emily Brontë Wuthering Heights. 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton. Freud, Sigmund. (1900a). "The Interpretation of Dreams". The Standard Edition of the CompletePsychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1953-74. Freud, Sigmund. (1900a). "Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy". The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1999-2125. Freud, Sigmund. (1917b). "Mourning and Melancholia". The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1953-74. Freud, Sigmund. (1920c). "Beyond the Pleasure Principle". The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1953-74. Freud, Sigmund. (1923d). "The Ego and the Id". The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1953-74. Freud, Sigmund. (1926e). "The Future of an Illusion". The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1953-74. Freud, Sigmund. (1933f)."New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis". The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth, 1953-74. Gold, Linda. (Mar., 1985) "Catherine Earnshaw: Mother and Daughter". The English Journal, Vol. 74, No. 3, pp. 68-73. JSTOR 30 October 2010. <http://www.jstor. org/stable/817114> Heller, Sharon. (2005). Freud A to Z. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ALLS 5(2):1-9, 2014 9 Homans, Margaret. (Jan., 1978). "Repression and Sublimation of Nature in Wuthering Heights". PMLA, Vol. 93,No. 1, pp. 9-19. JSTOR 12 May 2007. <http://www.jstor.org/ stable/00308129> Horrocks, Roger. (2001). Freud Revisited: Psychoanalytic Themes in the Postmodern Age. New York: Palgrave. Hughes, Kelly. (May 2006). "The Freedom of the Soulful Self: An Examination of the Tension Between the Self and Society within Wuthering Heights".. <http://www.eastern.edu/academic/cas/depts/english/PDF/writing/Kelly> Inman, Laura. (November 2008). "The Awful event in Wuthering Heights". Brontë Studies, Vol. 33. Lamonica, Drew. (2003). "We Are Three Sisters": Self and Family in the Writing of the Brontës. London :University of Missouri Press. Leitch, Vincent B. Ed. (2001). The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York:W.W. Norton. Miller, J.Hillis. (1991). "Themes of Isolation and Exile". Critics on Charlotte and Emily Brontë. Ed. Judith O'Neill. New Delhi: Universal Book Stall, 1995. Pourya Asl, Moussa. (2014). “Recurring Patterns: Emily Brontë’s Neurosis in Wuthering Heights”. International Journal of Education and Literary Studies. Vol.2. No.1. <http://www.journals.aiac.org.au/index.php/IJELS/article/view/226/215> Smith, Margaret. Ed. (2007). Selected Letters of Charlotte Brontë. Oxford UP. Thompson, Wade. (1963). Infanticide and Sadism In Wuthering Heights. In O'Neill, Judith (Ed.). Critics on Carlotte and Emily Brontë. New Delhi: Universal Book Stall. Tyson, Lois. (2006). Psychoanalytic Criticism. Critical Theory Today. 2nd ed. New York, Routledge. Wainwright, Martin. (2007). "Emily Brontë Hits the Heights in Poll to Find Greatest Love Story." The Guardian. 10 August 2007. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/aug/10/books.booksnews> Winnifrith, Tom. (1996). Charlotte and Emily Brontë: A Study in the Rise and Fall of Literary Reputations. The Yearbook of English Studies, Vol. 26, Strategies of Reading: Dickens and after Special Number. Pp. 14-24. JSTOR 3 August 2007.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/03062473> Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia The Value Over Human Rights [A Short Communication] Angela K. Brown E-mail: brownlas6@aol.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.10 Received: 04/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.10 Accepted: 19/03/2014 Abstract How we identify with our identity is perceived through a cultural perspective. We evaluate ourselves, in how we attribute to how we conduct our lives. Culture is the affluence of how we are perceived. We can achieve our status by learning standards which will cultivate our lives through tradition. Keywords: Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Voting Rights Act of 2014 1. Background The battle of human rights have changed, because, of the threat to equality has been amended. People from my generation have integrated into a society whose values have changed. Today, we value our personal freedoms. The significance of our race relies on how we perceive our cultural identity to determine who we are and what will we have become. It is our perception that we identify with others to determine if we are accepted within the cofounds of our race. We are no longer separate, but equal. Our identity as a race is more unified with a vision to support our need to achieve personal advances. African Americans play a viable role in society. With the Civil Rights Act of 1964, blacks have integrated into the industry promoting equal employment opportunity. Today, African Americans have a voice in transforming racial divisions. As a race, we have increased our standards by advancing politically, economically and equitably through guided education and interaction. Through learned behavior of the Civil Rights movement, has led our race through a disbandment of neglect to a significance of advancement. The Civil Rights Act was successful in providing educational equality. African Americans believe throughout history that by learned experience, blacks would improve their chances of reaching economic empowerment. Today, the number of black political officials have increased, segregation in the workplace has declined and the gap of equal employment has changed. The African American dream is dramatic with the Voting Rights Act of 2014, when there is discrimination against black voters. The Voter Rights Act of 1864, (the fifteenth amendment to the United States Constitution), granted black men the right to vote. During that time period, less than 2% had the right to vote. One hundred years later, during the Civil Rights Movement, blacks were denied their right to vote. Blacks were killed, lynched, given test impossible to pass and given poll tax they could not afford to pay. Anything was done to prevent blacks from voting. After granting the Voting Rights Act of 1964, today, there is an extremely low minority turn at the polls. Today, the black vote is discriminated against when blacks with prison statements and mental illness are not allowed to vote. It is biased when the black vote is not counted because of sanctions and discrimination. Still blacks cannot get a voter ID because, they have been blocked or exempt from voting. This should be a discrimatory violation that congress should change. The Voting Rights Act of 2014: H. R. 3899 is an important piece of legislation to our commitment in the electoral process. We come from a race that is self-conscious of our own actions. We are an educated generation. This generation is aware of who we are and where we stand. Our expression is a variance to detail. Our past must not be forgotten. Our past convictions will be an example to how we analyze our future. 2. Discussion Do we realize who we are as a race? Do we have control over our destiny? How do we define our strengths and weaknesses? Have we overcome our woes and pain of racial discrimination? Is there a need to practice our amiable rights? We are not truly free until we discover our true identity. In order to be free as a race, we must confront our problems and find its source so we can solve our problems. We cannot contain our anger and negate our fears. Let us walk together and recognize that we are responsible for our own actions and it is with these actions we must not quit. 3. Conclusion The most important idea today is how we apply our purpose. We must express our values in how we relate to circumstance and in this connection, we must determine our purpose to close the gap to political, social and economic ALLS 5(2):10-11, 2014 11 equality. Reaching equality is essential to managing and conducting our lives. Personal freedom is determined by guided tradition. We must not live in the past. We must respect one another’s interest. It is important to identify and understand who we are, so we can explain the causes that accompany results. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Exploring Teachers’ Perception of the Efficacy of ELT in Iranian Public Schools and Private Language Institutes Mohammad Aliakbari (Corresponding author) English Department, Ilam University, Ilam, Iran E-mail: maliakbari@hotmail.com Mojtaba Gheitasi English Department, Ilam University, Ilam, Iran E-mail: mghietasi@gmail.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.12 Received: 04/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.12 Accepted: 20/03/2014 Abstract This paper intended to compare teaching English in private language institutes and public schools in Iranian Education system from the viewpoint of the English teachers who practice in both systems. It also aimed at examining teachers’ preference to teach-in either place. 15 English teachers in Ilam city participated in the study and data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire, including 60 Items through which respondents were asked to express their dis/agreement on 5 subscales. The results showed that better management, better fulfillment of the educational needs, and better teaching environment were among the reasons why the teachers preferred to teach in private language institutes. The study then, provides suggestions for improvement of ELT in the public system. Keywords: ELT in Iran, public schools, private language institutes, teachers’ preferences. 1. Introduction English is spoken by over 2 billion people around the world and the number of non-native speakers of English is 3 times as much as its native speakers almost all research and publications in the international level are performed in English (Crystal, 1997; Flowerdew and Peacock, 2001). Because of its undeniable importance, the need for English as a foreign language has made governments and education systems to reconsider their programs to meet their requirements. In this relation, no doubt, evaluation plays a significant role in improving programs. It helps knowing about strengths and weaknesses of the program and, if necessary, making modifications and improvements in the curriculum. Owing to the existence of two systems of English language education in Iran, i.e. public education in state or private schools as a compulsory course and teaching of English in private language institutes, it was considered necessary to evaluate the teaching conditions in these places from the viewpoints of teachers who perform in both systems. 2. Review of Literature Several definitions have been put forward for evaluation and educators have sometimes interpreted it differently (Olivia, 2001; Ornstein and Hunkins, 2004). It is considered as providing information needed by policy makers and education planners to make appropriate decisions (Worthern and Sanders, 1998). Scriven (1991) introduced Formative and Summative evaluation as different ways of analyzing curriculum evaluation in terms of timing, instrument and purpose of the course: Formative evaluation requires providing information needed to enhance the program (Morris and FitzGibbon, 1978; Scriven, 1991; Weston, Mc Alpine and Bordonaro, 1995) and is conducted during the implementation of a program. Summative evaluation, however, is done at the end of the program to evaluate its effectiveness. According to Erden (1995) there are a lot of different evaluation models that researchers can choose from among based on the goals and conditions of their programs. Fitzpatrick, Sanders and Worthen (1998) classify evaluation approaches as: objective oriented, management oriented, consumer oriented, expertise oriented, adversary oriented and participant oriented evaluation. The present study aimed at evaluating the program from the view of the participants. Numerous evaluation studies have been done. Akar (2009) conducted research in Poland to find out the effectiveness of foreign language teacher training colleges (FITTC).The findings of the study showed that the FLTTCs were generally aimed at learning a foreign language and getting a better job. Also, it was revealed that the participant teachers generally had positive perceptions about their teaching in the classroom. Karahan (2007) carried out an evaluation in Yildiz Teknik University Modern Language Department to evaluate English II instruction program syllabus using teachers’ and students’ opinions by using context, input, process and product (CIPP) model. The results showed some significant differences between the teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the context, input, process and product elements of the syllabus. Likewise, Al-Darwish (2006) carried out research on the effectiveness of Kuwaiti elementary school English language teachers and supervisors. Based on the findings of the study, the Kuwaiti English language teachers strongly approved communicative language teaching. However, the actual classroom teaching was not student-centered but ALLS 5(2):12-18, 2014 13 rather highly teacher-centered. Besides, the teachers, and the supervisors, would have liked more translation into Arabic be included in the official curriculum, and reading, writing, and grammar be introduced earlier in the curriculum. Also, the teachers and the researchers believed that the teachers' current level of proficiency in English language was not satisfactory. Nam (2006) conducted a study in South Korea which focused on perceptions of college students and their English teaches in a university team-based curriculum regarding the new communication-based English curriculum and instruction in a specific university-level English program. Findings of the study demonstrated that while students generally had somewhat negative opinion about the curriculum, teachers had positive opinion about the effectiveness of the new curriculum. Moreover, findings showed that the given communication-based EFL curriculum might not comply with the students’ desires, owing to several weaknesses of the curriculum itself and some already existing barriers in the institutional system behind the curriculum. Gerede (2003) carried out research on the effectiveness of curriculum renewal program at Andolue University, Intensive English Program. The purpose was to evaluate the perceived language needs of the students to follow English-medium content courses at five English-medium departments. Results showed that there were a few significant differences between the two curricula in terms of meeting the students’ language needs. Based on the results, relevant suggestions were made for the curriculum renewal process. Erdogan (2005) conducted a study on evaluation of English learning at primary state schools in Turkey. Findings of the study showed that though the teachers at primary school considered the objectives and the content consistent, they did not consider it effective. Thus, in their opinion, unless some revisions were made, such a curriculum was not applicable. As for the students, they seemed to be happy with learning English at 4th and 5th grade. Valuable studies have also been conducted on evaluation of TEFL program in Iran mostly to fulfill the requirements of MA courses. These studies (Amini, 1991; Haghverdian, 1991; Baharlooie, 1992; Amirtash, 1993; Dehbashi-Sharif, 1994; Kandi, 1995; Sadeghi, 1998) have had valuable contributions to the evaluation of TEFL and have been helpful in providing some valuable insights for further research. Yet, they have been administered to fulfill the requirements of an academic degree and have focused on issues independent from one another (Farhady & Sajadi, 2004). A comprehensive study by Farhady and Sajadi (2004) sponsored by the Ministry of Education attempted to evaluate the status of teaching and learning English in Iranian junior high schools. The results of the study showed that both teachers and students possessed a reasonable command of English. Another study was conducted on TEFL program evaluation by Rahimpour and Hashemi (2011) on evaluation and selection of 3 high school textbooks currently in use in Iran from the viewpoint of English language teachers. The findings made it clear that textbooks were not efficient from teachers’ viewpoints regarding their five sections of vocabulary, reading, grammar, language functions and pronunciation practice. Moreover textbooks physical make up and practical considerations were not satisfactory to the teachers. 3. Statement of the Problem Due to rapid increase in international relations and communications, an immediate need for English as the most important medium of communication is felt in non-English speaking countries all over the world. Thus, education systems in all countries, including Iran, put a high priority on teaching and learning English. English is taught in Iranian junior high school and high school for 7 years until students get their diploma. They start learning English from the first grade in junior high school for three years. Then, they spend three more years in high school and one year in pre-university program. Generally English is taught for 4 hours (2 class sessions) in a week in each academic year. The instructional materials are textbooks developed by the Ministry of Education based on an eclectic approach, following audio-lingual, cognitive and communicative approaches to language teaching. The majority of teachers who teach in junior high schools hold an Associate Degree obtained from teacher training centers. Most high school teachers hold BA degrees in TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language), English literature or English translation. Also, a considerable number of teachers who teach in high schools or pre-university programs hold MA degrees in TEFL, English literature, English translation or English linguistics. Although some valuable program evaluation studies have been conducted, there is not yet enough empirical evidence to judge English program in use in Iran. In the meantime, despite considerable amount of attention, money, time and energy devoted by education authorities, a positive public attitude to learning English in the Iranian public junior high schools and high schools is yet to be attained. Among the common views in this regards, there are some voices which maintain that textbooks are not efficient and only focus on reading, writing and grammar, or little attention is paid to speaking and using language(Farhady & Sajadi, 2004). Still others criticize the teaching methods and too much focus on grammatical explanations. Reference can also be made to those who think that not enough time is allocated to teaching English in weekly school program (Rahimpour and Hashemi, 2011). Yet, due to lack of support from academic research, not sufficient empirical evidence for judgment in this regard is available. In addition to the above mentioned state education system, a good number of private language institutes have been established in recent years that have attracted considerable public attention. Owing to the accountability in selecting teachers, textbooks, programs and extra-curricular factors, these institutes have had a successful experience in language teaching in general and English language teaching in particular. They also have provided positive attitudes in the public regarding language teaching that has made a lot of language learners to rush into these institutes, hoping to have a successful language learning experience. Stated differently, this new education system has sometimes appeared more successful and more qualified than public education system in certain areas. Owing to the above mentioned issues, research was considered necessary to investigate the advantages and ALLS 5(2):12-18, 2014 14 disadvantages of teaching in the two mentioned education systems. In particular, to examine and improve the current state of English program in Iranian education system, more research on program evaluation is required. Accordingly, the present study is to examine the working ELT programs in state and private sectors in Iran from teachers’ viewpoints. Based on the above statements the following research questions have been posed: 1. What perceptions do Iranian English language teachers who perform in both private language institutes and public schools have toward (dis)advantages of teaching in either system? 2. On what bases do teachers prefer to teach in either system? 4. Methodology 4.1 Participants The participants of the study included 15 English language teachers (10 males and 5 females) 9 of whom had BA degrees in TEFL, English literature and English translation and the other 6 had MA degrees in TEFL or linguistics from Iranian universities. Having different years of teaching experience, all the teachers were employed by Ministry of Education to teach public schools of as full-time or part-time teachers. However, they taught in private language institutes in Ilam city as part-time instructors. All the participants were indigenous people from Ilam city or surrounding areas with similar ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. They were chosen using convenient sampling considering their availability and willingness to cooperate, as they were among the colleagues of one of the researchers and were easily available and sincerely cooperated in completing the questionnaire. Variety in participants’ gender, education level and teaching experience were significant enough to form a representative sample. 4.2 Instrument The instrument used in this study was a 60-item questionnaire made by the researchers in winter 2011. It aimed at investigating the viewpoints of the teachers who participated in the study regarding the status of TEFL in the two systems already discussed and their preferences for teaching in either public schools or private language institutes. The instrument addressed issues like the role of management in education enhancement, effectiveness of the textbooks and extracurricular material, the degree of students’ and teachers’ satisfaction of the educational environment, and the type or quality of the educational facilities. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed through expert judgment by two assistant professors from Ilam University. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach Alpha index at 0.82. 4.3 Procedure Prior to the development of questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted by researchers through which 10 English teachers in both public schools and private language institutes were consulted on the particular aspects of both systems in winter 2011.The 60-item questionnaire was categorized into five scales of Educational Management, Educational Needs, Educational Facilities, Teaching Material and Educational Environment (Atmosphere). After different modifications, reforms and revisions by different colleagues, including two researchers in social sciences, the questionnaire was finalized in Likert format, with five options of fully agree, agree, neutral, disagree and fully disagree. For the ease of analysis, values were assigned; fully agree=5, agree=4, neutral=3, disagree=2and fully disagree=1 in favor of private language institutes. For items in favor of public schools, the values were assigned in the opposite direction, i.e. they have been reverse valued. Then the collected data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). To record the percentage of the responses, multiple response statistics for the 5 categories were calculated.in addition, to examine if there is any difference between the participants’ opinion in the four categories of educational needs, educational facilities, teaching material and educational atmosphere or environment paired-Sample T-test was run. However, due to the nature of the items in the questionnaire it was not possible to adopt paired-Sample T-test for the category of educational management. 5. Results To obtain the results, multiple response statistics and paired-Sample T-test for the 5 categories were calculated at (p˂0.05) level of significance. The statistical analyses and the explanation of the findings are presented in tables below. Based on the multiple response statistics (Table 1); almost 77% of the subjects agreed that educational management in private language institutes is performed better than that of public schools; Based on the paired samples T-test (Tables 4) for the category of Educational needs, (t=14.53, df=14, p=.000), there is significant difference between the subjects’ perception toward the category of educational needs in private language institutes and public schools. For the category of educational facilities (Tables 2, 3 and 4), (t =.939, DF =14, p=.364), there is not a significant difference in the teachers ‘perception toward facilities. Regarding the category of teaching material (Tables 2, 3 and 4), (T=8.686, DF =14, p=.000), there is significant difference between the teachers’ perception toward teaching in private language institutes and public schools. Similarly, for the category of educational atmosphere (Tables 2, 3 and 4) there is a significant difference in the teachers’ perception toward the educational atmosphere in private language institutes and public schools, (t=4.803, DF =14, p=.000). ALLS 5(2):12-18, 2014 15 Table 1. Multiple Response statistics for the five categories Pct of Groups Code Count Responses Fully agree 52 49.5 Agree 28 26.7 Neutral 10 9.5 Educational disagree 10 9.5 MANAGEMENT Fully 5 4.8 disagree 105 100.0 Fully agree 142 47.3 Agree 68 22.7 Neutral 17 5.7 Educational disagree 40 13.3 NEEDS Fully 33 11.0 disagree 300 100.0 Fully agree 58 64.4 Agree 20 22.2 Neutral 4 4.4 Educational FACILITIES disagree 6 6.7 Fully 2 2.2 disagree 90 100.0 Fully agree 34 32.4 Agree 21 20.0 Neutral 10 9.5 Teaching disagree 25 23.8 MATERIALS Fully 15 14.3 disagree 105 100.0 Fully agree 109 36.3 Agree 95 31.7 Educational Neutral 19 6.3 ATMOSPHERE (Environment) disagree 48 16.0 Fully 29 9.7 disagree 300 100.0 Pct Cases 346.7 186.7 66.7 66.7 33.3 700.0 946.7 453.3 113.3 266.7 220.0 2000.0 386.7 133.3 26.7 40.0 13.3 600.0 226.7 140.0 66.7 166.7 100.0 700.0 726.7 633.3 126.7 320.0 193.3 2000.0 Table 2. Paired Samples Statistics for different categories Std. Std. Mean N Deviation Error Mean S. Educational 3.6667 15 .22254 .05746 Needs P. Educational 1.6844 15 .44754 .11556 Needs S. Educational 1.5111 15 .43400 .11206 Facilities P. Educational 1.6889 15 .66029 .17049 Facilities S. Atmosphere 3.0778 15 1.05196 .27161 P. Atmosphere 1.9810 15 .52521 .13561 S. Teaching 3.8333 15 1.11270 .28730 Material P. Teaching 2.2133 15 .53701 .13866 Material of ALLS 5(2):12-18, 2014 16 Table 3. Paired Samples Correlations for different categories N Correlati on Sig. Pair 1 S. Educational Needs & P. Educational 15 Needs -.147 .602 Pair 1 S. Educational Facilities Educational Facilities 15 .151 .590 Pair 1 S. Teaching Material & P. Teaching 15 Material .841 .000 Pair 1 S. Atmosphere & P. Atmosphere .543 .036 & P. 15 Table 4: Paired Samples Test for different categories Paired Differences Mean S. Educational Needs P. Educational Needs S. Educational Facilities P. Educational Facilities S Teaching Material P. Teaching Material S. Atmosphere P. Atmosphere Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 95% Interval Difference Confidence of the Lower Lower Sig. t df (2 tailed) 1.9822 .52823 .13639 1.6897 2.2747 14.534 14 .000 .1778 .73319 .18931 -.2282 .5838 .939 14 .364 1.6200 .72230 .18650 1.2200 2.0200 8.686 14 .000 1.0968 .88451 .22838 .6070 1.5866 4.803 14 .000 6. Discussion This study intended to investigate perceptions of the English language teachers who teach in both public schools and private language institutes; additionally, it aimed at exploring the reasons why the teachers preferred to teach in one or the other. Based on the results Educational Management was an influential factor in success of the students, teachers and EFL program (Tables 1 and 4). According to the answers to individual items included in the questionnaire, since in private language institutes the managers plan for only one module, they can act better (100% agree). In private language institutes the managers can give a placement test and put the students in proper level in the program (87% agree). Also in private institutes teachers are free from strict regulations in public schools and can be more accountable (93% agree; 7% neutral).However, in public schools they have to put all students with different levels in the same class and teach all of them in the same way (93% agree). Educational Needs were another influential factor for the teachers (Tables 1 and 4). As students choose to attend private institutes in their will, they are more motivated (93% agree). They have more opportunities to ask questions (93% agree; 7% neutral). Also, students are not there to get a degree (86% agree; 7% neutral). Teachers should improve their knowledge because they are exposed to more questions from their students (100% agree). In private institutes, teachers have more freedom to work on their own initiatives but in public schools they have to follow the fixed framework of the books developed by Ministry of Education (74% agree; 13% neutral). Still another factor was teaching Materials (Tables 1 and 4). Books developed by Education Ministry focus more on reading, writing, vocabulary and grammar (100% agree); they are not up to date with new findings of second language acquisition ; not well-organized and do not fulfill Educational Needs (100% agree). However, the books introduced by private language institutes were considered up to date, have a better content, equally focus on all four skills, and are well-organized and more coherent (74% agree; 13% neutral). Another important factor was Educational Atmosphere (Tables 1 and 4). Private language institutes have a less formal atmosphere compared with public schools and teachers are more friendly (60% agree); they have more freedom to start and finish the class (87% agree); both teachers and students make the best use of their class time (93% agree, 7% neutral);there are fewer students in the class and more time for the teacher to deal with all students and for every student to participate in class activities (87% agree); teachers have the opportunity to speak English more and use language to communicate and so enjoy teaching (86% agree, 7% neutral). ALLS 5(2):12-18, 2014 17 Although, all of the teachers agreed that better equipment like computers, CD players, TVs and extra-curricular books are provided in private language institutes in Ilam (100% agree); Educational Facilities were not among influential factors on their preference to teach in either system (Tables 1 and 4). All of them (100% agree) specified that public schools have larger space than private language institutes but the equipment in private language institutes is better. Only 47% agreed with better payment in private language institutes (47% agree, 13% neutral). Most of them (74% agree, 13% neutral)mentioned that years of experience result in better payment in public schools but private language institutes it is not the case. All of them (100% agree) contended that teaching in public schools is sustainable, has job stability and involves insurance. 7. Conclusion Teacher can be the most important factor in every class. Therefore, the ideas and experiences of teachers, who are the most-directly- involved educators in the class activities are valuable information that can be considered for the efficacy and efficiency of the education. The main incentive for the teachers in preferring teaching in private language institutes, based on the findings of the study, is lack of accountability and freedom to administer the class the way they seem the best; and unavailability of a revised textbook that fulfills current educational needs of the students. Improving teachers’ speaking, using language and making students communicate in English is one of the desires of the teachers, a factor that has received little attention in teaching English in Iranian public education system. What is important for all of these teachers is a better program, up to date and revised material, more freedom to follow the course based on their own preferences, a less crowded class and an atmosphere full of communication and collaboration among the teacher and students in the class. Despite the fact that in public schools, teachers have job stability, better income and a less demanding job, due to the above mentioned problems, these teachers prefer to teach in private language institutes. It is hoped that the present and the coming studies be helpful and educators and educational planners prevent unnecessary loss of the educational capitals in the country. 8. Implications of the study Findings of this study may offer insights for all educational stakeholders in the public education system in Iran, including policy makers, educational planners, syllabus designers, educators, instructors, parents, learners and the public. Policy makers and educational planners are expected to determine appropriate policies for education at large, including foreign language teaching. The length and quality of instruction, the quality of the syllabus, the qualification of the teachers, the extent of teacher instruction, the consistency and length of in-service instruction can be enhanced in the educational system. The findings of this study would be helpful for policy makers and educational planners to improve, of course with cooperation of educators, teachers and students, the current attitudes toward learning English language and move the trend of English teaching away from focusing on traditional Grammar Translation mode of teaching toward more communicative and interactive modes. Also, the findings of this study may help education planners and educators to investigate the ways to improve the quality of textbooks and the length and quality of instructions and pave the way to improve the qualifications of teachers with proper in-service training by implementing proper strategies and employing qualified teachers. 9. Limitations This study was a step toward evaluating English language teaching in Iran and no doubt has some limitations. This study administered in context of Ilam; and it may not be easy to generalize the findings nationwide. Also, number of the participants is relatively low to rely on its generalizability. It is hoped that later studies with a higher number of participants and a wider context reach better achievements. References Akar, H. (2009). Foreign language teacher education: The Polish case. The New Educational Review, 17(1), 185-211. Al-Darwish, S. (2006). An investigation of teachers’ perceptions of the English language curriculum in Kuwaiti elementary schools. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Denver, the USA. Amini, Z. (1991). A general evaluation of four high school English textbooks used in Iran. Unpublished MA thesis, Tehran: Islamic Azad University, Central branch. Amirtash, K. (1993). Factors influencing students in Iranian junior high schools as conceived by students and teachers. Unpublished MA thesis, Tehran: Islamic Azad University. Baharlooie, R. (1992). The correlation between grammatical structures taught by the teacher and learned by students: an evaluation of the end of a GPE course. Unpublished MA thesis, Tehran: Islamic Azad University, Central branch. Cronbach, L. J. (1963). Course improvement through evaluation, Teachers College Record, 64, 73-672. Cronbach, L. J. (1982). Designing Evaluations of Educational and Social Programs. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass. Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Flowerdew, J., & Peacock, M. (2001). (Eds.). Research perspectives on English for academic purposes, Cambridge: CUP. Dehbashi-Sharif, F. (1994). The effect of learning English at elementary school age on the succeeding educational achievement in this subject. Unpublished MA thesis, Tehran: Islamic Azad University, Central branch. ALLS 5(2):12-18, 2014 18 Erden, M. (1995). Eğitimde program de ğ erlendirme: Ankara: Pegem Yay ıncılık. Erdogan, V. (2005). An evaluation of the English curriculum implemented at the 4th and 5th grade primary state schools: The views of the teachers and the students. Unpublished MA thesis, Mersin University, Mersin. Farhady, H., & Sajadi, F. (2004). Evaluation of students’ English language achievement in Iranian junior high schools. Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities of Shiraz University, 21(1), 42-54. Gerede, D. (2005). A curriculum evaluation through needs analysis: Perceptions of intensive English program graduates at Anadolu University. Unpublished MA thesis, Anadolu University, Eskisehir. Haghverdian, A. (1991). Communicative needs and objectives in teaching reading to high school and university students. Unpublished MA thesis, Tehran: Islamic Azad University, Central branch. Kandi, M. J. (1995). Comparing DM and TM in teaching reading comprehension to Iranian high school students. Unpublished MA thesis, Tehran: Islamic Azad University, Central branch. Morris, L. L., & Fitz-Gibbon, C. T (1978). Evaluator’s handbook. California: Sage. Nam, J.M. (2005). Perceptions of Korean college students and teachers about communication-based English instruction: Evaluation of a college EFL curriculum in South Korea. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, the Ohio State University, the USA. Olivia, F. P. (2001). Developing the curriculum. New York: Longman. Ornstein, Allan C., & Hunkins Francis P. (2004). Curriculum: Foundations, principles and issues. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall. Rahimpour, M. & Hashemi, R. (2011). Textbook selection and evaluation. World Journal of Education, 1(2); 62-68. Sadeghi, F. (1998). An evaluation to the first grade English textbook in the current new system of education at high school in Iran, Unpublished MA thesis, Tehran: Islamic Azad University, Central branch. Scriven, M. S. (1991).Evaluation Thesaurus (4th Ed.). Beverly Hills, California: Sage. Weston, C., McAlpine, L., & Bordonaro, T. (1995). A model for understanding formative evaluation in instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 43(3), 29-46. Worthen, R., & Sanders, R. (1998). Educational evaluation: Alternative approaches and practical guidelines. New York: Longman. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia The Potential of Incorporating Computer Games in Foreign Language Curricula Jayakaran Mukundan (Corresponding author) Department of Language and Humanities Education, Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM SERDANG, Selangor, Malaysia E-mail: jaya@educ.upm.edu.my Seyed Ali Rezvani Kalajahi Department of Language and Humanities Education, Faculty of Educational Studies Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM SERDANG, Selangor, Malaysia E-mail: ali.rezvani85@gmail.com Bakhtiar Naghdipour Department of English Language Teaching, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus E-mail: bakhtiar.naghdipour@cc.emu.edu.tr Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.19 Received: 15/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.19 Accepted: 20/03/2014 Abstract There is ample evidence that technology-enhanced instruction could result in students’ learning. With the advancement and ever-increasing growth of technology, the use of educational electronic games or computer games in education has appealed to both educators and students. Because of their potential to enhance students’ interest, motivation and creativity, computer games can be used to teach various skills and strategies to different types of students, particularly schoolchildren. These games have also made inroads into language learning classrooms as they provide language learners with a rich learning context to engage in authentic and meaningful learning experiences. This paper reviews the potential of integrating computer games into second/foreign language syllabi and curricula by offering a synopsis of the assumptions, prior studies and theoretical background in support of these games in language education. At the end, the paper touches upon the role of teachers and the likely inhibiting factors affecting the integration of computer games into English language programs. Keywords: computer games; digital game-based learning; ESL/EFL 1. Introduction The introduction of computers to the world of education has offered numerous possibilities to enhance learning and instruction. The application of electronic games in education is aligned with the necessity to change our teaching methods in order to cater for the needs of future citizens in a digital society (Gros, 2007). Sandford et al. (2006) also asserted, “incorporating computer games into learning environments, it is hoped by many, will enhance student engagement with learning” (p. 6). Although digital games are not limited to computer games, we use computer games as a generic term rather than a specific reference to those games users utilize at their computers. Console and video games, for example, are well-known games different age groups may be involved buying and using them. As some of the criteria of digital games, Prensky (2001) identified them as those rule-based games that have goals and objectives, provide feedback that includes a challenge or competition, require some sort of interaction, and represent a story. The emergence of these games in education has led to the coinage of the term ‘edutainment’, indicating a blending of both aspects of education and entertainment (Purdy, 2007). The use of digital games for the new generation of learners, or ‘digital natives’ (Prensky, 2001), is an opportunity for deep and sustained learning (Barab, et al., 2007; Gee, 2008). Playing these games might be an indicator of computer literacy in society, as learning through computer, whither it be incidental or intentional learning, is also an ingredient of the knowledge in the new millennium. Digital game-based learning is defined as “any marriage of educational content and computer games (Prensky, 2001, p. 145), with a specific focus on the motivational aspect of these games in education. As far as second or foreign language learning is concerned, computer games can be used formally or informally to teach different components of language such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and spelling. However, these games have yet to find their way into second/foreign language programs in many English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts. There are many reasons for this delay, including curricular barriers, teachers’ inadequate computer literacy, their beliefs and perceptions of the potential of these games (Kennedy-Clark, 2011; Ketelhut & Schifter, 2011), and a host of other variables and contextual affordances. This paper reviews several ALLS 5(2):19-24, 2014 20 practical and theoretical underpinnings for integrating computer games into EFL classes, hoping that teachers treat them as an alternative to many traditional teacher-fronted learning activities in such input-poor contexts. 2. Research Review Some three decades ago, Wright et al. (1984) considered computer games central to a teacher’s pedagogical toolkit. These games, which are coming out in different versions and types and appeal to different age groups and students’ demographics, have the potential to engage and motivate learners cognitively, emotionally, and socially (Huang, 2011; Lengeling & Malarcher, 1997; Prenksy, 2001). Recent studies have documented the impact of educational computer games on boosting students’ motivation to language learning (Connolly et al., 2012; Hainey et al., 2011; Howell & Veale, 2009; Reinders, 2012; Squire, 2005). Indeed, the use of computer games enhances learners’ interest and motivation to spend more time and make further effort towards achieving their learning goals. Digital game-based learning can also foster a sense of community among language learners as they interact with each other and share their resources and experiences to complete a task or solve a problem. That is, these games could function as a source of developing group strategies such as cooperative and collaborative learning through creating meaningful contexts for language learning. Furthermore, employing educational computer games in foreign language programs supports advocating more recent communicative and learner-centered approaches to language learning, which emphasize the use of meaningful learning tasks and activities. As Gros (2007, p. 23) asserted, digital games “are usercentered; they can promote challenges, co-operation, engagement, and the development of problem-solving strategies”. This is particularly helpful for new generation of learners who have grown up with technological advancement and computer gaming. Since language learning classes in ESL/EFL contexts involve serious and formal atmosphere, with the teachers focusing mostly on the textbooks (Al-Issa, 2007), computer games can break the tedious routine of the traditional classroom cycle and improve the dynamics of the classroom. While a large number of these games are normally exploited for informal learning outside of schools, they “have unique affordances that make them especially useful in contentoriented, culture- and task-based foreign language curricula” (Neville, 2009, p. 47). Also, digital game-based learning “has positive effects on students’ comfort level, sense of self-efficacy, and knowledge transfer and retention” (Neville et al., 2009, 47). A fiction game, for example, can help second or foreign language learners develop their reading abilities (Neville, 2009). Moreover, commercial computer games were found to affect incidental (Thorne et al., 2012) and intentional L2 vocabulary learning (Cobb & Horst, 2011; Ranalli, 2008). Besides helping language learners to develop their vocabulary, pronunciation, and listening skills, computer games can also be a hot topic or an ideal context for group discussions, which could result in fostering communicative strategies and speaking skills. Yu et al. (2002) reported that incorporating electronic games into language learning classes increased students’ overall satisfaction with the learning experience. Most importantly, because the growth of technology has increased the informal and incidental learning among children, the use of electronic games can enhance their motivation and confidence in learning a second or foreign language. Anyaegbu et al. (2012), for example, found that integrating computer games in ES:/EFL classes at primary schools in China motivated, engaged, and piqued schoolchildren’s interest in learning English. Supplementing these games also lowered students’ anxiety, helping them retain more vocabulary and develop their pronunciation and other language learning skills. Even, some scholars (e.g., Denner, Werner & Ortiz, 2012; Ke, 2014; Mayer & Wittrock, 2006) have proposed and applied game-design as a means of teaching students problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills because these are the most neglected areas in formal education in many contexts. Such games have been found to develop visual literacy such as the ability to read pictures and diagrams (Gros, 2007). In addition, they helped students develop divided visual attention or the skill of responding or attending to different stimuli at the same time (Greenfield, 1996). 3. Computer games and learning theories Behaviorism views learning as a change in behavior realized through repetition and reinforcement of desired actions (Gagné & Briggs, 1979). Immediate correction, rewarding good habits and discouraging bad habits were other features of resorting to the principles of behaviorism in language learning classrooms. Skinner’s emphasis on reinforcement to strengthen behavior led to the use of mechanical devices, which resulted in the emergence of computer or electronic games in today’s world of education (Lombardi, 2011). The focus of educators on programmed instruction through presenting content, providing opportunities for practice, and offering feedback resulted in the domination of behaviorist principles in computer-assisted language learning (Beaty, 2003). Thus, educational computer games emerged to teach grammar, vocabulary, and spelling through designing drills that used scores to reward or punish users or language learners (Filsecker & Bündgens-Kosten, 2012). However, the drill-and-practice games have been criticized for promoting rote learning and lower levels of knowledge (Jonassen & Howland, 2003). The first generation of educational computer games or what were dubbed ‘edutainment’ contained repetitive and poorly designed tasks that failed to support progressive understanding (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005). These games, such as Mingoville’s mini-games, ignored the role of teachers, social interaction and reflection in learning (Filsecker & Bündgens-Kosten, 2012). These shortcomings were the reasons for the production of other generation of computer games. The use of educational computer games are also supported by ‘the affective filter hypothesis’, which suggests that negative emotions such as higher levels of anxiety and boredom might function as a filter that interferes with receiving second language input (Krashen, 2003). For example, some researchers (e.g., Atake, 2003; Deesri, 2002) reported that ALLS 5(2):19-24, 2014 21 integrating computer games into syllabus lowered students’ stress and kept their attention throughout the lesson. That’s why the new generations of digital games, which strongly support the idea of games in education, demand that these games be designed in a way to engage gamers in comprehensible input; one that is not too much beyond their proficiency level. Likewise, the syllabus content based on Krashen’s theory for young learners should include games, dialogues and leisure activities that native speakers of a language would do in natural situations. Although conventional wisdom might suggest that game-based learning lower learners’ anxiety level and enhance their self-confidence, it seems that lowering affective filter depends on the type of learners, their age, gender, and cultural background. As another supportive theory for the effect of digital game-based learning on language learners, multiple intelligence theory espouses the use of computer games, especially in the form of a blending of video and audio, to serve a variety of learning styles and to maximize the chances of meeting the needs of different types of learners (see Gee, 2007). These games can give language learners alternatives to benefit from multimedia applications. For example, they can cater for language learners’ linguistic intelligence while they listen to or even hear words and linguistic input on the screen. Additionally, computer games can attract learners with logical-mathematical intelligence as they involve learners in problem-solving activities. Game players are also engaged in viewing visual images and reading materials to entertain their visual intelligence. Additionally, learners with interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences are attracted by electronic games, providing them with opportunities to interact with the virtual players, themselves or other fellow players. In addition, advocates of constructivism have tried to harness the potential of computer games in education. Contrary to behaviourist education, they believe that students should construct knowledge on their own (Jong et al., 2010). Following other principles of constructivism, computer games have focused on motivating learners, increasing their problem-solving or cognitive abilities, and improving their interaction with others in an authentic and stress-free environment (Gee, 2005; Jong et al., 2010; Mason & Moutahir, 2006; Shaffer, 2006). In particular, game-like activities could foster creativity, motivation, and deep learning (Piaget, 1970), as students tend to spend more time and energy on these activities. Furthermore, these games are socially and culturally situated (Gee, 2003), allowing gamers to participate, compete and collaborate with others (Prensky, 2001). This is especially important for language learners, who need to engage in discussing, sharing, interacting with each other to increase their opportunity to use language purposefully. Constructivists also support learner-centered approaches to language learning and situate learning tasks in a problem-solving framework where learners have to engage in a meaningful effort to work out linguistic or nonlinguistic problems. The second generation of computer games followed a cognitive-based or constructivist approach, taking into account learners’ previous experiences and background (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005). As another feature of cognitive-based approach, previous research reported that compared with traditional school tasks computer-based learning can enhance children’s concentration on the instructional and learning activities (Clarfield & Stoner, 2005; Ota & DuPaul, 2002). Computer games are also a natural way individuals exploit to socialize, communicate and use language meaningfully within their community. From a socio-cultural perspective, computer games, especially video games, are used to construct sustainable language learning experiences, which are themselves affected by the contextual factors such as culture and the learners’ identity. For example, Gee (2003) argued that video games offer learners ways to interpret semiotic domains, develop their agency and autonomy, promote their interaction with others, and help them with different audiovisual learning experiences. Additionally, they can foster learners’ communicative competence by providing opportunities for meaningful interaction with the game world. In particular, video games invest in the role of context of the game, actors, the scenario, actors’ dialogue, and their experiences and culture, while respecting linguistic and cultural diversity (McGonigal, 2011). The third generation of computer games has thus far focused on this broader social context in which learners have more room for interaction and action. Both leaners and teachers are deemed important in this approach and teachers act as facilitators and scaffold to learners as well as to the whole learning process (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005). Learners can then share socio-cultural values with others and build a strong identity through engaging with other members of this virtual context. This is crucial as far as language learning is concerned because electronic games have a social nature that justifies their use for foreign language learning, which is itself another social phenomenon (Young et al., 2012). 4. The role of teachers Undoubtedly, the role of teachers in selecting a particular type of game or employing them for a specific type of activity or strategy is undeniable. Computer games are a source of linguistic input for language learners, as they include audio and text, which might vary in volume and quality depending on the type of the game and language learners. Therefore, language teachers should choose the most appropriate and effective games in order to achieve a learning goal or use them as reinforcement for a newly taught area of language learning. These educators, as Lombardi (2013) call them, are “actors, who use their cognitive and intellectual resources to discover, understand, process and eventually learn” (p. 139). A language educator, therefore, should constantly challenge her skills and reevaluate her role to keep up with the technological advancement in order to better accommodate learners’ needs. Lombardi (2013) maintains, “the language educator is able to perform as a techno-educator, for both students and colleagues” (p. 141). In other words, language educators not only should know how to harness the educational potential of digital games, but should also be cognizant of different issues, such as technical and cultural, involved in introducing these games in a given context. They are resourceful teachers who may use computer games in various ways: as a formal teaching strategy, as an informal learning strategy, or as a remedial activity for those students lagging behind others. ALLS 5(2):19-24, 2014 22 Regarding the necessary requirements to subscribe to the digital game-based learning, teachers’ level of access to computer games and their beliefs about the effectiveness of these games were considered as two main predictors of their successful implementation in language learning classrooms (Proctor & Marks, 2013). Similarly, Ketelhut and Schifter (2011) found out that teachers’ adoption of computer games depended on their perception of efficacy of using these games. However, while pre-service teachers reported that using computer games can help students visualize better and actively participate in their learning (Kennedy-Clark, 2011), a majority of them reported having very little experience with educational electronic games (Schrader et al., 2006). This finding suggests that the role of teacher training and teachers’ expertise in technological know-how can increase students’ benefit from these games. As an example, if teachers know how to expand their scope, computer games can entertain and, at the same time, educate language learners (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2007); otherwise, digital games that do not include teacher as the facilitator in the process of this type of learning dominate the markets (Ketamo et al., 2013). However, if teachers lag behind the new developments and trends in digital game-based learning, teacher education programs and courses should intervene by expanding the curriculum to maximize teachers’ awareness of this potential and help them meet the new methodological challenges in language pedagogy (Caon, 2006). Teacher educators should also promote different types of knowledge in pre-service teachers because “game-based learning requires the careful orchestration of different knowledge domains” (Bourgonjon, 2013, p. 32). Through developing their professional knowledge in different areas, teachers prepare to embrace the opportunity of integrating computer games in their classes become advocating technology-enhanced learning has become a reality rather than a choice. Indeed, today’s language learning classes are not only a place for learning languages but also a cradle for learning life skills and computer literacy programs. 5. Concluding remarks Despite the difficulties involved in incorporating computer games into language learning curricula such as measuring the learning outcomes of these activities against the traditional measurements of learning performances, it seems that the use of these games can be taken into account as a supplement to the mainstream instructional tasks to mitigate the negative impacts of tedious traditional learning activities. Educational authorities and computer game designers can, therefore, invest in promoting these games for the benefit of the next generations of young language learners who are more wired to the use of technology and who play games for their cognitive and emotional growth as well as for discovering the surrounding world. Although language learners might use these games to avoid studying, teachers should be aware of the fact that they cannot avoid incorporating a learning strategy or practice because of its likely negative impacts. Thus, “instead of complaining about computer games detracting from education, perhaps it is time that we roll up our collective sleeves and leverage this powerful and popular technology platform for teaching foreign languages and culture” (Neville, 2009, p. 51). However, there are several issues associated with digital game-based learning or the use of educational computer games. While educational game designers can design multimedia applications that enhance students’ engagement and interest in learning activities, interest and motivational appeal of computer games may be short-lived (Hidi & Renninger, 2006), and they may contain violent and misogynistic content or themes (Gros, 2007). Thus, the designers and educators should use those games that students are familiar with and are appropriate in terms of their content. Among other inhibiting factors to the successful implementation of educational digital games are logistical problems, inflexibility of curriculum, and teachers’ insufficient professional development (Baek, 2008; Rice, 2007). By the same token, learners’ factors, such as their language proficiency level, age, gender, ethnicity and their social or cultural background, can influence the implementation of these games (Gros, 2007). Therefore, teachers should make informed decisions regarding the employment of these games in a particular educational context and with a particular type of language learners. For example, integrating educational electronic games into language learning programs should be introduced from an early age and the difficulty level of these games should be adapted to students’ proficiency level and ability in order to maximize their effectiveness (Hsieh & Wang, 2008). Given all this, it seems that adequate time and effort should be spent initiating students and teachers into the world of digital game-based learning or educational computer games. Fostering relevant abilities and procuring necessary resources are of prominent importance to ensure the efficient and effective use of these games for a specific purpose (Borg, 2003). In many cases, for example, implementing these games in an educational institution or context needs demonstration and briefing sessions in order to guarantee their optimal impact. Teachers’ reflective practices, their pedagogical content knowledge, and their prior experiences are among other provisions that could help them come up with new and innovative approaches to integrating or supplementing computer games in their classes. References Al-Issa, A. (2007). An ideological discussion of the implications of implementing a “flexible” syllabus for ESL policy in Sultanate of Oman. RELC Journal, 38(2), 199–215. 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Shafiqur Rahman Lecturer, Department of English Dhaka Commerce College, Dhaka Mirpur-2, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh E-mail: shafiqur.rahman1983@gmail.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.25 Received: 10/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.25 Accepted: 22/03/2014 Abstract In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison presents a community in which a racist ideology is internalized. The sufferers of racial abuse in this community both endure and resist in a complex inverse interrelationship between the two actions. This contradiction of the internalization and the insurrection of racial abuse is one of the crucial characteristics of this community which is best comprehended if looked at from both a Marxist and a psychoanalytic point of view. The objective of the paper is to have a look at the politics of postmodern consumer culture of capitalism in a racist community. At the same time, the paper aims at tracing the sadomasochist attitude of the characters in this framework of internalized racism in the African-American community of The Bluest Eye. Keywords: racist ideology, whiteness, capitalism, perverse racism, sadomasochism 1. Introduction One of the key features of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is revealing the interrelation of the internalization and the resistance of racial abuse in a postmodern community. The connection between capitalism with obsessive and perverse racial and sexual systems best demonstrates this contradictory interrelation. The nature of such interrelations among ethnocentrism, racism and sexism in The Bluest Eye becomes obvious if investigated from both a Marxist and a psychoanalytic point of view. This paper will attempt to trace the manner, from a Marxist and psychoanalytic viewpoint, in which the subjects of racial bias in The Bluest Eye both endure and resist at the same time. Much work has been done on this famous novel so far. A work by Patrice Bryce (1992) explores how cultural and communal traditions influence the search for self and place within a given African-American community. Ogunyemi (1977) deals with the triadic patterns used in the novel in portraying the tragic condition of blacks in a racist America. Colson (2006) tries to reveal ways that the novel explores themes of race and identity. Klotman (1979) focuses on the two black families, the McTeers and the Breedloves, and tries to relate the African-American reality to the ‘Dick-and-Jane and the Shirley Temple sensibility’ in The Bluest Eye. In Rosenberg’s (1987) work we find the black girlhood in the racist AfroAmerican community which explained how, in spite of immense obstacles, one might fashion a self in the structure of racism. Fisher and Silber (2003) offers a nice analysis of female experience and female subjectivity looking at them through the lens of gender. Cormier (1994) shows how Toni Morrison presents the Black Naturalism in which the characters create a racial self-hatred and thus moves far and far away from self-love. This work shows how postmodern consumer culture uses money, power and prestige issues to turn blacks against blacks ‘creating an aberrant community, whose little boys and girls sing songs of self-hatred’. In another study, Vickroy (2002) uses postcolonial, and object relations theories to illuminate the cultural aspects of traumatic experience that shape relationships, identity formation, and the possibilities for symbolization in The Bluest Eye. These works on The Bluest Eye discuss, in various ways, the trauma and self-hatred that the existing framework of racism in the Afro-American society is able to produce. But the relation between the impacts of the postmodern consumer culture with the complex psychodynamics of the black characters in The Bluest Eye has not been focused much, which could have been a more comprehensive way to understand the framework of racism in the African-American society. This paper aims at looking through the lenses of both Marxism and psychoanalysis to bring out the nature of this existing framework of racism in the African-American community depicted in The Bluest Eye. ALLS 5(2):25-28, 2014 26 2. Discussion 2.1 Racism and Capitalism In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison demonstrates the connection between capitalism and the construction of desire in the community when she points out the basic components of the society and media like commercials, literary works, kid's toys etc. Capitalism in a postmodern society typically hinges on manufacturing new utilities and desires to function within a racist domain. In this domain, the racist idealization of whiteness has intense sexual and economic associations. If we closely review the adoration of whiteness in the society portrayed in The Bluest Eye, we notice the bond between capitalism and racism. The Bluest Eye reveals just how the patterns of internalized racism utilize the authority of postmodern capitalism, its power and methods of representation like kids gadgets, advertisements etc. to create unconscious desires and fears; and illustrates this interconnection between beauty, racism, and capitalism in numerous incidents narrated in the novel. A good example is Claudia's splitting up the Raggedy Ann doll. She actually attempts to dissect the core of the framework of racism through ripping it apart: “I had only one desire: to dismember it. To see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped only me” (Bluest Eye 20). Claudia defies the adoration of white beauty that has been put into practice by commercials, a tool of postmodern capitalism, to produce desire for it. But she fails to understand the politics of socially engineered idealization, and wrongly locates it inside the material object, that is, the doll. 2.2 Beauty Industry and Ideology Racism is always built upon socially fabricated values. Claudia’s perplexity concerning the representation of beauty refers to that politics. This also is associated with Freud’s idea of the unconscious treatment of words as real things (Freud, “The Unconscious” 147). This is why Claudia tries to transform symbolic representation of the doll’s beauty into the real and cannot accept it as a form of external representation. When it comes to cinema, according to Jean Louis Baudry, we see a similar transformation of the symbolic codes into real properties. Such representations are often incorrectly recognized as perceptions in the postmodern consumer community (“The Apparatus” 315). In The Bluest Eye, television and movie both play a crucial role in modifying the framework of internalized racism using such make-believe representations as genuine impressions. Pauline is swayed by the idea of beauty and ideal love when she finds them as perceptions from movies. Morrison here shows how the notion of ‘beauty’ can be manipulated by popular media and film to produce racist self hatred by compelling females feel insecure and awful about their figure and color. The ideology of all the characters in The Bluest Eye is influenced pretty much by such idealization of whiteness as beauty in a consumer community. In Pauline’s case, “she was never able, after her education in the movies, to look at a face and not assign it some category in the scale of absolute beauty” (Bluest Eye 122). In another context, the female-to-female relationship turns out to be further complicated when the heterosexual desire is mediated by it. Inside this politics of ‘beauty industry’, women are entirely commoditized and considered as mere objects of desire. Blackness ends up being a form of economic incapacity. In The Bluest Eye, Morrison repeatedly demonstrates, and draws our attention to the prevailing idea that the poverty and blackness of the Breedlove family is related to their economic incapacity, and Pecola is the fundamental embodiment of ugliness related to this economic incapacity. 2.3 Rejection of the ego and subjectivity As these black people do not possess a place in the domain of white beauty, they derive a complicated impression of beauty from humiliating people of their own community. In this way Pecola and her family turn out to be the focal point of the whole community's self hatred. Moreover, by indicating that Pecola’s ugliness help everyone else feel beautiful, and her weakness make others feel potent, Morrison tries to reveal how such idealization predominantly depends on the degradation of an ‘Other’. Throughout The Bluest Eye, Pecola Breedlove becomes a revalorized entity not just for the whites but also for the blacks. She turns out to be the embodiment of failure both racially and economically when she tries to buy a candy from a white American male. He looks at her: Somewhere between retina and object, vision and view, his eyes draw back, hesitate, and hover. At some fixed point in time and space he senses the need not to waste the effort of a glance. He does not see her, because for him there is nothing to see. (Bluest Eye 48) Thus her ego lacks any sort of validation in the eye of the ‘Other’ as her existence is totally unrecognized; she is crushed into an instance of self defiance, a vacuum signifying nothing, a total absence of acknowledgment as a human being. Pecola knows very well how this failure of her ego is related to her blackness: “All things in her are in flux and anticipation. But her blackness is static and dread. And it is the blackness that accounts for, that creates, the vacuum edged with distaste in white eyes” (Bluest Eye 49). Not only she is despised for being black, but her blackness also results in being the fixed object of a perpetual gaze of the white men which forces her presence into the position of an object of cultural desire detrimentally. Under this constant gaze the ego of the black girl is completely shattered and she is forced to feel awful for her color, her body, even for her whole existence. She knows that the whole community has its eye on her even when she is alone. She creates a new, imaginary concept of ‘self’ which she finds in the eyes of the other people, and she begins to believe that image, as in a mirror, to be her true self. When she becomes pregnant, this image gets associated with a sense of perverse sexism and guilt. This guilt is directly related to the blackness of Pecola and her family. In fact, she turns out to ALLS 5(2):25-28, 2014 27 be a symbol of ‘guilt’ and ‘ugliness’ in the eye of the community. In a complex way the community needs this image of hers to feel better in comparison to her debased position. Pecola’s blackness and pregnancy both serve this purpose. This further validates the idea of white beauty through self defiance. This concentration on the gaze of the white man shows how subjects are maneuvered not only on an imaginary level but also on a visual level. Pecola desires to have a pair of blue eyes, because she has a delusional belief that if she obtains blue eyes she will be beautiful and can reverse the relationship that reduced her to a hollow image in the eyes of the white ‘Other’. This obsessive desire ends up in a psychotic attempt to a total denial of her existence: “‘Please God,’ she whispered into the palm of her hand. ‘Please make me disappear.’ She squeezed her eye shut. Little parts of her body faded away” (Bluest Eye 45). This suggests an almost psychotic withdrawal from the domain of representations through the denial of subjectivity and body. 2.4 Internalized Racism and the ‘Other’ As mentioned by Freud, the subject’s psychological world is shattered and later re-created in an imaginary, unreal fantasy in the first phase of psychosis (The Unconscious, 147). In Pecola’s instance, we notice the very same thing as she first makes an effort to destroy her identity as a black subject, and then pose an obsessive attempt to obtain blue eyes. This blackness and psychotic desire to obtain blue eyes have a relationship with the socioeconomic incapacity of Pecola’s family, as their homelessness brings them down as nonhuman objects. According to Lacan (2013), ‘The-nameof-the-father’ links the real order with the symbolic order. But in psychosis, the subject can no longer deal with ‘thename-of-the-father’. Once this relationship is torn apart, the subject is then manipulated by the discourse of the ‘Other’. In Pecola’s case, her family’s economic condition together with her blackness both eliminates her from the central symbolic order of white consumer culture. In the framework of racism, the middle class African-Americans accept the represented associations between blackness and excessive sexuality. According to Davis Charles, one of the primary manifestations of developing ‘obsessive neurosis’ is the desire to repress the irrepressible sexuality through sophistication and differentiation (Slave’s Narrative 1985). Such a form of ‘obsessive neurosis’ is exposed by Toni Morrison in the character of Geraldine. This stems forward from an obsessive effort to stay in line with the predominant social ‘Other’. Thus Morrison gives a psychoanalytic layout of the internalized racism of Geraldine's class. The racist mindset of Geraldine’s class, the accepted interconnection between blackness and over sexuality, and a strong urge to stay separated from any sense of sullied blackness is associated with an obsessive fear which turns them into ‘obsessive stereotypes’ whose only thought is to renounce blackness by any means. But when this obsessive desire falters, it does not destroy the racist mindset; rather further tones up into a dejection resulting in deeper obsessive delusions. We find it in Geraldine’s obsessive attempt to turn the skin of her son white: In the winter his mother put Jergens Lotion on his face to keep the skin from becoming ashen. Even though he was light-skinned, it was possible to ash. The line between color and nigger was not always clear; subtle and telltale signs threatened to erode it, and the watch had to be constant. (Bluest Eye 87) In the long run, this obsessive fear of any indication of blackness isolates Geraldine from her own community. Thus the psychological hierarchy of the middle class blacks is fed by racist behavior producing from their obsessive fear of discovering themselves in the realm of the terrifying real. This obsessive fear compels them to surrender to the racist discourse established by the ‘Other’. 2.5 Obsession, Perverse Racism and Fear of Castration Not just a middle class African-American society which is deeply entangled by diverse modes of racist attitude, but the upper class also plays its role in the framework of racism in The Bluest Eye. Soaphead Church’s father who is ‘a mulatto bastard’ born of a ‘decaying British Nobleman’ was obsessed with his whiteness and afterwards was wedded to a woman who internalized the same ideology. The consequence of this 'Anglophilia' is the communal worship of a crucial signifier connecting both whiteness and aristocracy. In Soapead’s grandfather’s instance, the agonizing confrontation of black sexual experience resulted as subjective divisions in the following generations and a sense of communal worship of whiteness is formed among them. According to Seshadri-Crooks (2002), this is symptomatic of the hysterical neurotic racism as described by Lacan. Illustrating the perverse expressions of psychological disorders in The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison tries to portray the fundamental framework of the internalized racism in the African-American community. In this racial discourse, one must consistently demonstrate and testify his whiteness out of the fear of not feeling perfectly white. This endeavor is further noticed in the delineation of a perverse form of internalized racism which is searching for a white identity. Soaphead Church and Cholly Breadlove are the ideal examples of how these types of perverse racists transmit their own humiliation onto the society. According to Freud, in such perverse circumstances, the subject identifies himself with his father and performs the role of the father unconsciously (On Sexuality, 345). This is derived from an attempt to master the fear of castration but eventually results in the castration of a feminized ‘Other’ just as Lacan relates the perverse sexism of the fetish child who identifies himself with the sadist father resulting in the projection of ‘lack’ into the domain of the ‘Other’ (Seminar I, 1988).This theory explains why and how Soaphead Church projects his very own fear of blackness and of castration onto young girls by raping them. For him, Pecola’s blackness is straightly correlated to her low social status. Pecola is “a little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes” (174). Thus, ALLS 5(2):25-28, 2014 28 his abuse of the little girl recreates his own past; and he makes an attempt to escape his own corruption and sense of guilt by displacing it onto the act of corrupting others. With regards to Cholly, Pecola’s father, he was accidentally found by two white men while he was indulged in a sexual act. They found him and forced him to go on having sex with the black girl he was with. This distressing experience stimulated his rape of his own daughter. When Cholly was forced to have sexual intercourse before the white men’s watching eyes and flashlight, he projected his hatred not onto them, rather onto the girl he was with. This was an act of displacement of the repressed fears, anger and anxieties in Cholly’s mind. This displacement of humiliation and anger has the same root as in Soaphead Church’s case. Both Cholly and Soaphead Church use sex to master past traumas by reproducing them in different circumstances. Cholly rapes Pecola as she stands for his own failure to become a father, and to shield himself against the fangs of the framework of racism. Choly finds Pecola resembling her mother a lot. Pecola’s resemblance with Pauline is yet another reason that pushes Cholly to rape his very own daughter. This implies that the Cholly’s perverse sexuality is related to repetition of the past pains and to an unconscious effort to master the humiliation of his own sexuality. On the other hand, we find Pauline Breedlove in a strange masochistic structure where blackness becomes symbol of a sense of martyrdom and sacrifice, the base of her all ‘goodness’. This fabricated sense of goodness needs, in a perverted way, the sins of her husband to be glorified. Without Cholly being what he is, Pauline cannot feel completely glorified in her position. If Cholly had stopped drinking, she would never have forgiven Jesus. She needed Cholly’s sins desperately. The lower he sank, the wilder and more irresponsible he became, the more splendid she and her task became. (Bluest Eye 42) Through the portrayal of all these sadomasochistic characters, Morrison reveals how they tend to obtain a symbolic logic through perversion. In such a framework of perversion, Cholly’s hatred for his wife and his own low self image is displaced onto his attempts to destroying the subjectivity of his daughter and wife with violence. 3. Conclusion Crafting multiple facets of subjective reality, The Bluest Eye shows how in the framework of an internalized racism all its components affect each other to produce a set of prejudices in which the sufferers both endure and resist simultaneously. This set of prejudices incorporates psychotic perversion where the subject endures and then makes an attempt to resist by deleting the fragmented image of the ‘self’ projecting the hatred onto the object. On the other hand, in the case of perversion in a racial discourse, Toni Morrison also shows us how the suffering subjects desire to identify with the inconceivable, idealized whiteness. In such a framework of internalized racism, the victims are either sadomasochistic or delusional in their effort to defy the capitalist machine of racial subjugation. References Baudry, J.L. (1986). “The Apparatus: Metaphysical Approaches to the Impression of Reality in Cinema.” Narrative, Apparatus, Ideology. Columbia UP. 299–318. Bryce, Patrice. 1992. The Novels of Toni Morrison: The search for self and place within the Community. New York: Peter Lang. Colson, M. (2006). The Story Behind Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Heinemann-Raintree Library. Cormier-Hamilton, P. (1994). Black Naturalism and Toni Morrison: The Journey Away from Self-Love in The Bluest Eye. Melus, 109-127. Fisher, J., & Silber, E. S. (Eds.). (2003). Women in literature: reading through the lens of gender. Greenwood Publishing Group. Freud, S. (1963). “The Unconscious”. The Essentials of Psychoanalysis. 142. Klotman, P. R. (1979, December). Dick-and-Jane and the Shirley Temple sensibility in The bluest eye. In Black American Literature Forum (pp. 123-125). School of Education, Indiana State University. Lacan, J., Miller, J. A. E., & Grigg, R. T. (1993). The seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book 3: The psychoses 1955– 1956. In Translation of the seminar that Lacan delivered to the Société Française de Psychoanalyse over the course of the academic year 1955–1956.. WW Norton & Co. Ogunyemi, C. O. (1977). Order and Disorder in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 19(1), 112-120. Rosenberg, R. (1987, December). Seeds in hard ground: Black girlhood in The Bluest Eye. In Black American Literature Forum (pp. 435-445). Indiana State University. Seshadri-Crooks, K. (2002). Desiring whiteness: a Lacanian analysis of race. Routledge. Morrison, T. (1970). The Bluest Eye. Penguin. Vickroy, L. (2002). Trauma and survival in contemporary fiction. University of Virginia Press. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Gender Discrimination in Death Reportage: Reconnoitering Disparities through a Comparative Analysis of Male and Female Paid Obituaries of Pakistani English Newspapers Sajid M. Chaudhry (Corresponding author) Awang Had Salleh Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Universiti Utara Malaysia E-mail: sajid_ch@hotmail.com Anne A. Christopher School of Education & Modern Languages College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia E-mail:althea@uum.edu.my Hariharan A/L N.Krishnasamy School of Education & Modern Languages College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia E-mail: hn1084@uum.edu.my Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.29 Received: 14/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.29 Accepted: 24/03/2014 Abstract The study examines the issue of gender discrimination in the post death scenario of obituarial discourse. It aims to identify the way Pakistani newspaper obituaries recognize and project males and females after their deaths. A total of 601 paid obituaries published in a year’s time span in Pakistani English newspapers were evaluated for the purpose. 10 qualitative interviews were also conducted to supplement the findings and discussion. Quantification of the data suggests that males not only get more obituaries but also get added projection when compared to females. To understand the reasons behind this varied treatment, the participants’ responses were analyzed. The findings reveal that the observed differences in the death reportage of both genders do not purely fall in the line of gender discrimination. Males get situational advantage due to the factors like familial traditions, religious beliefs, cultural traditions and socioeconomic environments. Keywords: Obituarial Discourse, Obituary Announcement, Gender Discrimination, Socio-cultural Norms, Familial Traditions, Situational Advantage 1. Introduction Obituary announcements are community oriented social texts authored according to certain accepted and established social and, in many cases, religious conventions. It is widely believed that religious beliefs, cultural values and societal practices of a particular society form the basis of the language employed and content written by the writers of these socio-cultural and religiously oriented announcements. Moses and Marelli (2004, p.123) consider the obituary “a window that provides a view into a culture.” Being social and cultural products, these announcements help their readers understand social realities and measure prevailing societal norms, trends and change in these practices of the societies they belong to. Researchers consider these necrology twins (obituaries and death notices) as an undisputable data source for the purpose since these “summarize what is said about and done for people immediately after death” (Haley, 1977, p. 207). Considering the newspaper obituary a socio-cultural product, which reflects the societal norms, the current study aims at exploring the way Pakistani society remembers and honors its male and female populace in the post-death scenario of obituarial discourse. Specifically, this study examines if women get equal public recognition in obituarial literature as compared to men or if they are subject to discrimination and ostracism. This research area has been explored by many researchers during the last couple of decades. By examining the contents of newspaper obituary announcements and death notices, many attempts have been made previously to study this complex anthropological phenomenon from varying perspectives. However, still there is a scarcity of contextual understandings like how and why obituary announcements get influenced, directly or indirectly, by the societal, cultural and religious factors. The current study is an effort to cover this existing lacuna by exploring the circumstantial actualities that influence content, format and appearance of these announcements. ALLS 5(2):29-34, 2014 30 2. Literature Review ‘Gender’ as a societal delineation allocates social roles to males and females based on the traditional notions of masculinity and femininity. These roles, according to Alam (2011, p.329) are determined by the socio-economic, ethnocultural and religio-political factors of the particular society. ‘Discrimination’ is a rejection or denial process based on the ideas of inequality (Iqbal et al., 16, p.2012). As a collective term, ‘gender discrimination’ refers to the negation or denial of the right of parity to a particular gender by the other in social, cultural and economic spheres of life. Historically, the phenomenon is attached to the uneven treatment females come across and the prejudicial behavior they suffer from during their life span. In wider socio-cultural perspectives, the concept refers to the practice of repudiating rights and privileges to women or sidelining them merely because of femininity. Not a single society is immune to the practice of discriminating women as compared to men. This social phenomenon of discrimination is not limited to a single or some societies of the global village but it has been observed universally. According to a World Bank report (2001, p.4) “in no region do women and men have equal social, economic and legal rights.” This existence of gender discrimination has also been taken up by researchers and scholars all across the globe. Research and academic arenas abound in multidimensional and multifaceted gender discrimination discourses. Starting from the technocratic purposes of decision making to the public policy decision making domains, governmental and non-governmental organizations are conducting or funding extensive research to gauge the certainty of the issue of gender discrimination. Academia is no exception to this. Academic discourses also have explored gender discrimination from various slants. Due to the jurisdictional limitations of the current study, the researcher summarizes the research that deals with the issue solely in post-death scenarios. In the recent past, many researchers of different societies have explored their particular social environments to reconnoiter the actuality surrounding gender discrimination in afterdeath situations. The research is primarily based on the belief that “in every society, members respond publicly in a different way to the deaths of males and females” (Haibur & Vandagriff, 1987, p.421). The important research available dealing with this gender-sensitive issue belongs to Kastenbaum et al. (1976), Spilka et al. (1979), Kearl (1986), Halbur and Vandagriff (1987), Maybury (1995), Eid (2002), Rodler et al. (2002) and Ogletree et al. (2005). The studies of these researchers mainly intend to gauge the representation and projection of both genders in obituarial discourses under the assumption that gender based partialities perpetuate after death. Except for the study of Eid (2002) which investigates the issue cross-culturally by comparing American, Egyptian and Iranian societies, the landscape of all other studies is predominantly American society. The findings of these researchers more or less confirm the researchers’ hypotheses that gender biases follow women even beyond the grave. They converge nearly on one point that women are underrepresented in newspaper obituary announcements and death notices. Also, they observe that this post-death discriminatory societal response is a continuation of the treatment women-folk get during their life span. Such a response, in the words of Kastenbaum et al. (1976-1977, p. 351), "tends to confirm and perpetuate rather than challenge or transfigure previously existing sexual biases." This empirical study aims at adding some valuable facts and figures to the existing statistics. Its research setting encompasses Pakistani society and pivots around the similar supposition developed by the previous researchers that gender-based partialities continue after death. As there has not been any study of the domain of gender partiality in Pakistani newspaper obituaries, the researchers cannot challenge any existing findings or evaluate and verify them in different perspectives. So, the researchers hope that this research will not only provide first-hand statistics but will also serve as a source of accurate information for future researchers. Before moving ahead, it is pertinent here to look into the general treatment Pakistani women receive in day to day affairs. This will help form an idea about the viewpoints of Pakistani society about its female populace. 3. The Pakistani Context Women in Pakistan comprise more than half of its total population (Iqbal et al., 16, p.2012). The Pakistani society is patriarchal in nature (Mumtaz et al., 2003, p.261). Traditional gender roles in Pakistan delineate home as the woman’s place and define men as breadwinners (Alam, 2011, p.332). Based on these socially allocated roles, males are believed to be providers and the females as dependents. On the legal and constitutional front, there is no discrimination on the basis of gender and the constitution of Pakistan, through its articles 25 (1) and 25 (2), assures equality of rights and opportunities to both sexes and states that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex. The issue of gender discrimination, in its conceptual concept, seems to be “heterogeneous and rather paradoxical” in the perspective of Pakistani society (Delavande & Zafar, 2011, p.3). On the one hand, general perception is that compared to man, “woman is the passive partner in the system of nature, and as such, by virtue of possessing natural qualities of dominance, power and authority, man is superior” (Maududi, 1987, p.34). A report on the country’s gender profile by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (2008, p.viii) states that women are a marginalized gender in Pakistan and their status is not considered equal to that of men. The view point of Iqbal et al. (2012, p.16) is also not different. According to them gender discrimination is widespread in Pakistan and it leads to the insecurity of women in all spheres of their lives. Also, the World Bank’s gender-sensitive portfolio review (2009, p.14) declares Pakistan as a country that “exhibits pronounced level of gender disparity”. On the other hand, quite paradoxically to the above-mentioned social and religious general perceptions and the social practices of discriminating against women, Pakistani women also enjoy quite proclaimed and powerful statuses in many of the national arenas. Pakistan’s late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was the first ever elected female head of an Islamic state. During the last elected government (2008-2013), Fahmida Mirza and Hina Rabani Khar served as the first ALLS 5(2):29-34, 2014 31 ever woman speaker of the National Assembly and the first ever woman Foreign Minister of any Islamic state respectively. In addition to the open competition, one third of Pakistan’s local legislative seats and ten percent of total government jobs are solely reserved for females. In the last local government elections of 2005, forty-three thousand female councilors were elected for various District Governments. In a recent survey (March, 2013) conducted by Gallup Pakistan, 51% Pakistani women acknowledge that they enjoy the same rights as their male counterparts. The USAID report on education status of Pakistan (2010-11, p.16) reveals that 51% of students enrolled in college level education are females. Recently, some females have started serving as fighter pilots in the Pakistan Army’s Air Force wing. Again this is a unique example as this has never happened in any of Pakistan’s neighboring states or in any other Islamic country of the world. The Al-Arabia news channel in one of its reports of Sunday, July 14, 2013 declared an inclusion of females in the Pakistan army as a landmark achievement for a Muslim society. The New York Times of December 26, 2010 and the Bloomberg Business Week Magazine in its September 7, 2011edition acknowledges Pakistani women’s contribution to the job market and mentions that “they are doing everything from pumping gasoline and serving burgers at McDonald’s to running major corporations.” 4. Hypothesis Based on both sides of the above-mentioned evidences, the following hypotheses are developed; 4.1 Null Hypothesis Pakistan is not a gender hostile society and Pakistani women do not suffer from ostracism in memorial discourse. Males and females get equal recognition in post-death scenario and males’ obituaries do not outnumber females’. Also, a discriminatory attitude is not observed while authoring the content of obituaries of both genders. 4.2 Alternative Hypothesis Pakistani society is gender unfriendly and its female population suffers from ostracism in memorial discourse. Females get less recognition in post-death scenario than males and males’ obituaries outnumber females’. Also, a discriminatory attitude is observed while authoring the content of obituaries of both genders. 5. Data To test the developed hypotheses, paid obituaries, published in ‘The Dawn’ and ‘The News International’ during a year’s time span starting from November 2011 onwards, were collected. Both the newspapers were selected due to their “high circulation” (Malik & Iqbal, n.d., p.1) and popularity among the general masses of Pakistan. To substantiate the findings and to understand the societal logics behind the emerging facts, ten qualitative open-ended interviews were also conducted. The interviewees were selected randomly. All of the interviewees remained involved in the authoring and printing process of the obituaries of their loved-ones. 6. Methodology A mixed method approach involving both quantitative and qualitative analyses was adopted to reach the authentic deductions. To illustrate, publishing frequencies of the obituaries of both genders and the presence of their photographs were measured quantitatively. The facts that emerged from quantification and the general treatment in terms of contents and details of both the genders received in this memorial genre were then discussed qualitatively. This qualitative interrogation aims at exploring the hitherto neglected dimension of the previously conducted research about how the gender discrimination in funerary language results from the social customs, geographical norms and religious beliefs that surround human decrees as decisive factors. 7. Results The total number of obituaries published during the selected one year’s time span is 601. The gender classification of these obituaries shows that out of 601 obituaries, 59% (355) of the total are for the deceased males. The remaining 246 announcements, 41% of the total, are for the deceased females. Regarding the presence of the photos of the deceased, it appears that their inclusion is not a regular or obligatory feature of Pakistani newspaper obituary announcements. Out of the 601 published obituaries, only 8.5% of the announcements include photos of the deceased. Among them, 7.16% are of males while 1.34% are of females. Figures 1.1 and 1.2 illustrate the results. Figure 1.1 explains the publication of the obituaries of both genders in the selected newspapers of each month of the selected time period. The second figure, 1.2, shows the overall percentage of the obituaries of both genders. ALLS 5(2):29-34, 2014 32 Figure 1.1 Paid Obituaries – Month and Year Figure 1.2 Percentage of Male and Female Obituaries In addition to these statistics, the analysis of the content shows a conspicuous trend that is; the content of males’ obituaries is much richer in detail and projection than those of females. The evaluated data explicitly shows that the obituaries announcing the deaths of females are shorter in comparison to the obituaries authored for the departed males. Female obituaries in general, are without professional and educational qualifications or achievements which are normally and explicitly stated in almost all male obituaries. Also, a tendency of disguising the names of the departed females is prevalent. Unlike the departed males who are mentioned using their personal identities, females are generally recognized in relation to their ancestral kin networks and familial patronage. They are commonly referred to as mothers, wives and sisters of their male family members. Finally, the discrepancies mentioned are not limited to a certain number of obituaries but were observed as a general prevailing trend. The emerged actuality obliged researchers to probe the whys and wherefores behind this proclivity. Is there any kind of an established shared societal understanding that constitutes certain parameters which influence the overall shape and content of obituary announcements? To elicit an answer to this query, ten people involved in writing and publishing of the obituaries of their kith and kin were interviewed. Their responses were sought against the questions which revolved ALLS 5(2):29-34, 2014 33 around the concept of gender discrimination in general and the post-death scenarios in specific. The interview responses acknowledge the presence of religious factors, social customs, family traditions, class differences, women’ economic dependency on men and women’s limited roles and representation in overall social and economic activities as major factors behind the lower representation and projection of females in their death announcements. 8. Discussion and Conclusion The results tally with the researchers’ alternative hypothesis. The situation is clearly partial towards the male segment of Pakistani society. However, based on the responses of the participants, the researchers consider that this scant attention towards females cannot be termed discriminatory. It is simply the males’ situational advantage. The less projected representation of women in the Pakistani obituarial literature is empirically as well as abstractly a multidimensional phenomenon. To get a clearer picture, both genders’ lives should be studied in their entirety, keeping in view their familial, communal and national cultural values and social moorings. Economic responsibilities and religious perceptions attached to both genders must also be considered. The thrust of the participants’ responses is that women’s representation and projection in Pakistani newspaper obituaries is based on the roles they play and the activities they perform in given or provided situations. For example, if there are fewer obituaries representing professional women as compared to men, it doesn’t mean that the society is hostile towards working women or that their left-behinds want to hide this from other people. In reality, most of the interviewees believe that based on the cultural values and family traditions, Pakistani women are not compelled or expected to play occupational roles. Generally in Pakistan, “work participation by females is considered prestige reducing rather than prestige enhancing” (Hakim and Aziz, 1998, p.735). The identification of women in relation to their familial roles or relationships is also not something strange to the study participants. It is observed from their conversations that most of the Pakistanis do not like their women to be recognized by their names out of their family circles. Based on their religious preaching and socio-cultural values, the Pakistani society encourages its female folks to perform the role of a good mother and housewife within the four walls of the house rather than to go out to work. Even for women themselves, observed Hakim and Aziz (1998, p.734), the paternal or maternal role has always been of a very high priority. In return, cultural values prescribe the mother’s position as one demanding respect, veneration and obedience from children. Religious teachings lend full support to these values too, resulting in well-known sayings and beliefs such as ‘heaven lies under the mother’s feet’. Regarding the lack of females’ photographs, all the interviewees believe that the tradition of ‘Purdah’ (seclusion and hiding of women from men) is behind this reason. Some people also consider this seclusion as a kind of a religious obligation and believe that “Purdah” enhances the respectability of women. Generally, people in Pakistan do not like strangers to look at the faces of their female relatives. The majority of the families in Pakistan continue following this tradition even after the death of their female members. Also, it should be kept in mind that according to the results, the lack of photographs is not female specific only. It is more or less a general tendency as the majority of obituaries of males are also without photographs. Hence, the researchers believe that it is not an issue of gender discrimination. It can be inferred from the discussion that obituaries as a societal discourse reflect the values, norms and constraints prevalent in a society. Whatever belief systems or socio-cultural values there are in a society, they will be reflected in all discourses in general. Obituary is no exception. So the obituaries that constitute the data of this study also reflect the trends found in the society. Biases or traces of discrimination between two genders are not obituary specific but they are, irrespective of legitimacy and fairness criteria and debate, a continuation of the preferences and prejudices, established by traditions or privileges or religious beliefs, being practiced by the society. So traces of discrimination found in Pakistani obituaries are not intrinsic to the genre of obituary but are a reflection of local traditions, Islamic beliefs and class distinctions and orientations prevalent in the socio-cultural and religious settings of Pakistani society. From the general social perspective, in spite of the rapid and glaring progress because of the political and constitutional maneuvers in the last two decades towards gender parity, on its way to maturity, social and community oriented attitudes still lag behind. Socio-cultural dogmas and religious constraints, true or perceived or misinterpreted, still try to attach the concept of frailty to women and there are evidences of women not being at par with men not only in domains of life but also in the post-death scenario of obituaries. References Alam, A. (2011). Impact of Gender Discrimination on Gender Development and Poverty Alleviation. Sarhad J. Agric, 27(2), 330-331. Delavande, A., & Zafar, B. (2013). Gender Discrimination and Social Identity: Experimental Evidence from Urban Pakistan. Mimeo. Eid, M. (2002). The world of obituaries: Gender across cultures and over time. Wayne State University Press. Hakim, A., & Aziz, A. (1998). Socio-cultural, Religious, and Political Aspects of the Status of Women in Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review, 727-746. ALLS 5(2):29-34, 2014 34 Halbur, B. & Vandagriff, M. (1987). Societal Responses after Death: A study of Sex Differences in Newspaper Death Notices for Birmingham, Alabama, 1900-1985. Sex Roles, 17 (7/8), 421-436. Haley, W. (1977). Journalism: Rest in Prose: The Art of the Obituary. The American Scholar, 46(2), 206-211. Iqbal, H., Afzal, S., & Inayat, M. (2012). Gender Discrimination: Implications for Pakistan Security. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science. 1 (4), 16-25. Kastenbaum, R., Peyton, S. & Kastenbaum, B. (1976). Sex Discrimination after Death. Omega--Journal of Death and Dying, 7 (4), 351-359. Kearl, M. C. (1986). Death as a Measure of Life: A Research Note on the Kastenbaum-Spilka Strategy of Obituary Analyses. Omega--Journal of Death and Dying, 17 (1), 65-78. Maududi, S. Abu A’La (1987). Purdah and Status of Women in Islam. Islamic Publications Lahore. Maybury, K. K. (1995). Invisible Lives: Women, Men and Obituaries. Omega—Journal of Death and Dying, 32 (1), 2737. Moses, R. A. & Marelli, G. D. (2004). Obituaries and the Discursive Construction of Dying and Living. Texas Linguistic Forum, 47, 123-130. Mumtaz, Z., Salway, S., Waseem, M., & Umer, N. (2003). Gender-based Barriers to Primary Health Care Provision in Pakistan: The Experience of Female Providers. Health policy and planning, 18(3), 261-269. Ogletree, S. M., Figueroa, P. & Pena, D. (2005). A Double Standard in Death? Gender Differences in Obituaries. Omega—Journal of Death and Dying, 51(4), 337-342. Rodler, C., Kirchler, E. & Hôlzl, E. (2002). Gender Stereotypes of Leaders: An Analysis of the Contents of Obituaries from 1974 to 1998. Sex Roles, 5 (11-12), 827- 843. Spilka, B., Lacey, G. & Gelb, B. (1979). Sex Discrimination after Death: A Replication, Extension and a Difference. Omega--Journal of Death and Dying, 10 (3), 227-233. USAID (2011-12). Pakistan Education Statistics: Report. Retrieved from http://knowledge portal.pakteachers.org/sites/knowledgeportal.pakteachers.org/files/STATISTICS/Education%20Census%20Data/Pakist an%20Education% 20Statistics%202010-11.pdf World Bank (2001). Engendering Development: Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice. Oxford University Press. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Canonical Word Order of Japanese Ditransitive Sentences: A Preliminary Investigation through a Grammaticality Judgment Survey Yasumasa Shigenaga The University of Arizona E-mail: yshigena@email.arizona.edu Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.35 Received: 11/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.35 Accepted: 24/03/2014 Abstract There have been three competing analyses regarding the canonical word order of Japanese ditransitive sentences: a) “Sga IO-ni DO-o V” is the canonical word order rather than “S-ga DO-o IO-ni V”, b) both word orders are canonical, and c) the canonical word order depends on the type of the verb. The present study attempted to examine which of the three analyses might be most plausible through a grammaticality judgment survey. Twenty-seven native speakers of Japanese responded to a survey which consisted of three sections. While the data from one of the sections conformed to analysis a) above, the results of the two other sections remained inconclusive. A future study with a larger number of items and more refined survey methods, along with more studies from structural and psycholinguistic perspectives, would be necessary to clarify the point. Keywords: word order, scrambling, Japanese, grammaticality judgment 1. Introduction As each noun phrase is often case-marked in a Japanese sentence, Japanese allows so-called scrambling, a freer word order phenomenon. For a simple transitive sentence such as Subject-ga Object-o Verb, native speakers of Japanese have a strong intuition that “S-ga O-o V” is the canonical word order and that a sentence with the “O-o S-ga V” order is derived from the canonical order. On the other hand, the canonical word order of ditransitive sentences in Japanese appears less clear. Which is the canonical ditransitive word order, “S-ga Indirect Object-ni Direct Object-o V” or “S-ga DO-o IO-ni V”? A small survey was conducted to examine the issue. This paper first provides the general theoretical background for the phenomenon of scrambling in Japanese. It then reviews three major competing analyses on Japanese ditransitive constructions and the arguments researchers have presented to support their analyses. The results of the survey will then be reviewed, and the implications of the survey results on canonical word order of Japanese ditransitive sentences will be discussed. 1.1 Scrambling in Japanese For monotransitive Japanese sentences, the canonical word order is Subject (S) - Object (O) - Verb (V). However, since each noun phrase (NP) in a sentence is often case-marked with postpositional case markers, Japanese does allow a freer word order. The exception is the verb, which needs to be placed at the end of the clause. The sentences (1a) and (1b) are both grammatical sentences; (1a) being the canonical sentence and (1b) the scrambled. (1) a. John-ga ringo-o tabeta. -Nom apple-Acc ate ‘John ate an apple.’ b. Ringo-o John-ga tabeta. Apple-Acc -Nom ate Note that both (1a) and (1b) carry exactly the same meaning, ‘John ate (an) apple(s).’, with slight emphasis on the word-initial apple in (1b). 1.2 Structure of scrambling In earlier analyses, scrambling was taken as evidence that Japanese has a non-configurational “flat” structure without a VP node (e.g., Farmer, 1984; Hale, 1980). Currently, on the other hand, the standard analysis of scrambling is that a scrambled sentence such as (1b) above is derived from the canonical counterpart (e.g., Saito & Hoji, 1983). The structure of the sentences in (1) would look like the following: (2) a. [IP John-ga [VP ringo-o tabeta]] b. [IP Ringoi-o [IP John-ga [VP ti tabeta]]] Note in (2b) that an additional IP node is adjoined to the syntactic tree, and that the accusative NP ringo-o (‘apple’) is ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 36 moved higher in the tree, leaving a trace. The evidence for the existence of a VP node includes such syntactic phenomena as pronominal coreference (Saito, 1985), weak crossover (Saito & Hoji, 1983), and quantifier floating (Saito, 1985) (cf., Nemoto, 1999, for overview). Saito (1985), for instance, maintains that the binding rule, “A pronoun cannot c-command its antecedent” (p. 36) cannot be fulfilled if the existence of a VP node is not assumed. Below are examples used in Saito (1985: 37). (3) a. Johni-ga [Mary-ga karei-ni okutta tegami]-o mada yonde inai (koto) -Nom -Nom he-Dat sent letter-Acc yet read not ‘John has not yet read the letter Mary sent him.’ b. *Karei-ga [Mary-ga Johni-ni okutta tegami]-o mada yonde inai (koto) he-Nom -Nom -Dat sent letter-Acc yet read not ‘He has not yet read the letter Mary sent John.’ c. [Johni-kara okane-o moratta hito]-ga karei-o suisensita (koto) -from money-Acc received person-Nom he-Acc recommended ‘The person who received money from John recommended him.’ d. [Karei-kara okane-o moratta hito]-ga Johni-o suisensita (koto) He-from money-Acc received person-Nom -Acc recommended ‘The person who received money from him recommended John.’ Saito (1985) argues that, if the existence of a VP is not assumed in Japanese, as proposed in the “flat” analysis, (3c) should be ungrammatical just as (3b) is. This would be so because, without a VP, kare (‘he’) would c-command its antecedent John in (3c). However, (3c) is a well-formed sentence in Japanese. Saito (1985) attributes this asymmetry between the subject NP and object NP to the existence of a VP. (3d) shows that a pronominal can precede its antecedent in Japanese. That Japanese does not have a flat structure (i.e., that it has a canonical word order) can also be observed with examples such as below (the examples are from Yamashita 2002: 601-602). (4) a. John-ga Mary-ni ringo-o ageta. -Nom -Dat apple-Acc gave ‘John gave Mary an apple.’ b. Mary-ni John-ga ringo-o ageta. -Dat -Nom apple-Acc gave c. Ringo-o John-ga Mary-ni ageta. Apple-Acc -Nom -Dat gave d. ?Mary-ni ringo-o John-ga ageta. -Dat -Acc -Nom gave e. ?Ringo-o Mary-ni John-ga ageta. Apple-Acc -Dat -Nom gave (4a) is a sentence with a canonical word order. If Japanese had a flat structure, all the sentences in (4) would show the same degree of grammaticality. However, while (4a)-(4c) are well-formed sentences in Japanese, (4d) and (4e) are only marginally grammatical. As Shibatani (1990) points out, scrambling two or more constituents results in reduced grammaticality. Examples such as above show that scrambling is not a totally free operation. 2. Three analyses on canonical word order of Japanese ditransitive sentences When the argument of a sentence precedes the NP marked with –ga, as in (1b) and (4b-e), it is intuitively clear that scrambling has taken place. Most native speakers of Japanese would agree that (1b) derived from (1a), and (4c) derived from (4a) or its “-o –ni” order equivalent. On the other hand, many native speakers of Japanese would experience difficulty if they are asked which of the following two sentences represents the canonical word order: (5) a. Taroo-ga sensei-ni gakusei-o syookaisita. -Nom teacher-Dat student-Acc introduced ‘Taroo introduced the student to the teacher.’ b. Taroo-ga gakusei-o sensei-ni syookaisita. -Nom student-Acc teacher-Dat introduced Corresponding to this somewhat “fuzzy” intuition, there are three major competing analyses on the canonical order of Japanese ditransitive sentences. The three analyses can be briefly summarized as follows: (6) A: “Dative-ni Accusative-o” is the canonical word order B: Both “Dat-ni Acc-o” and “Acc-o Dat-ni” orders are base-generated C: The canonical word order depends on the type of the verb 2.1 Analysis A: “Dat-ni Acc-o” is the canonical order Hoji (1985) and Takano (1998), among others, argue that the base-generated order is dative-accusative and that the accusative-dative word order is derived by scrambling. Key evidence that Hoji (1985) and Takano (1998) employ to ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 37 support their argument is the following (Takano, 1998: 828): (7) a. Mary-ga subete-no gakuseii-ni soitui-no sensei-o syookaisita Mary-Nom all-Gen student-Dat he-Gen teacher-Acc introduced ‘Mary introduced his teacher to every student.’ b. *Mary-ga soitui-no sensei-ni subete-no Mary-Nom he-Gen teacher-Dat all-Gen gakuseii-o syookaisita student-Acc introduced c. Mary-ga [subete-no gakusei]i-o soitui-no sensei-ni ti Mary-Nom all-Gen student-Acc he-Gen teacher-Dat ‘Mary introduced every student to his teacher.’ syookaisita introduced d. ?Mary-ga [soitui-no sensei-o]j subete-no gakuseii-ni tj syookaisita Mary-Nom he-Gen teacher-Acc all-Gen student-Dat introduced According to Saito and Hoji (1983), “A variable cannot be the antecedent of a pronoun or anaphor that it does not ccommand” (p. 256). (7a) and (7c) are grammatical because the pronoun soitu is properly c-commanded by the antecedent subete-no gakusei. On the other hand, (7b) is not acceptable because the pronoun in the dative NP is not ccommanded by subete-no gakusei in the accusative NP. Hoji and Takano claim that (7d) is not completely grammatical but is more acceptable than (7b). The researchers attribute this better acceptability of (7d) to the reconstruction effect at LF. At S-structure, the pronoun soitu precedes subete-no gakusei, and thus, subete-no gakusei in the accusative NP cannot be the antecedent of soitu. However, if we assume that the dative-accusative order is base-generated and that the accusative-dative order of (7d) is derived from (7a) via scrambling, a trace should be left where the accusative NP originated. The trace is c-commanded by the accusative NP which includes the antecedent. Hoji and Takano maintain that the better grammaticality of (7d) is gained because the accusative NP can be placed back to the trace position at LF. Note that if we assume that accusative-dative order is base generated, the opposite prediction about the grammaticality of (7b) and (7d) would be expected. 2.2 Analysis B: Both “Dat-ni Acc-o” and “Acc-o Dat-ni” orders are base-generated Miyagawa (1997) and Kitagawa (1994) maintain that both dative-accusative and accusative-dative orders are basegenerated. Evidence that Miyagawa (1997) employs to support his argument is the Chain Condition. After confirming that Japanese observes Rizzi’s (1986) Chain Condition using IP-adjunction scrambling sentences, Miyagawa presents the following example (p. 5): (8) ?John-ga [Hanako-to Mary]i – o (party-de) otagaii-ni (ti) syookaisita John-Nom Hanako-and Mary – Acc party-at each other – Dat introduced ‘John introduced Hanako and Mary to each other at the party.’ If the sentence above was derived by scrambling, there would be a trace which would be locally c-commanded by the reciprocal anaphor, otagai, and thus Chain Condition violation would be expected. However, the sentence is acceptable. Miyagawa (1997) sees this as evidence that there is no trace in the sentence and that the accusative-dative word order (as well as the dative-accusative order) is base-generated. Miyagawa (1997) further argues that –ni in –ni –o order is a dative case marker while –ni in –o –ni order is postposition. Miyagawa maintains, based on previous studies (e.g., Haig, 1980), that a floating numeral quantifier is possible if the associated NP is case-marked, while it is not possible if the NP has a postposition. Miyagawa observes that (9a) is grammatical while the acceptability of (9b) is significantly lower. (9) a. Mary-ga tomodati-ni futa-ri CD-o okutta. Mary-Nom friend-Dat 2-CL CD-Acc sent ‘Mary sent two friends a CD.’ b. ???Mary-ga CD-o tomodati-ni futa-ri okutta. Mary-Nom CD-Acc friend 2-CL sent (Miyagawa, 1997: 9) Based on the grammaticality observation, Miyagawa claims that –ni in (9a) is a dative case marker while –ni in (9b) is a postposition. (9a) is grammatical because the numerical quantifier futa-ri is associated with the case-marked NP tomodati-ni. On the other hand, (9b) is not as acceptable because the numerical quantifier is associated with the NP marked by a postposition. 2.3 Analysis C: The canonical word order depends on the type of the verb Matsuoka (2003) maintains that there are two types of ditransitive verbs in Japanese. According to Matsuoka, the first type (pass-type) base-generates the accusative-dative order while the second type (show-type) base-generates the dative-accusative word order. Matsuoka supports his argument using the inchoative variants of the ditransitive verbs. Observe the following examples provided in Matsuoka (2003: 173, 187). (10) a. John-ga hanataba-o Mary-ni wata-s(i)-ta. -Nom bouquet-Acc -Dat pass-LC-Past ‘John passed a bouquet to Mary.’ b. Hanataba-ga Mary-ni wata-r-ta. (wata-r-ta → watatta) ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 38 -Nom -Dat pass-Inc-Past ‘A bouquet passed to Mary.’ c. *Mary-ga hanataba-o wata-r-ta. -Nom bouquet-Acc pass-Inc-Past ‘Maryi got a bouquet passed to heri.’ (11) a. Mary-ga John-ni sono hon-o mi-se-ta. -Nom -Dat that book-Acc show-LC-Past ‘Mary showed that book to John.’ b. John-ga sono hon-o mi-ta. -Nom that book-Acc show-Past ‘John saw that book.’ c. *Sono hon-ga John-ni mi-ta. that book-Nom -Dat show-Past ‘That book got shown to John.’ Watasita in (10a) is the past-tense form of the ditransitive verb watasu, and watatta in (10b & c) is the past-tense form of its inchoative variant wataru. Likewise, miseta in (11a) is the past-tense form of the ditransitive verb miseru, and mita in (11b & c) is the past-tense form of its inchoative variant miru. As shown in (10a) and (11a), both watasu and miseru form a ditransitive construction in a similar manner – both select three arguments: nominative, dative, and accusative NPs, case-marked with –ga, -ni, and –o, respectively. A crucial difference appears in (10b) and (11b). While wataru chooses the accusative case-marked NP (hanataba) of the ditransitive sentence as its subject, miru chooses the dative case-marked NP (John) of the ditransitive sentence as its subject. The dative case-marked NP (Mary) cannot become the subject of wataru as shown in (10c), and the accusative case-marked NP (sono hon) cannot become the subject of miru as in (11c). Thus, Matsuoka observes that there are two different types of ditransitive verbs in Japanese, pass-type (10) and show-type (11). (Note 1) Matsuoka (2003) maintains, based on the discussion by Baker (1995), that the difference observed in the inchoative variants between the two types of verbs reflects a difference in the base-generated positions of dative and accusative arguments. That is, a pass-type verb projects the accusative argument higher in the tree than the dative argument while a show-type verb projects the dative argument in a higher position than the accusative argument. Matsuoka employs the Minimal Link Condition (MLC) (Chomsky, 1995) to account for the selection of nominative arguments in the inchoative sentences. (12) Minimal Link Condition K attracts α only if there is no β, β closer to K than α, such that K attracts β. (Chomsky, 1995: 311) Tree structures of (10b) and (11b) are provided in (13) below (adopted from Matsuoka, 2003: 175, 195): (13) a) b) In (13a), since watatta (the past tense form of wataru) is an unaccusative verb, it cannot assign an accusative case to hanataba. However, because T can assign a nominative case, it searches for the closest NP, and thus, hanataba is attracted to the Spec TP position. If we assume that the dative NP is base-generated higher than the accusative NP, Mary would be promoted to the Spec TP position, which would cause ungrammaticality shown in (10c). Likewise, in (13b), mita (the past-tense form of miru) cannot assign a dative case to John because it is a (mono)transitive verb. Thus the argument which is closest to T (John) is attracted for case and is promoted to the Spec TP position. Again, if we assume that the accusative NP sono hon is base-generated higher in the tree than the dative NP John, sono hon instead of John would be attracted by T, causing the ungrammaticality shown in (11c). Matsuoka (2003) further argues that, in terms of theta role, the dative argument of a pass-type verb is the goal while the dative argument of a show-type verb is the experiencer. In (10a), for instance, the dative NP Mary refers to the end point ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 39 to which the theme (bouquet) moves. In this sense, the dative argument of a pass-type verb is interpreted as the goal. On the other hand, Matsuoka points out that the dative argument of a show-type verb does not necessarily specify the end point to which the theme goes. In (11a), it is possible to picture a situation in which John is looking at the book in his hands, while it is also possible to imagine a situation where Mary shows the book to John with the book in her hands. Thus, the dative argument of a show-type verb is interpreted as the experiencer. Related to the theta-role distinction above, Matsuoka points out Matsumoto’s (2000) observation that show-type verbs typically select an animate NP for the dative argument, while the dative arguments of pass-type verbs are more often inanimate. The example (14) cited from Matsuoka (2003: 190) illustrates this point. Kaketa is the past-tense form of a pass-type verb kakeru, and abiseta is the past-tense form of a show-type verb abiseru. The sentence with kaketa (14a) quite naturally takes the inanimate dative NP kabe (‘wall’), but (14b) with abiseta is quite marginal, although both verbs are quite similar in terms of their meanings. (14) a. Taroo-ga kabe-ni penki-o kak-e-ta. Taro-Nom wall-Dat paint-Acc put on-LC-Past ‘Taro put paint on the wall.’ b. ?*Taroo-ga kabe-ni penki-o abi-se-ta. Taro-Nom wall-Dat paint-Acc pour-LC-Past ‘Taro poured paint over the wall.’ 3. Psycholinguistic studies on Japanese scrambled sentences Which of the three analyses above is the correct one? Psycholinguistic studies on scrambled sentences may provide a clue. It has been confirmed in sentence processing studies that scrambled sentences are associated with additional psychological cost. Mazuka, Itoh, & Kondo (2002), for instance, compared the processing of the following two sentences, using two methods – eye tracking and self-paced reading. (15) a. Canonical sentence with a center embedding: [NP-ga [modifier phrase] NP-o V] b. Scrambled sentence with a center embedding: [NP-o [modifier phrase] NP-ga V] The eye-tracking experiment as well as the self-paced reading experiment indicated that the sentences with canonical word order (15a) were read significantly faster than their scrambled counterparts (15b). If scrambling is indeed associated with additional processing cost (thus, a longer reading time), it will provide a very important clue to the canonical order of ditransitive sentences. Tamaoka et al. (2005) examined the influence of scrambling on reading time and error rates, using different types of sentences. In Experiment 2 of their study, Tamaoka et al. examined the reading time of the following two types of sentences: (16) a. Canonical word order: NP-ga NP-ni NP-o V. b. Accusative NP fronted: NP-o NP-ga NP-ni V. Each sentence was displayed on a computer screen, and the participants were asked to decide as quickly as possible whether or not the sentence was correct. The result indicated that the processing of scrambled sentences took longer reaction times and resulted in higher error rates than the canonical sentences. Although the experiment did not test the Dat-Acc/Acc-Dat word order that we are interested in here, the result is of interest in that it confirmed scrambling effects are also present in ditransitive sentences. In Experiment 5 of the same study, Tamaoka et al. tested the processing of causative sentences. In doing so, they used two types of verbs – transitive verbs taking an accusative object (accusative verbs) and transitive verbs taking a dative object (dative verbs). (17) Accusative verb a. Deshi-ga atorie-o tukutta. Pupil-Nom atelier-Acc built ‘The pupil built the atelier.’ b. Junko-ga deshi-ni atorie-o tsukur-ase-ta. -Nom pupil-Dat atelier-Acc build-Cause-Past ‘Junko made her pupil build the atelier.’ c. Junko-ga atorie-oi deshi-ni ti tsukur-ase-ta. -Nom atelier-Acc pupil-Dat built-Cause-Past (18) Dative verb a. Deshi-ga atorie-ni komotta. Pupil-Nom atelier-Dat stayed ‘The pupil shut himself up in the atelier.’ b. Junko-ga deshi-o atorie-ni komor-ase-ta. -Nom pupil-Acc atelier-Dat stay-Cause-Past ‘Junko made her pupil shut himself up in the atelier.’ c. Junko-ga atorie-nii deshi-o ti komor-ase-ta. ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 40 -Nom atelier-Dat pupil-Acc stay-Cause-Past Based on the grammatical function hierarchy ‘Subject > Indirect Object > Direct Object’, Tamaoka et al. assume that (17b) and (18b) are the canonical word order of causative sentences with accusative verb and dative verb, respectively. Note that the dative NP is projected higher than the accusative NP in (17b), while the order is opposite in (18b). (17c) and (18c) are their scrambled counterparts. If scrambled sentences are indeed associated with psychological processing cost, and if (17b) and (18b) indeed represent the canonical word orders of causative sentences, (17b) should be processed faster and more accurately than (17c), and (18b) faster and more accurately than (18c). The results of Experiment 5 demonstrated this exactly. As for processing speed, accusative verb sentences with dativeaccusative order were read significantly faster than accusative-dative sentences, while dative verb sentences with accusative-dative order were read significantly faster than dative-accusative sentences. As for error rates, the results indicated that accusative verb sentences with dative-accusative order were processed more accurately than those with accusative-dative order, and the results were reversed for dative verb sentences, as expected. Thus, the results seem to strongly suggest that faster processing speed is associated with the canonical order of sentences and that processing of causative sentences relies more on canonical word order (grammatical functions) than on surface dativeaccusative/accusative-dative case marking. Koizumi and Tamaoka (2004) directly examined the three analyses discussed above in terms of processing speed. If canonical word order yields faster processing speed, the following will be predicted about the three analyses: (19) a. Hoji (1985): b. Miyagawa (1997): c. Matsuoka (2003): Dat-Acc < Acc-Dat Dat-Acc = Acc-Dat Pass-type verbs: Acc-Dat < Dat-Acc Show-type verbs: Dat-Acc < Acc-Dat (Koizumi & Tamaoka, 2004: 177) For Hoji (1985), a dative NP is always base-generated higher than an accusative NP, and thus, the processing speed of dative-accusative ditransitive sentences should be faster than that of accusative-dative sentences, regardless of verb types. Miyagawa (1997) analyzes that both dative-accusative and accusative-dative word orders are base-generated. Therefore, according to this analysis, the processing speed of the two types of sentences should not be significantly different. Finally, if Matsuoka (2003) is correct, it is expected that the processing speed is faster for the accusativedative order with pass-type verbs, while the dative-accusative word order is expected to be processed faster with showtype verbs. In Koizumi and Tamaoka (2004), each sentence was presented on a computer screen, and the participants were asked to make a judgment as quickly as possible whether or not the sentence presented was correct. The results indicated that sentences with the dative-accusative order were processed faster, regardless of verb types. Given the implication of Tamaoka et al. (2005) that the processing speed of sentences reflects the canonical word order rather than surface case markings, Koizumi & Tamaoka’s (2004) results seem to suggest that the “NP-ga NP-ni NP-o V” order represents the canonical word order of Japanese ditransitive sentences, conforming to Hoji’s (1985) analysis. 4. A short survey study While Koizumi & Tamaoka’s (2004) sentence processing study strongly suggests that the dative-accusative order is the canonical word order for Japanese ditransitive sentences, results of online psycholinguistic studies, in general, can be easily influenced by the particular items used. Thus, in the hope of deepening our understanding of the nature of the canonical word order in Japanese ditransitive sentences, and possibly triangulating the syntactic analyses and the results of the psycholinguistic studies, a short survey of grammaticality judgment was conducted. 4.1 Designs and procedures The survey consisted of three sections. The first section was aimed at examining Miyagawa’s (1997) analysis that ni in –ni –o order is a dative case marker while –ni in –o –ni order is a postposition. Miyagawa’s analysis was based on the grammaticality of sentences with a floating numeral quantifier as in (9) above. Thus, in the first section of the survey, the grammaticality of sentences similar to (9) was assessed. Below are examples of the sentences: (20) a. Mary-ga tomodati-ni futa-ri CD-o watashita. -Nom friend-Dat 2-CL CD-Acc passed ‘Mary passed CDs to two friends.’ b. Mary-ga CD-o tomodati-ni futa-ri watashita. -Nom CD-Acc friend-Dat 2-CL passed The participants were asked to evaluate the grammaticality of sentences using a 5-point Likert scale: 5 (No problems as a Japanese sentence); 4 (Somewhat strange as a Japanese sentence, but still acceptable); 3 (neutral); 2 (Not totally unacceptable, but quite strange); 1 (totally unacceptable as a Japanese sentence). If –ni in (20a) and (20b) have different status, as Miyagawa maintains, sentences of (20a) type and (20b) type should receive different degrees of grammaticality judgment. In order to examine if the pass/show-type dichotomy might influence grammaticality judgments, three pass-type verbs and three show-type verbs were used to create sentence items. The pass-type verbs used were watasu (‘pass’), butukeru (‘throw’), kaesu (‘return’), and the show-type verbs used were miseru (‘show’), azukeru (‘entrust’), and kasu (‘lend’). Since there were scrambled counterparts for each of the six verbs, each participant was asked to assess the ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 41 grammaticality of twelve sentences in the first section. The next section attempted to examine Hoji (1985) and Takano’s (1998) analysis that the “dative-ni accusative-o” is the canonical word order. Takano’s example (7) is repeated below: (21) a. Mary-ga subete-no gakuseii-ni soitui-no sensei-o syookaisita Mary-Nom all-Gen student-Dat he-Gen teacher-Acc introduced ‘Mary introduced his teacher to every student.’ b. *Mary-ga soitui-no sensei-ni subete-no gakuseii-o Mary-Nom he-Gen teacher-Dat all-Gen student-Acc syookaisita introduced c. Mary-ga [subete-no gakusei]i-o soitui-no sensei-ni ti Mary-Nom all-Gen student-Acc he-Gen teacher-Dat ‘Mary introduced every student to his teacher.’ syookaisita introduced d. ?Mary-ga [soitui-no sensei-o]j subete-no gakuseii-ni tj syookaisita Mary-Nom he-Gen teacher-Acc all-Gen student-Dat introduced Hoji and Takano see ungrammaticality in the “anaphor-ni antecedent-o” order (21b) and marginal acceptability in the “anaphor-o antecedent-ni” order (21d), and their analysis of the canonical word order of ditransitive sentences is partly based on this observation. Therefore, grammaticality of sentences similar to (21) was evaluated in the second section of the survey. In this part of the survey, instead of asking the participants whether the sentences were grammatical, they were asked to choose what the anaphor referred to in a given sentence. Thus, for (21a), for instance, the participants were prompted to choose one of the multiple choice items – e.g., “soitu in the sentence refers to… a) subete-no gakusei, b) someone other than subete-no gakusei, c) both subete-no gakusei and one or more other people.” This method was chosen because coindexation was likely to cause confusion to participants who were not familiar with the notation. If the anaphors of (21d) type sentences are judged to refer to the antecedents more often than those of (21b) type sentence items, it will probably support Hoji’s analysis that the “dative-ni accusative-o” order is base-generated. If, on the other hand, the anaphors of (21d) type sentences are judged to refer to the antecedents no more often than those of (21b) type sentence items, it may support Miyagawa’s (1997) analysis that both “dative-ni accusative-o” and “accusative-o dative-ni” orders are base-generated. Alternatively, Matsuoka’s (2003) analysis would predict that anaphors in (21b) are properly bound by their antecedents more often than those in (21d) for pass-type verbs, and that anaphors (21d) are properly bound more often than those in (21b) for show-type verbs. Because the anaphor soitu in Hoji’s example is quite colloquial and is not seen often in written contexts, it was thought that the mere presence of soitu in the sentence items would deteriorate the grammaticality. Therefore, for anaphors that referred to human beings, ‘kare-ra’ (kare: lit. he; ra: plural morpheme) was used instead. For anaphors that referred to inanimate items in the sentence, ‘sore’ (lit. it) was used. (Note 2) The pass-type verbs used in the sentence items were watasu (‘pass’), butukeru (‘throw’), kaesu (‘return’), todokeru (‘deliver’), and the show-type used were miseru (‘show’), abiseru (‘pour’), kiseru (‘dress’), and sazukeru (‘award’). Because there were –ni –o/–o –ni pairs, the participants were asked to make judgments on a total of sixteen sentences in this section. The last section of the survey attempted to directly assess native Japanese speakers’ intuitions on the “dative-ni accusative-o” and “accusative-o dative-ni” word orders of ditransitive sentences. However, directly asking which of the two word orders was more acceptable was expected to cause confusion and difficulty to the participants because both “S dative-ni accusative-o V” and “S accusative-o dative-ni V” are used quite frequently. Therefore, the participants were asked to rank-order the following set of sentences: (22) a. NP-ga NP-ni NP-o V. b. NP-ni NP-o NP-ga V. c. NP-o NP-ni NP-ga V. (22a) is canonical, and (22b) and (22c) are its scrambled counterparts. In (22b), “dative-ni accusative-o” was fronted before the nominative NP, while “accusative-o dative-ni” was fronted in (22c). As Shibatani (1990) points out, scrambling two or more constituents of a sentence results in reduced grammaticality (cf., (4) above). It was hoped, therefore, that the participants’ intuition about the –ni –o/–o –ni orders would be assessed more clearly by having them rank-order the “reduced grammaticality” versions of the sentences. Hoji’s (1985) analysis predicts that (22b) is ranked higher than (22c), while Miyagawa’s (1997) analysis predicts no significant difference in ranking between the two word orders. Alternatively, Matsuoka’s (2003) analysis predicts that (22c) is ranked higher than (22b) for sentences with passtype verbs and that (22b) is ranked higher than (22c) for sentences with show-type verbs. The pass-type verbs used in the last section of the survey were watasu (‘pass’), butukeru (‘throw’), todokeru (‘deliver’), and the show-type verbs used were miseru (‘show’), abiseru (‘pour’), and oshieru (‘teach’). Thus, the participants were asked to rank-order six sets of sentences. The presentation order of three sentences in each set was pseudo-randomized. The survey was posted on an Internet-based survey service. Twenty-seven native speakers of Japanese living either in Japan or in the U.S. participated in the survey. (However, some participants skipped some question items or an entire section, and thus, not all the items received twenty-seven responses. In such cases, the values were treated as missing.) ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 42 4.2 Results The result summary of the first section of the survey is provided in Table 1 below. A 5-point Likert scale was used to assess the grammaticality of the sentences in this section (5 – no problem as a Japanese sentence; 1 – totally unacceptable as a Japanese sentence). The numbers under the scale indicate the raw frequencies of the ratings that sentences in each category received. Table 1. Raw response frequencies for the first section of the survey Likert Scale Pass-type Show-type 5 4 3 2 1 NP-ni NP-o 0 9 2 33 34 NP-o NP-ni 0 6 2 35 35 NP-ni NP-o 0 8 1 36 32 NP-o NP-ni 0 8 0 39 28 Miyagawa (1997) observes that when a numeral quantifier (NQ) is associated with the –ni marked NP in a distansitive sentence with the “NP-ni NP-o” order, the sentence is quite grammatical, and that the grammaticality of the sentence deteriorates when an NQ is associated with the –ni marked NP in a sentence with the “NP-o NP-ni” order. The result of the survey, however, indicated that the sentences with NQs generally received rather low acceptability and that there was no significant difference in acceptability between the “NP-ni NP-o” and “NP-o NP-ni” orders based on a Wilcoxon t-test (p = .559, n.s.). While Miyagawa maintains that –ni in the “NP-ni NP-o” order is a case-marker and that –ni in the “NP-o NP-ni” is a postposition, the results above did not seem to support such a distinction. For the purpose of examining the effects of word order (–ni –o /–o –ni) and of verb type (pass/show), pairwise Wilcoxon t-tests were conducted. However, no significant differences were observed. Therefore, the first section of the survey did not observe any effects of word order or of verb type. The result summary of the second section of the survey is presented in Tables 2 and 3 below. For scoring, when the participants responded that the anaphor referred to the antecedent in the same sentence or that the anaphor referred to the antecedent in the same sentence and something/someone else, it was taken as evidence that the sentence allowed the co-indexed reading, and the score of “1” was given to the response. On the other hand, when the participants responded that the anaphor referred to something or someone other than the antecedent in the same sentence, it was interpreted that the co-indexed reading was not allowed for the sentence, and the score of “0” was given to the response. Table 2 shows the raw frequencies of instances in which the binding relationships were allowed. The values in parentheses show the total number of responses for each sentence type. Table 3 presents percentages of instances in which the co-indexed readings were allowed. Table 2. Raw frequencies of instances when the co-indexed readings were allowed Antecedent-ni Anaphor-ni Antecedent-o Anaphor-o Anaphor-o Antecedent-o Anaphor-ni Antecedent-ni Pass-type 38 (54) 24 (54) 38 (52) 20 (53) Show-type 35 (53) 17 (54) 36 (54) 21 (54) Table 3. Percentages of instances when the co-indexed readings were allowed Antecedent-ni Anaphor-ni Antecedent-o Anaphor-o Anaphor-o Antecedent-o Anaphor-ni Antecedent-ni Pass-type 70.37 44.44 73.08 37.74 Show-type 66.04 31.48 66.67 38.89 As expected, the participants accepted the co-indexed reading more often when antecedents preceded anaphors. Hoji (1985) maintained, based on the assumption that “–ni –o” is the base-generated word order for ditransitive sentences, that the “anaphor-ni antecedent-o” order is ungrammatical while the “anaphor-o antecedent-ni” order is marginally acceptable. However, according to a Wilcoxon signed-ranks test, no such difference in grammaticality was observed between the two orders (p = 1, n.s.). Although not statistically significant, and thus only suggestive, one very interesting point to note is that the acceptability of the “anaphor-ni antecedent-o” and “anaphor-o antecedent-ni” sentences seems to follow Matsuoka’s (2003) hypothesis of two verb types. According to Matsuoka, the acceptability of the “anaphor-ni antecedent-o” order should be higher than the “anaphor-o antecedent-ni” order for pass-type verbs, because pass-type verbs base-generate the “-o – ni” order. On the other hand, Matsuoka’s analysis predicts the opposite for show-type verbs because show-type verbs base-generate the “-ni –o” order. The data in Tables 2 and 3 seem to show tendencies that correspond to Matsuoka’s analysis. ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 43 The result of the third section of the survey is summarized in Table 4. The task was to rank-order the sentences with the “NP-ga NP-ni NP-o”, “NP-ni NP-o NP-ga” and “NP-o NP-ni NP-ga” orders using 1, 2, and 3. For data analysis, the rank numbers 1, 2, and 3 were quantified as 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The numbers in Table 4 are the raw frequencies of the rank orders that the sentences in each category received. Table 4. Rank orders that the sentences in each category received Rank Order Pass-type Show-type 1 2 3 NP-ga NP-ni NP-o 81 0 0 NP-ni NP-o NP-ga 0 50 31 NP-o NP-ni NP-ga 0 31 50 NP-ga NP-ni NP-o 78 3 0 NP-ni NP-o NP-ga 3 48 30 NP-o NP-ni NP-ga 0 30 51 While there was no significant difference in terms of verb types, a Wilcoxon t-test showed that the “NP-ni NP-o NP-ga” order was ranked significantly higher than the “NP-o NP-ni NP-ga” order (p = .009). Thus, the result of the third section of the survey seems to support Hoji’s (1985) analysis that “NP-ga NP-ni NP-o” is the canonical word order for ditransitive sentences regardless of verb types. 5. Discussion The results of the survey were somewhat conflicting. While the result of the third section seems to support Hoji’s (1985) analysis, as Koizumi and Tamaoka’s (2004) psycholinguistic study did, the second section did not provide support for Hoji’s view. Instead, although just suggestive, the data from the second section seem to exhibit tendencies that correspond to Matsuoka’s (2003) analysis. The result of the first section did not seem to support Miyagawa’s (1997) analysis that –ni in the “NP-ni NP-o” order is a case-marker and that –ni in the “NP-o NP-ni” is a postposition. The acceptability of the sentences with a numeral quantifier was surprisingly low in the first section of the survey. Many participants chose “1 – totally unacceptable as a Japanese sentence” although the investigator (a native speaker of Japanese) felt that the sentences were, at least, marginally acceptable. There may be a few reasons for this. The first reason may be attributed to the pause or intonation the participants used while mentally reading the sentences. While the sentences were presented in Japanese script without any commas, it is still possible to place a pause in the sentences in the following way: (23) a. Mary-ga tomodati-ni futa-ri, CD-o watashita. -Nom friend-Dat 2-CL CD-Acc passed ‘Mary passed CDs to two friends.’ b. Mary-ga tomodati-ni, futa-ri CD-o watashita. If a pause is placed after the NQ as in (23a), the sentence is grammatical. However, the same sentence becomes unacceptable if a pause is placed between the –ni marked NP and the quantifier. It is so probably because now the NQ is associated with the –o marked NP, in which case a different classifier is required to make the sentence grammatical. Thus, if the participants consistently assigned a mental pause after the –ni marked NP, it is possible that all the sentences in this section were judged unacceptable. Another possible reason for the low acceptability of the sentences is the varying definition of “acceptability” for each participant. That is, it is possible some participants decided that a sentence was unacceptable because they themselves do not often use or hear the sentence. If their judgment was based on a criterion such as “I wouldn’t use this sentence”, then the results of the survey could be quite different from what linguists call grammaticality judgment. (Note 3) There might have been a similar problem for the question items in the second section. What the investigator wanted to observe in this section was whether the bound reading of anaphors would be impossible in the “anaphor-ni antecedento” and “anaphor-o antecedent-ni” orders. The most direct way to elicit responses would have been to ask if the sentence would be grammatical when the antecedent and the anaphor were co-indexed. However, because the co-index notations were likely to cause confusion to the participants, an alternative “indirect” method – “What does this word refer to?” – was used. While it is hoped that the method successfully elicited the intended responses, due to its indirectness, it is possible that the responses were a reflection of the participants’ preferences rather than their grammatical judgment. For instance, when a participant chose the response “the anaphor refers to something other than the antecedent”, it does not necessarily mean that the participant judged the sentence to be ungrammatical when the anaphor was bound by the antecedent. It could have been merely his preference. Thus, an alternative method could have elicited more relevant responses for the research question. An interesting observation in the second section of the survey is that quite a few responses (approximately 40%) indicated that an anaphor can refer to an antecedent in ditransitive sentences even when the anaphor precedes the antecedent, similarly to Saito’s example (3d) above. From this observation, due to the extensive use of scrambling and ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 44 null anaphora in Japanese, it can be surmised that native speakers of Japanese have learned to establish antecedentanaphor relationships in the reversed “anaphor-antecedent” order, when such an interpretation is possible from the context. In this respect, Miyagawa’s (1997) analysis that both “-ni –o” and “-o –ni” orders are base-generated appears quite plausible. The third section of the survey indicated that the “NP-ni NP-o NP-ga” order was preferred to the “NP-o NP-ni NP-ga”, supporting Hoji’s (1985) analysis. One possible problem with the procedure, however, is that these target sentences were presented with the “NP-ga NP-ni NP-o” sentences but not with the “NP-ga NP-o NP-ni” sentences. Therefore, it is possible that this presentation bias influenced the preference of the –ni –o order over the –o –ni order. Therefore, the result should be interpreted with caution, and a future replication study with an improved design would be necessary. In addition to the several limitations of the survey study already mentioned, perhaps the largest limitation of the present study comes from the fact that the number of the items used in the study was very small. Due to the small number of items in each sentence condition, it is possible that the relative weight of each item was too large to obtain definitive results. Yet another problem might have come from the items themselves. Although the sentence items were created with the investigator’s best possible judgments, they were not evaluated by other native speakers of Japanese prior to the survey. Such a norming procedure could have increased the reliability of the study. What is the canonical word order for Japanese ditransitive sentences after all? While a part of the survey supported Hoji’s (1985) analysis, there was also suggestive evidence that support the analyses by Matsuoka (2003) and Miyagawa (1997). The answer is inconclusive in the present survey study. A future study with a larger number of items and more refined research methods, along with more studies from structural and psycholinguistic perspectives, would be necessary to clarify the point. An interesting research method to investigate the issue is brain imaging. Kim et al. (2009) found that there is more activity in some areas of the brain (the left inferior frontal gyrus and the left dorsal prefrontal cortex) during the comprehension of scrambled sentences than during the comprehension of canonical sentences. Although the results of Kim et al. are based on the processing of simple transitive sentences (NP-ga NP-o V), the same method may be used to investigate brain activity during the comprehension of ditransitive sentences. While increased brain activity may not necessarily correspond to the processing of scrambled sentences, such a study would provide important clues in the investigation of the canonical word order of Japanese ditransitive sentences. References Baker. M. (1995). On the structural positions of themes and goals. In J. Rooryck & L. Zauring (Eds.), Phrase structure and the lexicon (pp. 7-34). Dordrecht: Kluwer. Chomsky, N. (1995). The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Farmer, A. K. (1984). Modularity in syntax: A study of Japanese and syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Haig, J. (1980). Some observations on quantifier float in Japanese. Linguistics, 18, 1065-1083. Hale, K. (1980). Remarks on Japanese phrase structure: Comments on the papers on Japanese syntax. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics, 2, 185-203. Hoji, H. (1985). Logical form constraints and configurational structures in Japanese. Doctoral dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle. Kim, J., Koizumi, M., Ikuta, N., Fukumitsu, Y., Kimura, N., Iwata, K., … Kawashima, R. (2009). Scrambling effects on the processing of Japanese sentences: An fMRI study. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 22, 151-166. Kitagawa, Y. (1994). Shells, yolks, and scrambled e.g.s. Proceedings of the 24th Conference of the Northeast Linguistic Society, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 221-239. Koizumi, M., & Tamaoka, K. (2004). Cognitive processing of Japanese sentences with ditransitive verbs. Gengo Kenkyu, 125, 173-190. Matsumoto, Y. (2000). Osowaru/osieru nadono tadoosi/nizyuutadoosi-pea-no imiteki seisitu [Semantic properties of pairs of transitive/ditransitive verbs such as osowasu/osieru ‘get taught/teach’]. In S. Yamada, Y. Kikuchi, & Y. Moriyama (Eds.), Nihongo: Imi-to-bunpoo-no fuukei (pp. 79-95). Tokyo: Hituzi Syobo. Matsuoka, M. (2003). Two types of ditransitive constructions in Japanese. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 12, 171203. Mazuka, R., Itoh, K., & Kondo, T. (2002). Cost of scrambling in Japanese sentence processing. In M. Nakayama (Ed.), Sentence processing in East Asian languages (pp. 131-166). Stanford, CA: CSLI. Miyagawa, S. (1997). Against optional scrambling. Linguistic Inquiry, 28, 1-25. Nemoto, N. (1999). Scrambling. In N. Tsujimura (Ed.), The handbook of Japanese linguistics (pp. 121-153). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Rizzi, L. (1986). On chain formation. In H. Borer (Ed.), Syntax and semantics 19: The syntax of pronominal clitics (pp. 65-96). New York: Academic Press. Saito, M. (1985). Some asymmetries in Japanese and their theoretical implications. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, ALLS 5(2):35-45, 2014 45 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. Saito, M., & Hoji, H. (1983). Weak cross-over and move α in Japanese. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 1, 245259. Shibatani, M. (1990). The languages of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Takano, Y. (1998). Object shift and Scrambling. Natural language and linguistic theory, 16, 817-889. Tamaoka, K., Sakai, H., Kawahara, J., Miyaoka, Y., Lim, H., & Koizumi, M. (2005). Priority information used for the processing of Japanese sentences: Thematic roles, case particles or grammatical functions? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 34, 281-332. Yamashita, H. (1997). The effects of word-order and case marking information on the processing of Japanese. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 26, 163-188. Yamashita, H. (2002). Scrambled sentences in Japanese: Linguistic properties and motivations for production. Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse, 22 (4), 597-633. Notes Note 1. Matsuoka (2003) does not claim that all ditransitive verbs in Japanese can be classified into one of these two verb types. Not all Japanese ditransitive verbs have inchoative variants. Note 2. Alternatively, the anaphor sore-ra (sore: lit. it; ra: plural morpheme) could have been used to refer to inanimate items. However, after consulting a few native speakers of Japanese, it was felt that sore-ra is not as commonly used as kare-ra. Therefore, it was decided to use sore. Note 3. For instance, a participant might hear or use “tomidati futa-ri-ni” (friend two-CL-Dat) more frequently than “tomodati-ni futa-ri” as in (23). In such a case, any sentences that include the “NP-Dat number-CL” sequences might consistently receive lower ratings. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Speech Act of Responding to Rudeness: A Case Study of Malaysian University Students Maryam Frania (Corresponding author) Payame Noor University, Iran E-mail: mfarniair@gmail.com Hiba Qusay Abdul Sattar Australian Technical Management College (ATMC), Australia E-mail: hibaqusay@yahoo.com Hooi Chee Mei (Esther) Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia E-mail: hooiesther@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.46 Received: 03/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.46 Accepted: 24/03/2014 Abstract Politeness conventions vary across cultures and so is impoliteness and rudeness. In some cases, what is considered rude in one culture or a society is not necessarily rude or impolite in another. This cannot be explained unless more studies on the use of language functions in a specific culture are conducted. The aim of this paper is to investigate Malaysians university students’ realization of responding to rudeness. For this purpose, 51 Malaysian university students at Universiti Sains Malaysia took part in this research. The respondents completed a Discourse Completion Task consisting of six situations in which they had to respond to an offensive or a rude language directed toward them. The findings were then analyzed using Beebe and Waring’s (2005) a coding scheme of responding rudeness to examine the type and use of strategies in responding to rudeness. Moreover, a post-structured interview was conducted to explore the respondents’ perception of politeness, cognition and language of thought (i.e. the language they think in their mind to produce response in the moment) in responding to rudeness. The results showed that participants employ different strategies with variations in contextual variables (i.e. social distance and social status) in their responses. The comparison of participants' production and perception in responding to rudeness provided significant results. It is hoped that the analysis of Malaysian university students’ responding to rudeness could add to the body of knowledge in pragmatics and speech act studies in general and to our understanding of Malays university students’ realization in responding to rudeness in particular. Keywords: responding to rudeness, perception, strategies, Malaysian university students 1. Introduction It is not surprising that people who live in a different culture have different perceptions about how responses to an offensive situation should be performed in interpersonal communication, i.e. whether to keep silent, throw their anger, or treat nicely. This is due to the fact that culture is “composed of socially shared elements, socially shared norms, codes of behavior, values, and assumptions about the world that clearly distinguish one sociocultural group from another” (Trueba, 1993, p. 34, cited in Lee, 2003). For example, some international students might have encountered situations in which their reactions to offensive behavior made the issue more complicated. Getting into a new society, one cannot deny the importance of acquaintance and knowledge about the cultural norms and politeness conventions in that given society. What is considered polite in one society could be considered rude or impolite in another. In fact, it is hard to identify what might constitute polite or impolite behavior in social interactions. This is because politeness or impoliteness is a context-dependent evaluative judgment and linguistics constructions in themselves do not bear any property of what is being polite or rude, rather this is determined by the condition of usage (Spencer-Oatey, 2000). Similarly, Arendholz (2013) maintained that politeness is as a purely mental notion is strongly dependent on the interpreting mind in terms of scope of applicability, i.e. a person’s willingness to label an utterance an action polite. In other words, politeness depends on the evaluation of individual interlocutors at individual moments in individual circumstances. Consequently, any communicative act or behavior perceived as polite or impolite may vary from community to community, from culture to culture, depending on the social context involved in the situation (Song, 2012). Several papers (Blum-Kulka, 1982; Cohen and Olshtain, 1981) have shown that norms vary from one culture to culture. It is not bound to discourse but include body language and paralinguistic features (e.g. intonation). For example, within the context of rudness or impoliteness, using index finger is acceptable to refer to people and objects in Middle East; however, it is perceived impolite in Malaysia. On the other hand, using thumbs for reference have opposite meaning in these two regions. ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 47 Similarly, impoliteness or rudeness is very hard to be defined. ‘there is no solid agreement as to what “impoliteness” actually is’ (Locher and Bousfield 2008, p. 3 cited in Culpeper, 2011) For example, Lakoff (1989, p.103) mentioned that “[rude behavior] does not utilise politeness strategies where they would be expected, in such a way that the utterance can only almost plausibly be interpreted as intentionally and negatively confrontational”. While, for Beebe (1995, p.159) rudeness is defined as a face threatening act (FTA) – or feature of an FTA such as intonation – which violates a socially sanctioned norm of interaction of the social context in which it occurs. The concept of rudeness is perceived differently based on the social situations in which it is employed. Some examples of rudeness are as follows: “failing to return a greetings, refusing to shake hands, swearing at someone, interrupting a speaker, talking when you should be listening, not listening when you should listen, being over-familiar, putting your finger in your nose in publics”, etc. (Westacott, 2006, p. 2). These examples display the diverse representation of rudeness in our daily life. Despite the fact that rudeness is a very common act in our daily interaction, it should not be regarded as a trivial issue for it might cause more distress than injurious acts like theft or robbery. Rudeness appears in different forms and might be judged differently in terms of rate of offensiveness. Moreover, people might also choose to reply differently in such situations in different cultures or situations. There is no rule as such to say what speech or behavior is derogatory or insulting as they are considered more or less hate speech depending on the situation, tone of voice, social status or social distance of the speakers involved in the interaction. 2. Literature review The concept of speech act has been suggested by Austin (1962). It is defined as “the level [which] mediates immediately between the usual level of grammar and the rest of a speech event or situation in that it implicates both linguistic form and social norms” (Hymes, 1972, cited in Manes, 1983, p.96). According to speech act, speakers perform certain act within a speech event in a situation. For example, when a passerby asks another the time on the street, he would say, ‘what time is it?’ and the response would be ‘It’s X’, and the passerby would say, ‘Thank you’. With a situation like asking the time, the participants perform three speech acts: asking the time, giving the time, and thanking (Scollon and Scollon, 1997, p.17). This example shows that speakers perform and transfer language functions through speech acts in their communication. In other words, speech act theory proposed that "the minimal unit of human communication is not a sentence or other expression, but rather the performance of certain kinds of language acts, such as request and promise" ( Dietz and Widderschoven, 1991, p. 236). According to Austin (1962), there are three levels in everyone's speech: propositional meaning, that is the literal meaning of what is said, e.g. “It's cold in here”, illocutionary meaning, that is the social function of what is said, e.g. “It's cold in here” could be an indirect request for someone to close the door, or to turn on the heater, or a complaint implying why someone wants to open the window, and perlocutionary meaning, that is the effect of what is said on the hearer, e.g. “It's cold in here”, could result in someone turn on the heater. On the basis of these three dimensions, Searle proposed the next classes of speech. Searle classified the illocutionary act into five categories: assertive (e.g. suggesting, swearing, concluding), directives (e.g. asking, ordering, requesting, inviting, advising), commisives (e.g. promising, planning, betting), expressive (e.g. thanking, apologizing, welcoming), and declarations (e.g. changing the state of the world). Following Searle’ classification of speech act, responding to rudeness is accommodated in the category of expressive. It states the speaker’s psychological state, attitudes or feelings. Speech acts can differ cross-culturally (Einstein and Bodman, 1986). The extent to which speech acts realized differently in different culture are recognized through studying speech acts to provide us with a better understanding of the relation between linguistic forms and sociocultural context (Olshtain and Cohen, 1983). Moreover, research on speech act studies can provide the appropriate sociocultural rules surrounding the utterances of native speakers (Murphey and Neu, 1996) which is the most important source and basis for sociopragmatic rules governing speech acts in the language. Using speech acts in the language of different community reflects the social norms and assumptions of that specific culture. Accordingly, when learning a foreign language, students cannot be guaranteed from miscommunication or breakdown in communication by merely mastering grammatical and lexical knowledge of that language. Hence, studies on speech act realization can mirror the potential cultural-specific language function across different culture. 3. Speech act of responding to rudeness Among the few studies addressed the issue of responding to rudeness using speech act theory is Beebe and Waring's (2005) study of foreign language learners’ pragmatic development in responding to rudeness. Their subjects were selected from and formed into two groups of 20 EFL students in highest and lowest language proficiency levels (total 40). The subjects were students in an English language institute in an American university in the United States. The researchers used an open-ended questionnaire in the form of Discourse Completion Task (DCT) which consisted of six situations. Beebe and Waring developed a coding scheme which divided the pragmatic strategies into three clusters: aggressing strategies (i.e. insult, threat, challenge, criticize, compliments, greet (sarcastic)), persisting strategies (i.e. argue (take issue), justify, request) and acquiescing strategies (i.e. apologize, thank, acquiesce, opt-out, nonverbal and verbal). The subjects were compared in terms of use of pragmatic development of the three clusters and their strategies in responding to rudeness with variation in their language proficiency. The findings of the study showed no differences in the type of pragmatic strategies across language proficiency, yet the language learners were different in the use (i.e. frequency) of the strategies as higher proficiency learners were more assertive in their responses and thus they were found to show a possible approximation to target-like behavior. ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 48 In another pragmatic study of speech act of responding to rudeness, Farnia, Buckkeit and Vedaei (2010) compared American native speakers of English and Iranian native speakers of Persian. Adopted and adapted Beebe and Waning's (2005) questionnaire and coding scheme, Farnia et al. compared twenty American and twenty Iranian university students using DCT questionnaire in their respective languages. The findings showed that Americans used a greater number of strategies in responding to rudeness than their Iranian counterparts. The findings of their study displayed that criticism was the most frequently used strategy by native speakers of Farsi while insult was the most frequently used strategies by native speakers of English. Moreover, insult and argument were the second and third frequently used strategies by native speakers of Farsi, whereas their American counterparts chose argument and challenge as the second and third most frequently used strategies. Furthermore, Americans used threat strategies more frequently than Iranians. The findings also showed that native speakers of English used the strategies of apology, acquiescence and opt-out more frequently than Iranians in the DCT questionnaire. Their findings showed significant statistical differences in the use of threat, challenge and opt-out strategies between native speakers of Farsi and native speakers of English. In other words, native speakers of English used significantly more of this strategy than their Iranian counterparts. Based on the selected studies cited above, it can be deduced that responding to rudeness like other speech act such as requests, refusals, etc. involves different types of strategies which reflects the social norms and assumptions of different communities and cultures. The speech act of responding to rudeness includes real life interactions and requires not only knowledge of the language but also appropriate use of that language within a given culture. Thus, further research may provide us with a more global view of the cultural tendencies in the act of responding to rudeness among non-native speakers like Malaysians. 4. Malays’ perception on politeness and impoliteness Malays’ perception on politeness and impoliteness is vital to be able to know how Malays respond in different kinds of situations. Therefore, it is important to know and understand the Malays’ culture, as well as, their directness and indirectness when responding to social situations. During an act of communication, speakers resort to a variety of linguistic strategies which might save or attack the interlocutor’s face, i.e. “the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself” (Goffman, 1967, p.12). In some situations, the speaker might unintentionally choose a type of strategy which violate the addressee’s social norms and expectation and as a result be considered rude or impolite. In order to comprehend what constitutes a Malay culture, it is important to understand the “budi” concept (Storz, 1999). This means that its importance lies in giving an understanding for the politeness patterns of the Malays in Malaysia. According to Tham (1971), the ethical system of the Malays is encapsulated in the “budi” complex. It is the essence of their social relationships. It also formulates norms of individual and social behavior. The way an individual should feel and think about himself or herself and others is guided by the “budi” complex. As Dahlan (1991) stated in its general sense, “budi” embodies all the virtues ranked in the system of values of the society. The polite system of the Malays is deeply rooted in the “budi” complex. The polite system includes all aspect of verbal and nonverbal communication (Dahlan, 1991). “The way language is used, the intonations of speech and the ways people are addressed according to a status hierarchy are part of the polite system” (Storz, 199, p.119). This shows that the level of politeness is determined by the rank by the society in Malaysia. The Malay culture emphasises self-control in the face of social conflict, hence uttering displeasure or disagreement is less likely to happen. If disclosed, they are considered uncivilised behavior, threatening individual listener’s face and provides potential disrupt to the perseverance of social harmony among the speakers involved (Jamaliah Mohd Ali, 2002, 1995; Asmah Haji Omar, 1992; Asma Abdullah 1996; Teo Kok Seong, 1996, 1995). However, complaints normally happen in a social interaction among native speakers of Malay, especially among the middle class Malays (Maros, 2007). Directness in Malay discourse could be considered impolite and uncouth, even in warning a child. Directness in discourse is perceived as being boastful and arrogant in certain contexts and in others, as being ignorant of the genteel tradition of the Malays (Teo, 1996). Malay discourse will go for some time before the real intention is made known, and even then, it will be imparted in an indirect way. The forms of utterances and the discourse structure reflect on participating parties, who take a long time in preliminaries and make hints at their responses and intentions. Indirectness is an important theme in Malay culture. Malays rely on indirectness in many common social situations, especially when they are trying to be polite (Teo, 1996). Indirectness in Malay may be reflected in routines of offering and refusing, as well as in accepting gifts, food, and so on. 5. The present stud The present study focuses on the speech act of responding to rudeness. It investigates Malaysians students, particularly Malay’s perception and realization of responding to rudeness. It examines the strategies Malaysians Malay choose in the act of responding to rudeness and their perception of the situation in terms of their cognition, language of thought and their awareness of the cultural differences in responding to rudeness. 6. Methods The following sections explain the methodology of this study. ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 49 6.1 Participants The participants of this study were 51 Malaysian Malay university students at Universiti Sains Malaysia through a voluntary participation, i.e. the students were asked if they are interested to fill out the questionnaire after their classes. An analysis of participants’ biodata displayed that they were 21 male and 30 females, 68% of whom aged between 18 to 25 and 32% of whom aged 25 to 30. The analysis showed that 48.40% of the respondents were pursuing their degrees while others were doing STPM/Matriculations or doing their Masters at USM. The analysis also shows that all participants’ mother tongue is Malay. 6.2 Instruments The instrument used for this study was a demographic survey, an open-ended questionnaire in the form of Discourse Completion Task (DCT) followed by a semi-structured interview. The demographic survey aimed to collect data on participants' age, education, gender, ethnicity, income, and where they come from. The DCT, adopted and adapted from Beeb and Waring’s (2005) study of responding to rudeness, consists of six situations with variations in contextual variables (i.e. social distance and social status). The questionnaire was piloted with 10 respondents and then the situations were modified to suit the Malaysian context. The final questionnaire was translated into Malay language using a back-translation technique, i.e. the questionnaire was translated into Malay and then, an English-Malay bilingual translated the Malay version into English. According to Cohen (1996), DCT is a lucid means of data collection for pragmatic studies and if prepared carefully, it demonstrates ways in which respondents activate their pragmatic knowledge (Martinez-Flor, 2006). Some researchers believe that the selection of situations must not be based on only the researchers’ imagination or intuition (Rose, 2009; Kasper, 2000) and pragmatic questionnaire must be assessed to meet some specific features, i.e. their likelihood, relevance, context variables because at the end it is the analysis of the responses to those situations which is taken into account and not the researchers’ assessment (Rose, 2009). For this purpose and to ensure the likelihood and relevance of situations in Malaysian context, the questionnaires were piloted using Cheng's (2005) perception questionnaire to guarantee the familiarity of Malay participants with the situations of the questionnaire. The perception questionnaire in the form of Likert scale aimed to elicit the respondents’ perception of the rate of offensiveness, likelihood of the situation, and if they have ever been in the same situation or not (see Appendix). In other words, the findings of the likert scale established certainty as for the familiarity and likelihood of the situations in the DCT to Malay respondents and the extent to which they would be socially and culturally appropriate for the target population (e.g. in this study Malaysian context). These factors in a DCT (i.e. familiarity, likelihood and relevance) have always been the researchers’ main concern (Demeter, 2000). The analysis of Likert scale showed the relevance and likelihood of the situations in Malaysian context. The final questionnaire consisted of three sections: the first section included respondents’ biodata (age, gender, education, etc.) whose results were explained in previous section. The second part of the questionnaire consisted of 6 situations in an open-ended questionnaire in the form of discourse completion task (see Appendix A). The contextual variables varied across the situations: three situations (book store, cloth store and supermarket) have the contextual variables of high social status and high social distance relative to the participant. The other three situations (bus, cinema and library) have the contextual variables of equal social status and low social distance relative to the participant. The second part of the questionnaire was a structured-interview which aimed to explore the respondents’ perception of politeness and language of thought i.e. language the participants think in when producing response, in responding to rudeness. The participants were asked what exactly they were paying attention to when they want to reply to somebody who offends them with regard to variation in contextual variables (i.e. social status and social distance). The other question addressed the participants’ language of thought. They were asked what language they were thinking of in responding to an offensive situation, e.g. English, Malay, etc. and whether they switched their language of thought at some point during of their responses. 7. Procedure After pilot study, the final questionnaire was collected from a voluntary participation of 60 Malaysians university students at University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. The participants were met after their classes or at university libraries and they were invited to participate in the research. The participants were asked to complete the DCT questionnaire and to attend a follow-up semi-structure interview. Each participant was met individually by the researchers at USM. Researchers provided the subjects with detailed instructions about the tasks. Each participant was given 30 minutes to complete the provided task. Participants were first presented with written DCT situations where they were asked to write what they would say under each situation. To preserve the homogeneity of the participants, the questionnaires were only collected from Malaysians Malay university students. The necessary instruction such as how to answer the questionnaire was presented by the researchers and one example was given. Following the completion of the questionnaire, the researchers conducted the structured interview (around 15 minutes) to elicit the respondents’ perception toward the effect of contextual variables, i.e. social status and social distance, on responding to rudeness. The interview was recorded and then analyzed and interpreted by the researchers. The findings are explained in the following sections. 8. Data analysis This section reports on the analysis of the DCT questionnaire and the findings of the structured interview. ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 50 8.1 DCT questionnaire After the data were collected, they were analyzed and classified based on a coding scheme adopted from Beebe and Waring’s (2005) study of responding to rudeness. The coding scheme comprises twelve strategies. The strategies are as follows: 1. Insult “How can you answer it such a dummy manner? You must be a fool.” 2. Threat “I want to talk to the manager of this stor.” 3. Challenge “But I want to see THAT book.” 4. Criticize “You’re giving a bad example for your childe.” 5. Compliment/ Greet (sarcastic) “You’re really kind…” 6. Argue (take issue) “I have a right to see that book even if I don’t have intention to purchase it.” 7. Justify “….but I’m not from here and I don’t want to be lost.” 8. Request “Could you draw the directions for me?” 9. Aplogize “I’m sorry. It’s my fault.” 10. Thank “Okay, thank you.” 11. Acquiesce “Okay, yes, sir. I will try.” 12. Opt out Nonverbal: Say nothing. Verbal: “Never mind.” “Whatever.” The questionnaires were then analyzed based on the coding scheme. The results are demonstrated in table 1: Table1.Frequency of strategies for the act of responding to rudeness Strategy Frequency Percentage Strategy Frequency Percentage Insult 73 9.60% Justification 54 6.90% Threat 6 0.75% Request 106 13.55% Persisting Total 24.95 Challenge 69 8.85% Apology 105 13.45% Criticism 59 7.55% Thanking 33 4.20% Compliment/agreement 97 12.40% Acquiesce 56 7.15% Aggressing strategies Total 39.15 35 4.50% Opt-out 87 11.15% Argument Acquiescing 35.95% N=780 100% The data were first analyzed in terms of the frequency of strategies across all situations. The findings showed that request, apology and compliment (sarcastic) were the first three most frequently used strategies across the situations. The findings also demonstrated that acquiesce, justification, argument, thanking and threat received the lowest frequency across the questionnaire respectively. Some of the examples of the strategies elicited from the questionnaires are as follows: Challenge English I am also one of your customers. So, you should also respect me as your customer. Malay Saya pun salah seorang pelanggan awak. Jadi awak perlu menghormati saya sebagai pelanggan awak. ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 51 Criticism English I just ask you to hand over the books only. Malay Minta tolong ambil ja pun. Argument (taking the issue) English I was just asking you to hand over the books. That also can’t be done? I was asking in a polite manner only. Malay Takkan nak sua buku tu pun tak boleh pakcik? Saya mintak elok-elok ja kot? Request English Can you help me? I’m also your customer in this shop, but if you can’t help me, it’s ok. There are still many bookstores that I can go to. Malay Boleh tak tolong saya?sy juga pelanggan dalam kedai nih..tapi kalau pakcik xleh tolong sy takpelah..banyak lagi kedai buku yg sy boleh pergi” Apology English Okay, sorry. Alright, brother. I’m sorry. Sorry. Oh, I’m sorry, uncle Malay Okay sorry. Orait bang. Sori... MINTA MAAF owh, saya minta maaf pak cik Thanking English Oh, is it? Thank you Oh, it’s okay. Thank you Fine. Thank you Okay, thank you Malay oooo,,,yeke....tq Oh..tak pe lah, terima kasih Baiklah terima kasih Ok, terima kasih Acquiesce English Okay Malay Ok Opt-out English Oh, never mind, if it’s like that, I will take the book. Never mind if that’s the case. Never mind, if you really can’t help, I’ll find myself. Never mind if it is like this. Malay oh tidak mengapa, kalau begitu saya akan ambil buku itu Takpelah kalu macam tu Takpela kalau tak boleh..saya akan cari sendiri Tidak mengapa kalau begitu ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 52 In general, the data displays that the respondents use aggressing strategies, i.e. insult, threat, challenge, criticism, compliment, greeting (# 39.15%) more frequently than acquiescing strategies, i.e. argument, justification, request (# 35.95%) and persisting strategies ,i.e. apology, thanking, acquiesce, opt-out (# 24.95%). The data were then analyzed in terms of the use of strategies with variation in contextual variable, i.e. social status and social distance. Table 2 presents a summary of the findings for the situations with high social status (i.e. the offender is older than the respondents) and high social distance (i.e. the respondent does not know the offender). Table 2. Frequency of strategies in high social status and high social distance situations Strategy (high status) Frequency Percentage Strategy Frequency Percentage Insult 53 13.40% Justification 21 5.30% Threat 5 1.25% Request 23 5.80% Challenge 37 9.35% Apology 44 11.10% Criticism 37 9.35% Thanking 28 7.10% Compliment 49 12.35% Acquiesce 34 8.55% 14 3.55% Opt-out 51 12.90% N=396 100% Argument As displayed in table 2, insult is the most frequently used strategy across the high social status and high social distance situations. Opt-out, compliment and apology strategies were the second to fourth frequently used strategies in these situations. The findings showed that participants used challenge and criticism equally in the high social status situations. Acquiesce, thanking, justification request and argument strategies were the sixth to tenth frequently used strategies in these situations. The analysis showed that threat strategy was the least frequently used strategy in these situations. An analysis of the strategies in situations in with equal social status and low social distance relative to the respondents are presented in table 3. Table 3. Frequency of strategies in equal social status and low social distance situations Strategy (equal status Frequency Percentage Strategy Frequency Percentage Insult 20 5.20% Justification 33 8.60% Threat 1 0.25% Request 83 21.60% Challenge 32 8.35% Apology 61 15.90% Criticism 22 5.75% Thanking 5 1.30% Compliment 48 12.5% Acquiesce 22 5.70% 21 5.45% Opt-out 36 9.40% N=384 100% Argument As displayed in table 3, request was the most frequently used strategy in situations which the offender happened to be the participant's classmate and is known to the participant. The findings showed that apology, compliment, justification, opt-out, challenge, criticism and argument were the second to tenth frequently used strategies respectively. According to table 3, thanking (n=5) and threat (n=1) were the least frequently used strategies in these situations. 8.2 Structured interviewed A structured interview was conducted after the questionnaire data were collected. The first question addressed the respondents’ perception about what they would mainly attend to when they want to respond to somebody in a rude or offensive situation targeted at them and whether variations in variables such as social status or social distance would affect their responses. From 51 respondents, the majority of respondents stated that it would definitely affect the way they respond to rudeness of the offender if he or she is of the same age or older than them and if the offender knows them or does not know them. According to one of the respondents, “I was paying attention to age factor when I wanted to somebody in a rude or offensive situation”. However, few respondents stated that it would not affect the way they respond to rudeness. One of the respondents stated in a response: “Sometimes, when the situation is too rude, I will not take in the factor of age, but just reply accordingly. This means that if the person is rude, I will be rude. If he is sarcastic, I will reply sarcastically, as well”. ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 53 The factors that might influence their responses were age, rank or position, level of rudeness, people, religion, the way the offender reprimands, the way of the offender’s mistakes, the way of communication, gender, intonation of the communication, situation, character, emotion, environmental conditions, and race. Some respondents mentioned that age was the factor, and some others commented that people were the factor. For factors, such as situation and the way of communication, few respondents mentioned each factor. A few respondents stated that gender was the factor. Few others conveyed that level of rudeness was the factor. For factors, such as rank or position, religion, the way the offender reprimands, the way of the offender’s mistakes, intonation of the communication, intention of the communication, character, emotion, environmental conditions, and race, few respondents mentioned each factor. The respondent, who stated people were the factor, mentioned this in a response: “It’s always the people that are one of the factors. I don’t mind if the people, who are close to me, are quite harsh to me because I can accept, but if the people, who are not close to me and are quite rude, I will definitely reprimand them”. However, the respondent, who stated that religion was the factor, mentioned this in a response: “I always have to think before acting harshly because I need to take in religion into account when it comes to responding to rudeness. This is because my actions and attitude reflect on my religion clearly and I do not want other people to look at my religion in a negative manner”. Respondents stated that they would take care of their speech in an interaction with people of higher social status (e.g. older than them) in order to show that they respect the older people. According to one of the respondents, “I will give less of a rude response if the offender is much older due to the respect given to the offender, thus I will try to take care of my speech with that person”. If the person that the respondents were talking to is a classmate or a stranger, they would talk normally, but if they did not know the person at all, the conversation would be more formal. One of the respondents stated this: “I would give response by analysing the offence first or the rude words that had been uttered or the offence that had been done by the offender”. This means that the level of rudeness did not affect that much, but if it is too rude, the respondents would respond back. When the offender was the respondents’ classmate or older friend/person, the respondents would try to compromise. If the offender was a stranger, the respondents would respond back nicely, but if the offender was committing an offence in an extreme manner, the respondents would scold back. Some respondents agreed that for older people or kids, their level of rudeness was forgiven, but if the level of rudeness was too high or extreme, the age factor was not considered anymore. One of the respondents stated this in a response: “Usually, the behaviour of the offender that is rude will cause me to give the response that is not good because if the offender is really rude, I will follow the way the offender talks by responding back rudely”. However, there was a respondent, who stated this in a response: “If the offender is too rude, he or she will not bother the offender because it is a completely waste of time”. This means that the respondent will just opt out when exposing to these situations. The respondents were then asked about their language of thought and whether they would think in Malay or English first in preparing their responses. From 51 respondents, the majority of the respondents stated that they were thinking first in Malay when they responded with these situations. One of them stated: “It’s easier for me to think in my mother tongue, which is Malay when I want to respond to these situations”. Few of the respondents, on the other hand, stated that they were thinking first in English when they were exposed with the rude situations. According to a respondent, “I’ve studied abroad for quite awhile before coming back to Malaysia. I guess I’m used to talk in English more, thus I will automatically think in English first when I want to respond with these situations”. Some of the respondents, however, conveyed that they were thinking in both Malay and English when they were responding to the situations. A respondent mentioned this: “Normally, I will speak in both Malay and English at home. It’s normal for me to think in both Malay and English when I am exposed to these situations”. Following this question, the respondents were asked whether they switched their language of thought at some point during of their responses. The majority of respondents stated that they did switch their language of thought at some point during their responses. From the respondents, who stated that they did switch their language of thought at some point during their responses, few respondents stated that they switched from English to Malay, while a few others stated they switched from Malay to English. Some respondents, however, stated that they did not switch their language of thought at any point during their responses. A few of the respondents switched their language of thought depending on the situations. Some respondents probably switched their language of thought without them knowing during their responses. There was a deviant case, whereby some respondents did not switch their language of thought, but they were using English and Malay during their responses, as they were thinking on these two languages together. 9. Discussion The findings of this study display that request is the most frequently used strategy by Malays. Moreover, apology and compliment are the second and third frequently used strategies by Malays. Rude people are everywhere. They ruin people's days with their rude comments and bad attitudes. This is not the intention of every rude person, though. Oftentimes, people are only being rude because they have had a bad day. There are effective ways to deal with rude people, without being mean. The factors that might influence their responses were age, rank or position, level of rudeness, people, religion, the way the offender reprimands, the way of the offender’s mistakes, the way of ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 54 communication, gender, intonation of the communication, situation, character, emotion, environmental conditions, and race. Age factor will definitely be taken into consideration when the respondents want to address the offender because most of the respondents agree that it is the factor when it comes to responding to rudeness. Usually, the respondents will always take care of their speech when they talk to people, so as not to evoke any conflicts in the conversations. This is taken from the interview with the respondents. The best way to deal with rude people is to ignore their rudeness by apologising although the respondents are not wrong when they are responded to rude situations. This shows that they show respect to the person that they are responding to. Apologising, when responding to rudeness, will help to resolve any tension between the respondents and the person, who is rude if the situation requires it. An apology can be the beginning of a resolution. When a person apologises, it will soften the rude person’s response. It is important to use manners to overcome the person’s rudeness. This is because most people, especially rude people would be taken aback by this approach and would quickly backtrack to reassure the respondents that the respondents have not offended them. When the offender is the respondents’ classmate or older friend/person, the respondents will try to compromise. When someone the respondents know personally is being rude, the respondents will talk to the person about it. The offender should know that the respondents feel that the way he/she treated the respondents was rude and unnecessary, since he/she may not have done it intentionally. There is also a possibility the respondents were unknowingly rude and he/she just reacted. If that is the case, the respondents should apologise. From Table 1, it could be seen that request shows the highest frequency, while apology shows the second highest frequency, and compliment shows the third highest frequency. All of these are frequencies for acts responding to rudeness. From all the situations that had been mentioned, some people say some rude words or complain negatively as a way of crying for help even though they may not be conscious of it. The respondents normally calm down the offender by taking the onus to lend a helping hand by just simply stating some requests, which can soften the offender’s rude ways of responding to the respondents. Simple requests can actually do wonders. This is because the offender might be busy or he/she is in the middle of doing something, thus he/she responds rudely to the respondents. Therefore, some requests stated by the respondents might help to ease the offender’s burden. However, sometimes, the respondents give their requests to the offender, so that the offender is aware that he/she needs to respond politely, instead of being rude. This is the so-called awakening call for the offender to behave appropriately. It is one of the persisting strategies that will make the offender knows that he/she is in the wrong. This is because the offender might not know that he/she is behaving rudely; therefore, requests are normally made by the respondents, so that the situations will be better. People these days need reminder to be polite from time to time. This will enable the offender to behave in an appropriate manner when he/she is conversing with the respondents. This is not to undermine people, but to make sure the conversation will be carried out in the way it is supposed to be. Some situations are meant to be solved without conflicts. The respondents would apologise when they are exposed to rude situations. Nonetheless, if the level of rudeness is too extreme especially when the respondents had already apologised, the respondents will definitely scold back. This does not happen frequently, only when the situations got worst. Most of the time some situations are meant to be complimented or greeted sarcastically because those rude acts that the offenders did, need to be reprimanded sarcastically, so the offender will be aware that he or she is actually rude in responding to the respondents. Complimenting or greeting the offender’s rudeness or bad behavior in a sarcastic way will catch the person off guard and he or she does not know what to say. Sometimes, the offender will be speechless when the respondents chastise him or her in a way that reminds his or her rudeness and mistakes. On the other hand, sometimes the respondents become sarcastic in the way they compliment or greet when they are irritated by the offender’s rude behavior, scared by the way the offender reacts, or just having a bad day, and other times, they do it when they are surrounded by rude people or exposed with rude situations. Sarcasm can be in the form of insult, but it is a mild form of insult because insult is an expression, statement (or sometimes behavior), which is considered degrading and offensive, while sarcasm is an expression by the respondents actually being scared of the rude situations/offender’s rude behavior or they are exposed to the rude situations that they do not know how to deal with, so this is how they learn to deal with it. Sarcasm can also be done intentionally (doing it just for fun) or unintentionally (irritated or agitated when people are in a bad mood and they are exposed to rudeness). Most sarcastic comments are, when taken literally, the opposite of what is intended. It is the respondents’ tone that gives the sarcasm away. Table 2 shows the frequency of strategies in high social status and high social distance situations. This means that the offender has a high social status and the social distance between the offender and the respondent is high because the respondent does not know the offender. From Table 2, insult, opt out, and compliment show the three highest frequencies. Table 3 shows the frequency of strategies in equal social status and low social distance situations. This means that the respondent knows the offender because the social distance between the offender and the respondent is low. From Table 3, request, apology, and compliment show the three highest frequencies, while opt out is ranked fifth and insult is ranked tenth in the table. This means that social status and social distance do not really play a part in responding to rudeness because from the results, it seems that the respondents react harshly or rudely and the situations are really rude, but when the situations are not really that rude, they will give a chance and not respond that rudely. According to the respondents, situations 1 to 3 are considered really rude compared to situations 4 to 6, thus the speech act responding to rudeness varies. ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 55 From the structured interview, most of the respondents were thinking first in Malay when they were responded with rude situations. Most of the respondents also switched their language of thought from English to Malay. That is why the frequencies of apologise, request, and opt out are the highest among the 12 pragmatic strategies. This is because Malay language is considered to be the most polite language compared to English and any other languages. This is in line with Song (2012, p. 32) who maintained that “cultural differences do play a role in perceptions of social factors between communicators. For instance, an old man and a young boy in the Western society can be friends”. However, the case is different in East Asia culture where the interpersonal relationship can be more formal due to the hierarchical nature of the culture. This means that in Malay culture, it is not possible to have a friendship between communicators of different age in a casual format. Song (2012, p. 32) further indicated that “some East Asian languages even utilize verbal conjugations or different words and phrases to show respect to elders, which leads to a more formal and longitudinal relationship”. Indeed, Malay language has its importance in giving an understanding for the politeness patterns of the Malays in Malaysia. The Malay language is influenced by its Malay culture, which emphasises self-control in the face of social conflict, hence uttering displeasure or disagreement is less likely to happen. The polite system of the Malays is deeply rooted in the “budi” complex. According to Teo (1996), Malays rely on indirectness in many common social situations, especially when they are trying to be polite Nonetheless, not all Malays are polite. There will be some, who are impolite, but not too impolite compared to the people from the international countries, such as the European countries, Iran, Arab, and so forth. Most of the respondents agreed that response to rudeness depends on culture, religion, family influence, way of surroundings, and social environment. It will be really sad to see the Malays being rude because they were taught and nurtured to be polite since young. Nevertheless, some Malays were not taught properly since young to be courteous and well-mannered. Therefore, we could see that some of them not portraying the correct behavior that they are supposed to be. If someone in a customer service position is rude to the respondents, they should try being excessively nice in return by looking at him/her in his/her eyes, calling him/her by his/her name and smiling. If the offender is a naturally rude person, the respondents will be killing the offender with kindness. If the person is just having a bad day, the respondents will make it better by being nice. The favour may even be returned the next time when the respondents are having a bad day too. 10. Limitation and suggestions for further studies Despite the fact that the present study has contributed to the body of research some valuable findings yet there are some limitations. Although the findings of this study have given interesting insight, there are some limitations to the study. First, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to the culture of all Malaysians due to the number of respondents. Moreover, the present study only includes one Malaysian ethnicity. Therefore, other studies with more respondents and with other Malaysian ethnicities (i.e. Chinese, Indian) are suggested. DCTs can provide researchers with reliable information on speakers’ pragmalinguistic feature to provide information on the use of strategies and linguistics form, as well as sociopragmatic knowledge, which all provide information on the use of their use of contextual favours under which certain strategies and linguistic choices (However, Kasper and Rose, 2002). However, responses in DCTs cannot be compared with actual production data (Tran, 2004, cited in Tran, 2006) since they reflect only what participants think they should say (Boxer, 1996), not what they actually say in reality. Therefore, it is suggested to use other instruments to ensure of the reliability of the findings (oral DCT, role play). 11. Conclusion Language is an integral part of our everyday life. People use language to transmit their ideas and thought and to communicate with each other. The appropriate use of language, however, is sometimes dependent on the context it is used to respond and be understood correctly. The appropriate use of language differs from one culture and context to another. This paper addressed the issue of impoliteness by studying the act of responding to rudeness by a group of Malaysian university students. The objectives of this study were to examine Malaysian university students’ productions and perceptions of responding to rudeness. It was a preliminary study to figure out what strategies Malay university students use in responding to an offensive language directed at them. The findings displayed that the respondents used the same types of strategies (e.g. threat, challenge, insult, etc.) in situations with variation in contextual variables (i.e. social status, social distance); however, the patterns of frequency of strategy use were different in such situations. The significance of this study can be discussed from different perspectives. First, the speech act of responding to rudeness may serve as an illuminating source of information on the socio-cultural values of a speech community and provide important insights into the social norms that are embedded in cultures. It is believed that the findings of this paper provides us some examples of the way Malays responding to offensive situations in Malaysia and in this way potentially contribute to devising better strategies for the development of communicative competence and broaden our knowledge of language and culture in Malaysia. Second, the present study adds to the literature already existence in specifically the area of cross-cultural pragmatics, i.e. the investigation of responding to rudeness within the Malaysian context. There is no single empirical study that has looked at the specific speech act of responding to rudeness by Malaysians. Hence, this study fills an existing gap in pragmatic research and lays a foundation for more studies that focus on Malaysians speech act production, comprehension, and development. ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 56 With regard to pedagogical implications, it is believed that the current analysis would be useful in the field of language teaching and language learning. For example the use of DCT as an assessing instrument might be useful in classroom where learners would be exposed to the way various speech acts are realized and produced including responding to rudeness. This would help raising learners pragmatic awareness of different culturally factors related to the realization of speech acts. A DCT provides learners with an opportunity practice the performance of speech act in a low –pressure situation in contrast to face to face interactions where the pressure is high demanding learners to respond more spontaneous. Using DCT as a tool in the class would help teachers to get an insight “on the state of learners’ discourse production systems or the extent to which available pragmatic knowledge is readily accessible in conversation” (Bergman and Kasper, 1993, p.101). Finally, this study has the potential to benefit language teachers and ESL curriculum and textbook designers. Language teachers can use the findings to anticipate and thus reduce the incidence and severity of situations where in learners experience cultural and language miscommunication that leads to communication breakdown. 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Schmidt (Eds.), Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Computer-Supported Coopemtive Work (pp. 235-248). Amsterdam, Netherlands. Farnia, M., Buchheit, L., & Vedaei, M. (2010). “Move away so I can hear”: Iranians and Americans’ responses to rudeness- A pilot study. International Journal of Humanities, 8(4), 51-63. Eisenstein, M., & Bodman, J. W. (1986). “I very appreciate”: expressions of gratitude by native and non-native speakers of American English. Applied Linguistics, 7(2), 167-185. Hymes, D. H. (1972). On communicative competence. In B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics (pp. 269-293). Harmondsworth: Penguin. Jamaliah Mohd. Ali. (1995). Indirectness in Malay diplomacy (with particular reference to business dealings and labor relations). Jurnal Bahasa Moden, 9, 19-28. ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 57 Jamaliah Mohd. Ali. (2002). Why we don’t say what we mean: A study of verbal indirection in communication. Jurnal Bahasa Moden, 14, 33-44. Kasper, G. (2000). Data collection in pragmatics research. In H. Spencer-Oatey (Ed.), Culturally speaking:managing rapport through talk across cultures (pp. 316-341). London: Continuum. Kasper, G. & Rose, K. (2002). Pragmatic development in a second language. Oxford: Blackwell. Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face interaction. Oxford, England: Aldine. Lakoff, R. T.(1989) The limits of politeness: Therapeutic and courtroom discourse. Multilingua 8 (2–3), 101–129. Lee, S. K. (2003). Exploring the relationship between language, culture and identity. GEMA Online TM Journal of Language Studies, 3(2), 1-13. Manes, J. (1983). Compliments: A mirror of cultural values. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 96-102). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Maros, M. (2007). The social functions of complaints in a Malay speech community. SEALS17 Martinez-Flor, A. (2006). Task effects on EFL learners’ production of suggestions: A focus on elicited phone messages and Emails. Journal of English and American Studies, 33, 47-64 Murphy, B., & Neu, J. (1996). My grade's too low: The speech act set of complaining. In S. M. Gass & J. Ne (Eds.), Speech acts across cultures: Challenges to communication in a second language (pp. 191-216). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Olshtain , E., & Cohen, A. D. (1983). Apology : A speech act set. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition (pp. 18-35). Rowley: Newbury House. Rose, K. R. (2009). Interlanguage pragmatic development in Hong Kong, phase 2. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 23452364. Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. (1997). Intercultural communication. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publisher. Song, S. (2012). Politeness and culture in second language acquisition. Great Britain: Palgrave MacmPALGRAVE MACMILLAN. Spencer-Oatey, H. (2000). Rapport management: A framework for analysis. In H. Spencer-Oatey (Ed.), Culturally speaking: Managing rapport through talk across cultures (pp. 11-46). London and New York: Continuum. Storz, M. L. (1999). Malay and Chinese values underlying the Malaysian business culture. International Journal of Intercultural Reatiol. 12(1), 117-131. Teo, K. S. (1995). Tahu bahasa/Tak tahu bahasa: Persoalan bahasa, budaya dan komunikasi. In Hanapi Dollah & Lokman Mohd. Zen (eds.), Kebudayaan Melayu di ambang Abad Baru: Satu Himpunan Makalah, (Malay Culture in the new millenium: A Collection of articles), (pp. 273-288). Bangi: Jabatan Persuratan Melayu. Teo, K. S. (1996). The acquisition of Malay as a second language: A case of the essentiality of culture learning. A paper presented at Southeast Asian Linguistics Society VI, May 10 – 12, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA. Tham. S. C. (1971). Tradition, values and society among the Malays. Review of Southeast Asian Studies, 4, 10-20 Tran, G. Q. (2006). The naturalised role-play: An innovative methodology in cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics research. Reflections on English Language Teaching, 5(2), 1-24. Westacott, E. (2006). The rights and wrongs of rudeness. Published in International Studies in Applied Philosophy, 20(1). Appendix A: 1. Anda berjalan ke dalam stor buku. Buku-buku yang anda minat untuk diperiksa terletak atas rak-rak buku belakang penjual buku. Anda menanyakan penjual buku, iaitu seorang lelaki yang lebih tua daripada anda dan anda TIDAK mengenalinya untuk memberikan anda satu atau dua daripada buku-buku tersebut. Selepas melihat beberapa muka surat, anda menanyakannya untuk memberikan anda buku yang satu lagi. Pada ketika ini, dia menjawab anda: “Saya tidak boleh menolong anda terlalu banyak- Saya mempunyai pelanggan-pelanggan yang lain!” - Anda akan kata: “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………….” - Sekiranya anda tidak dikawal oleh tekanan sosial: Anda akan rasa seperti mengatakan kepadanya? “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………….” ALLS 5(2):46-58, 2014 58 2. Untuk membeli-belah, anda pergi ke pasar raya yang besar dan berdiri dalam barisan yang panjang untuk meninggalkan pasar raya tersebut. Bagaimanapun, seorang pelanggan yang lebih tua yang anda TIDAK mengenali, menolak dan berdiri di depan anda. Apabila anda menuduhnya kerana memotong barisan, dia memberitahu anda: “Saya berada di depan anda dahulu--anda hanya tidak nampak saya!” - Anda akan kata: “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………..” - Sekiranya anda tidak dikawal oleh tekanan sosial: Anda rasa seperti mengatakan kepadanya? “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………..” 3. Anda pergi ke butik untuk membeli beberapa baju. Setelah anda menanyakan kerani, iaitu seorang lelaki yang lebih tua dan anda TIDAK mengenali untuk menunjukkan beberapa baju, anda kecewa apabila anda mengetahui yang tiada yang memenuhi kesukaan anda. Apabila meninggalkan tempat tersebut, anda terdengar kerani tersebut memberitahu rakan-rakan sekerjanya, “Pelanggan lain, hanya membuang masa kami”. - Anda akan kata: “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………….” - Sekiranya anda tidak dikawal oleh tekanan sosial: Anda rasa seperti mengatakan kepadanya? “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………..” 4.Anda sibuk membaca di perpustakaan, dan beberapa rakan sekelas anda yang anda mengenali mereka dengan baik sedang bercakap dengan kuat pada meja sebelah. Apabila anda mengadu tentang kebisingan mereka, seorang daripada mereka mengatakan: “Minta maaf, anda boleh menukar tempat duduk kamu sekiranya anda tidak gembira di sini”. - Anda akan kata: “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………….” - Sekiranya anda tidak dipengaruhi oleh tekanan sosial: Anda rasa seperti mengatakan kepadanya? “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………..” 5. Anda telah pergi ke pawagam. Dua orang yang baru berkahwin, iaitu kebetulannya ialah rakan-rakan sekelas anda dan anda mengenalinya dengan baik, duduk di belakang anda, mula berbisik dan ketawa, dan sebagai akibatnya,anda tidak boleh dengar filem itu. Apabila anda melihat ke belakang untuk menunjukkan mereka yang anda adalah kecewa, lelaki muda itu memberitahu anda: “Boleh saya bantu anda?” - Anda akan kata: “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………….” - Sekiranya anda tidak dikawal oleh tekanan sosial: Anda rasa seperti mengatakan kepadanya? “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………..” 6. Anda menaiki bas yang sesak. Membawa beg yang besar, anda cuba untuk melepasi jurang yang sempit di antara penumpang-penumpang untuk pergi ke pintu depan. Tiba-tiba seorang penumpang, iaitu kebetulannya rakan sekelas anda dan anda mengenalinya dengan baik, memberitahu dengan kasar, jelasnya kepada anda, “Saya rasa anada tidak pernah dengar perkataan ‘maafkan saya”. - Anda akan kata: “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………….” - Sekiranya anda tidak dikawal oleh tekanan sosial: Anda rasa seperti mengatakan kepadanya? “……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………..” Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia A Cross Cultural Analysis of Textual and Interpersonal Metadiscourse Markers: The Case of Economic Articles in English and Persian Newspapers Abbas Mehrabi Boshrabadi (Corresponding author) English Department, Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, PO box 81595-158, Isfahan, Iran E-mail: abbas.mehrabi596@gmail.com Reza Biria English Department, Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, PO box 81595-158, Isfahan, Iran E-mail: r_biria@yahoo.com Zahra Zavari Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, PO box 517, Najafabad, Iran E-mail: zahrazavari@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.59 Received: 09/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.59 Accepted: 28/03/2014 Abstract This study was an attempt to investigate the functional role of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers in English and Persian Economic news reports. To this end, 10 news articles, 5 in each language, were randomly selected from the Economic sections of the leading newspapers published in 2013-2014 in Iran and the United States. Based on Kopple’s (1985) taxonomy, the type and frequency of metadiscourse markers used in the texts were analyzed to find out their functions in the text. The findings revealed that the textual markers used by Persian authors were considerably more frequent than those employed by the American writers. Interestingly, unlike the Persian writers, the American authors enlisted a larger number of interpersonal markers, which made their angle of the subject treatment different. It is evident that the differential use of metadiscourse markers by nationally different authors could be attributed to culturespecific norms governing the development and organization of discourse. Keywords: Metadiscourse markers, Economic news articles, Newspaper discourse, Interpersonal metadiscourse markers, Textual metadiscourse markers 1. Introduction Metadiscourse, a relatively new concept in the area of discourse analysis, refers to the ways speakers and writers address and communicate with their audience. It embodies the idea that writers and speakers should go beyond the ideational dimension, or propositional content, of text and speech in order to communicate their message effectively. As such, metadiscourse is a term used by most practitioners of the field so as to refer to the textual resources beyond sentence or pragmatic levels. Rather than only representing their ideas and information through language, writers need to consider the expectations and requirements of their receivers so as to engage them in the reading process and affect their understanding of the discourse produced. This view, as Dafouze-Milne (2008) maintains, is based on the assumption that writing is a social and communicative process and, in this regard, metadiscourse is used to organize and create a given text by involving the reader and expressing the author’s inputs and stances. According to Halliday (1994), language can be functionally divided into three categories; namely, ideational, interpersonal, and textual. While ideational function refers to the information the writer or speaker communicates, interpersonal function is concerned with the way language establishes, maintains, and signals relations among people. Finally, textual function of language aims at creating coherent written and spoken texts related to its audience as well as its context. However, the focus of the present study is on the textual and interpersonal functions of the language known as metadiscourse. The concept of metadiscourse has been defined differently by various researchers. Vande Kopple (1985), as an example, defines metadiscourse as “discourse that people [writers] utilize to expand referential material and help their readers connect, organize, interpret, evaluate, and develop attitudes towards that material” (P. 83). As Kopple puts it, writers work on two levels. On the primary level, the propositional content or the information about subject matter is satisfied; on the metadiscourse level, nothing is added to the content but the readers are engaged in finding out the message and the writer’s views; in fact, writers focus on how they are communicating with the readers. Clearly, ALLS 5(2):59-66, 2014 60 according to Vande Kopple, primary discourse is primarily concerned with the ideational function, whereas metadiscourse is related to the textual and interpersonal functions of language. Focusing on the definition provided by Vande Kopple (1985), in 1998, Hyland organized metadiscourse markers into two main categories, viz, textual and interpersonal. As Hyland maintains, the textual metadiscourse elements can be, based on the functions they serve in the text, further divided into five subtypes; namely, Endophoric Markers, Frame Markers, Logical Connectives, Code Glosses, and Evidentials. The first category, endophoric markers, can be described as the linguistic elements referring to the earlier materials in the text so as to support the argument and help readers understand the text better (e.g., as noted above). Frame markers are words or phrases that sequence parts of a text (e.g., first, then, at the same time) or change the topic (e.g., lets return to, now) or label the text stages (e.g., finally, to summarize). Logical connectives, as the name suggests, semantically connect the main ideas that are internal to text. They are mostly conjunctives and adverbial phrases such as in addition, but, therefore, and likewise. Code glosses are the next category of metadiscourse markers. As Hyland (2005, P. 52) states, code glosses are “textual devices that supply additional information by rephrasing, explaining or elaborating what has been said, to ensure the reader recovers the writer’s intended meaning” (e.g., namely, in other words, such as). And finally, evidentials refer to the sources of information from other texts. The utility of evidentials by authors or researchers is mostly to provide evidence for their work by citing the works or ideas of other authors (e.g., according to X, as X puts it, X states that). The interpersonal metadiscourse markers, on the other hand, provide the writers with linguistic elements so as for them to express their attitudes and perspectives toward the propositional content of the text. These linguistic signals help writers to engage the readers in the text by addressing them directly. Along the same line with textual metadiscourse markers, Hyland (1998) also classified the interpersonal metadiscourse markers into five major categories: Emphatics, Hedges, Person Markers, Relational Markers, and Attitude Markers. Emphatics can be described as metadiscourse markers writers use in order to express their certainty concerning an idea, or to emphasize their claims in the text by such linguistic elements as certainly, definitely, and it is obvious. However, when writers are uncertain about the truth of their claims they employ linguistic entities like might, perhaps, it is possible, etc. These subtypes of metadiscourse markers are referred to as “hedges”. There are also situations in which writers desire to convey their presence in the text. In such cases, they enlist linguistic items called “Person Markers”; examples of such markers include I, we, my, and mine. The other type of interpersonal metadiscourse markers is relational markers by which writers directly refer to or build relationship with the readers. Phrases like Dear reader, please consider, and note that, are but a few examples of relational markers. And the last category subsumed within the interpersonal metadiscourse markers classification includes “attitude markers”. They are employed when writers are in need of communicating their perspectives and attitudes towards the propositional content of the text. For example, words or phrases such as surprisingly, I agree, and I hope, fall into such category. Accordingly, metadiscourse markers, as Hyland (2005) believes, are linguistic elements writers (or speakers) utilize to not only exchange the information, but also express their attitudes, personalities, and assumptions by addressing and interacting with the receivers of the message. Hyland further argue that in this way, “the writer is not simply presenting information about the suggested route by just listing changes of direction, but taking the trouble to see the walk from the reader’s perspective” (P. 3). Using metadiscourse markers in the text, writers would be able to instantiate the intended propositional content and their ideas both coherently and intelligibly for revealing the maze of their units of thoughts to the readers. Furthermore, metadiscourse markers would build an interaction between the reader and writer and account for the atmosphere and reader-friendliness of the text (Hyland & Tse, 2004). For instance, writers intelligibly communicate their own ideas when they employ illocution markers such as I recommend that, or I believe that; or they inform readers about the degree of their certainty in making a proposition with regard to a given idea by applying hedges like perhaps, might, and apparently as well as emphatics such as clearly, undoubtedly, and surely. 2. Review of Relevant Literature Indubitably, metadiscourse is claimed to be an important area in discourse analysis in that it helps writers to convey their intended message effectively by creating a social and communicative interaction with the reader. Through using metadiscourse markers, writers would be capable of creating a coherent text and thus increasing the efficiency of the text. As a result of these and other merits of the utility of metadiscourse markers in the text, metadiscourse analysis has recently captured the attention of many practitioners of the field and a wide range of empirical studies have been conducted in various genres and contexts including, but not limited to, academic writing (Hyland & Tse, 2004; Simin & Tavangar, 2009; VahidDastjerdi & Shirzad, 2010), research articles (Abdi, 2002; Zarei & Mansouri, 2011), and newspaper discourse (Abdollahzadeh, 2007; Hashemi & Golparvar, 2012). The first, and most important, area of investigation regarding the role of metadiscourse markers in the text has focused on the persuasive function of these linguistic elements. Metadiscourse markers play an important role in persuasive writing and act as persuasive tools which writers utilize in their texts to influence the readers. Hyland (2005) addresses this issue stating that metadiscourse markers, if used properly, might contribute to the art of persuasion by virtue of the fact that they foster logical appeal once they directly associate ideas with arguments, and indicate approval if they are in line with the reader’s way of thinking. In this regard, Dafouz-Milne (2003) examined the use of interpersonal and textual metadiscourse markers in the opinion columns of two elite newspapers: the Spanish El Pais and the British The Times. Using 40 opinion articles, 20 in each newspaper, as her corpus materials, Dafouz concluded that the frequency of textual metadiscourse markers (e.g., logical connectives, code glosses) used by Spanish writers was more than that of English reporters, whereas the British writers used more instances of interpersonal markers (e.g., hedges, attitude markers) compared with the Spanish news reporters. ALLS 5(2):59-66, 2014 61 Abdollahzadeh (2007) also tried to investigate the ways writers with different cultures organize their written texts by using metadiscourse markers. To this end, he analyzed 53 Persian and English (British and U.S) newspaper editorials. The results indicated no significant difference between Persian and English editorials for the metadiscourse subtypes of text connectives, attitude markers, and person markers. Concerning the interpersonal metadiscourse markers, however, it was found that English editorials used more hedges while Persian editorials used more emphatics. The researcher concluded that the frequent use of emphatics by the Persian editorial writers was most likely due to an Iranian tradition of valuing and abiding by the rules of those in power without questioning them or without expressing uncertainty about social and, especially, religious issues. On the other hand, the heavy use of hedges by the English editorial writers was related to their being more considerate and polite to their readers. Along the same line, Noorian and Biria (2010) investigated the frequency and degree of the use of interpersonal metadiscourse markers in persuasive discourse. In this study, the metadiscourse markers used in English opinion articles written by American and Iranian columnists were compared. The results revealed that interpersonal metadiscourse markers were present in both sets of corpora, but there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the occurrences of interpersonal markers, especially in the case of Commentaries. The findings also suggested that different factors such as culture-driven preferences, genre-driven conventions, and Iranian EFL writers’ extent of foreign language experience interacted in choosing the interpersonal metadiscourse markers by the columnists. Regarding the frequency of the use of different metadiscourse markers in newspapers discourse, in 2012, Hashemi and Golparvar investigated the textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers used in Persian news reports. The results indicated that metadiscourse markers were frequently utilized in Persian news reports and also the number of textual metadiscourse markers was much higher compared with interpersonal metadiscourse markers. Along the same line, Yazdani, Sharifi, and Elyassi (2014) tried to examine the role interpersonal metadiscourse markers play in Political English and Persian news articles. Choosing 30 news articles extracted from both languages and using Hyland’s (2005) classification of interpersonal metadiscourse markers, they tried to discover the existing differences between the two languages. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between two sets of data in terms of the frequency of interpersonal markers. The findings reflected that American journalists tended to use these linguistic items more frequently in their news articles. Moreover, it was concluded that Iranian writers, in formal contexts, did not show a tendency towards using personal markers such as I, we, and our, in writing news articles; instead, they preferred to apply third person pronouns and passive structures to address the reader about their ideas. Obviously, metadiscourse analysis has been dealt with in a number of empirical studies focusing on different genres and contexts, as was mentioned above. However, few studies, if any, have considered the role of metadiscursive elements in Economic newspaper reports. As Crismore and Abdollahzadeh (2010) claim, little attention has been paid to the newspaper discourse which is considered as an important genre in the field. As such, this study set out to compare the frequency of different types of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers in English and Persian Economic news articles. The logic behind considering this genre was that Economic news reports are undoubtedly among the most widely read newspaper articles by Iranian people nowadays because of the current economic situation in Iran. 3. Methodology 3.1 Materials This study was an attempt to comparatively investigate the type and frequency of metadiscourse markers employed in Economic articles in English and Persian newspapers. Accordingly, the corpus data were collected from the online archive (2013-2014) of the leading newspapers published periodically in Iran and United State. Using random sampling, from among 50 articles, a total of 10 news articles, 5 in each language, were selected. The logic behind using random sampling relied on the fact that it would help the researchers bring the problem of particularity of writers’ styles under control. To have an equal amount of data in both languages, the first 1000 words from each text were analyzed. The texts were also selected from the same field; i.e. Economy. This would ensure comparability of the texts because, as some practitioners of the field (e.g., Thompson, 2001; Dafouz-Milne, 2003) maintain, the type and frequency of the linguistic elements such as metadiscourse markers in a given text may be considerably influenced by the topic of the text. The most reliable national news agencies like IRNA, IPNA, and ISNA were considered as the sources for selecting the Persian news articles. The English articles were also selected from the leading American newspapers such as The New York Times, Washington Times, and USA Today. 3.2 Data Collection Procedures To reach the purpose of the study, 10 news articles (5 from each language) were randomly selected from among 50 articles in the Economic sections of the newspapers. The analysis of the type and frequency of the metadiscourse markers used in the selected texts was based on the Kopple’s (1985) taxonomy, which would follow. 3.3 Vande Koppel’s Metadiscourse Markers’ Taxonomy Kopple (1985) introduced the first sophisticated classification of the metadiscourse markers based on their functions in the text. In his classification system, Kopple divided two main categories of textual and interpersonal items into seven different classes, which would follow. The first four categories are considered as textual metadiscourse markers and the last three categories as interpersonal metadiscourse markers. 1. Text Connectives: these are linguistic items employed by writers in order to link different parts of a text or different ideas presented in the text. they include phrases or words that show the sequence of the ideas (e.g., ALLS 5(2):59-66, 2014 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 62 first, then, after that), expressions that indicate logical or temporal relationships (e.g., as a consequence, at the same time, however), reminders of the previous ideas or materials (e.g., as mentioned before, as we saw earlier), expressions that point to the upcoming materials (e.g., details will be discussed in the forthcoming chapter), and words or phrases that point to the main topic of a sentence or text as a whole (e.g., with regard to, considering, regarding). Code Glosses: these items are used by writers to ensure the readers understand the meanings of specific elements, phrases, or idioms (e.g. that is, it means that, in other words). Code glosses are further divided into three main subcategories of Defining (e.g., it is defined as), Explaining (e.g., it means that, namely), and Delimiting (e.g., somewhat, to a certain degree) Illocution Markers: They can be defined as linguistic elements used in a given text so as to signal the readers what specific speech or discourse act the writer is performing in a given point in the text (e.g., to sum up, I hypothesize that, the purpose is that,). Narrators: They are expressions that inform readers who has said or written a given idea or comment (e.g. as X states, according to X, X and Y claimed that). Validity/modality markers: as a category of interpersonal markers, validity markers are elements that are employed by writers in order to express their certainty or uncertainty about a given idea or comment presented in the text. By applying such linguistic elements in their texts, authors would be able to indicate the extent to which the text’s content is valid. Kopple classified them into three subcategories; namely, Hedges (e.g., perhaps, probably, it is possible that), Emphatics (e.g., indubitably, it is obvious that, clearly), and attributors that are used to refer explicitly to the source of information presented in a text in order to persuade readers (e.g. according to Prime Minister, as X remarked). Attitude Markers: They help the readers to grasp the author’s attitude toward a specific idea or a given material in the text (e.g. it is interesting, surprisingly, considerably). Commentary: They are applied by authors so as to establish a relationship with the readers/audience (e.g. you may not agree that, dear reader). To analyze the type and frequency of the metadiscourse markers utilized by Persian authors in their texts, the researchers made an attempt to take into consideration the proper Persian equivalents for each subcategory introduced in Kopple’s taxonomy. Some instances of such equivalents and their corresponding English items for textual metadiscourse markers are represented in Table 1. Table 1. Sample Persian equivalents for textual metadiscourse markers Textual markers 1 Persian Equivalents Text Connectives Sequencers Logical/Temporal connectors Ƃ ƃ ¤Ǜƹǃ ə ¤Ǡǃ ǚ First, second, then ƳǛҳ ƼNJ Ɲﬞ ə ¤Ƽljǚ Ǜƾ ¤ǀ ҰNJ Қƽﬞ ə As a consequence, accordingly, at the same time Reminders Announcements ӨƇ Ʊө ǡ ƫ ǀ ầ ﬞ DŽ Ɩ ƽǛƺǁ Ƹlj‫ײַ‬ǚə NJ ƹ ǀ ҚƲƽ ƼljǚLjƃﬞ Topicalizers 2 English Items As mentioned before ǀ ƻDŽ ƾầǚ We will now investigate the issue əﬞ DŽ ƹﬞ ə ¤ǀ Ɯүǚﬞ With regard to, as for əDŽ ƈNJ ƹ Ʀ lj ƞҗғ ﬞ DŽ Ƌ Ƽljǚǀ ... It can be defined as… Code Glosses Defining Explaining Ậljə ғ ﬞ ǛƝ ǀ ¤ǀ ƲƾljǚẮƾƞljƼljǚ In other words, it means that Delimiting ǛҚƄƽ ¤ậ ǚƿ‫ײַ‬ǚӨƽǚǛҗ Relatively, somewhat 3 Illocution markers 4 Narrators ...ǀ ƱӨNJ ƾƱƍ Ƨ¤ƛ DŽ ƺҰƹ ﬞ ə ¤ǀ ƽDŽ ƺƽ LJǚ Ljƽǡ Ƨ ƚ ƽ ƪ Ɠ ¤Ljƽǡ Ƨ LJǛƝəǚƁ Ǜƃǚ As an example, to sum up, suppose that… As X claims, according to X The sample Persian Equivalents for interpersonal metadiscourse markers are also demonstrated in Table 2. Table 2. Sample Persian equivalents for interpersonal metadiscourse markers Textual markers 1 Persian Equivalents English Items Validity markers Hedges Emphatics ǀ ƱҖƃǚƼƲƺƹ ¤ǠǛƺҚҳǚ Probably, it is possible that ƮƇ Lj ¤ǀ ƱҖƃǚƊ Əƈƹ It is clear that, indubitably ALLS 5(2):59-66, 2014 63 Attributors 2 Attitude markers 3 Commentary lj‫ײַ‬ǃ ҖƄƏƽ ǀ Қƨẫ Ɓ Ǜƃǚ According to prime minister ǀ ầ Җƃǚ ƵǛү ¤LjƵǛү ‫ ײַ‬Ɠ ǀ Surprisingly, it is interesting Comment on readers’ moods and views Comment on reading procedures Comment on anticipations for readers Comment on author-reader relationships ... ¤ǛƺƇ ƿӨNJ ƬƝ ƥ ǡ һ ӨNJ ƽǚDŽ Ə ǚﬞ ẮljǛǂ ҚƽǚƆ Ə ǚӨҚǚӨNJ ƇǛƴljǛƹ ҖƃǚƼẨƺƹ ǀ ﬞ ǚDŽ Ƈə ƹǚậ ǚӨҚǚﬞ ə ҖƃǚƼẨƺƹ ậ Өƞ Contrary to your opinion, … You may wish to read the last chapter first ƵǛƖ ƹ Өƾljǎ ƚ ƽ ... ¤ǛƺƇ Ɔ ƽǚə ҲƖ ƃ ƼҚƧ ẫ ƚ ƽ ﬞ ə Ǜ¤Ắƹǚ ẫ ƿӨƾƽǚDŽ һ Dear reader, considering your knowledge, … For the purpose of specifying the type and frequency of occurrence of metadiscourse markers in each text, the researchers employed the opinions of two specialists in the field. Their opinions were of great help in not only identifying the metadiscourse markers but also consistently coding the related texts. The inter-rater reliability of the coders was estimated, which turned out to be 0.80. Having identified and categorized the metadiscourse markers, the researchers conducted a quantitative analysis in order to determine the frequency of different types of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers employed in each set of texts. It should be noted here that although a given metadiscourse marker may functionally play different roles in different contexts, the primary function of each marker in the related context was determined as the basis for the analysis of the metadiscourse markers used in these texts. Finally the collected data were analyzed using non-parametrical means, viz, Mann-Whitney U test, to see whether or not the differences between the two sets of data in terms of frequency of metadiscourse items were significant. The reason for selecting Mann-Whitney U test was that the metadiscourse elements employed in the sample news articles did not enjoy a normal distribution. To conclude, in this study, the metadiscourse element used in both English and their corresponding Persian texts were first qualitatively analyzed based on their function in the related context so as to specify and classify them into different categories. In the next stage, the collected data were quantitatively analyzed in order to determine their frequency of occurrence in a given text and to realize whether there was a statistically significant difference between two sets of corpus data in this respect. 4. Results and Discussion As mentioned, the collected data were analyzed via non-parametrical means (Mann-Whitney U test). Regarding textual metadiscourse markers, as it can be induced from Table 3, the findings demonstrate that there is a statistically significant difference in the Announcements frequency (p=.034) between American and Persian economic news reports. Moreover, both sets of texts enjoyed a high frequency of occurrence of Logical Connectors, with the Persian writers using more such elements in their texts than American writers (70 vs. 50 items, respectively). Within the categories of textual markers, illocution markers were used the least in both sets of data. For further analysis of each category and sub-category of textual metadiscourse markers, see Table 3. Table 3. Results for textual metadiscourse markers’ subcategories Macro Category 1.Text Connectives 2.Code Glosses 3.Illocution Markers 4.Narrators Sub Category No. of Markers Persians No. of Markers Americans Sequencers Logical connectors Reminders Announcements Topicalizers Defining Explaining Delimiting ............... 33 70 18 18 27 02 10 11 02 20 50 11 09 20 04 12 09 03 ............... 25 20 Mann-Whitney U Test Asymp. Sig (2-tailed) 0.525 0.834 0.454 0.034 0.592 0.419 0.729 0.661 0.549 0.449 With respect to interpersonal metadiscourse markers’ categories and sub categories, the results of statistical analysis, as shown in Table 4, reveal that most of the markers are used to the same extent in both sets of data, with the exception of Attributors. Although American authors indicated more tendency towards using attributors in reporting the Economic ALLS 5(2):59-66, 2014 64 news, but the difference is not too much to be statistically significant. The only statistically significant difference in terms of frequency of interpersonal metadiscourse markers is found in Emphatics (p=.041). Accordingly, when it comes to employing emphatic items (e.g., clearly, undoubtedly) in their texts, American and Persian writers act differently. Figures in the Table 4 show that Persian authors are more in favour of using such linguistic elements in their texts than are their corresponding American writers. Finally, Commentaries were the least frequent category of interpersonal markers both groups of writers tended to employ in writing Economic news reports. Table 4. Results for interpersonal metadiscourse markers’ subcategories Macro Category 1.Validity Markers 2.Attitude Markers 3.Commentry Sub Category No. of Markers Persians No. of Markers Americans Mann-Whitney U Test Asymp. Sig (2-tailed) 0.395 0.041 0.462 0.911 Hedges Emphatics Attributors ............. 15 14 57 13 20 04 71 16 Comment on readers’ moods and views 05 03 0.729 Comment on reading procedures 01 00 0.317 Comment on anticipations for readers 03 05 0.339 Comment on authorreader relationship 06 10 0.334 Table 5 below illustrates the overall percentages of the textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers’ macrocategories used in Economic texts written by both American and Persian authors. In the vein of textual macrocategories, in the texts written by Iranian writers, text connectives are the most numerous markers (50.30%), followed by narrators (7.57%), code glosses (6.96%), and finally illocution markers (.6%). In the American group’s texts, text connectives are also more frequently used (38.32%) than other markers, followed by code glosses (8.71%), narrators (6.96%), and finally illocution markers (1.4%). Following the interpersonal metadiscourse markers’ macro-categories, in texts written by Iranian writers, validity markers capture the most proportion (26.06%), followed by commentary (4.54%), and at last attitude markers (3.93%). Similarly, in the texts written by corresponding American authors, validity markers are the most numerous interpersonal marker employed (33.10%), followed by commentary (6.27%), and finally attitude markers that are situated in the last place (5.57%). Table 5. Results for textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers’ macro-categories Macro No. of Markers No. of Markers Persian News American News Category Persians Americans % % 1.text connectives 166 110 50.30 38.32 2.Code Glosses 23 25 6.96 8.71 3.Illocution Markers 02 03 0.6 1.4 4.Narrators 25 20 7.57 6.96 5. Validity Markers 86 95 26.06 33.10 6.Attitude Markers 13 16 3.93 5.57 7.Commentry 15 18 4.54 6.27 To conclude, the results of the statistical analysis represented in Tables 3, 4, and 5 clearly reveal that there exist many similarities between two sets of data concerning the frequency of different metadiscourse markers. Regarding the textual markers in the macro-category of Text Connectives, the logical connectors appear to be the most frequent items utilized in the Economic texts written by both American and Persian authors. Alternatively, neither American nor Persian writers seem to favour using illocution markers in their texts. The only statistically significant difference between the two groups is found in the frequency of the announcements (p=.034) which are a subcategory of text connectives. In fact, the frequency of announcements employed by Persian authors was twice more than that of American writers. ALLS 5(2):59-66, 2014 65 It is clearly observed that American authors utilized all subcategories of interpersonal markers slightly more frequently in their texts except for emphatics. In this case, as Table 4 illustrates, the difference between two groups is statistically significant (p=.041). In fact, Persian writers made use of emphatics in their texts far more frequently than the American group. Contrary to Persian group, American writers appear to use hedges more frequently in their texts in order to show uncertainty about a given idea. As Hyland (2005) maintains, metadiscourse markers are universal features of texture by which authors would be able to explicitly organize and evaluate their texts to communicate with the readers. This claim is evidently substantiated by the results in this study as both groups of writers made a logical use of these linguistic elements. Furthermore, the findings also indicate that both American and Persian authors used textual metadiscourse markers far more frequently in their texts than interpersonal markers. This finding is also in line with the claim made by Hempel and Degand (2008) on the importance of textual markers used in various texts. In this regard, Hempel and Degand believe that textual metadiscourse resources are the authors’ conscious stratagem in constructing the propositional content which they aim to convey to the addressee. In the vein of textual metadiscourse markers, the results of the analyses reveal that text connectives are the most frequent items used by Persian writers compared to the American group. This is acknowledged by the results found in the study conducted by Simin and Tavangar (2009). Based on their findings, they concluded that all Iranian EFL writers with different proficiency levels used text connectives as the most frequently used textual markers in their English texts. By contrast, the findings of the present study suggest that interpersonal markers are used more frequently in the Economic texts written by American writers than those written by Persian authors (see Table 5). This is quite consistent with the results of the studies conducted by Abdollahzadeh (2003) and Yazdani, Sharifi, and Elyassi (2014). In both projects, researchers made a comparative investigation of interpersonal metadiscourse markers employed by both American and Iranian authors in their texts. The results indicated that American writers tended to use these items in writing academic texts more than that of Iranian authors. One possible reason for this tendency, according to Leki (2002), would be that the writers’ cultural background has a great bearing on their writing styles. In fact, American authors are so concerned about the reader-writer interaction that they prefer to use more interpersonal markers in their texts in order to establish a strong solidarity with their target audience. This idea is supported by the results of this study in that American writers appeared to use hedges more frequently in their texts compared to Persian writers. As Hyland (2005) claims, hedges play a pivotal role in creating rapport between authors and their respective audiences. Contrary to American group, Persian writers appear to use more emphatics (e.g., certainly, undoubtedly) in their texts in order to show they are certain about a given idea. Such a difference is clearly indicative of the fact that cultural differences are certainly at work in text creation. This reality is appreciated in the study carried out by Noorian and Biria (2010) in which they concluded that while Persian writers favoured the use of emphatics in their texts, the American group showed a great tendency towards using hedges. Based on their findings, they claimed that Persian writers tend to be more assertive in their writings, whereas the American authors tried to be more polite to their readers by limiting the use of emphatics in their texts. 5. Conclusion This study set out to explore the similarities and differences between English and Persian Economic news reports in terms of the frequency of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers used. Using 10 news articles, 5 from each language, the researchers analyzed the data based on the Kopple’s (1985) taxonomy of metadiscourse markers. Regarding the textual metadiscourse markers, the results of the analyses revealed that both groups of writers utilized textual markers, especially text connectives, far more frequently in their texts compared to interpersonal markers. Surprisingly, the only statistically significant difference between two sets of data was found in the frequency of Announcements (p=.034). The results of interpersonal markers, on the other hand, indicated that the American group used these items slightly more than Persian writers. However, there was a difference between two groups in the case of certainty markers. In fact, as it has been acknowledged in similar studies (Abdollahzadeh, 2007; Noorian & Biria, 2010), while the Persian authors appeared to use more emphatics in their texts, the American group tended to make use of hedges more in writing the Economic news reports. Accordingly, it can be concluded that contrary to Persian writers, American Authors may be less assertive, more conservative, and more inclined to express their affective values in their writings. In the case of American writers, the dominance of the use of interpersonal markers can be attributed to the cultural background of the writers in that they show more tendencies towards establishing reader-writer rapport in their texts. Due to the fact that metadiscourse is a branch of pragmatics, teachers and practitioners of the field should pay more attention to this aspect of language because, as Crismore, Markkanen, and Steffensen (1993) maintain, gaining knowledge in this area is rather difficult. As such, metadiscourse studies such as this may be of great help to both foreign language teachers and learners by revealing the possible problematic areas in the utility of metadiscourse markers in the texts. Students need to become familiar with the concepts of cohesion and coherence in the text and the only way to reach this end is through learning the functional roles of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers in different contexts and genres. ALLS 5(2):59-66, 2014 66 References Abdi, R. (2002). Interpersonal metadiscourse: An indicator of interaction and identity. Discourse Studies, 4(2), 139-145. Abdollahzadeh, E. (2003). Interpersonal metadiscourse in ELT papers by Iranian and Anglo-American academic writers. Paper presented at the International Conference on Multiculturalism in ELT Practice, Baskent University, Turkey Abdollahzadeh, E. (2007). Writer’s presence in Persian and English newspaper editorial. Paper presented at the International Conference on Systemic Functional Linguistics, Odense, Denmark. Crismore, A., & Abdollahzadeh, E. (2010). A review of recent metadiscourse studies: The Iranian context. NJES, 9(2), 195-219. Crismore, A., Markkanen, R., & Steffensen, M.S. (1993). Metadiscourse in persuasive writing: A study of text written by American and Finnish university students. Written Communication, 10(1), 39-71. doi: 10.1177/0741088393010001002. Dafouz-Milne, E. (2003). Metadiscourse revisited: A contrastive study of persuasive writing in professional discourse. Estudios Ingleses de la Universidad Complutense, 11, 29-57. Dafouz-Milne, E. (2008). The pragmatic role of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers in the construction and attainment of persuasion: A cross-linguistic study of newspaper discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 40, 95-113. Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar (2nd Ed.). London: Edward Arnold. Hashemi, M.R., & Golparvar, E. (2012). Exploring metadiscourse markers in Persian news reports. International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow, 1(2), 1-6. Hempel, S., & Degand, L. (2008). Sequencers in different text genres: Academic writing, journalese and fiction. Journal of Pragmatics, 40, 676–693. Thompson, G. (2001). Interaction in academic writing: Learning to argue with the reader. Applied Linguistics, 22(1), 58-78. Hyland, K. (1998). Exploring corporate rhetoric: Metadiscourse in the CEO's letter. Journal of Business Communication, 35(2), 224–245. Hyland, K. (2005). Metadiscourse: Exploring Interaction in Writing. London: Continuum. Hyland, K., & Tse, P. (2004). Metadiscourse in academic writing: A reappraisal. Applied Linguistics, 25 (2), 156–177. Leki, I. (2002). Second language writing. In R. B. Kaplan (Ed), The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 6069). New York: Oxford University Press. Noorian, M., & Biria, R. (2010). Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study texts by American and Iranian EFL columnists. Journal of Modern Languages, 20, 64-79. Simin, S., & Tavangar, M. (2009). Metadiscourse knowledge and use in Iranian EFL writing. Asian EFL Journal, 11(1), 230-255. VahidDastjerdi, H., & Shirzad, M. (2010). The impact of explicit instruction of metadiscourse markers on EFL learners’ writing performance. Journal of Teaching Language Skills, 2(2), 155-174. Vande Kopple, W. J. (1985). Discourse about discourse. College Composition and Communication, 36, 82–93. Yazdani, S., Sharifi, SH., & Elyassi, M. (2014). Interactional metadiscourse in English and Persian news articles about 9/11. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4 (2), 428-434. doi:10.4304/tpls.4.2.428-434b Zarei, G. R., & Mansoori, S. (2011). A contrastive study on metadiscourse elements used in humanities vs. nonhumanities across Persian and English. English Language Teaching, 4(1), 42-50. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia The Extend of Adaptation Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain In English Questions Included in General Secondary Exams Mohammad Akram Alzu'bi English Department, Ajloun University College, AL-Balqa Applied University, Jordan E-mail: dralzubi1978@bau.edu.jo Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.67 Received: 07/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.67 Accepted: 28/03/2014 Abstract The study aimed at analyzing English questions of the Jordanian Secondary Certificate Examinations via Blooms' cognitive levels. An analysis sheet was prepared by the researcher for the purpose of the study, which was ensured to be valid and reliable. The whole questions of the general secondary examinations for English course in both levels (level three and level four) during 2010-2013 composed the sample of the study. Frequencies and percentages were tabulated to facilitate the analysis of the results. The result of the study revealed that the total percentage of the first three levels (comprehension, knowledge, and analysis) is (69.6) but the total percentage of the last three levels (application, synthesis, and evaluation) is (30.4) so it indicated that the English questions included in general secondary examinations emphasize low order thinking levels. The researcher recommended that the questions designers should improve their questioning techniques in writing questions of exams. Keywords: Analyzing; Secondary Certificate Examinations; Bloom's Taxonomy; Low level; High level 1. The introduction The secondary stage is considered to be the last stage in the student's life. The Ministry of Education in Jordan takes care of this stage because the university acceptance depends on the average of this stage and the students' desires, so the successful candidate also can move from school stage to the university program. Also it prepares the students for the knowledge and basic skills required to meet society’s needs. English is one of the obligatory subjects in all streams because it is dominant language and required international language of communications, science, information technology, business, and entertainment. To measure what students learn of knowledge and experiences, teachers use achievement exams to carry out the purposes, so the achievement exams contribute in improving the learning process (Abu Hwaij &et.al, 2002). Thus, it is necessary to prepare and build the exams correctly to help the teachers and students. However, most of the questions designers are not trained so the exams become uncompleted and do not meet the hopeful goals (Adas, 1999). The teachers should recognize the goals to achieve them through recognizing the characteristics of the learners, their needs, and attitudes. They should include different questions taken from the textbook to improve the students' ability to have critical thinking and decision making. And one way of improvement is through the questions presented in the exams (Franklin, 1982). However, there are several classifications in the field of evaluating and analyzing tests questions. For example, Bloom's Classification of Cognitive skills (Bloom's Taxonomy) is the most common one. Benjamin Bloom created Bloom's Taxonomy during the 1950s to categorize the levels of reasoning skills required in classroom situations. It includes six levels of cognition that are ordered hierarchically; these levels are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The teacher and exam designers should adopt the whole cognitive levels in writing the tests. They should not write only tests to assess low levels like knowledge, comprehension, and application, but also to measure high levels and to use them in the lesson plans and tests. Kelly (2014) claims that there are many reasons why some teachers fail to move students up the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy as follows: "For example, a teacher might have low expectations concerning the students' abilities. This is just sad and becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Another reason might be that it can become difficult and time consuming for the teacher. It is a complete truth that it is much easier to grade assignments based on the lower levels than on the higher levels. In fact, as you move up Bloom's Taxonomy, you will find that rubrics become more important to ensure fair, accurate, and quick grading". The researcher has noticed that there are shortcomings of experts and researchers in studying, analyzing and evaluating the English questions of Jordanian Secondary Certificate Examinations (SCE). He does not find studies investigate the degree of suitability of Bloom's levels distribution on English paper questions in the light of accurate and controlled standards. Thus, the present study attempts to analyze and evaluate English questions of (SCE) in the light of Bloom's classification of cognitive skills. Also, there is a complain of English secondary certificate questions and its variation; so, the researcher conducted the study to analyze English questions of the Jordanian (SCE) in the light of Blooms' cognitive levels. ALLS 5(2):67-72, 2014 68 1.1 The question of the study · To what extent is the availability of the cognitive goals levels according to Bloom's taxonomy in English Questions of the general secondary exams in Jordan? 1.2 The significance of the study The significance of the study derived from the following points: Firstly, the study provides other researchers with some reliable instruments, action procedures, and experimental findings for use in future research. Secondly, the results help to develop the questions of (SCE). Thirdly, the study helps the exams designers to discover if the cognitive purposes levels are available in (SCE) or not. 1.3 Operational Definitions The researcher adopted the following terms: SCE: is a measurement tool used by Ministry of Education to measure the students' achievement. Candidates for the exam: are the students enrolled in the second secondary grades. Bloom's taxonomy: is a classification system of educational objectives based on the level of student's understanding that is necessary for achievement or mastery. It contains six levels, with the principle that competence at a higher level implies a reasonable degree of competence at the lower levels. Analyzing: is an organized scientific style aims at describing the purposes of cognitive domain according to Bloom's classifying English Questions of (SCE). 1.4 The limitations of the study It is possible to generalize the results of the study in the light of the following limitations: · English Questions of the Jordanian (SCE) during the period 2010-2013 in level three and level one. · The analytic card for analyzing the six levels of Bloom's classification. 1.5 Procedures The researcher follows the following procedures: · Designing a card to analyze the English questions. · Making content validity of the instrument by giving it to a group of experts. · Asking a group of analyzers to make sure of the reliability of analysis specialized in English language and education. · Reading the questions accurately in order to recognize the included cognitive levels. · Analyzing the questions depending on the previous levels.(if the questions contain several branches, each branch is treated as an independent question) · Finding the questions frequencies depending on the analytical categories. · Making the statistical treatment to find out the percentages. · Showing the results and proposing suggestions 2. The related studies Igbaria (2013) conducted a study aimed at analyzing the English textbook Horizons for 9th-grade students. It examines the variety in the cognitive level represented by the WH-questions in the textbook according to Bloom's taxonomy. Thus, the study tries to answer to what extent the WH-questions in the six levels of the cognitive domain are varied or frequent in the textbook of Horizons. After gathering, listing, and analyzing the questions according to Bloom's Taxonomy, the researcher calculated the percentage and frequencies in which each level of cognition appeared for units. The findings indicated that 244 questions emphasized levels of cognition representing lower order thinking skills, while only 137 questions emphasized the three higher order thinking ones. Abd-Alaziz (2011) conducted a study that attempted to answer "what is the availability of the cognitive goals levels according to Bloom's classification in the secondary examination questions in the Islamic couture course in Jordan? The researcher designed analytical card according to Bloom's classification and used the method of content validity to establish validity and reliability is also calculated. The sample includes the questions of the general examination for Islamic culture in Jordan from 2005to 2011. The findings revealed that the percentage of comprehensive and remembering questions is (73.8%) and the percentage of application, analyzing, synthesis, and evaluation is (26.2). Based on the results of the study, the research suggested decreasing the use of low level questions. Swedan, K. (2009) conducted study aimed at analyzing and classifying the questions of geography in the first secondary grade in Syria according to Bloom's classification, the questions are classified into upper mental abilities and lower mental abilities. The sample of this study consists of the mentioned geographic questions in the geography course of the first secondary grade in the schools of Syria. The results showed that most of the questions focus on low level of thinking, so the percentage of understanding was 60.24%, while the questions didn’t indicate the levels of analysis and synthesis. Also, the percentage of evaluation level was very low (0.86%). Quthah et.al (2007) conducted a study aimed at evaluating the Islamic sciences questions included in the Jordanian ALLS 5(2):67-72, 2014 69 secondary certificate examinations in the light of Bloom's classification. The instrument of analysis was prepared by the researcher. The results indicated that most of the questions focused on comprehension, knowledge and analysis. But application, synthesis and evaluation levels were not found. Most of the questions used were of: (a) the objective types (true, false, multiple-choice, and matching). (b): subjective types (short-answer, open-ended questions). None of the questions used were of the completion type. In the light of the findings, the researchers recommended the necessity of having measurement and evaluation experts in writing questions of exams and other recommendations built on the results. Mohnot (2006) carried out a study aimed at examining the use of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Cognitive Domain) in the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE). This study categorized the thinking skills required to solve ICSE English Literature exam questions at four points (phases) during the lifetime of the exam. The findings found an increase in the questions of low level and a decrease in the high level ones. Also, 90% of the questions was at two lowest levels (knowledge and comprehension). Azari,(2005) conducted a study aimed at comparing the physics questions included in the university entrance exam with the questions included at the physics courses at high schools according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. The sample of this study consists of a set of questions from included in University Entrance Exams and high school. The findings indicated that physics questions asked at Turkish University Entrance Exams concentrate on application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation and the high school questions concentrate on knowledge, comprehension and application. Sevilay and et.al. (2003) conducted a study aimed at analyzing and comparing the chemistry questions at three types of schools with the university entrance examination according to Bloom's classification. After analyzing the questions statistically, the results revealed the following: firstly, 96% of the questions were of the lower levels. Secondly, more than half of the questions asked in the university entrance examination (OSS) were of the high levels. The present study is similar to the former related studies in analyzing the secondary questions according to Bloom's taxonomy and adopting the analytical descriptive approach. For the researcher's knowledge, the study is different from the former related studies because it is conducted on the English questions included in general secondary exams in Jordan during the period (2010-1013). 3. Method and Procedures 3.1 The subject of the study The sample of the study consists of English questions used in the (SCE) in Jordan for years (2010-2013) that were prepared by Ministry of Education. It includes (11) exams in two levels (L3+L4) in summer and winter of the last four years. 3.2 Instruments of the study For the purpose of the study, two instruments has been used which was analytical card and adopted standard of Bloom’s taxonomy. Firstly, the analytical sheet includes the following Bloom's levels in cognitive domain for English questions: remembering, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (see appendix 1). Thus, the questions are classified according to these levels in frequencies and percentages forms. Secondly, to find if the obtained percentage of each level in the English exam is appropriate or not, the researcher used refereed adoption standard of Bloom’s taxonomy (see appendix 2). 3.3 Validity and reliability of the instruments The instruments were content validated by a panel of experts who specialized in methods, curricula, evaluation and assessment. Criticism and comments on the original draft of the analytical sheet and the standard were solicited from a number of experts from Jordanian universities (public and private university). On the basis of the jury's feedback, modifications were made and mistakes were corrected. After making the validity of the study instruments, the researcher wanted to be sure of the reliability by analyzing three samples of the questions then he selected three experts to reanalyze the three samples again. Then the percentage of agreement between the researcher classification and every expert's one was computed. It's found that the percentage of the reliability between the researcher and the three experts was as following: 0,88 0,93 0,89 The average was (0, 90). Thus, the percentage is high and indicates the agreement between the judgers and the researcher in classifying the questions according to their attitudes and levels. 3.4 Statistical treatment The researcher used analytical descriptive approach because it's suitable for the study. 4. The results To answer the question of the study, the researcher compared the following percentages of cognitive domain purposes with the refereed adoption standard of Bloom’s taxonomy: ALLS 5(2):67-72, 2014 70 Table 1. The frequencies and the general percentages of cognitive domain purposes according to Bloom’s taxonomy for the total of English Questions of the General Secondary exams for years (2010-2013) Bloom's Cognitive Categories Frequency Percentages Knowledge 58 15.4% Comprehension 124 33.1 % Application 79 21.1% Analysis 31 8.3% Synthesis 59 15.7% Evaluation 24 6.4% Total 375 100% As seen in Table 1, the number of collected questions is 375. It can be understood that the percentage (15.4%) of these questions is at knowledge level, 33.1 % is at comprehension, 21.1% is at application, 8.3% is at analysis. Also, 15.7% is synthesis and 6.4% is at evaluation level. Table 2. Distribution of the frequencies percentages of the examination questions according to the cognitive levels. Year Session Knowledge Comprehe nsion Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation Total 2010 Summer 1.6% 3.2% 1.33% .54% 1.33% .8% 8.8% 1.33% 2.66% 1.6% .8% 1.6% .54% 8.53% 1.33% 2.93% 1.33% 1.33% 1.6% .54% 9. 06% 1.6% 2.4% 1.33% .8% 1.6% .54% .8.27 1.33% 2.4% 1.86% .54% 1.06% .54% 7.73% 1.06% 2.93% 2.4% .54% 1.06% .54% 8.53% 1.06% 2.93% 1.86% .54% .8% .54% 7.73% 1.33% 2.14% 1.6% 1.06% 1.06% .54% 7.73% 1.33% 2.93% 1.86% .54% 1.6% .27% 8.53% 1.33% 2.93% 2.14% .26% 1.33% .54% 8.53% 1.06% 2.66% 2.14% .8% 1.33% .54% 8.53% 1.06% 2.93% 1.6% .54% 1.33% .54% 8% (level 3) Summer (level 4) Winter (level 3) 2011 Summer (level 3) Summer (level 4) Winter (level 3) Winter (Level 4) 2012 Winter (Level 4) Winter (Level 3) 2013 Summer (level 3) Winter (Level 3) Winter (Level 4) As seen in Table 2, the percentages of Bloom's cognitive levels are slightly the same in all years, e.g. the percentage of knowledge level is between 1.06% and 1.6 for years (2010-2013), the percentage of comprehension level is between 2.14 and 3.2 and so. Thus, the percentages are very approximate in all years. 5. Discussion and Implication The findings of the study revealed that all levels of Bloom's taxonomy are adopted to determine students’ achievements. It can be seen that 69.6 % of English exam questions at first three levels. However, the percentage of the exam ALLS 5(2):67-72, 2014 71 questions at last three levels is 30.4%. By comparing the percentages of cognitive domain purposes with the refereed adoption standard of Bloom’s taxonomy, it is found that the total percentage of the first three levels (69.6) is higher than the total percentage of the refereed adaptation standard of Bloom's taxonomy (60%) and the total percentage of the last three levels (application, synthesis, and evaluation) is (30.4) which is lower than the total percentage of the refereed adaptation standard of Bloom's taxonomy (40%). Also, the calculated percentages of knowledge, analysis, and evaluation (15.4%, 8, 3%, and 6.4) are lower than the percentages of the refereed adoption standard of Bloom’s taxonomy (22%, 17% and 10%). On the other hand, the percentages of comprehension, application, and synthesis (33.1 %, 21. 1% and 15. 7%) are higher than (20%, 18% and 13%). It means that the Ministry of Education focuses on the low levels (except knowledge) in one hand and decreases the high levels (except synthesis) on the other hand. So, the calculated percentages are not accepted because this distribution reflects a fact that there is no balance in the questions. Also, this conclusion leads to the basic problem that students are motivated to remember and makes teachers imitate the questions, neglect the high levels, and focus on the low level. It is possible to see the similar results in most literature e.g. Swedan, 2009, Igbaria, 2013 and Abd-Alaziz, 2011 who claim that most of the questions emphasized low order thinking skills. The questions at lower level are generally preferred by instructors to evaluate their students’ understanding. Also, the students complain about the higher level questions with indirect answers. They prefer lower level questions related to the content of the book directly because the students want marks to enter the university after the secondary stage. The reason may be either caused by the weakness of the content nature of English subject or by the experience weakness of the English secondary questions designers in the fields and levels of the purposes. The modern trend in education concentrates on shifting from teacher-centered approach to learner-centered approach so the questions should concentrate on high levels of thinking instead of low levels of thinking. It is necessary for the questions to be suitable for the all thinking levels to achieve the harmony and agreement. Ministry of education should also take into account the age and mental periods that lead to an effective critical thinking especially in secondary stage which requires high levels of thinking. Recommendations · The designers of English questions, included in the secondary examination, should decrease the amount of comprehension, application, and synthesis questions and increase the questions of knowledge, analysis, and evaluation. · The Ministry of Education should make training courses for teachers and the questions designers to be able to deal with Bloom's classification. · Conducting new studies on English subject questions in different stages and levels. References Abu Hwaij, M.; Alkhateeb, A.; & Abu-Meghli, S. (2002). The Measurement and Evaluation in Education and Psychology: Amman, Dar Althakafah for Publishing. Adas, A. (1999). Psychology: Modern View: Amman, Dar Alfeker for Publishing. Azari, A. (2005). Analysis of Turkish High-School Physics-Examination Questions and University Entrance Exams Questions According to Blooms’ Taxonomy. Turkish Science Education, (2) 2. Franclin, D. (1981). An Analysis of Questions in Sixth-Grade Social Studies Textbooks Published between 1965-1969 and 1975-1979. Published Dissertation. Indian University. Igbaria, A. (2013). A Content Analysis of the WH-Questions in the EFL Textbook of Horizons. International Education Studies.(6)7.doi:10.5539/ies.v6n7p200,http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v6n7p200 Kelly, M. (2014). Bloom's Taxonomy in the Classroom. http://712educators.about.com/od/testconstruction/p/bloomstaxonomy.htm . [Online] Available Mohnot, A. (2006). ‘Seeing the Bigger Picture’: Higher Order Cognition in the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) English Literature Examination. (Master Degree). Stanford University. Nguyen, C. (2008). Using Bloom’s revised taxonomy to design in-class reading questions for intermediate students in the context of Vietnam. Journal of Science, Foreign Languages. 24. 175-183 Quthah, A.; Al-Masha'leh, M. & Alkhawaldeh, N. (2007). An Analytical and Evaluative Study of the Islamic Sciences Questions Used in the Jordanian General Secondary Certificate Examinations for Years (1997-2005) in Light of Cognitive Levels. Journal for Research. (2) Sevilay, K.; Serkan, S.; Orhan, K. & Salih Ç. (2003). Analysis of Turkish High-school Chemistry-examination questions according to Bloom's Taxonomy. Chemistry Education: Research and Practice. (4) 1. 25-30 Swedan, K. (2009). An Analytical and Evaluative Study of the Natural Geography Used in the First Secondary Grade in Syria in Light of Blooms’ Taxonomy. Journal of Damascus University. (25) 1+2. ALLS 5(2):67-72, 2014 72 Appendix (1) Analytical Card of English Questions included in General Secondary exams According to Bloom's Classification Question Number knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Appendix (2) Refereed adoption standard of Bloom’s taxonomy Level Percentage Knowledge 22% Comprehension 20% Application 18% Analysis 17% Synthesis 13% Evaluation 10% Total 100% Synthesis Evaluation Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia A Multidimensional Review of Bilingual Aphasia as a Language Disorder Mohsen Akbari (Corresponding author) English Language Teaching Department, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Chamran Ave. Tehran, Iran E-mail: mohsena719@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.73 Received: 04/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.73 Accepted: 28/03/2014 Abstract Aphasia as a multifaceted language disorder associated with the complicated links between language and brain has been and is of interest and significance to the stream of research in different disciplines including neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive studies and language acquisition. Along with explorations into the manifestations of aphasia in monolingual speakers, bilingual aphasia has similarly become the most current form of this language disorder due to the rising number of bilingual speakers in recent decades all over the world and the probability of facing bilinguals suffering from this language deficit. To paint a picture of this multidimensional linguistic impairment and to get out of the labyrinth of aphasia and in particular bilingual aphasia, the present review study aims to provide a summary of aphasia-related studies in different contexts worldwide and run through the variables affecting the manifestations and language recovery patterns in bilingual aphasic speakers. Keywords: Aphasia, Review, Bilingual, Recovery Patterns, Variables 1. Introduction One of the areas of study on the relationship between language and brain is investigation of language impairment due to brain damage. Aphasia as one of the subparts of the field of language impairment has been and is of significance to the lines of research in linguistics, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and language acquisition. Abundant studies and investigations have been conducted up until now on aphasia-related language deficits (see e.g. Berndt Haendiges, 2000; Goral, 2001; Kljajevic, 2004; Graham and Rochon, 2007; Yarbay Duman, Aygen and Bastiaanse, 2008; Kiran, Sandberg, Gray, Ascenso, and Kester, 2013). Until recently most research on aphasia has aimed to understand the effects of aphasia on the representation and use of a single language. However, a substantial proportion of the human population speaks more than one language. The number of individuals suffering from acquired language impairments particularly aphasia is striking, and due to the increasing number of bilinguals in the world population, bilingual aphasia is increasingly becoming a very frequent form of aphasia. Therefore, in addition to investigations on manifestations of aphasia in different languages, the study of bilingual aphasia has been of interest to researchers of aphasia and a considerable amount of work has been carried out during the past few decades (e.g. Nilipour and Paradis, 1995; Mendez, 2000; Fabbro and Frau, 2001; Munoz and Marquardt, 2003; Gil and Goral, 2004; Alexiadou and Stavrakaki, 2006; Kambanaros, 2008; Ghafar Samar and Akbari, 2012; Amberber, 2012; Kambanaros and Weekes, 2013). Such studies can provide a unique opportunity to study the effect of brain damage on different linguistic systems in two languages simultaneously and additionally may allow us to investigate mostly affected aspects of the linguistic system of languages in a bilingual speaker (Alexiadou and Stavrakaki, 2006). As well, according to Fabbro (2001, p. 204), "the study of bilingual aphasics allows us to describe dissociations and double dissociations between the different subcomponents of the various languages". However, in bilingual aphasia there are two main concerns including investigation of aphasia in more than one language and an indispensable problem to tackle that is how languages are affected. One of the most striking features observed in bilinguals who have sustained injury in the language area is the possibility of facing various aphasia-related impairments. In other words, bilinguals do not lose their native and second languages to the same degree after stroke (Giussani, Roux, Lubrano, Gaini and Bello, 2007). Several studies have tried to interpret the different language impairment patterns observed or in Paradis' (1977) words "recovery patterns" in bilingual or multilingual aphasics. The main issues at stake are the reasons why language recovery patterns differ so much across aphasic speakers and why a language recovers better than the other. Therefore, there is a dire need to probe into this issue further to fill some gaps in the literature of aphasia and bilingual aphasia. Apart from studying bilingual aphasia and its recovery patterns, another concern is to elaborate the variables affecting the manifestations and the recovery pattern of languages. In other words, though the questions concerning the probable manifestations of aphasia in a language or two or more languages in monolingual and bilingual aphasic speakers respectively, and how the two languages are affected in bilingual aphasia have been tackled by pointing to the "recovery patterns" (Paradis, 1977), up until now the variables influencing languages post-stroke and also the recovery patterns in ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 74 bilingual speakers have not been deeply considered in aphasia-related studies. Only few researchers (e.g. Paradis, 2000; Marrero, Golden and Espe-Pfeife, 2002; Gil and Goral, 2004; Lorenzen and Murray, 2008) have mentioned sporadic variables. Therefore, the current review aims to provide a summary of aphasia-related studies in literature and paint a picture of the variables affecting the manifestations and the recovery patterns in bilingual aphasic speakers. 1.1 Definition of Aphasia Aphasia is one of the earliest documented neurological or according to Elkin (2005) "neurophysiological disorders" and has played a central role in advancing the knowledge of brain function. As an acquired language disorder, aphasia is the loss of the ability to produce and/or comprehend language that arises as a consequence of a focal damage to the parts of the brain areas, in particular in the left cerebral hemisphere, which are the main sources for these functions (Vasic, 2006). Its most frequent cause is a cerebral vascular accident (CVA), more commonly known as a stroke (a stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted by a clogged or burst artery). The interruption deprives the brain of blood and oxygen, by this means causing brain cells to die. The specific abilities that will be lost or affected by stroke depend on the extent of brain damage and, most importantly, where in the brain the stroke occurred. When brain cells die, functions may become impaired or lost, causing paralysis, speech and language problems, memory and reasoning deficits, coma, and possibly death (Vasic, 2006). Besides, aphasia can also develop as a consequence of an existence or a removal of a brain tumor or as the result of a traumatic brain injury. Aphasia causes language and communication disorders, particularly problems with each or all language skills and modalities including speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Stated in better words by Koch (2005, p.1); "aphasia is a multimodality deficit that may impair an individual to communicate." In other words, as Vasic (2006) and Rumiati (2007) highlight, aphasia as an acquired language disorder causes deficits of production and comprehension or better to say input and output of verbal messages in individuals with a normal language acquisition history. As they note, in aphasia, spoken and written language as well as reading and auditory comprehension can potentially be impaired. Aphasia can involve the whole linguistic system or it might impair "components or modalities of language" (Rumiati, 2007) or "all linguistic levels" (Vasic, 2006) including phonology, lexicon, morphology, syntax and semantics. Beside the definitions provided, cited in Shaw (2007), documentation of impaired speech and language following brain impairment dates back to centuries ago. But by the early nineteenth century, discoveries of the relationship between brain and speech-language advanced the perspectives of the disorder that researchers termed as aphasia. The greatest contributions to the study of impaired language and speech were made by Paul Broca and Carl Wernicke (Benton and Anderson, 1998). Broca found the source of impaired language output in his studies and classified it as aphemia that was later termed in his honor as Broca's aphasia. He also postulated the left hemisphere of the brain as the dominant part for language. Following the progress in the field of brain and language studies, Broca's views of brain localization and function were strengthened by the discoveries of Carl Wernicke. In his studies, Wernicke found the main source of impaired language comprehension and classified the language condition as sensory aphasia, now known as Wernicke's aphasia (Benton and Anderson, 1998). Therefore, from that time on the findings of Broca and Wernicke provided pivotal information about the brain-language relations. Additionally, their findings provided the early classification of aphasia "the classical language areas" (broadly, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas) (Paradis, 2009, p.172) and as starting points encouraged others to conduct complementary studies and research. Following their studies there have been many investigations in this field till now. Counting the general definition of aphasia mentioned above and the early classification of this term made by Broca and Wernicke, aphasia is suggestive of a tree with many branches. In all, aphasia is classified into subparts. 1.1.1 Classifications of Aphasia There are several different systems for categorizing aphasia. These categories originate from different perspectives towards aphasia (see e.g. Thompson's model (2005) with sensory and motor aphasia; Shaw's model (2007) with expressive and receptive aphasia. Although these perspectives encompass nearly all types of aphasia, they are puzzling and unorganized to be used by researchers and scholars. Therefore, to summarize different perspectives by different scholars, it is better to refer to the more common and comprehensive perspective to the classification of aphasia, in which all types of aphasia are classified into two categories labeled fluent aphasia and non-fluent aphasia. These two terms have been used by several researchers and scholars (e.g. Davis, 1983; Marshall, Lazar and Mohr, 1998; Obler and Gjerlow, 1999; Owens, Metz and Hass, 2000; Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams, 2003; Van der Meulen, 2004; Elkin, 2005; Rumiati, 2007; Shaw, 2007), but the subparts and names employed by some scholars are not clear-cut and comprehensive. Therefore, to shed light on the most common classification of aphasia entitled as fluent and non-fluent aphasia classification, the following summary was provided. Fluent aphasia or receptive aphasia (Davis, 1983, p.20; Marshall et al., 1998; Owens et al., 2000, p.220; Rumiati, 2007; Shaw, 2007, p.20) and sometimes called sensory aphasia (Davis, 1983, p.20; Marshall et al., 1998; Rumiati, 2007; Shaw, 2007, p.21) is related to the input or reception of language, following difficulties in comprehension of language (Marshall et al., 1998; Obler and Gjerlow, 1999, pp.41-42; Owens et al., 2000, p.220; Elkin, 2005, p.15; Rumiati, 2007; Shaw, 2007, p.23). It typically includes nearly effortless language output and utterances. Examples of fluent aphasia are Wernicke's Aphasia, Transcortical Sensory Aphasia, Conduction Aphasia, and Anomic Aphasia (Davis, 1983, p.20; Marshall et al., 1998; Elkin, 2005, p.15; Rumiati, 2007; Shaw, 2007, p.26). In sum, in fluent aphasia, there is a normal rate of speech without hesitations or pauses but difficulty comprehending speech (Marshall et al., 1998; Elkin, 2005, ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 75 p.15; Rumiati, 2007). Wernicke's Aphasia as a subpart of fluent aphasia is characterized by abundant amount of fluent and effortless speech (Davis, 1983, p.20; Marshall et al., 1998; Obler and Gjerlow, 1999, pp.42-43; Owens et al., 2000, p.220; Rumiati, 2007); and complex and long syntactic structures with a normal rate, articulation, and intonation (Davis, 1983, p.20; Rumiati, 2007). However, the speech of Wernicke patients is often semantically meaningless and full of paraphasias (word and phoneme substitutions and omissions), neologisms (new words or new meanings for words), non-words, hesitations, circumlocutions and problems in word-finding and repetition (Davis, 1983, p.21; Owens et al., 2000, p.220; Rumiati, 2007). Wernicke's Aphasia as the impaired comprehension of spoken word meaning is also referred to as paragrammatism that involves the unsystematic omission or substitution of morphological affixes that alter the meaning of an utterance often to the point of incoherence (Marshall et al., 1998; Rumiati, 2007). Another subpart of fluent aphasia is Transcortical Sensory Aphasia which includes fluent speech with impaired comprehension (Davis, 1983, p.21; Owens et al., 2000, p.223; Rumiati, 2007). It also is characterized by naming problems, paragrammatism and jargon aphasia (Davis, 1983, p.21; Owens et al., 2000, p.223; Rumiati, 2007). Conduction Aphasia as another example of fluent aphasia is characterized by intact fluency, poor oral and written naming, impaired repetition and comprehension, frequent hesitations, word-finding pauses, and paragrammatism (Davis, 1983, p.21; Marshall et al., 1998; Obler and Gjerlow, 1999, p.43; Owens et al., 2000, p.222; Elkin, 2005, p.15; Rumiati, 2007). And finally Anomic Aphasia includes comprehension, naming and repetition deficits and most importantly trouble in finding the words to express an idea which looks like having a word on the tip of the tongue (Davis, 1983, p.21; Obler and Gjerlow, 1999, p.44; Fromkin et al., 2003, p. 48; Rumiati, 2007). The second category among the scholars regarding aphasia is non-fluent or expressive aphasia (Davis, 1983, p.20; Marshall et al., 1998; Obler and Gjerlow, 1999, p.39; Owens et al., 2000, p.223; Van der Meulen, 2004, p.5; Rumiati, 2007; Shaw, 2007, p.25) which is related to difficulties in production not comprehension, and it is characterized by effortful output and utterances. Examples of this category of aphasia are Broca's Aphasia, Transcortical Motor Aphasia, and Global Aphasia (Marshall et al., 1998; Owens et al., 2000, p.223; Rumiati, 2007). In sum, in non-fluent aphasia, there is usually effortful, telegraphic production marked by pauses but not impressive difficulty in understanding. Broca's Aphasia or Motor Aphasia (Davis, 1983, p.20; Marshall et al., 1998; Fromkin et al., 2003, p.45; Van der Meulen, 2004, p.6; Rumiati, 2007; Shaw, 2007, p.23) is characterized by its slow, effortful and hesitating speech, and relatively intact comprehension (Owens et al., 2000, p.223; Fromkin et al., 2003, p.46; Van der Meulen, 2004, p.6; Shaw, 2007, p.22). The speech of Broca patients mainly contains content words. Function words or morphemes as well as syntactic structures are absent (Fromkin et al., 2003, p.45). The speech of these patients has therefore been named telegraphic or agrammatic (Davis, 1983, p.20; Fromkin et al., 2003, p.45; Rumiati, 2007; Shaw, 2007, p.23). There is also impairment and disorder in oral and written expressions and skills, written and oral naming, length of utterances, and fluency. Using single words, short, simplified and fragmented phrases, wrong grammatical order, jargons, wordswitching, intonation-free speech, naming and repetition deficits are among other characteristics of Broca's Aphasia (Davis, 1983, p.20; Marshall et al., 1998; Fromkin et al., 2003, p.46; Van der Meulen, 2004, p.6; Rumiati, 2007). Transcortical Motor Aphasia as another subpart of non-fluent aphasia is characterized by limited spontaneous speech, good comprehension skills, mild auditory comprehension deficits, stuttering, and agrammatism (Davis, 1983, p.20; Owens et al., 2000, p.224; Rumiati, 2007). And after all, Global Aphasia or mixed or total aphasia (Owens et al., 2000, p.224), which is the most sever type of aphasia, includes agrammatism (which includes impairment in grammar and generally lack of ability to construct sentences due to poorly sequenced words or omission of words and inflectional markers), naming, comprehension and repetition deficits, and in all a generalized disruption of all aspects of speech and language (Davis, 1983, p.20; Van der Meulen, 2004, p.6; Rumiati, 2007). As a whole, aphasia, its classifications and their characteristics are summarized in the Table 1. Table 1. Aphasia, its classifications and their characteristics in summary Fluent aphasia Non-fluent aphasia a. Wernicke's aphasia a. Broca's aphasia 1. Fluent and effortless speech (Owens et al., 2000, p.220 1. Slow, effortful and hesitating speech (Owens et al., 2000, p.223) 2. Complex and long syntactic structures (Davis, 1983, p.20) 2. Intact comprehension (Fromkin et al., 2003, p.46) 3. Semantically meaningless speech (Rumiati, 2007) 3. Absent syntactic structures (Fromkin et al., 2003, p.45) 4. Paraphasia (Davis, 1983, p.21) 4. 5. Neologism (Owens et al., 2000, p.220) Telegraphic or agrammatic (Davis, 1983, p.20) 6. Circumlocution (Davis, 1983, p.21) 5. 7. Impaired comprehension (Rumiati, 2007) Impaired oral and (Marshall et al., 1998) 8. Paragrammatism (Rumiati, 2007) 6. Impaired naming (Davis, 1983, p.21) written speech skills ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 76 b. Transcortical sensory aphasia b. Transcortical motor aphasia 1. Fluent speech (Owens et al., 2000, p.223) 2. Impaired comprehension (Rumiati, 2007) 3. Naming problems (Davis, 1983, p.21) 4. Paragrammatism (Rumiati, 2007) 5. Jargon aphasia (Owens et al., 2000, p.223) c. Conduction aphasia Intact fluency (Davis, 1983, p.21) 2. Impaired comprehension (Rumiati, 2007) 3. Poor oral and written naming (Marshall et al., 1998) 4. Frequent hesitations (Obler and Gjerlow, 1999, p.43) Paragrammatism (Rumiati, 2007) 6. Word-finding pauses (Elkin, 2005, p.15) Limited spontaneous speech (Davis, 1983, p.20) 2. Good comprehension skills (Owens et al., 2000, p.224) 3. Mild auditory comprehension deficits (Owens et al., 2000, p.224) 4. Stuttering (Rumiati, 2007) 5. Agrammatism (Rumiati, 2007) c. Global aphasia 1. 5. 1. 1. Agrammatism (Rumiati, 2007) 2. Impaired naming (Davis, 1983, p.21) 3. Comprehension deficits Meulen, 2004, p.6) 4. Severe and general disruption language skills (Davis, 1983, p.20) (Van der of d. Anomic aphasia 1. Impaired comprehension (Rumiati, 2007) 2. Severe word-finding deficits (Fromkin et al., 2003, p. 48) 3. Repetition deficits (Obler and Gjerlow, 1999, p.44) 4. Impaired naming (Davis, 1983, p.21) At this point, to complete the background of the study together with the general definition and classification of aphasia clarified above, it is a good idea to review the aphasia-related studies, too. 2. Studies on Aphasia The discoveries of Broca and Wernicke offered fundamental information about the brain-language relations and in the function of starting points pushed many researchers in the world to carry out corresponding studies and researches on aphasia in different languages. The following review is a summary of the main characteristics of the aphasia-related studies, case and group studies, in various languages across the world. The framework of the review here is not based on a specific organization; instead the aphasia-related studies are presented based on the languages in which the studies were done. A list of selected publishes studies on the manifestations of aphasia is illustrated in Table 2. Table 2. A review of selected published studies on manifestations of aphasia in different languages Authors Year Type of study Purpose of Study Language Garraffa and Grillo 2004 Group study General manifestations Italian Tsapkini, Jarema and Kehayia 2001 Case study Morphological manifestations Greek Bastiaanse, Koekkoek and Van Zonneveld 2003 Group study Dutch Blanken, Dittmann and 2002 Case study Syntactic and pragmatic impairments Production German Language Assessment Instrument Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT) (Luzzatti, Willmes and De Bleser, 1996) Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT) battery (Paradis, 1987) AAT (Graetz, de Bleser and Willmes, 1992) Spontaneous ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 Wallesch Bird, Franklin and Howard Laka and Korostola 77 Welsh speech Spontaneous speech Spontaneous speech and interview Conversations and narratives Tasks Catalan Tasks Language skills deficits Slovenian Tasks Case study General manifestations African American Vernacular English Interviews 2001 Group study Hungarian Tasks Ulatowska, Sadowska and Kodzielawa Postman 2001 Case study Polish BAT 2003 Case study Agrammatism in language output and comprehension Grammatical disturbances General manifestations Indonesian tasks Yarbay Duman, Aygen and Bastiaanse 2008 Group study Agrammatism Turkish Nikolova and Jarema 2004 Case study Bulgarian Bhatnagar, Jain, Bihari, Bansal, Pauranik, Jain, Bhatnagar, Meheshwari, Gupta and Padma, Liang and Van Heuven 2001 Group study General manifestations General manifestations Gulhane Aphasia Test (Tanridag, 1993) Tasks Hindi Tasks 2003 Case study Chinese Salehnejad Kojima, Mimura, Auchi, Yoshino and Kato Bartha, Marien, Poewe and Benke 2006 2011 Case study Case study General manifestations Agrammatism Linguistic functions Persian Japanese Spontaneous speech Task Language tests 2004 Case study Linguistic deficits Belgian Tasks 2002 Group study 2001 Group study Mansson and Ahlsen 2001 Case study Leek, Wyn and Tainturier 2003 Case study Pena-Casanova, Dieguez-Vide, Lluent and Bohm Semenza, Girelli, Spacal, Kobal and Mesec Ulatowska and Olness 2001 Case study 2002 performance Production and comprehension Morphological deficits English Basque Grammatical deficits Lexical processing deficits General manifestations Swedish Group study 2001 Kertesz and OsmanSagi According to the summary of the findings and conclusions of pertinent studies on aphasia in different languages, the common characteristics of the studies mentioned can be as follows: · The aphasia-related studies in the world languages can be divided into two parts, case studies and group studies. Selecting the design of aphasia studies depends on several variables including the number of participants available, the types of aphasia at hand, the purpose or purposes of the study, and so forth. · Using standardized language assessment tests is a prerequisite feature of the studies on aphasia. It was concluded that administering standardized tests for language assessment and diagnosis of the exact type of aphasia is the vital part of each mainstream study. In the studies reviewed several standardized language assessment test were employed and administered. As examples, using Aachen Aphasia Test (Luzzatti et al., 1996); Paradis' (1987) Bilingual Aphasia Test; and Western Aphasia Battery (Kertesz, 1982). · In addition to using standardized tests for language assessment, it might be a good idea to administer supplementary tasks for further exploration of specific deficits, too, provided that there are not enough tasks in ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 78 the standardized language assessment tests implemented. The supplementary tasks may consist of various tasks depending on the aim of a study, e.g. reading tasks, picture naming tasks, sentence elicitation tasks, oral naming tasks, repetition tasks, as well story-telling, conversations, spontaneous speech, interviews and so on. · According to many studies reviewed, due to the complicated nature of aphasia it is not possible to reflect on all language modalities and skills in detail in a study. These conditions become stricter when there are aphasic individuals in a group study. Therefore, based on the above-mentioned studies, investigation of aphasia is possible in two ways. First, using a standardized language assessment test to evaluate the overall language abilities of an aphasic person or a group of aphasic individuals; secondly, considering one aspect of language or one modality in detail. As a whole, the main concerns of most studies were to present the manifestations of aphasia in general in all linguistic aspects or in specific ones depending on the aim of study and its scope. · In many studies reviewed earlier, especially group studies, it was not clear why aphasic individuals showed different performances. Only a few aphasia-related studies had a glance at this issue. For example, Mondini, Jarema and Liguori (2005) raised several possible explanations for the different performances of the subjects and concluded that the participant's performance was influenced by the age of acquisition and the amount of familiarity with Italian, individual differences (mentioned in other studies, e.g. Kljajevic, 2004), gender specific variables, and language-specific features. The effect of language-specific features on aphasic individuals' performance has been mentioned in some other studies (e.g. Penn et al., 2001; Ardila, 2001; Basstianse and Van Zonneveld, 2005); Tsapkini et al. (2001) pointed to taking the particularities of a given language into account when interpreting aphasic manifestations; and finally Bastiaanse and Van Zonneveld (2005) considered the effect of the structure of language on the variety of aphasics' performances. In general, the numerous studies conducted in the field of aphasia reveal the importance of this complicated form of language impairment. Existing literature of the mainstream studies on aphasia shows that there is no balance in the aphasia-related studies in different languages, i.e. not all languages have enjoyed the developments of investigations regarding the representation and manifestations of aphasia including Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, French, Arabic, Urdu, Kurdish, and Persian and so on. 2.1 Bilingual Aphasia Studies As Paradis (2001a) mentions, it is important to become more aware of the manifestations of bilingual aphasia in different contexts due to the probability of facing with people who suffer from aphasia and know more than one language. Accordingly, bilingual aphasia studies reviewed can be classified into four groups based on their findings and results. The first group of bilingual aphasia studies are those wherein the parallel impairment of both languages in the performance of a bilingual aphasic individual or a group of bilingual aphasics are reported. There are numerous investigations in this respect. For example, Roberts and Deslauriers' (1999) study on a group of French-English bilingual aphasics assessed by the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) (Goodglass and Kaplan, 1982); Lim, Douglas and Lambier's study (1999) on the production abilities of a group of bilingual Mandarin-Chinese speakers with aphasia through several tasks; a study on the performance of a group of bilingual Friulian-Italian aphasic participants by Fabbro and Frau (2001) implementing the two versions of the BAT in Friulian and Italian for language assessment; an investigation by Croft, Marshall and Pring (2006) on Bengali-English bilingual aphasic speakers focusing on the participants' word finding difficulties; a study (Kambanaros, 2007) on bilingual Greek-English fluent aphasics with more focus on spontaneous speech; and a study (Jarema, Perlak and Semenza, 2007) on two EnglishFrench aphasic individuals focusing on processing of compounds; an investigation on a case of a French–Dutch bilingual patient via tasks (Verreyt, De letter, Hemelsoet, Stantens and Duyck, 2013). As the second group of studies conducted in the field of bilingual aphasia, there are several investigations in which the second language (L2) of the bilingual aphasics is reported to be more impaired than the first language (L1). As examples; a group study (Nilipour and Paradis, 1995) on grammatical deficits of Persian-English bilingual aphasics via BAT; a case study (Mendez, 2000) on a bilingual Spanish-English aphasic person; Weekes, Su, Yin and Zhang's study (2007) on Mongolian-Chinese bilingual aphasia; a multiple case study (Poncelet, Majerus, Raman, Warginaire and Weeks, 2007) on the errors made by three bilingual aphasic, a Turkish-English speaker and two German-French speakers; an investigation on the performance of a bilingual Spanish-Catalan case (Hernandez, Cano, Costa, SebastianGalles, Juncadella and Gascon-Bayarri, 2008); Amberber's study (2012) on a French-English bilingual aphasic speaker via BAT. The third group of studies in the field of bilingual aphasia are those in which the impairment of both languages in a bilingual aphasic or a group of bilingual aphasics is reported to be unclear i.e. both languages were impaired in selective aspects. As examples, Munoz and Marquardt's (2003) investigation on the performance of four bilingual speakers of Spanish and English with aphasia; a study (Almagro, Sanchez-Casas and Garcia-Albea, 2003) on the production and comprehension of a Catalan-Spanish bilingual patient; Gil and Goral's investigation (2004) on bilingual aphasia in a Russian-Hebrew aphasic speaker; a study on an English-Dutch bilingual aphasic (Marien, Abutalebi, Engelborghs and De Deyn, 2005); Alexiadou and Stavrakaki's (2006) study on the performance of a Greek–English bilingual patient with Broca's aphasia and mild agrammatism using production and comprehension tasks; case study (Meinzer, Obleser, Flaisch, Eulitz, and Rockstroh, 2007) on the performance of a bilingual patient (German/French) with chronic aphasia via several tasks; a study on a Galician–Spanish bilingual aphasic (Garcia-Caballero, Garcia-Lado, Gonzalez-Hermida, ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 79 Area, Recimil, and Juncos Rabadan, 2007); a case study (Kambanaros, 2008) on the performance of a Greek-English bilingual aphasic person; Kambanaros andWeekes' investigation (2013) on phonological deficits among Greek-English bilinguals. Finally, there is a group of bilingual aphasia studies in which the first language (L1) is reported to be more impaired than the second language (L2). As examples, Aglioti, Beltramello, Girardi, and Fabbro's (1996) study on an ItalianEnglish case; Fabbro and Paradis' (1995) report on a Venetian-Italian aphasic case; Scarna and Ellis' (2002) report on the case of a bilingual Italian-English aphasic patient; Filley, Ramsberger, Menn, Wu, Reid and Reid's (2006) study on a Chinese-English bilingual aphasic speaker; Sebastian, Kiran and Sandberg's study (2012) on semantic processing in Spanish-English bilingulas with aphasia; a study on a bilingual Kurdish-Persian case by Ghafar Samar and Akbari (2012). an investigation on Spanish-English bilingual individuals with aphasia (Kiran, Sandberg, Gray, Ascenso and Kester, 2013). According to the summary of the findings and conclusions of pertinent studies on bilingual aphasia in different contexts, the common characteristics of the studies mentioned can be as follows: · The bilingual aphasia studies can be classified into two groups, case studies and group studies. Selecting the design of bilingual aphasia studies depends on several variables including the number of participants available, the types of aphasia at hand, the purpose or purposes of the study, the scope of the study, and the like. · Using standardized language assessment tests is a necessity for the studies on bilingual aphasia. It was concluded that administering standardized equivalent tests for assessment of both languages and diagnosis of the exact type of aphasia is the essential part of each mainstream bilingual aphasia study. In the studies reviewed several standardized language assessment test were employed and administered. As examples, the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE) (Goodglass and Kaplan, 1982); and the diverse versions of the Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT) (Paradis, 1987). · In addition to using standardized tests for assessment of both languages, it might be a useful idea to administer supplementary tasks for further exploration of specific deficits in both languages, too, provided that there are not suitable and enough tasks in the standardized language assessment test implemented; the different versions of a language assessment test are not at hand in various languages, or the scope of the study is to investigate language deficits in detail. The supplementary tasks may consist of various tasks depending on the aim of a study, e.g. reading tasks, picture naming tasks, sentence elicitation tasks, oral naming tasks, repetition tasks, as well story-telling, conversations, spontaneous speech, interviews and so on. However, there might be several problems including inequality of the tests and their unreliability. · According to the studies reviewed, due to the intricate nature of aphasia it is not viable to consider all language modalities and skills in detail in a study. These conditions become stringent when there are bilingual aphasic individuals in a group study. Therefore, based on the above-mentioned studies, investigation of bilingual aphasia is possible in two modes. First, using an equivalent and standardized language assessment test to evaluate the overall language ability of a bilingual aphasic person or a group of aphasic individuals; secondly, considering one aspect of language or one modality in detail. As a whole, the main concerns of most bilingual studies were to present the manifestations of aphasia in general in all linguistic aspects or in specific ones depending on the aim of study and its scope. · According to the studies reviewed, it was concluded that bilingual aphasic speakers do not usually depict similar or different manifestations in both languages; rather there are several language impairment patterns which are elaborated in Paradis' terms (1977) as four "Language Recovery Patterns" among bilingual aphasic speakers. Since the pioneering study of the French neurologist Pitres (1895), who was the first to draw attention to the variety of language recovery patterns following aphasia in bilinguals, many different recovery patterns have been described. The diversity of possible patterns is almost endless; however, some form of classification and description of the most frequently encountered recovery patterns was needed to assure coherence for researchers and clinicians (Ansaldo, et al. 2008). Cited in Green (2005), Paradis, 1977 described six different basic recovery patterns, corresponding to the most frequently observed language profiles of recovery from bilingual aphasia. The first recovery pattern is "parallel recovery" which includes impairment of both languages to a similar extent and concurrently. The next pattern is "differential recovery". This recovery occurs when languages recover differentially relative to their pre-morbid levels. Another pattern wherein after the recovery of one language, the other language recovers is called "successive recovery". Then, when at least one language is not recovered at all "selective recovery" occurs. After that, there is alternating recovery in which the language that was first recovered is lost again due to the recovery of the language that was not first recovered. And finally, the pathological mixing of two languages or "blended recovery" wherein the elements of the two languages are involuntarily mixed during language production and patients mix their languages inappropriately. · In many studies reviewed earlier, it was not clear why bilingual aphasic individuals showed different performances, though in several studies a few variables were mentioned indirectly (e.g. Aglioti et al. ,1996; Lim et al., 1999; Mendez, 2000; Fabbro and Frau, 2001; Munoz and Marquardt, 2003; Alexiadou and Stavrakaki, 2006; Weekes et al., 2007; Hernandez et al., 2008). ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 80 · According to the above review, there are several variables that probably have influence on the performance of a bilingual aphasic speaker. Due to these variables, each bilingual aphasic speaker might have the same or different performance in each language. As the review of the related literature revealed, these variables have not been in the scope of most studies; however, several studies have considered them in interpretations of results and further discussions. The remarkable variables mentioned in the studies involved the specific features intrinsic to each language (Lim et al.,1999) such as the similar structure of the languages (Fabbro and Frau, 2001), the linguistic properties of each language (Alexiadou and Stavrakaki, 2006; Weekes et al., 2007; Poncelet et al., 2007; Hernandez et al., 2008) ; the pre-morbid degree of familiarity with a language or proficiency (Mendez, 2000 ; Munoz and Marquardt, 2003; Poncelet et al., 2007); the context of learning a language before the stroke (Fabbro and Frau, 2001); the type of aphasic syndrome and the type and site of the lesion (Fabbro and Frau, 2001; Poncelet et al., 2007) ; the age of language acquisition (Mendez, 2000); and finally the organization of the components of languages in procedural and declarative memory systems (Aglioti and Fabbro, 1993; Fabbro and Paradis ,1995; Aglioti et al., 1996) · It was also revealed that there is no complete study in bilingual aphasia in which the two sides of the coin are considered. To be exact, there is no study wherein the manifestations of aphasia in a bilingual case or a group of bilingual aphasic speakers have been interpreted with several effective variables in a comprehensive way. In sum, the studies reviewed revealed that there are four types of language impairment patterns in a bilingual aphasic individual or a group of bilingual aphasics including the same impairment of both languages, impaired L2, differential impairment of both languages, and impaired L1. Theses types of language impairments were labeled in Paradis' terms (1977) as "language recovery patterns" in bilingual aphasics. In addition to the classification of the manifestations of bilingual aphasia into four groups, the main point in numerous studies reviewed above was that most of them only were to answer the question of How the languages in a bilingual aphasic speaker are impaired? Although the studies revealed four types of language impairment patterns and answered the impairment patterns of languages in a bilingual aphasic or bilingual aphasics, the point neglected in the above-mentioned studies was that no study was to look for and discuss the main variables affecting the patterns of language impairment. It should be mentioned that just several studies highlighted a few variables in interpretations of results and further discussions (see e.g. Aglioti and Fabbro, 1993; Aglioti et al. ,1996; Lim et al., 1999; Mendez, 2000; Fabbro and Frau, 2001; Fabbro, 2001a; Munoz and Marquardt, 2003; Alexiadou and Stavrakaki, 2006; Weekes et al., 2007; Hernandez et al., 2008) and there was not a complete study done in this regard i.e. providing the manifestations of aphasia in a bilingual aphasic speaker or a group of bilingual speakers as well as the influential variables leading to the manifestations. 3. Variables Affecting Aphasia-related Manifestations and Language Recovery Patterns In addition to preparing a review studies on the manifestations of aphasia in monolingual and bilingual speakers in different linguistic contexts, another concern of the study was to seek for the variables affecting the language deficits and language recovery patterns. While the range of language recovery patterns demonstrated by bilingual patients with neurological damage has been well documented (Paradis, 2001a), the review of related literature, to our information, revealed that no comprehensive study has been done in this regard, there have been sparse studies in which the influential variables on the manifestations of aphasia in monolingual or bilingual aphasia have been presented but not discussed in detail. However, the detailed exploration of these studies and the variables mentioned demonstrated that there are variables or several extraneous variables mentioned in Paradis' words (2001a) as "Critical Variables" which play leading roles in the manifestations and also the recovery pattern of aphasia in a monolingual or bilingual speaker. These variables according to a review of previous studies were summarized as follows. 3.1 Severity of aphasia According to Fabbro (2001a) one of the variables affecting aphasia-related language deficits, different language impairment patterns, and different impairments in bilingual aphasics is the site and extent of lesion to the brain. In another term, "severity of aphasia" (Nilipour, 2000; Paradis, 2001b; Green, 2005) which is the result of a lesion at a given site and extent that may yield different effects on monolingual and bilingual aphasic speakers. 3.2 Pre-morbid language proficiency The second variable that might affect different manifestations of aphasia in a bilingual speaker is language proficiency before the onset of aphasia. This variable has been considered in several studies on bilingual aphasia as a critical variable (Gil and Goral, 2004; Ansaldo et al., 2008; Hernandez et al., 2008). According to Fabbro (2001b), to become aware of the pre-morbid language performance in a language or languages is essential to determine the pattern of aphasic impairments. As Fabbro (2001b) mentions, a patient with more proficiency in L1 before aphasia onset, may still be so after the brain injury. Moreover, pre-morbid proficiency across language modalities can have an impact on the bilingual aphasia pattern, and thus should be considered to avoid misdiagnosis. Implicitly stated in the studies on aphasia or bilingual aphasia, it is concluded that the degree of proficiency (Galloway, 1982) or the level of proficiency (Roberts and Deslauriers, 1999; Lorenzen and Murray, 2008) in a language in an aphasic speaker or in each language in a bilingual speaker pre-onset of aphasia appears to affect language representations. More proficiency in a language before aphasia might be a determining variable for fewer deficits in the performance of a monolingual or bilingual aphasic case. The hypothesis is that the bilingual aphasic individual's L2 was his/her less-proficient language, so there ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 81 would be more deficits in L2 than L1. In other studies, language proficiency has been regarded with other perspectives; for example, familiarity with a language ( Paradis, 2001a; Marrero, Golden and Espe-Pfeifer, 2002; Laiacona, Luzzatti, Zonca, Guarnaschelli and Capitani, 2002; Mondini et al., 2005); the degree of mastery (Perani and Abutalebi, 2005). In conclusion, it should be stated that a language in which the bilingual was literate proficient before the injury stands a better chance of being recovered than a language which he/she could only speak. 3.3 Age of language acquisition In addition to pre-morbid proficiency on a language or languages, age of language acquisition as another important variable affecting the manifestations of aphasia in monolingual and bilingual aphasic speakers has been identified (e.g. Gil and Goral, 2004; Mondini et al., 2005; Ansaldo, Marcotte, Scherer and Raboyeau, 2008; Paradis, 2008). Considering this variable, it is stated that the languages learned at different ages would have differential language deficit patterns. In other words, according to several studies (Roberts and Deslauriers, 1999; Paradis, 2001a; Marrero, Golden and Espe-Pfeifer, 2002; Laiacona et al., 2002; Perani and Abutalebi, 2005; Green, 2005; Hernandez et al., 2008; Lorenzen and Murray, 2008) the age of first or second language acquisition has a direct effect on the manifestations of aphasia especially in bilingual aphasic speakers. It is believed that the age of second language acquisition affects language proficiency and both these variables might affect language performance particularly in bilingual aphasic speakers. As a whole, as Gil and Goral (2004) points out, age is an effective variable which can lead to more or less language impairments and in particular "the first language which is learned at a specific age would be the least affected by brain damage". 3.4 Context of language acquisition The next variable is the context of language acquisition (Marrero, Golden and Espe-Pfeifer, 2002). According to Gil and Goral (2004); "it is hypothesized that languages acquired in the same context are more likely to demonstrate the same language deficits patterns, while languages acquired in different contexts would be more likely to show differential patterns". In Ansaldo et al.'s terms (2008), language exposure and use or language dominance has an effect on the representation of language impairments. This variable has been taken into account using other terms; for instance, "setting of the use of languages" (Galloway, 1982); and "pre-morbid exposure"(Fabbro, 2001b; Perani and Abutalebi, 2005) 3.5 Individual characteristics of languages The characteristics of a language following the structural relations among the two languages particularly bilingual aphasic speakers is another variable proposed for language deficit patterns in a monolingual or bilingual aphasic case (Paradis, 1988; Ardila, 2001; Paradis, 2001a; Marrero, Golden and Espe-Pfeifer, 2002; Alexiadou and Stavrakaki, 2003; Gil and Goral; 2004; Paradis, 2008; Lorenzen and Murray, 2008). Considering this view, it is stated that the underlying structures that are common to all languages would influence each other in their representation of language deficits. Also it is concluded that in the more surface, language-specific structures of each language, there would be less similar deficits (Gil and Goral, 2004; Green, 2005; Mondini et al., 2005; Bastiaanse and Van Zonneveld, 2005). In a recent hypothesis, Paradis (2008) declares that "bilingual aphasia manifestations differ as a function of the structural diversity of their languages". It is stated that language-specific characteristics (Nilipour, 2000; Goral, 2001; Paradis, 2001b; Nilipour and Raghibdoust, 2001; Fabbro, 2001b; Laiacona et al.,2002) or language-related differences might have effects on language representations in aphasic speakers especially bilingual aphasics. So, the particular characteristics of a language or the specific system of a language (Tsapkini, Jarema and Kehayia, 2001) or "the different linguistic properties of L1 and L2" (Nilipour and Paradis, 1997; Paradis, 2001a; Weekes et al., 2007) should be considered as variables affecting aphasia-related representations. 3.6 Manner of language acquisition Together with the above-mentioned variables, another recently noticed variable affecting the manifestations of aphasia and language impairment patterns in monolingual and bilingual aphasic speakers is the manner of language acquisition (Galloway, 1982; Paradis, 2000, 2004, 2008; Gil and Goral, 2004; Ansaldo et al., 2008; Hernandez et al., 2008). This variable is related to the organizational principles involved in the representations of languages, here L1 and L2, in the brain. In addition, the manner of language acquisition encompasses the role of declarative and procedural memory or "the declarative/procedural framework" and further "implicit/explicit memory processing" (Paradis, 2000, 2004, 2008). Therefore, it can be stated that memory processing embedded in the manner of language acquisition might have effects on the representations of aphasia and language impairment patterns, too. Further, as maintained by Paradis (2000, 2004, 2008), bilinguals rely upon different memory resources. Early bilinguals acquire languages by mere exposure and need not be aware of the rules that govern either of their spoken languages; learning is mainly dependent upon implicit memory processing. Conversely, if the second language is acquired after infancy, specific language components such as phonology, syntax, morphology, and semantics are consciously learnt, and thus declarative memory resources are solicited. As he states, the second language tends to be relying to a greater extent (in acquisition and recovery from aphasia) on meta-linguistic knowledge dependent on declarative memory and learned during the appropriation of the second language; and the first language tends to be dependent on implicit linguistic competence which relies on procedural memory. In sum, implicit competence exists for only one language by procedural memory i.e. the first language and explicit competence depends on declarative memory that is used for second language acquisition. So, it is concluded that the manner of language acquisition might be one of the variables that affects language deficits and language recovery patterns in monolingual and bilingual aphasic speakers. ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 82 As a whole, the influential variables affecting the manifestations of aphasia in monolingual and bilingual aphasic speakers and also the recovery patterns are the severity of aphasia, pre-morbid language proficiency, the age of language learning, the context of language acquisition, the specific structure of a language or the structural relations of languages in a bilingual speaker, and the manner of language acquisition which includes implicit and explicit competence that rely on declarative and procedural memory, respectively. 4. Conclusion The review of related literature was done in order to make clear the meaning of aphasia as an acquired cognitive and communicative disorder (Lorenzen and Murray, 2008), to prepare a review of the studies conducted in the field of aphasia and bilingual aphasia and illustrate the main variables affecting the performance of the patient. The review revealed that there are different viewpoints to aphasia and its classifications. The outstanding classification was summarized as fluent and non-fluent aphasia. Additionally, the general review of studies on aphasia in different languages in the world showed that there are two groups of studies in this regard including case studies and group studies depending on several variables such as the number of participants available, the types of aphasia at hand, and the purpose or purposes of the study. To do such studies standardized language assessment tests are required, it might be a good idea to administer supplementary tests and tasks, though. Moreover, based on the above-mentioned studies, investigation of aphasia is possible in two ways. First, using a standardized language assessment test to evaluate the overall language abilities of an aphasic person or a group of aphasic individuals; secondly, considering one aspect of language or one modality in detail. In aphasia studies reviewed earlier, it was not clear why aphasic individuals showed different performances, a few studies (Tsapkini et al., 2001; Ardila, 2001; Kljajevic, 2004; Mondini et al., 2005; Basstianse and Van Zonneveld, 2005) had a glance at this issue, however. As a whole, although the aphasia-related studies unveiled the importance of this complicated form of language impairment, the existing literature showed imbalance in the aphasia-related studies in different languages, i.e. not all languages have enjoyed the developments of investigations regarding the representation and manifestations of aphasia. In addition to review of the investigations on monolingual aphasic speakers, a review of the bilingual aphasia studies in the world languages was done. In these case and group studies, there were more challenges due to facing bilinguals with two impaired languages. Like the language assessment tests for monolingual aphasic speakers, bilingual aphasia also needs two standardized, systematic, and equivalent language assessment tests administered in the same conditions and settings for both languages. According to the bilingual studies reviewed, it is not viable to consider all language modalities and skills in detail in a study. Therefore, based on the above-mentioned studies, investigation of bilingual aphasia is possible in two modes. First, using an equivalent and standardized language assessment test to evaluate the overall language ability of a bilingual aphasic person or a group of aphasic individuals; secondly, considering one aspect of language or one modality in detail. Additionally, as the studies reviewed showed, bilingual aphasic speakers do not usually depict similar or different manifestations in both languages; rather there are several language impairment patterns which are elaborated in Paradis' terms (1977) as "Language Recovery Patterns" among bilingual aphasic speakers including parallel, differential, successive, selective, alternating, and blended recovery. In spite of establishing recovery patterns, in many studies reviewed earlier, it was not clear why bilingual aphasic individuals showed different performances, though in several studies a few variables were mentioned indirectly (e.g. Aglioti and Fabbro, 1993; Aglioti et al. ,1996; Lim et al., 1999; Mendez, 2000; Fabbro, 2001a; Fabbro and Frau, 2001; Munoz and Marquardt, 2003; Alexiadou and Stavrakaki, 2006; Weekes et al., 2007; Hernandez et al., 2008). The remarkable variables mentioned in the studies involved the linguistic properties of each language (Lim et al.,1999; Fabbro and Frau, 2001; Alexiadou and Stavrakaki, 2006; Weekes et al., 2007; Poncelet et al., 2007; Hernandez et al., 2008), the pre-morbid degree of familiarity with a language or proficiency (Mendez, 2000 ; Munoz and Marquardt, 2003; Poncelet et al., 2007), the context of learning a language before the stroke (Fabbro and Frau, 2001), the type of aphasic syndrome and the type and site of the lesion (Fabbro and Frau, 2001; Poncelet et al., 2007), the age of language acquisition (Mendez, 2000), and finally the organization of the components of languages in procedural and declarative memory systems (Aglioti and Fabbro, 1993; Fabbro and Paradis ,1995; Aglioti et al., 1996). It was also revealed that there is no complete study in bilingual aphasia in which the two sides of the coin are considered. To be exact, there is no study wherein the manifestations of aphasia in a bilingual case or a group of bilingual aphasic speakers have been interpreted with several effective variables in a comprehensive way. And finally, while the range of language recovery patterns demonstrated by bilingual patients with neurological damage has been well documented (Paradis, 2001a), the review of related literature, to our information, revealed that no comprehensive study has been done in this regard, there have been sparse studies in which the influential variables on the manifestations of aphasia in monolingual or bilingual aphasia have been presented but not discussed in detail. However, the detailed exploration of these studies and the variables mentioned demonstrated that there are variables or several extraneous variables mentioned in Paradis' words (2001a) as "Critical Variables" which play leading roles in the manifestations and also the recovery pattern of aphasia in a monolingual and bilingual aphasic. In sum, this review focusing on different aspects of aphasia was not fully inclusive of all of the work put forth in this ALLS 5(2):73-86, 2014 83 domain of research; rather, it addressed only the most related studies. Therefore, more review studies in the fields of aphasia and bilingual aphasia are required to complement the current study. References Aglioti, S., & Fabbro, F. (1993). Paradoxical selective recovery in a bilingual aphasic following subcortical lesions. NeuroReport, 4, 1359-1362. Aglioti, S., Beltramello, A., Girardi, F., & Fabbro, F. (1996). 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Brain and Language, 105, 149-160. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Enhancing Content Knowledge in Essay Writing Classes: A Multimedia Package for Iranian EFL Learners Marziyeh Tahmouresi Majelan (Corresponding author) English Language Faculty, Islamic Azad University, Tehran North Branch E-mail: marziyeh105@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.87 Received: 15/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.87 Accepted: 30/03/2014 Abstract The main objective of this study was to investigate empirically if promoting a multimedia package enhances content knowledge in essay writing of 80 junior English translation students at a University in Karaj, Iran; plus, whether the learners’ writing content improve due to the presence of the multimedia package or not. The multimedia was considered to be a CD, containing recordings both in first language (L1=Farsi) and in second language (L2=English) along with manipulative and task-based activities. A homogenizing test, the pre-posttests, and the material in a form of a CD (treatment including forty of the most common TOEFL essays both in L1 and L2 plus manipulative tasks to fulfill) provided by the researcher, were the instruments in the study. After 14 weeks, both the experimental and control groups sat for the posttest with exactly the same characteristics of pretest except for the topics. When the collected data was analyzed, a mean difference of t-test along with a paired t-test showed a significant difference between the performance of the control and the experimental groups, regarding the content. Consequently, the statistics proved that enhancing content knowledge by means of a multimedia package containing recordings plus manipulative and task-based activities would improve students’ writing ability while the control group in which a current traditional rhetoric approach was used, the placebo, did not show any statistically significant improvement regarding content. Keywords: writing skill, task-based activities, content knowledge, t-test 1. Introduction Writing is a good means for monitoring the process of learning as well as acquisition if the students themselves are responsible for their own learning. Writing transfers the learned information to the long-term memory and therefore, fosters the attention to form and function as well as the communication (Chastain, 1988) Most of the studies conducted in writing, however, were neglecting the important goal of writing as a means of communication and rather focusing just on the form, i.e. they focused on either organization or mechanics of writing; therefore, they ignored the content. Meanwhile, it is assumed that the lack of familiarity or poor familiarity with content in writing could affect the validity of the writing tests. Unfortunately, content has always been neglected because of this wrong belief that it does not matter what you write about as long as it conforms to an accepted rhetorical model. Therefore, content of a writing course takes a back seat to practice as long as teachers consider writing as one of the four skills which should be used to test if other skills have been mastered. (Chastain, 1988). In this study, however, in order to answer these questions: Does providing learners with a multimedia package, a CD containing both L1 and L2 manipulative and task-based activities, enhance content knowledge in essay writing of the intermediate Iranian EFL learners? Regarding content, does the writing ability of the intermediate Iranian EFL learners progress in the presence of the multimedia package? the greatest effort has been on the writing skill itself and since the aim of the study was students were supposed to use the multimedia at home to improve themselves and to self-invest just as Rutherford and Sharwood-Smith (1988) stated (e.g., through giving learners responsibility for making decisions and through encouraging them to make discoveries about the language for themselves). Learners must be ready to acquire the points being taught’ (both in terms of linguistic, developmental readiness and of psychological readiness too Meisel et al., 1981; Pienemann, 1985).The researcher believe as students involve in some activities including listening to various audio texts, discussing their ideas, listening to their classmates, and writing about various topics, their content knowledge grows along with vocabulary and linguistic forms, which are as a result of the enhancement of content knowledge. As a matter of fact that could prove the idea that familiarity with the content area can help learners perform better at least if they encounter familiar topics. 2. Review of literature Some researchers such as Hyland (2002)advocate looking beyond the more traditional applied linguistics view of text as autonomous objects; that is, teachers should not restrict themselves to the ‘surface structures rather to see texts as attempts to communicate with others’ which is good for raters and judges to consider while scoring written texts. The majority of research over the last 15 years indicates that raters tend to be more concerned about content and ALLS 5(2):87-95, 2014 88 organization in writing than sentence structure and mechanics (Huot, 1990). As a result, familiarity with content is of important significance since teachers evaluate writings for the level of understanding or content knowledge. Weir (2005) also pointed out establishing theory-based validity in writing is concerned with evaluating the activation of executive resources and extensive processes promoted by the task. Executive resources involve linguistic resources and content knowledge. Content knowledge may already be possessed by the candidate through developed schemata or might be available in information supplied in task input. According to Chastain (1988), in addition to interesting topics and necessary instruction which are provided by the teacher, teachers should give some information needed to write about the topic because students need to have somewhat of starting-point or triggering means to begin writing. According to researches carried out in the past few years, teachers' contribution to students has been suggested through different methods in teaching different subjects or language skills: 2.1 Modeling Helping students to generate ideas for writing and to organize their ideas effectively is a key component in all writing activities (Vinson, 1980).The assumption that novice writers will learn from seeing what others have done and from imitating those forms and techniques is an essential factor for teachers to decide to use models in the classrooms (Hillocks, 1986). Models can be used as examples of different types of writing to help students understand the characteristics of good writing and how to improve their own writing as in a study conducted by Graham and Perin (2007). Considering content as one of the characteristics of a good writing, preliminary findings have provided evidence that familiarity with subject matter can compensate for inferior linguistic proficiency (Alderson & Urquhart, 1985). By reading different writing models on the same topic, students can develop proper background knowledge. However, only some previous studies have addressed the effect of writers’ background knowledge on writing performance, and none have considered content regarding writing skill. On the contrary, writing has mainly been utilized as an effective tool to enhance students’ learning of content material. 2.2 Learning Content Material Writing can be used as a device for learning content material. Nevertheless, most of the studies carried out in this regard were dealing content as it is dealt with in content-based language teaching approach like the study by Graham and Perin (2006) in which writing-to-learn was equally effective for all content areas (social studies, math, and science).As a matter of fact, writing was applied as a contributing means for learning other subject areas, which meant not focusing on the writing skill itself. 2.3 Computer-assisted language learning Applying CALL materials is another method used by teachers to facilitate the language learning process in all the skills including writing. Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) materials are student-centered accelerated learning materials, which promote self-paced accelerated learning (Davies and Higgins, 1982). Multimedia, as one of CALL’s materials, can then offer the authentic English materials conveniently and accurately in both visual and audio ways (Howard, 1983). Acha (2009) suggested that multimedia can provide a large amount of instructional information to the students for the purpose of English writing skill. However, some researchers believe that most teachers depend on multimedia teaching method excessively and neglect its auxiliary teaching function. According to Johnstone & Milne (1995), teachers are always the facilitator of the whole class, whether they are teaching in the traditional classroom or in the multimedia classroom. Consequently, using multimedia in the classrooms does not mean that teachers are supposed to be substituted by multimedia. Considering the importance of content in evaluation of writing products and the tried-and-true usage of multimedia in current teaching and learning environment, in the present study, we sought to investigate the effects of a multimedia package, a take-home CD on the writing content of students. We compared the writing content of students using the multimedia package with other students who are only exposed to current-traditional rhetoric approach, in which the application of multimedia does not exist and there is no extra focus on the students’ writing content. 3. Method 3.1 Participants Participants involved in this study were 80 English Translation students, studying in the fifth semester at a University in Karaj, Iran. The L1 of these students, studying in coeducational classes, was Farsi. The number of female students in both experimental (n=40) and control (n=40) groups exceeded the male ones, almost 3:1; whereas, all had already passed the Advanced Writing course and were participating in Essay Writing course classes. 3.2 Instrumentation The instruments employed in this study included a PBT test used as the homogenizing test. To investigate the effectiveness of the research method under question, the pretest and posttest topics were excerpted from www.ets.org, which is the official website of TOEFL. Jacobs’ et al. (1981) writing criteria called “ESL Composition Scoring Profile” was utilized as the rating scale by two raters for scoring the written products in pre and posttests. Both raters used Jacobs et. al. s' writing template (1981) called "ESL Composition Scoring Profile" to score the writings regarding the content. Jacob’s scale is divided into five major writing components: content, organization, vocabulary, language, and ALLS 5(2):87-95, 2014 89 mechanics. A writing evaluation instrument is said to have content validity when ‘‘. . .it evaluates writers’ performance on the kind of writing tasks they are normally required to do in the classroom’’ (Jacobs et al., 1981, p. 74). Jacob’s writing scale has content validity since the criteria outlined evaluate the performance of EFL/ ESL students’ different types of expository writing which are tasks they perform in the foreign language classroom. 3.2.1 Inter-rater reliability for pretest After the data was collected from the pretest, two raters scored them. Since studies should consistently report inter-rater reliability, even if only on a portion of the data, some parts of the data collected from the pretest were randomly selected, random essays of 80, and then inter-rater reliability was calculated, using Pearson’s Product-moment coefficient of correlation(r). An inter-rater reliability of .80 represents that there is a high degree of consistency in the judgment of the raters in the pretest. It has been represented in the Table 1. Table 1. Inter-rater reliability for the pretest RAT2 RAT1 a Pearson Correlation .804a Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 80 Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) 3.2.3 Inter-rater reliability for posttest An inter-rater reliability of .86 represents that there is a high degree of consistency in the judgment of the raters in the posttest. It has been represented in Table 2. It should be noted that, like pretest, from 160 essays of both experimental and control posttest results, only 80 have been randomly chosen to test the inter-rater reliability. Table 2. Inter-rater reliability for the posttest RAT2 RAT1 b Pearson Correlation .865b Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 80 Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) 3.3 Material The treatment which was in the form of a multimedia package (a CD containing both related audio and written contents in L1and L2), was prepared by the researcher herself. The CD consisted of audio and written parts including40 of the most common TOEFL topics, which were selected from www.ets.org. It is good to mention that after interviewing the participants, the researcher selected the topics according to the frequency of occurrence in the writing part of IELTS exams and their level of difficulty. During the interview session, the participants were required to provide three blue prints or supporting ideas for each 60 topics, excerpted from the TOEFL official web site. The result showed that approximately all the students had problems providing acceptable content for forty of those sixty topics. As a result, they were selected as the topics of the content materials provided here. For the audio section of the material, 80 English five-paragraph essays with the same topics as the written section were selected as models to be recorded both in L1 and L2. The texts of the English audio part were excerpted from Sample Essays for the TOEFL Writing Test (TWE)-Answer to all Essay Questions book published in 2004.However, for the L1audio part, the remained 40 English essays which were selected from the official website of TOEFL were firstly translated by the researcher into Farsi (L1) and then they were recorded on the same CD. The written section of the CD contained two sets of drills. The topics were divided into two groups of 20. The first 20 topics were written along with their three blue prints in the multiple choice format with three written options (A, B, and C), one of which was irrelevant and participants were supposed to find. The students were also expected to fill in the last option (D), which was left blank, with one relevant blue print. The second 20 topics were followed by their relevant five-paragraph essays, all of which were extracted from How to Prepare for TOEFL Essays by Abbas Zahedi (2006). The topic sentences for the second, third and fourth paragraphs were missing so that students could jot them down according to the content of body paragraphs and the whole texts. ALLS 5(2):87-95, 2014 90 3.4 Procedure In the present study, administering the PBT test as homogenizing test, pretest, working with the multimedia package-which was listening to the audio section of the CD and working on the written section of the CD (including two sets of drills)-- all spanned 14 weeks. The initial100 junior participants attended the essay writing course classes which were held once a week. In the very first session, the standardized PBT TOEFL test was administered to test the homogeneity of the students, one class (n=52) and the other one (n=48). After the homogeneizing test was applied and the gained data were analyzed, from among 100 students involved, only 80 were selected as the participants of this study since they fell within about one standard deviation above and below the mean. The outliers were eliminated from the data analysis of the study. They might have benefited from the treatment, though. In the second session, both classes took the pretest to ensure that at the beginning of the study, both groups were almost at the same level of proficiency regarding the element under investigation, the writing content. The test consisted of two writing topics for which the testees were demanded to write two five-paragraph essays within the time allocation of 60 minutes and the length of at least150 words. The topics kept the same in both experimental and control groups. The whole papers were scored once by two different raters. The raters were required to score each essay based on the students’ writing content using Jacobs et al.’s writing template (1981) called "ESL Composition Scoring Profile". Subjectivity of the scoring was decreased by considering the mean of the two marks as the testees’ mark. Both experimental and control groups were taught the mechanics of writing and paragraph patterns at an advanced level (current-traditional rhetoric approach) within 12 sessions of the university semester. They got familiar with different types of essays like cause and effect, comparison, contrast, explanation, etc. The control group was taught just the mechanics of writing and paragraph patterns at an advanced level (current-traditional rhetoric approach). It was concerned only with correctness. The simple injunction was to “select, narrow, and amplify”. They were given no extra practice on the content area of their writing, that is, if they lacked certain content for an essay, they could not provide relevant information or write appropriately, regarding the content, there were no feedbacks in this regard. At home, they had to write a five-paragraph essay on a given topic for each session. The teacher collected the essays and scored them for the following session. On the other hand, for the experimental class, the treatment, conducted along with the currenttraditional rhetoric approach, commenced from the third session. Students were supposed to work on the material both at home and in the class. The students in the experimental class were expected to work on the drills and listen to the audio texts of almost three to four topics per week. The writing drills which were of two types were entirely given to students both on a paper and on the same audio CD so that they could work on them at home and bring them to the class. Within the classroom, they discussed and compared their answers with their classmates. It should be mentioned that since the topics of the written drills were the same as the forty Persian and English audio parts, the students were not allowed duplicate the same blue prints and topic sentences of the audio part in the drill part so that they could develop a larger amount of knowledge regarding content. At the end of the procedure, to validate the comparison, both experimental and control groups took the same posttest exams, which were two five-paragraph essays on the given topics with the length of 150 words and within the time span of 60 minutes. 4. Results 4.1 Homogenizing Test Several sets of statistical analysis were performed in order to find the answer to the following research question: Q1) Does providing learners with a multimedia package-- a CD containing both L1 and L2 recordings plus manipulative and task-based activities-- enhance content knowledge in essay writing of the intermediate Iranian EFL learners? Q2) Regarding content, does the writing ability of the intermediate Iranian EFL learners progress in the presence of the multimedia package? The result of those analyses are reported and discussed below. Table 3 shows the statistic results of the homogenizing test. The mean and standard deviation of the general proficiency test turned out to be 51.28 and 12.80respectively. As the table shows the skewness value turned out to be -.132 and the standard error of skewness was .241. The division of the statistic of skewness by standard error of skewness appears to be .547. Since this figure fell within -1.96 and +1.96, it was concluded that the distribution was normal. Table 3. Descriptive statistics of the homogenizing test N 100 Minimum 21.00 Maximum 85.00 Mean 51.2800 Skewness Std. Error of Mean Std. Deviation Variance 1.28079 12.80789 164.042 Statistic Figure 1. shows the normal distribution after the homogenizing test result was analyzed. -.132 Std. Error of Skewness .241 ALLS 5(2):87-95, 2014 91 Figure1. Normal distribution of the homogenizing test 4.2 Pretest The researcher administered a pre-test of writing concerning content knowledge to evaluate the students and come to future conclusions and decisions. The data (Table 4) revealed the mean and standard deviation of two groups regarding content knowledge. It was observed that the mean for the experimental group was 13.08 and the mean for the control group was 13.16 with the standard deviation of 3.10 and 3.17, respectively. Table 4. Pretest descriptive statistics Pretest group N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean experimental 40 13.0875 3.10683 .49123 control 40 13.1625 3.17116 .50140 To compare two groups systematically, an independent t-test was run in order to determine whether or not there were statistically significant differences between two groups in terms of their content knowledge. The result is displayed in Table 5. Table 5. Pre independent t-test for both groups in terms of content knowledge Levene's Test for Equality of Variances Pretest Experimental F Sig. t-test for Equality of Means t df Control Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed .097 .756 Sig. (2tailed) Mean Difference Std. Error Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper -.107 78 .915 -.07500 .70194 1.47245 1.32245 -.107 77.9 67 .915 -.07500 .70194 1.47246 1.32246 As seen in Table 3, initially, two groups were not significantly different since at 0.05 level of significance for 78 degrees of freedom the sig. 2-tailed is 0.915 which is higher than 0.005. In other words, data partially showed that the writing ability of two groups, in terms of content, was not so different and two groups were comparable at the onset of the study. ALLS 5(2):87-95, 2014 92 4.3 Posttest This part of the data analysis focuses on the difference between the performances of two groups to see whether the treatment had any effect on the posttest of the participants. As is presented in Table 6, the mean of the control group on their posttest was (12.36), having a standard deviation of (3.21), while the mean of experimental group was (14.36) with the standard deviation of (2.89). Table 6. Posttest descriptive statistics Posttest group N Mean Std. Deviation experimental control 40 40 14.3625 12.3625 2.89559 3.21851 Std. Error Mean .45783 .50889 Although the means of two groups clearly showed the difference, an independent t-test was run to ensure whether these groups have had any significant difference or not. An independent t-test (Table 7) showed at 0.05 level of significance for 78 degrees of freedom the sig. 2-tailed is 0.003 which is lower than 0.005, and therefore the existing difference is statistically significant. The null hypothesis that there is no difference between two groups after the treatment was rejected. The research question was answered that there was an enhancement in the content of the experimental group writing, utilizing a multimedia package containing both L1 and L2 manipulative and task-based activities. Table 7. Post independent t-test for both groups in terms of content Levene's Test for Equality of t-test for Equality of Means Variances Posttest of Experimental & Control Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed F Sig. t df .104 .748 2.922 78 .003 2.00000 .68453 .63720 3.36280 .003 2.00000 .68453 .63697 3.36303 2.922 77.144 Mean Difference Std. Error Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Sig. (2tailed) 4.4 The subsidiary findings Since the study’s focal point was on content knowledge in writing, the study provided a chance to work on this issue in more detail such as: Checking the rate of progress within each experimental and control group classes in terms of content from pretest to posttest. Although this was not the main discussion of the study, it was related to writing and hence worthy of consideration. The mean of experimental group in their pretest and posttest were (13.08) and (14.36) respectively. It was observed that, regarding the content knowledge, the experimental group enhanced significantly after the treatment. To measure the effects of the treatment on the experimental group or observe whether the difference between their performances on the pretest and the posttest was significant or not, a paired t-test was run. Table 8 shows that after the treatment, a significant change was observed in content of written products of the experimental group. The results tended to show that there was a significant difference between their performance on the pretest and the posttest. The post independent t-test (table 8) at the significant level of 0.05 for 39 degrees of freedom the sig. 2-tailed is 0.000 which is lower than0.005, and therefore the existing difference is statistically significant. This significant difference can demonstrate the impact of the treatment, enhancing content knowledge by means of a multimedia, on the writers. Table 8. Paired t-test results of the experimental group in terms of content Paired Differences 95% Confidence Std. Experimental group Interval of the Std. Mean Error Difference Deviation Mean Lower Upper Pretest & -1.27500 1.37258 .21702 -1.71397 -.83603 Posttest t df Sig. (2-tailed) -5.875 39 .000 ALLS 5(2):87-95, 2014 93 This part of peripheral investigation tries to measure content knowledge of the control group's writings. It was observed that participants in this group did not improve in terms of content. The content knowledge of the control group after 12 sessions of study numerically decreased (from 13.16 to 12.36). To observe whether the difference between the performances of the control group participants on pretest and posttest regarding content was significant or not, a paired t-test was run. The result of paired t-test of control group showed that, considering content, this group did not show any changes after the twelve weeks of study, since the post independent t-test (Table 9) at the significant level of 0.05 for 39 degrees of freedom the sig. 2-tailed is 0.115 which is higher than0.005, and therefore the existing difference is not statistically significant. Table 9. Paired t-test results of the control group in terms of content Paired Differences Control group Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper .46851 1.13149 t df Sig. (2-tailed) 1.931 39 .115 Pretest & .80000 1.03651 .16389 Posttest 5. Discussion In response to the research questions, it would appear from the evidence here that the recommended pattern for enhancing content knowledge by a multimedia package, a CD containing recordings both in L1 and L2 manipulative as well as task-based activities, is superior to the only exposure of learners to current-traditional rhetoric approach pattern regarding writing content. A plausible explanation concerning the observation of this improvement can be the task itself since the nature of the task was quite different from the traditional way the participants were used to. That is, writing products benefited from the content knowledge. The former findings about content, as Urquhart and Weir (1998) believe, have provided a considerable amount of experimental evidence that familiarity with content has a significant effect on the performance. As Hedge (2000), for example, stated, “Good writers concentrate on the overall meaning, organization and content of a text, etc.” (p. 305). As concluded in this research, the writing product benefits through using the recommended multimedia package, a CD containing both L1 and L2 manipulative and task-based activities. By focusing on content, linguistic skills find their right place as means for students to communicate, which does not let the language get disconnected or be artificial. As a result, students are able to learn better and faster because they are surrounded by real language (Blanton, 1992). According to Blanton, vocabulary and linguistic forms develop along with the content knowledge development. As content expands, a context for weaving together the knowledge and insights from different sources develop, which here in this study was by means of class discussions, printed texts and the audio part of the material. Along with Blanton’s study that students need to work with complete texts as opposed to disconnected paragraphs and unrelated exercises, the drills involved in this study’s material contributed the students to produce better-written texts. Moreover, the recent impact of technology on writing has certainly not gone unnoticed since its development. The results of a study by Adair-Hauck, Willingham-McLain, and Youngs (1999) on the effect of using technology indicated an enhancement in language learning on the performance of college-level students in writing, which is similar to the findings of this study. Apparently, there are certain factors that lead to a more effective writing product. Studies (Underwood & Brown, 1997; Bowyer & Blanchard, 2003) corroborated that multimedia environments and visual contexts at macro-level can generate an increased motivation in learners. Indeed, the “novelty” of a multimedia package at macro-level (particularly in EFL contexts) can generate an increased motivation in learners. This increased motivation might lead to increased levels of attention. It could be claimed that the improvement observed in the experimental class in this study was to some extent due to the increasing level of attention on the macro structures and vocabularies. Like any other researches, the shortcomings of the study that could not be controlled included the fact that firstly among the participants, who were all at the intermediate level of proficiency, the number of females exceeded the males (75%).Secondly, the participants were not of the same age; it was not a variable in this study. Thirdly, the classes were self-selected by the students according to the time and number of classes offered; as a result, the number of participants was limited to two classes with 80 of 100 students who took the essay writing course. Applying a multimedia package in instruction can help students become more involved in the teaching-learning process, and assist them in expressing their ideas. Johnstone and Milne (1995) stated that the use of a teacher-controlled ALLS 5(2):87-95, 2014 94 multimedia tool increased the amount of communicative discourse in the classroom by both teachers and students. It can be claimed that the multimedia itself can be strong enough to affect learners’ performance on all components of writing, so the role of a multimedia may not be underestimated. Based on the findings of this research, though, such multimedia package can help learners with writing regarding their content knowledge. For those learners who find writing a difficult task because they cannot organize what they know or do not have much information about a given topic, what is here called a multimedia package can be mainly helpful. Enhancing content knowledge in writing, if included in educational schedules, like reading, might empower the learners with an insight into the language they are learning. In addition, it provides a means of self-expression different from what is common in writing classes. Students in traditional classes complain about the tedious and monotonous English writing classes and the fact that they want something new and different (Carter &Nunan, 2001). As a result of this freedom in multimedia classes, they may enjoy writing which has been 'frustrating' for them. Very broadly put, in content writing enhancement class, by the use of a multimedia package, the learners no longer worry what to write about as those in traditional essay writing classes. This way, essay writing through using a multimedia package (a CD containing both L1 and L2 manipulative and task-based activities) for content knowledge improvement can be used as a substitute in formal writing classes or as an activity in students' leisure time since Berhof (1981) believes students learn more when they write more and freely. So, enhancing content knowledge in writing tends to foster language learning. Another research may investigate the role or probable interaction of gender on the performance of both groups since the number of female exceeded in this study. The effect of a multimedia package on other aspects of the written products, such as cohesion and coherence, can be investigated in another study. It would be interesting to investigate the effect of age on the content knowledge of the language learners. Another study may be conducted to explore the impact of a multimedia package on the improvement of the other language skills, listening, reading, speaking as well as other language components or even on the impact of a multimedia package on promoting the motivation and attitude of EFL learners toward the writing skill. Time can be another variable and a carefully planned longitudinal study may not confirm the findings of this study because the participants took part in this study for just one semester. Further research studies could investigate whether this stratagem i.e. enhancing content knowledge through the use of a multimedia package (a CD containing both L1 and L2 manipulative and task-based activities) can have any specific effect on students’ creativity while they are writing essays on the topics different from those they already worked on. Acknowledgement My first debt of gratitude is to my friend and colleague, Mr. Amin Davari whose detailed comments and guidance all through the way gave me invaluable insights that I incorporated into my article. I would be amiss if I did not thank my family and friends who provided me with encouragement and support to finish this job specially Ms. Bahare Molazem who assisted me through writing and proof reading the article. References Acha, J. (2009). The effectiveness of multimedia programs in children’s vocabulary learning. BJET, 40(1), 23-31. Adair-Hauck, B., Willingham-McLain, L., & Earnest-Youngs, B. (1999).Evaluating the integration of technology and second language learning. CALICO Journal, 17(2), 269-306. Alderson, J. C., &Urquhart, A. H. (1985).The effect of students’ academic discipline on their performance on ESP reading tests. LTJ, 2(2), 192-204. Berhof, B. (1981).Moving toward aesthetic literacy in the first grade. In D. J. Leu& C. K. Kinzer (Eds.), Examining central issues in literacy research, theory, and practice (pp. 217-233). Chicago: National Reading Conference. Blanton, L. L. (1992). A holistic approach to college ESL: Integrating language and content. JELT, 46(3), 285-293. Bowyer, P. K. & Blanchard, C.L. (2003). Multimedia based enhancement of the science of technology in the distance education learning environment. AJET, 19(3), 323-338. Carter, R., &Nunan, D. (2001).The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other languages.UK: Cambridge University Press. Chastain, K. (1988).Developing second language skills: Theory and practice. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Gao. H. Z. (2005). The feasibility and necessity of using multi-media computer to assist foreign language teaching. Unpublished master’s thesis, Liaoning Normal University, Liaoning, China. Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007a).A meta-analysis of writing instruction for adolescent students. JEDP, 99 (3), 445-476. Graham, S., & Perrin, D. (2007b).Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools. Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellence in Education. Hedge, T. (2000).Teaching and learning in language classroom. New York: Oxford University Press. Hillocks, G. (1986).Research on written composition: New directions for teaching. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Howard, D.V. (1983). Cognitive psychology. New York: Macmillan Publishing. ALLS 5(2):87-95, 2014 95 Huot, B. (1990). The literature of direct writing assessment: major concerns and prevailing trends. Review of Educational research, 60, 237-263. Hyland, K. (2002). Genre-based pedagogies: A social response to process. JSLW, 12, 17-29. Jacobs, H.L., Zinkgraf, S.A., Wormuth, D.R., Hartfiel, V.F., &Hughey, B. (1981).Testing ESL composition: A practical approach. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers. Johnstone, J., & Milne, L. (1995).Scaffolding second language communicative discourse with teacher-controlled multimedia. FLA, 28, 315-329. Meisel, J., Clahsen, H. and Pienemann, M. (1981).On determining developmental stages in natural second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 3, 109-35. Morrison, G. R., &Anglin, G. J. (2005). Research on cognitive load theory: Application to e-learning. ETR& D, 53, 94104. Pienemann, M. (1985).Learnability and syllabus construction. In K. Hyltenstam& M. Pienemann (Eds.), Modeling and assessing second language acquisition (pp.23-76).Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters. Rutherford, W., & Sharwood-Smith, M. (Eds.). (1988).Grammar and second language teaching. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Smith, S. M., & Woody, P. C. (2000). Computer in teaching: Interactive effect of multimedia instruction and learning styles. TPJ, 27(3), 220-223. Underwood, J., & Brown, J. (1997). Integrated learning systems: Potential into practice. UK: Heineman. Urquhart, A., & Weir, C. (1998).Reading in a second language: Process, product and practice. London: Longman. Vinson, L. L. N. (1980). The effects of two prewriting activities upon the overall quality of ninth graders’ descriptive paragraphs. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of South Carolina-Columbia. Wang, C. R. (2008). A comparative study on the traditional model of English teaching and multimedia computer aided English teaching. HNFNC, 8(3), 56-58. Weir, C. (2005).Language testing and validation: An evidence-based approach. UK: Palgrave Macmillan. http://www.ets.org (accession date: 2010, Nov 19th). Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Assessment Of The Implementation Of The Reading Component Of The English Language Curriculum For Basic Education In Nigeria Hanna Onyi Yusuf Department of Educational Foundation And Curriculum Faculty of Education Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria E-mail: hannayusuf@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.96 Received: 17/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.96 Accepted: 03/04/2014 Abstract This study assessed the implementation of the reading component of the Junior Secondary School English Language Curriculum for Basic Education in Nigeria. Ten (10) randomly selected public and private secondary schools from Kaduna metropolis in Kaduna State of Nigeria were used for the study. Among the factors assessed in relation to the implementation of the curriculum were: teachers variation of methods and the differences between school types in the implementation of reading component of the English Language curriculum. Thirty (30) English language teachers were involved in the study. Questionnaire and observation were the instruments used in gathering data. The data were analyzed, using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation. The analysis of the data collected revealed that there was no significant difference in the implementation of the reading component of the English language curriculum in public and private schools. Teachers in both schools tended to have the same pattern of implementing the reading component of the English language curriculum. It was observed that the implementation of the reading component of the English language curriculum was not very effective from the classroom observation of the teachers. Teaching was teacher-centred. Students were passive and did not participate in class discussion. It was recommended that teachers should adopt learner centred approaches in teaching reading and students should be encouraged to participate actively in class discussions. For efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of the reading component of the English curriculum, there should be continuity of the syllabus (from JS 1-3) and there should be checks and balances to ensure the successful delivery of the curriculum. Keywords: assessment, reading, education in Nigeria 1. Introduction/Background to the Study Curriculum, which is generally viewed as the guiding principle for teachers at different levels, has sometimes been misconstrued, misinterpreted and/or “poorly implemented due to teachers’ lack of the required skills to teach effectively, inadequate comprehension of the curriculum, misinterpretation of its contents, and so on. From observation, English curricula are not readily available in some schools and inaccessible to the teachers in others. Some of these factors coupled with the inadequacies of the curriculum seem to affect the teachers’ implementation efforts negatively. On the other hand, funds for purchasing materials and for organizing induction courses in schools are not readily available. Lack of funds can lead to inadequacy of teaching aids and demoralization of the morale of enthusiastic teachers. Even when all of these are in place, teachers may still lack the required skills to teach effectively. The quality of the reading component of the Junior Secondary (JS) JSS English curriculum, its implementation and the impact on the development of Junior Secondary School students has been agitating the inquisitive minds of many scholars. There are doubts in some quarters about the qualifications of the English language teachers who are expected to implement the curriculum (Adeyanju, 1981, Aukerman, 1986). Perceived teachers’ inefficiency and poor performance of students are symptomic of poor interpretation and implementation of the curriculum. This researcher has observed that there are no stimulating learning environments for some junior secondary schools in Kaduna metropolis. Students learn under trees in some schools, while in others, classes are without some basic and sufficient learning facilities such as chairs, desks, chalkboard etc. Some have over populated classes and lack adequate teaching materials/aids. All these factors coupled with poor conditions of service can affect the smooth implementation of the curriculum. this study is aimed at finding out the methods teachers use in implementing the reading component of the English language curriculum and the differences between school types in the implementation of the reading component of the English language curriculum. 2. Purpose of the Study The study sets out: i. to find out the methods used in the teaching of the reading component of the Junior Secondary School English Language curriculum, ALLS 5(2):96-102, 2014 ii. 97 to determine the difference between school types in the implementation of the Reading component of the English language curriculum. 3. Research Questions This research sought to answer the following questions: 1. What are the different methods used by teachers in the implementation of the reading component of the Junior Secondary School English language Curriculum? 2. What are the differences between school types in the implementation of the reading component of the Junior Secondary School English Language Curriculum? 4. Review of Related Literature The guideline on the FME Junior Secondary School English language curriculum stipulates that teachers’ attitudes are important in the learning process. Methods vary and materials are determined by academic and professional preparations. Etim (1981) analyzed what teachers of English should do as follows: provide necessary background experience, use the right method of instruction and materials to develop student interests and motivate them. In curriculum implementation, the most important single determinant of what takes place in JSS English language classroom is the teacher, whose lesson notes, management of curriculum, sophistication and appropriation of teaching aids which are subsumed in transactional skills are the function of training, experience and natural flair. Ability to communicate effectively will also depend on interpersonal participation in the class, clubs etc. Bamgbose (1991) sees curriculum implementation as ranging from actual language work to production of materials. Carlson (2005) views curriculum implementation as developing a plan, getting everything in place, and fine tuning of the programme to better meet the needs of the learner. Yunusa (2002) is of the opinion that curriculum implementation involves steps taken to attain the set educational goals. All of the definitions given above point to the fact that for proper implementation of the curriculum, there must be learners, teachers, and learning materials, all of which work hand in hand to achieve the goals set by curriculum planners. Full implementation of the curriculum demands that the teacher must be trained to experiment and manipulate the curriculum since by implication, the teacher is the most important part of the JSS English language curriculum. Some reading specialists and curriculum experts believe that reading is a matter of maturation rather than a process developed through systematic instruction and practice. Some see reading as primarily a visual task, studied and developed through the use of mechanical device that records eye movements and increases reading speed, by expanding eye span intake of printed symbols, Aukerman (1989). One of the tasks that confronts the secondary school teacher of JSS English is how to train students to become good readers. This is informed by the fact that students might have been unfortunate to be badly taught reading skills at the early stage. McGregor (1987) says reading aloud from textbook in turns while others listen, makes students to listen to mistakes and learn how to read badly. Other wrong approaches while reading are: pointing with fingers at words, moving the heads, and also moving their lips. These act as constraints to effective reading. To teach students who already have these wrong reading habits is a demanding task for the teacher who is faced with the primary responsibility of inculcating and teaching good reading skills (Balogun, 1995, Umerah, 2009). How accurate are the JSS teachers in observing the above anomalies in the process of the interpretation and implementation of the reading component of the JSS English curriculum in schools in Kaduna metropolis requires empirical evidence which this study seeks to provide. According to (Abiri, 1985) primary school teachers, including the professionally trained ones, have had little or no guidance in the teaching of the reading component of the English language curriculum. The view is confirmed in Unoh’s (1985) observation that ‘There is the problem of inadequate teachers of reading in some schools. How far this situation is applicable to schools in Kaduna metropolis is an issue of great contention that yeans for verification. Researchers (Oyetunde, 2009, Yusuf 2011, Olaofe, 2013) have revealed that Nigerian students have various reading problems. Part of the reason for this inefficiency is attributed to the students and a greater part to the methods being adopted by teachers in teaching reading. Taiwo (1980) feels that poor rate of reading and general apathy for written texts, make students inefficient readers. In JSS English language curriculum, students learn how to read and to discover their own motivation toward reading by practising. This discovery helps the teacher to design appropriate teaching methods and reading materials for students. 5. Methodology Survey research design was used for the study. Questionnaires were administered to the teachers so as to harness their opinions on how the Reading component of the JSS English language curriculum is implemented by them and the various methods used in implementing the curriculum. The administration of the teachers’ questionnaire was executed by the researcher with the help of research assistants. Likert rating scale was used for scoring responses on the questionnaire. In addition to the use of questionnaires, the teachers and students were observed while teaching and learning were going on. The following aspects were observed content, teachers’ activities, students’ activities/participation as a way of ALLS 5(2):96-102, 2014 98 evaluating the effectiveness of teachers implementation. Teaching aids/methods used, teacher’s objective and the extent of curriculum coverage were equally observed while teaching was taking place. Stratified random sampling procedure was used in obtaining data for this study. A sample of ten (10) schools was drawn randomly out of three hundred and eighty four (384) schools with a population of 10,060 students. All the schools in Kaduna Metropolis cannot be used as it would be cumbersome to obtain information by census of the entire population. The schools used for this study are listed in the appendix. An aggregate of thirty teachers (i.e three from each school) were selected randomly from ten schools for the study. The data collected for the research was analyzed using frequencies and percentages. 6. Data Analysis/Discussion Research Question 1: what are the different methods used by teachers in the implementation of the reading component of the Junior Secondary School English language curriculum? This question was assessed using teachers’ opinion on the methods used in the implementation of the reading component of the English language curriculum in Junior Secondary Schools. 90% of the teachers said they do not have specific methods of teaching reading. 10.0% of the teachers claimed that they use the vocabulary method to teach reading. However, all the teachers agreed that there were some levels of difficulties being encountered in the implementation of the reading component of the English language curriculum. Table 1. Frequency of teaching reading in the selected schools Frequency of teaching the component of the English language curriculum Reading Frequency (%) Everyday 15(50) Twice a week 9(30) Once a week 3(10) Once a month 3(10) Total 30(100) Table 1 revealed that reading skill was almost an every day affair in all the selected schools. At least 50.0% of the teachers claimed to practise the skill in their teaching and learning of the English language in the selected schools, while 30.0% of the teachers were of the opinion that the practice of the skill was only conducted two times in a week in their respective schools. Only 10.0% of the teachers claimed conducting the skill once a week and once a month respectively. Techniques used in the teaching and learning of the reading skill included intensive and extensive reading by the students for details and the gists of the passages respectively. The observed implementation levels of the reading component of the curriculum were assessed on a four point Likert scale. These were Very well (VW) implemented, Well (W) implemented, poorly implemented (P) and very poorly (VP) implemented. Table 2. Observed level of implementation of the reading component of the English language curriculum Implementation 1 2 3 4 5 Reading for main ideas VW W P VP 11 18 1 - (36.7) (60.0) (3.3) Reading to grasp word meaning 12 13 5 (40.0) 43.3) (16.7) Reading to answer specific questions 16 8 6 (53.3) (26.7) (20.0) Reading for implied meaning 4 12 12 2 (13.3) (40.0) (40.0) (6.7) Reading for gist 6 14 8 2 (20.0) (46.7) (26.7) (6.7) - ALLS 5(2):96-102, 2014 99 Implementation VW 6 7 8 W P VP 2 6 15 7 Reading for relationship of thought (6.7) (20.0) (50.0) (23.3) Reading for details 6 14 8 2 (20.0) (46.7) (26.7) (6.7) 8 12 10 - (26.7) (40.0) (33.3) Reading for required information Most teachers as indicated in the table did not have much difficulty in implementing reading for main ideas, word, meaning, details and required information. However, most teachers had difficulty in teaching reading for implied information and reading for relationship of thought. Research Question 2: what are the differences between school types in the implementation of the Reading component of the Junior Secondary School English language curriculum? Table 3 presents the frequency of teaching reading by type of school (Public and private) and the methods used in the implementation of the curriculum. The teachers were scored based on percentages for this question because of the unequal number of their representation from the different types of schools. Table 3. Frequency of teaching the Reading component of the English language curriculum by school type Frequency of teaching reading Public school Private school % % Everyday 30 60 Twice a week 40 30 Once a week 20 10 Once a month 10 - Total 100 100 Table 3 revealed that the private school gave more attention to the implementation of the Reading component of the English language curriculum than was obtained in the public schools. For example, in the teaching of reading skill, 60.0% of the teachers in private schools claimed to conduct reading skill, teaching every school day while the equivalent number of teachers in the public schools was 30.0%. However, the methods used in the teaching of the skill Reading did not seem to have differed much, as teachers in both schools claimed to have intensive and extensive reading by the students and aiming to get the gist of the passage as well as the implied meaning and the required information from such texts. The classroom observation of the actual implementation of the Reading component of the English language curriculum is presented in Table 4. The scores in the table were converted into percentages to enable even comparison of the actual implementation of the curriculum in the selected schools. Table 4. Observed level of implementation of the Reading component of the English language curriculum 1 Reading for main ideas 36.7 60.0 3.3 - 2 Reading to grasp word meaning 3 Reading to answer specific questions 4 Reading for implied meaning 13.3 40.0 40.0 6.7 5 Reading for gist 20.0 46.7 26.7 6.7 Reading for relationship 40.0 53.3 43.3 26.7 16.7 20.0 20 47 10 23 30 50 13 7 3 53 27 17 27 33 30 10 20 30 50 0 23 40 27 10 - ALLS 5(2):96-102, 2014 100 of thought 6 7 Reading for details 6.7 20.0 50.0 23.3 20.0 46.7 26.7 6.7 Reading for required information 8 26.7 40.0 33.3 27 33 33 7 40 30 20 10 - Table 4 revealed that most teachers were generally good in the teaching of reading skills as indicated in items 1 and 2 of the table. As observed in the lessons, most teachers in the private and public schools were able to teach the aspect of reading for main ideas, reading to grasp words’ meaning, reading to answer specific questions and reading for implied meaning as parts of the reading skill. As indicated in items 5 to 8 in the table, teachers in both schools were not good at teaching reading for gist, reading for relationship of thought, reading for details and reading for required information as parts of the reading skill. 7. Conclusion From the analysis of the data collected for this study, it was observed that English language teachers in the selected junior secondary school within Kaduna Metropolis had the knowledge of the skills involved in the teaching of the Reading component of the English language curriculum. In the process of implementing the reading component of the English language curriculum, emphasis was discovered to be tilted toward reading for main ideas rather than reading for implied meaning. Reading for relationship of thought was poorly implemented. Reading component of the English language curriculum in the selected schools was not very effective from the classroom observation of the teachers. This observation was common in both private and public schools. What was responsible for this as observed by this researcher are the methods used by the teachers. Most teachers do not use the student-centred approach or method and hardly vary their methods of teaching for effective understanding and effective curriculum implementation. Variety they say, is the spice of life. Teachers should be encouraged to vary their methods by using approaches that are interactive learner centred and participatory to enhance the development of good reading skills. 7.1 Recommendations The following recommendations were made based on the findings of this study: 1. Time table in all schools should reflect the teaching of the Reading component of the English language curriculum. This can be either twice or thrice in a week. Principals, heads of department should ensure that these activities are religiously carried out. 2. It would not be out of place to recommend that recruitment of English language teachers should be based on professional qualification. Additional qualification such as training in teaching reading should be considered as an added advantage. 3. Schools should invite reading experts once in a while to assist in teaching difficult areas (such as reading for implied meaning and reading for relationship thought) of the Reading component of the English curriculum for effective implementation. 4. All English Language teachers should be encouraged to become members and of the Reading Association of Nigeria and International Reading Association. They should also be encouraged to attend workshops/seminars/conferences organized by these associations regularly in order to be acquainted with the various techniques and strategies for teaching reading and to keep abreast of the current innovations in the field. 5. For efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of Reading components of the English Language curriculum, there should be continuity, of the syllabus (from JS 1 - JS 3) and there should be checks and balances to ensure that the curriculum is faithfully delivered. 6. Teachers should adopt, learner centred approaches to teaching reading where emphasis is more on students active participation in class activities. More emphasis should be placed on doing, role play, story telling, songs stimulation and dramatization. In addition to this, students should be encouraged to read newspapers, novels, magazines, etc to improve on their reading fluency. References Abiri J. O (1985) Literacy and Reading in Nigeria, Problems and Method of Teaching initial reading in English and Nigeria languages Unoh, Omojuwa and Crow (Eds).Mc Milan, Lagos. Adeyanju, T.K (1981) English in the JSS Curriculum: its subject, medium and practical function: the state of art. University of lagos press Lagos. Aukerman, R (1989). Approaches to beginning Reading John Wiley & Sons, New ALLS 5(2):96-102, 2014 101 Aukerrnan, I. L (1986). The junior Secondary School System; Prospect and problems. Nigeria journal of curriculum studies University Press Lagos. Balogun, B (1995). The Relationship between language and Reading in Nigeria’ in Gilliland J (ed 1977).Ibadan Nigeria. Bamgboye (1991) Language and the Nation, George Square, Edinburgh. Carlson, M. (2005) Teachers and English as a second language; Cambridge University. Etim, J. S (1985). Literacy and reading in Nigeria Vol. 2 A.B.U Zaria. Nigeria McGregor, G. P (1987) The process of curriculum, Pedaogic Europaea, 1970/71, Olaofe, I.A (2013). “Teaching English in Second Language Adverse situations A Solution – based Approach”. Zaria: Applied Linguistics and language Education Centre. Yahaya ventures. Oyetunde T.O (2009). “Beginning Reading Scheme” Empowering teachers to help their pupils become good teachers. Jos: LECAPS publishers. Shertogenboch. Taiwo (1980) Mother Tongue or Second Language on teaching of Reading in Multilingual societies: Copying International Reading Association, Longman Ibadan. Umerah, M.O (2009) Assessment of the Implementation of the Junior Secondary School English language curriculum in selected schools in Kaduna metropolis. Unpublished M.Ed thesis, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Unoh, S.O. (1983) Reading Improvement in Nigeria as a Multilingual Nation: Problems and Prospects. In Literacy and Reading in Nigeria, Vol. 1, Zaria: Institute of Education, ABU Zaria.York. Yunusa, M. B (2002) – Issues on curriculum Department of Education Ahmadu Bello University Zaria ABU Press Yusuf H.O (2005) A comparative study of the effectiveness of language development and vocabulary methods in teaching reading comprehension Unpublished Ph,D Dissertation, University of Abuja, Abuja Yusuf, H.O. (2011). “Towards Improvement in the teaching of reading comprehension in primary schools: the need to activate pupils’ relevant schema”. Theory and practice in language studies Vol 1 (1) January 2011. Pp 16-20 Academy Publishers. Yusuf, H.O. (2012). Fundamentals of Curriculum and Instruction. Kaduna: Joyce Publishers. APPENDIX I Table 3. Names of ten schools and number of students Name of Schools Sample size. populati on Male Female 20 Total Capital School (JSS English students) 500 30 50 G.G.S.S Kawo(JSS English students) 450 - 50 50 Clara Secondary School Kawo 550 30 20 50 SMC Angwar Dosa (JSS English Students) 510 50 - 50 Hampos College 500 30 20 50 Technical college Malali 570 30 20 50 Dambo International School 480 30 20 50 Rimi College 520 50 - 50 Jenie secondary school, Barnawa 490 30 20 50 GGSS Tafawa Balewa college 430 - 50 50 5000 280 Grand Total Source: Ministry of Education, Kaduna 220 500 ALLS 5(2):96-102, 2014 102 APPENDIX II QUESTIONAIRE FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KADUNA METROPOLIS SECTION A BACKGROUND INFORMATION OR DEMOGRAPHIC DATA 1. Name of school___________________________________________ 2. School type 3. Teaching qualification(s)____________________________________ 4. How often do you teach the reading component of the English Language Curriculum? A. B. C. D. Public Private Everyday Twice a week Once a week Once a month Implementation READING Very well Implemented Well Implemented Poorly Implement Very Poorly Implement Reading for main ideas Reading to grasp word meaning Reading to answer specific questions Reading for implied meaning Reading for gist Reading for relationship of thought Reading for details Reading for required information APPENDIX III Observation Checklist Observed Items Neatness Ability to motivate students Quality of lesson notes Content/Topic Objectives Methods Teaching aids/Instructional Materials Teacher/students Relationship Students activities V. good Good Poor V. poor Total Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Features Of Household Lexics, Their Characteristics And Structural Analysis In The Modern English Language AygunYusifova ADU, Azerbaijan Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.103 Received: 18/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.103 Accepted: 03/04/2014 Abstract The present paper aims to analyze the most inherent features and characteristics of household lexis in English. Special emphasis has been placed on their names of the objects used in everyday life, kitchen utensils, animal and birds. Lexical units concerning ceremonies, habits and traditions are also among the scope of the paper. Moreover, the study deals with the structural features of the units under consideration. It is believed that the thematic-semantic characterization of every-day lexis can have both pedagogical and linguistic implications, especially when dealing with comparative structures. Keywords: household lexis, structural features, semantic characteristics When we say lexics of every-day life we mean total amount of words used to name realies having enterd the domestic life of the people. “This lexics is a part of the main lexical word stock. Lexics of every-day life reflects the life, customs and traditions, psychology of the people in a concrete social stage” (6,1). In the system of lexics of the English language every-day lexics occupies a special place. Social differentiation of nation-wide language is one the inevitable results of the development of the language. “A language, language of a certain people never obligatorily becomes unique, alone, because alongside the factors causing the formulation of a language separately, other factors causing to make them be used in different constructions, operate as well. Moreover this is associated with the existence of different norms in a language. Variety of language norms depend not only on temporal factors, but also they depend on the local and social differentiation; the influence of same factors shows itself in the creation of the both, in the formulation of the norms of mono language, national (local, territorial) dialects, and in the creation of social variants of the language (they are sometimes also called social dialects) (1) Investigation of everyday lexics appearing in connection with the social differentiation of nation-wide language draws attention with its actuality. Social differentiation of a language does not touch upon its grammar structure. It takes place on the basis of sematics, stylistics and phraseology. Therefore it’s possible to accept them as one of the social variants. Every-day lexics is enriched on the basis of relaies taking place in the life long history of the lives of the people. Namely creation of every-day lexics is not only associated with the social factors, but also with historic factors, every-day lexics also reflects historiclives of people through which they have like along. The householdof the people not being monotonous either in the everyday lexics there are words which are understood by all too. “Thus formulation of everyday lexics in the language can be accepted as the result of social differentiation, in order to serve the interests of separately taken group of people in the society, to meet their demand” (2,398). Every-day lexics is different from active lexics, because while the nuclear lexics serves the communication process of different strata of the society, every-day lexics serves concrete layer of the society. A. Radjabar mentions that, “social-professional differentiation being considered in the socio-linguistic plan, greatly differs from social-class, social-territorial, social-ideological differentiation of the language. Thus social-professional differentiation of a language develops more intensively. Its new social-professional variant emerges in accordance with differentiation of science and technique (3,370-371). The bearers of social-professional variant of a language, as a rule people use “meta language”as a means of communication among themselves or in literature and alongside “meta language” they widely use general spoken language and literary language. Thus among them appears self belongingdiglossia(5,10-11). The thematic-semantic characterization of every-day lexics and their investigation on this background is of special importance. The every-day lexics of the English language can be characterized in this way: 1. Names of wear Naming of wear is different “General names of wear”, “Names of self-belonging wear”, “Names of head cover”, “Names of foot wear”, “Names of other elements of wear”. “General names of wear” in English language are given as apparel, attire, clothes, clothing, costume, garment. “Names of self-belonging wear” are: shirt, dress, skirt, trousers\pants, gown, blouse, jacket, frock, tuxedo, coat, suit, apron. But besides them, meet other names of wear such as sweater, cagoule, cardigan, pantaloons, leggings, croptop, outfit, trousers, suit, T-shirt, jeans, leotard, carduroys. These names of wear are included into the names of Selfbelonging wear. The “Names of head-cover wear” generally are given as headdress, headwear, headpiece. Especially under these names we can indicate:cap, hat, beret, beanie, beater, panama, trilby helmet. “Foot ALLS 5(2):103-107, 2014 104 wear names” such as shoe (general name) trainer (sneaker), moccasin, sandal, stiletto, flip-flop, clog, court shoe, loafer, lace up(oxford), boot, galoshes, slipper are regarded as self-belonging names. “The names of other elements in wear” includes names of objects to fill up the ensemble in wear. Here belongs apron, tie,bow tie, neck tie, gloves, scarf, mitten, belt, sock, stocking, tights, earmuff. 2. Names of eaten utensils (kitchen-cookery names) Names of eating includes “Names of general eating”, “Self-belonging names of eating”, “Special names of eating” and “Names of drinking” which are divided altogether into 4 groups. “Names of general eating” are given as meal, food and dishes’. “Names of self-belonging eating” are marked with the words such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, (supper), appetizer. Most of the drinks in England are tea (çay), coffee (kofe), beer (pivə), wine (çaxır). 3. Names of objects of every-day life Kitchen utensils includes spoon (tea-spoon, table-spoon), fork, knife, cutlery, cup )egg-cup), mug, glass, goblet, plate, platter, dish, crockery, bowl (salad bowl), saucer, mug, pan,frying pan, fryer, casserole, pressure cooker, steamer, wok, fish knife, bread knife, cheese knife, fish slice, potato masher, pot, ladle, rolling pin, wooden spoon, whisk, colander, sieve, juicer, tin-opener, grater, corkscrew, opener, peeler, kettle, tea-pot, teatowel, salad seers, chopsticks, napkin.Names of furniture and names of house-hold technique include cupboard, chair, drawer, table, oven,microwave oven, cooker, blender, grill, barbecue,draining board, freezer, fridge,fridge-freezer,cooler,sink,tap,dish washer,blender,toaster,appliance, food processor, coffee machine, kettle, bread bin,waste bin, cake tin, cake pan), hammer, nail,maller, chisel, file, nut, bolt, screwdriver, adjustable spanner (monkey wrench), spanner (wrench), handsaw, drill, plane, wrench (pliers), saw. 4. The names of folk medicine and names of remedial plants These names are: basilica, betony, borage, blueberry, brier, bur, calendula, chamomile, cane, can-dock, caraway,celery,coltsfoot, coriander,cranberry, cowberry,comfrey, daffodil, daisy,dandelion, dill, dead man’s finger,elecampane,fumitory, ginseng,goat’s rue,golden rod,hawthorn,hyssop,lavender,licorice,lime,lungwort,mallow,melilot,milfoil,mint,mistletoe,melissa,nettle,origa num,parsley,plantain,primrose,raspberry,rose,sage,sea-buckthorn shamrock,sedge,silverweed,soapwort,sorrel,sulfurwort,thyme,thistle,valerian,veronica. 5. The names of domestic birds and animals: Domestic animals: cat, donkey (ass), cow, goat, horse, lama, mule, ox,pig, sheep, calf. We can say that domestic animals are also a part of household. Home birds include chicken, hen, duck, goose, cock, turkey. 6. Ceremony realies: a) Wedding ceremony names: These names are:wedding, wedding band, wedding breakfast, wedding gown, wedding ceremony, wedding ring, wedding reception, ceremony rehearsal, bride, bridegroom, bridemaid, groom, best man, horseshoe, banns, honeymoon, couple, engagement, marriage, priest, gold, registry office, witness, trousseau. b) Words associated with mourning ceremony. In English words denoting mourning ceremony can be dealt with in the first place: mourning, death, funeral, grave, death bed, soul, coffin, grave yard, bier, corpse, dead, gravestone, cemetery, sorrow, grief, condolence, sadness. 7. The names of customs and habits a) Names of sporting games: These are: backgammon, chequers, billiards, skittles, domino, cribbage, quoits, darts, chess, football, cricket, croquet, tennis, rounder, baseball, badminton d) Names referring to dance: In any region of Britain there exists its own music anddances. For example: In the North of Ireland before only ril dance was danced, but in the south only jig (slides) dance was danced. The earliest forms of Scottish dances were ring and chaindances. The most of the words establishing every-day lexics possess characteristic features. Every-day lexics in English, especially, the names of eating and wear are the most ancient layers of the language and for hundred years beginning with the formulation of the English people up to the present time have developed and enriched. This layer of the English vocabulary have been established mainly on the bases of Anglo-Saxons, also Celts (wales), scablands, and Icelanders every-day lexics. A part of lexical units containing every-day lexics consists of dialects. The formulation of every-day lexics being the product of historicaldevelopment in stages we may meet archaisms used even in the present time. Every-day lexics as mainly reflects the names of realies of substantial culture, they mainly consist of names and these words as terms, express concrete objects and phenomena, names of labor and other processes. As they possess concrete meanings, they differ from the words having abstract meanings; in the words of every-day lexics, we may say there is no ALLS 5(2):103-107, 2014 105 polysemanticism. These words uniting in lexic-semantic groups (LSG) can be point of exit in the formulation of mental lexicon (4,12). As the words entering every-day lexics express the names of realies, they are the units which undergo the least changes and only together with the names of realies they manifest themselves in the language and together with realies they can lose their use. There are both similar and different features between terminologicallexics and every-day lexics. These similarities are as follows: a) both units of every-day lexics and terminological units are words: b) both units of every-day lexics, and terms bear normative functions – they name phenomena, things and notions; c) both types of words are of historic category; d) both types of verbs have restricted environment of usage; The differentiations between terms and every-day lexics are as follows; a) b) c) d) e) Terms belong to high level style, but every-day lexics belong to neutral style; Every-day lexicsae more ancient. Terminological lexics has dynamics whereas, every-day lexics is conservative; To standardize terms are possible, but every-day lexics isn’t standardized Every-day lexics bears local character but terms are the phenomena of literary language and are obligatorily used in the literary language. There are also similarities and differences between the local dialect and every-day lexics. Similar features are: both of the lexic groups are used in the restricted environment. Distinctive features: dialect lexics from the geographical view point is used in restricted environment, but in the every-day lexics there is not such a restriction, instead from the social view – point it is used in the restricted environment. Between these two lexical categories the difference lies in the fact that in the local dialect all the words included in to the group of main and secondary parts of speech are used whereas professional lexics include only names. Among them one more difference shows itself in the fact that in the local dialects emotionality exists, but in every-day lexics this feature is lacking. Between everyday lexics and lexic of the uneducated there are similar and different features too. Among them the biggest difference is in the fact that every-day lexics from the stylistic view point is neutral but lexics of the uneducated possessed lower stylistic colouring. Everyday lexics of the English language is may be divided into three groups: 1)everyday lexics of simple words; 2)everyday lexics with words of simple structure and 3)everyday lexics with wordsof composite structure. A great number of everyday lexics contain the words with simple structure, i.e. from the view-point of modern language they consist of only roots. Before analyzing these words we must say that there exists such an opinion that the root words historically consist of three phonemes- sound complex – a consonant+vowel+consonant. There is also an opinion that the root words consist of two phonemes (vowel + consonant). 1.1 Features of every-day lexics with simple structure. In the every-day lexics of the English language we have not come across words with one phoneme. 1.2. Structural Features of every-day lexics with one syllable. In the every-day lexics in English the following types of monosyllabic words exist: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) k) l) CVV construction “tie”, “cow” words of CVC structure cap, hat, mug, pan, wok, pot, saw, cup, gin, rum, tap, dog, nut, cat, pig, hen words of VCVC structure: oven words of CVVC structure: coat, suit, nail, goat, beer, dead, boot, soul words of CCVC structure clog words of CVCCC structure pants words of CVCC dress, skirt, chess, scarf, grill words of CVCCV structure ladle, horse words of CVVCV structure sieve, goose words of CCVVCC structure priest words of CCVCVC structure of gloves words of CVCCCV kettle, fridge 1.3. Structural features of two-syllabic every-day lexics English every-day lexics has the following features in 2 syllabic words. a) b) c) d) words of CVVC structure soda, words of CVCVC structure apron words of CVCVC structure sandal, jacket, mallet, helmet words of CCVCCV structure whisky, goblet, trilby, brandy ALLS 5(2):103-107, 2014 1.4 106 Structural features of every day lexics with three syllables There exists the following types of everyday lexics with 3 syllables in the English language: a) words of CVCVCV structure, panama, domino b) words of CVCVCVC structure funeral c) words of VCCVCVC structure apparel 1.5 Structural features of every-day lexics with three syllables. In the English language among the words of every-day lexics we have come across only one word. Word of CVCCVCVCV structure casserole 2. Words of every-day lexics with derivational structure. In the English language lexical units having derivational structure in the every-day lexics occupy one of the main places. These words as to their ways of establishment we may say that don’t differ from the other words not belonging to the everyday lexics. But it’s necessary to mention that all the word-forming suffers belonging to the English language, not all always take active part in the word-building process of the words of everyday lexics. Lexical units of derivational structurein every-day English are formed by means of adding the followingaffixes to the roots of the morphemes: 1) Word forming suffixes established by morphological means are divided into two groups: a) Suffixes forming names from names b) Suffixes forming names from verbs a) Suffix “er” forms names from names juice-juicer, boat-boater and in the word sweater. The root is sweat and er is a word forming suffix b) Suffixes forming names from names also forms names from verbs. From these words also forms names from verbs. From these words also are formed lexical units. For example: slipper-slip+er, opener-open+er, puler – pul+er, trainer-train+er, freezer – freeze+er, blender – blend+er, toaster – toast+er, cool+er etc. Here if we regard the words engagement and marriage, we shall see that thee words have also been formed by means of word forming suffixes. Engage+ment-ment here is a word forming suffix and in the word marriage maryy+age – age is also a word – forming suffix, also in the word appliance-apply is the root and ance is a suffix by means of which a new name has been formed from a verb. As to the carried out investigations it became clear to us that the suffix “er” is the most frequently used suffix a mong the suffixes forming names by morphological means. This suffix forms names from both the names and the verbs. 3. Compound words of everyday lexics in English are also used. Usually between the components of such words there is the component of such words the correlation of in subordination among thecompound words some are written with dash or without it. Compound words written without a dash: cockscrew, cupboard, sundress, overcoat, horseshoe, bridegroom, bride maid, screwdriver etc. Now we would like to analyze the separately taken words as to their structure are two words. In the word cockscrew there are two words. Cork+screw Cupboard-cup+board Sundress-sun+dress Overcoat-over+coat Horseshoe-horse+shoe Bridegroom-bride+groom Words written with dash: tea-spoon, table-spoon, tin-opener, egg-cup, tea-pot, tea-towel, fridge-freezer etc. Words of composite structure of every-day lexics include word combinatios as well. Such word combinations are cocktail dress-cock+tail+dress, smoking, jacket-smoke+ing+jacket, wooden spoon-wood+en+spoon, frying panfry+ing+pan; microwave-micro+wave+oven;fishknife-fish+knife:coffee machine coffee_machine; wedding ceremonywedding+ceremony;cakepan-cake+pan. Conclusion Thus, as can be seen, household lexis used in various domains, have their own semantics features and structural patterns. In other words, each of the thematic-semantic categories possesses features that distinguish it from others. The same seems to be true for cases when ceremonies and traditions are dealt with. On the other hand, structural feature analysis enabled to reveal the clusters that are typical of English. In some cases, comparisons have been carried out between two languages that are typologically and genealogically different: English and Azerbaijani. It can be implied that the findings of the analysis of semantic feature analysis of household lexis and their structural characteristics can be used by both syllabus designers and teacher-practitioners. ALLS 5(2):103-107, 2014 107 References Aitchison, J. (2003). Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon. Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell. Asgerov, N. A. (1995). Substantial-cultural Lexics in the Azerbaijani language, Baku: Elm. Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics, Cambridge: CUP. Radjabli, A. (2004). Sosiolinguistics, Baku: Elm. Radjabli, A. (2008). Texts of lecture on the Course of Introduction to Linguistics, Baku:Elm. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia An Angle of Seeing: Pornography and Profanity as Pharmakon in Darko’s Beyond the Horizon and The Housemaid Philomena Abeka Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana E-mail: philookyeso@yahoo.ca Charles Marfo (Corresponding author) Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana E-mail: cmarfo@gmail.com Lucy Bonku Kumasi Polytechnic Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.108 Received: 17/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.108 Accepted: 05/04/2014 Abstract What strategies does a female writer develop to overcome her anxiety of correcting the moral decadence in her society? Inappropriate as the use of pornography and profanity must have always seemed, Amma Darko has managed to put some positive and meritorious spins on them and seriously use them. In this paper, we examine how in two books, Beyond the Horizon and The housemaid, Amma Darko strategizes to use pornography and profanity as remedies; that moral cleansing can be achieved by the strategic use of immoral pictures and language. This strategy traces back to Aristotle’s age-old prescription that catharsis must be the final achievement of curtailing tragedy. In this paper, therefore, we observe how the use of pornography and profanity can contribute to the cleansing of a society whose moral fibre is engulfed in decadence. Furthermore, a near-laser analysis of the relationships between (catharsis-based) pharmakon, pornography and profanity as given in the books in discussion is done. Keywords: pornography and profanity, pharmakon, carthasis, moral decadence 1. Introduction There is a certain primordial logic in claiming that the use of indecent pictures and indecent language – specifically noted here as pornography and profanity respectively – communicate directly and sharply to the inner being, due to varied reactions these produce in our psyche. CARE International defines pornography as the ‘explicit representation of sexual activity in print or on film to simulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings’.i Williams (1981), for example, also sees it as a sexually explicit material (verbal or pictorial) that is primarily designed to produce sexual arousal in viewers. Profanity on the other hand has been variously defined as language or even a gesture that is considered vulgar, obscene or offensive; language that demonstrates irreverence or disrespect towards groups of people or something that point to them and they can relate to, often times emotionally, for instance religious beliefs. Amma Darko, a female writer, came into the literary scene in the early nineteen nineties (1990s). Consistently, she has sought to portray in her novels those practices that bring embarrassment to her shared gender and to use these same novels to teach acceptable morals that bring recognition and appreciation to women. Interestingly, we identify in these novels a near problematic display of pornography and profanity. That is, considering the definitions of the terms given above, certain lines in her novels could be described as pornographic and profanity. This communicates a kind of paradox, in that, in these same novels, the reader is being preached high moral codes as will be exemplified in some of the following sections. Dako et al. (2006) who has looked at Darko’s novels has succinctly captured the thrust of them; i.e. Amma Darko is seen as so concerned with injecting good moral lessons to her readership and that explains why her novels are replete with stories that borders on moral decadence. Darko’s use of pornography and profanity in Beyond the Horizon and The Housemaid exhibits a kind of resistance that manifests in her desire to fight prostitution with its core allies of pornography and profanity. Injecting decency into her shared gender through the use of indecent pictures and language throws into focus the devastating effect that prostitution has on women’s image and health. This angle of telling the whole truth about prostitution – i.e., making it look and sound so repulsive to warrant immediate redemptive action – is not only arresting but calculating. Indeed, as presented in Plato’s Phaedrus, this angle of seeing and telling reflects Egyptian god of writing’s (i.e. Thoth), offer to King Thamus that identified the King’s writings as “pharmakon”. Pharmakon in that particular case is described as a remedy which can help (in the recollection or protection of) memory. ALLS 5(2):108-114, 2014 109 Gera (2001: 20-21) observes that one of the ironies in ancient medicinal practices is to inject the sick body with disease causing fluids to restore it to good health. This practice resonates in some modern medicinal practices where some disease causing fluids are used to vaccinate people against being infected by those particular diseases. This is reminiscent of the medicinal metaphor which simultaneously describes writing as violence and cure. Amma Darko’s “Beyond the Horizon” and “The Housemaid” are provocative narratives of violations permeated with stark images and unapologetic use of pornography and profanity. The use to which these are put arrests the attention of discerning readers whilst building up anger and alienation towards prostitution. 2. The Theory of Catharsis and Pharmakon The concept of pharmakon is entrenched in (the theory of) catharsis, which is derived to mean cleansing, purging, or purification. According to Bushman (2007), the first recorded mention of catharsis appeared in Aristotle’s Poetics, where he suggests that viewing tragic plays gave people the emotional catharsis from feeling of fear and pity. Also, according to contemporary proponents of the Catharsis theory, acting aggressively or watching aggression, for instance, is an effective way to reduce anger and aggressive feelings (see e.g. Bushman et al. (1999); Powell (n.d.) and Scheff (2001)). The crucial point here then is that an observed ‘ill’ (or bad behavior) is not necessarily acted on by an agent and for which no one is adversely affected. In other words, that ill – noted as pornography and/or profanity in this paper – may be executed in the actor’s or the reader’s fantasy, but not in reality. We suggest that Darko’s consistent portrayal of pornography and profanity is for the essence of catharsis-based pharmakon; i.e. a healing or remedy that involves the use of (transient) poisonous or painful effect to the body that is to be healed. With some lines in her two books, we take the position that the ills in society are being purged or healed through the use of pornography and profanity in the following section; i.e. Section 3. Also, in Section 3, we explore the interplay between pornography, profanity, and pharmakon. Section 4 concludes the paper. 3. Observing the books 3.1 Beyond the Horizon In Beyond the Horizon, Mara, the naive mother and wife, is transformed into an icon of prostitute first through blackmail and latter through a compelling desire to make too much money to be sent home regularly for the upkeep of her mother and her children. The trajectory in Mara’s life is skewed towards a fatal defiance that generates in Mara an obsession to see her family back home enjoy life even if it results in her premature death. Akobi’s determination to marry the sophisticated secretary, Comfort, brings him to contact first Mara, his Ghanaian wife, and then Gittie, his German wife. Mara and Gittie become pawns in the exploitative hands of Akobi, who makes use of the money they make. Mara explains how she was blackmailed by Akobi into accepting prostitution as her profession. That is, after joining her husband in Germany, he (Akobi) ‘forces’ her to pretend to be his sister so as to ensure peace between Gittie and himself. Shortly after, Akobi makes Mara so vulnerable through a drink laced with a kind of opium that she is helpless even when raped by ten or so men. Mara reckons her ordeal in such a way that we are angered at the severity of the act: Then something started happening to me. I was still conscious but I was losing control of myself… something was in the wine I had drunk. It made me see double and I felt strange and happy and high… so high that I was certain I could fly free. Then suddenly the room was filled with people, all men, and they were talking and laughing and drinking. And they were completely naked. There must have been at least ten men for what I saw were at least twenty images. Then they were all around me, many hairy bodies, and they were stripping me, fondling me, playing with my body, pushing my legs wide, wide apart. As for the rest of the story, I hope the gods of Naka didn’t witness it. (pg. 111) The explicit portrayal of the general abuse of the helpless and, in particular, forceful and countless penetration of her as recounted in this passage may cause arousal in certain but surely a few haughty quarters. However, for critical and noble minds, this kind of explicit sexual matter deepens our anger at the nature of the rape. What was the need in “fondling”, “playing” and “pushing her legs wide, wide apart”? Is it to make Mara also enjoy the act or to make the penetration of her easier? We do not blame the many men that committed this act of cowardice and whose action was affront to womanhood, but Akobi. That is, it is the wickedness of Akobi that is clearly portrayed with this use of indecent pictures in this extract. Indeed whilst all this is going on, Akobi, heartless as ever, manages to film the whole act and it was this film that he blackmailed Mara into agreeing to enter into prostitution; as she puts it, “And this is what Osey and Akobi blackmailed me with, so I agreed to do the job at Peepy”. (p.115) It is interesting to note the character of Osey. He is Akobi’s friend who brought Mara to join her husband in Germany. When he failed in his attempt at raping Mara in the train, he pulls another strategy and manages to let Mara know that Germany is no clean place when it comes to morals. At Osey’s command, the driver who was driving them to his home takes a new direction where Mara is made to witness an obscene poster. Mara’s description of this poster reveals Darko’s strategic and well-purposed use of pornography as could be read below. There he issued some more directions to the driver and he took another bend where we were suddenly confronted by a large poster of a ravishingly beautiful white woman, a perfect blonde in a slip, sitting on a stool with legs wide apart, eyes cunningly slanted, tongue calculatingly out and the tip upturned between snow-white teeth, just touching the upper scarlet lip seductively. ALLS 5(2):108-114, 2014 110 Further down, the right forefinger just grazed her genitals. I turned my eyes away, so ashamed, so disgusted, so scarred and so unsure. (pg. 68) Mara’s description of this prostitute on the poster and her reaction to her shameless posture speak volumes about how morally upright Mara is. The setting, that is Germany, is not shocking. According to a 2009 study by TAMPEP International Foundationii, Germany’s prostitutes’ organization HYDRA gives the number of people who work as prostitutes in Germany as about 400,000 with 93% being female, 3% transgender and 4% male. The same study found that 63% of the prostitutes in Germany were foreigners. This then is really a very permissive environment and we are not shocked that such an indecent poster is advertised. The message, however, is lost on Mara. Through this picture, which we consider as pornography, we are given a foretaste of what awaits Mara. There is foreboding fear created in us and as we listen to Osey’s blasphemous commentary below on this posture, we know ahead that Mara is in dangerous hands. Here are the cream of Germany’s Mary Magdalene, Mara. And when you receive blessings here, then fear no foe, for then there ain’t no Messiah’s feet in this whole wide world you cannot wash! He laughed and laughed and I got more and more confused. (pg. 68-69) It comes then as no surprise that Osey and Akobi masterminded Mara’s rape having realized that indecent pictures alone cannot make her acquiesce. Profanity is also associated with an act that shows disrespect for a religious belief and so Osey’s unsolicited commentary shows how disrespectful he is to Christianity for example, so much so that he can even distort scripture and explain biblical truth his own way. In this biblical story (Luke 7:36-38), Mary Magdalene had fully repented of her ways before kissing the Messiah’s feet. Indeed, her tears that washed the Messiah’s feet all communicate true repentance. What has this got to do with the posture of a prostitute whose aim is to arouse men sexually? The fact that this profane posture is showcased in Germany speaks volumes about the moral decadence there and it only helps us understand why Mara, the once naive girl with a clear moralistic tone, metamorphosed into a girl of porn. As we listen to Mara speak about her perception of her profession, we realize the extent to which she has degenerated even to the extent of using profane language herself to analyze her situation: I turned face Kaye and said: Kaye, I came here to you and Pee and all the others with thick bushy hair which has now been exotically cut short close to her scalp. My eyebrows have been plucked thin. I have mastered the use of make-up, so that my lips are never without their scarlet taint. And I have received into me the rigid tools of many men and accompanied them on sinful rides through the backdoors of heaven and returned with them back to earth, spent men, I am no longer green and you know it. (pg. 131) This confession is obviously not coming from a woman who has repented. Indeed, Mara is not eliciting our sympathy. One realizes that the rot has seeped too deep into her that she dares brags about shame. If there is anything clear about her perception about her encounters with men, it is the fact that she portrays it with such masochistic tendencies. In fact she brags about how strong she is when she said she has received into her “rigid” tools of many men. Here, we have an example of a metaphor carried on exaggerative wings; the tools are the penises she allows to enter her vagina. However, an erected penis can never be as hard as a metallic tool. This is where we see her as a braggart. Incidentally, here, Mara is silent about the pain these rigid tools cause her innards. She however tells us this at another place. Eleven pages earlier, Mara tells us in no uncertain terms about the pain she suffers during her treatment as follows. When I wasn’t sleeping with a man, I was crouching over a bucket of steaming hot water diluted with camphor and alum. Sometimes the treatment left me with a numb vagina, so that I even felt nothing when the men were sleeping with me, but it was better than the pain. On top of it all, I was swallowing scores of pain killers and tranquilizers everyday and taking drugs to keep me going. (pg. 120) Like Cyprian Ekewnsi’s Jagua Nana Daughter,iii Amma Darko gives a very thorough treatment to the issue of prostitution. The pain, the ritual of taking drugs and the loneliness Mara feels are some of the consequences of body merchandising. Mara’s plunge into prostitution has nothing to do with an insatiable libido or spiritual enchantment. It has everything to do with Mara’s psychological need to experience perpetual abuse from men, be it sexually or physically. Let’s listen to Mara summarizing her tragic existence as follows: At Oves brothel, I have plunged into my profession down to the marrow of my bones. There is no turning back for me now. I am so much a whore not that I can no longer remember or imagine what being a non-whore is. I have problems recollecting what I was before I turned into what I am now. (p. 139) Even the marrow of her bones is rotten. With the plenty of money and a five year visa, Mara still sees no escape because money and visa cannot abuse her; it is only men who can abuse her. This, she “enjoys” for it makes her feel masochistic too. For the prostitute, abuse can be sweet and Mara’s sexual experiences with men, including the bites, scratches and the verbal abuse all make her feel on top. Here is the pharmakon, the bitter drug administered to readers to take away any sympathy for this complex female character who elicits our condemnation. Also as a form of pharmakon, the fact is that through the use of pornography and profane language, Amma Darko is able to communicate the dangerous consequences of this profession. One of the most poignant moments in the novel is when Mara informs us that she cannot go a day without sniffing ‘snow’ (pg. 139). Snow here is the name given to cocaine. Mara is now addicted to cocaine because it enables her to focus on her profession rather than to focus on the ALLS 5(2):108-114, 2014 111 pains and/or indulge in thoughts about her children back at home. She is ‘hooked’ on cocaine and she does not hide the consequences as she notes in the following lines. I am sinking into a place hotter than hell, but I know this. And that is why I have decided that before I sink too deep I will make as much money as possible for my mother and sons back home. (pg. 139) The tragedy in this confession is sourced from the hyperbolic use of the word ‘hell’. Hell’s fire, we read, is so hot that it cannot be compared to anything real. For Mara to dare to compare her pain to hell and even make it worse than the pain of hell fire implies the unbearable nature of her plight. If all there is to prostitution is unbearable pain, then no amount of pornography or profanity can make this profession attractive. Here is a rather masterly fashion of using poison to cure poison. 3.2 The Housemaid Whiles in Beyond the Horizon Mara plunges into prostitution because she blackmailed into it (against the background of poverty) and that she ultimately derives a kind of satisfaction from being abused, in The Housemaid, prostitution is carried out for reasons ranging from unfulfilled sexual expectations to desire for financial security. This is clearly explained by Ankomah and Ford (1993); they opine that, in Ghana, sexual intercourse is perceived by some unmarried women as something that is obtained by favour or by bargaining. In The Housemaid, two women characters, Sekyiwa and her daughter, Tika, are into prostitution not because they are poor, but because of unfulfilled sexual expectations and/or desire for financial security. Against unfulfilled sexual expectations, Sekyiwa for instance enters into sexual contact with young men who can satisfy her sexual desires. After the husband had invested his all to set Sekyiwa up in business, she realizes after the birth of her only child, Tika, that her husband cannot satisfy her in bed. We observe here a paradigm shift in the sense that the received view – i.e. it is men who pay for sex – is radically challenged. Contrary to this expectation, we find a woman paying men to service her need for good sex. Darko tells us the reason behind Sekyiwa’s action with the following lines. So soon after Tika’s birth he got Sekyiwa a big shop and filled it with textile prints. By the third year, Sekyiwa had become one of the wealthy market mummies. Young, good-looking male diggers began to vie for her attention. Her husband’s libido was waning away so she gave in. She gave them good money, they gave her good sex. Life’s satisfaction shone in her eyes. (pg. 13) Darko here explores one of the causes of promiscuity in some married women. At one point, Sekyiwa’s husband mistook Sekyiwa’s excitement for love to welcome her to join him enjoy life. Sekyiwa’s answer to his husband’s invitation reveals once again the use of profane language because she exposes in very derogatory terms her husband’s inability to fulfill his sexual roles. Again, this coming from a married woman is really out of place. But to his dismay, Sekyiwa gave him a scornful jeer – Enjoy what life? What life is there to enjoy with a dead penis? Sekyiwa’s response begs the question; is sex the ultimate end of marriage? But beyond this question, the response speaks volumes about her promiscuous nature. Indeed, so obsessed was she when it comes to sexual gratification that she elects to have a househelp’s care for her only daughter, so she can make more money from her textiles shop rather than make time for her daughter or be the companion her daughter craves for. In line with pharmakon to the reader, here, through the use of profane language, Amma Darko communicates the dangerous consequences of adultery; sinking into the dungeons of helplessness and the breaking of one’s matrimonial home. The breaking of one’s matrimonial home is further exhibited by Sekyiwa’s relationship with her daughter, Tika. That is, Sekyiwa’s obsession to make money and spend with her boy lovers created a barrier between her and Tika. Also with Tika, we observe that her obsession to make more money was to prove to her-boyfriend that, if she was poor academically, she is good in business. Having received a start-up capital from her mother, Tika immersed herself into her business but realizes too late that there is nothing like clean business. She enters into unscrupulous acquaintances with married men from whom she enjoys various kinds of financial assistance. She gave up Owuraku and settled on four useful steady lovers; Samuel, Raid, Eric and Attui. Samuel, Raid and Eric all have a wife each, wore wedding bands, talked proudly about their wives and children and wanted only lust from Tika. Attui, however, had two wives and twelve children between them and two concubines. So, while Tika saw these men as points of exploitation for her need, ultimately, she was just hound of sexual satisfaction to them, hence the pharmakon, expression of prostitution as advise against sexual exploitation. In Amma Darko’s novels, there is no nostalgia for times gone past; the metaphorical stench from rotten entrails seeps into everything. Clearly, it is not only the major characters whose immoral lifestyles are thrown into focus, but a satellite is thrown on the lifestyles of some of her minor characters as well. For instance in the Housemaid, Attui, one of Tika’s numerous influential lovers, insults his wives anytime he is making love to Tika. For some reason, Attui felt that Tika was hoping to become his third wife one day. ‘Just keep giving it to me good’, he would moan during their lovemaking. Lost in ecstasy, he would insult his wives as stupid old women with dull bodies. Is Amma Darko providing us with a reason why some men engage in extra marital affairs or is she showcasing Tika as an expert in sex? Well, to all intent and purposes, what comes up clearly from this extract, is the ungrateful and greedy nature of Attui who decides not to be satisfied with his wives and two concubines. The use of the adjectives ‘stupid’, ‘old’ and ‘dull’ to describe the bodies of his wives, does not only reveal his ungratefulness but more especially it ALLS 5(2):108-114, 2014 112 communicates the narrow-minded nature of Attui, who only considers a fulfilled marriage to be all about good sex. To stretch our understanding to accommodate the import of the phrase ‘dull bodies’, we need to experience the sentiments which made Oduyoye (1995: 10) to assert that; ‘The livingness of the daughters of Anowa is limited to their biology’. Clearly, to a character like Attui, women are valued only when they are able to excite men in bed. Here, we see his narrow-mindedness displayed. A stupid old dull body can cook and take care of children – are they really dull? From Samuel, the customs officer, Tika is able to smuggle goods from Togo to Ghana. From Raid, the half-caste shop owner, Tika is able to sell her goods fast since he is a shop owner of several outlets. Through Eric, the musician, Tika’s name remains on the favored customers list of the Ghana Commercial Bank because the manager is the older brother of Eric. Attui, the factory owner, helps her get good credit rates on the goods she buys. No wonder she sees them more as business partners than lovers. Their business usually lands in Tika’s bed and Amma Darko, through the ears of Efia, captures the sexual escapades that go on behind Tika’s closed doors. We note one as follows. Next thing, the key would turn in the lock. And the many times that Efia placed her ear to the keyhole, she heard noises: moans, groans, pants and sighs, and the wild creaking of the bed. (pg. 4a) The effective use to which onomatopoeia is used in this extract reveals Darko’s artistry. She needs not talk about the practice; she picks only the sound that goes with the act and these sounds paints for us various shades of sexual encounters. “The creaking of the bed”, the “moans”, “pants”, “groans” and “sighs” come from a male and female on a bed. Darko’s refusal to tell us about the act itself reveals her alienation from a practice she sees as incorrect and abusive, if we consider that such sounds are associated with vigorous sexual encounters. The use to which pornography and profane language are used in Beyond the Horizon and The Housemaid is completely in keeping with Darko’s rebuff of moral decadence. In the case of Akua, a village girl from Kataso, desperate to get to Accra by which ever means possible, sex becomes the only bargaining power which transports her to Accra since she has no money to pay the driver. Darko’s description of this rather ‘promiscuous barter trade’ speaks not only of the decadence to which society has sunk, but most especially the welcoming nature of such decadence in society. Amma Darko renders the scene with such picturesque clarity. “For nearly three hours, she stood by the roadside asking for a lift. Eventually a contractor’s truck stopped for her. ‘Where to?’ the driver asked curtly. ‘Kumasi.’ ‘You have the money to pay me?’ ‘No.’ He grunted. ‘So you won’t pay me?’ Akua unbuttoned her blouse. The driver’s eyes blazed with consent. She removed her pants. He grinned, and stopped the truck in a secluded bend. ‘But don’t make me pregnant,’ Akua cautioned. ‘I won’t,’ and he covered her nipples with his lips. He sucked and fondled her body. Akua liked it and did the same for him. When it was over, the rest of the journey continued in stunned silence. The driver dropped her at the railway station four hours later. ‘I’m sure you’ll find help here,’ he assured her and drove away. Akua did. There were many young girls here working as porters, who had bolted from home to seek greener pastures, just like her.” (pg. 30-31) There is nothing like excitement in this sexual encounter between Akua and the contractor truck’s driver. Even in a barter trade, there exists some kind of dialogue depending on how each one feels about what is being offered as a replacement. Dialogue is absent, not because there is nothing to be said, but because the modus operandi is too well understood to entertain any dialogue. There is however a disturbing side to Akua’s only request to the driver; “but don’t make me pregnant”. It shows that Akua is already in the game and knows how well an issue of pregnancy can thwart all her fantastic ideas of making money in the city and later showing off in the village. Why does Amma Darko keep silent on the action the driver took to prevent any pregnancy? Probably the driver is no novice and Amma Darko buttresses our claim in the next few lines, having assured Akua ‘I won’t’ in response to her caution. This driver launches into action, sucking Akua’s lips and fondling her body as Akua responds to show her desire. Darko ends her description of the sexual scene on this note. Obviously, pornography is seen in the description. However, Amma Darko is very cautious not to make it look attractive, and how did she do that? Through abhorrence of it; because the four hour silence that followed the journey communicates a sense of mere usury. Little did the driver care about how penniless Akua will survive in a totally new environment. The insensitive nature of the driver is seen in his last words to her; “I’m sure you’ll find help here,” he assured her, and drove away. Now, that is the expression of pharmakon; a scene of pornography has been used to dissuade loosening of one’s self. ALLS 5(2):108-114, 2014 113 Tika’s househelp, Afia, has also been influenced by her grandmother, whose ambition it is to gain access to Tika’s wealth by coercing her to adopt Afia’s child ‘in the near future’. Even though her plan did not go well with Afia and her mother, she was able to convince them as she goes as follows: ‘So I am happy that we are all in agreement now. It means success is assured. Our task will be to make sure that the child never forgets who her real mother is. That way, the wealth will also belong to Efia, and therefore to us all. And we will let it trickle down and spread. We will transform Kataso. The village will hold us in great estimation. May our ancestors see us through!’ with dogged determination. ‘Oh, mother!’ admiringly ‘Oh grandmother!’ shyly (pg. 48) The boldness and ambition displayed by this old woman manifests her greed. By evaluating in monetary terms the worth of her granddaughter’s sexual prowess, this old woman has radically disturbed the received view that old women are the repositories of wisdom. Ironically, her diabolical plan was shattered when Afia got pregnant but could not get any responsible man to cater for her, especially at a time when Tika had found out all about her diabolic activities. We agree with Dako et al. (2006) observation that: “… the central concern of her (Amma Darko) writing: her preoccupation with the body as a site where a relentless and often brutal gendered struggle is taking place…women in Amma Darko’s novels use essentially the interwoven survival strategies of fertility, sex, subservience and exploitation.” (pg. 37) Furthermore, it important to note that the grandmother’s diabolical plan, which culminates in a fierce tragic end, is an illustration of pharmakon. As has been somehow noted above, traditionally, the grandmother figure has always been associated with wisdom, guidance and protection of life. However, in the Housemaid, the portrayal of Afia’s grandmother represents a radical shift from this traditional expectation of the old woman. Readers are well-positioned to analyze and interrogate the received view that demands near reverence for old folks. The pharmakon in presenting the destructive potential of old folks is realizable in the fact that, such a presentation holds the reward of foregrounding the fact that it is about time we apply a near-laser assessment of the action actions of old folks, so that we are not unduly lured by the generally held assumption that whatever they do is right. Indeed, the behavior portrayed by Afia and her grandmother need corrections if womanhood is to be given due reverence. The activities of this old woman, her daughter and her granddaughter are meant to deploy the extent to which moral decadence has seeped into the fiber of our society. But, as one can also observe as pharmakon, ironically, it is women that stand to lose as we see in the ultimate predicament of Afia. Dako et al. (2006) notes this with the line, “…the bitter irony is that the female self is quite often ultimately diminished and devalued by the nature of the gain in these struggles”. By exposing the foils of her shared gender, Amma Darko is using literature as a means to teach women the need to transcend the periphery and reposition themselves through corrective behavior. 4. Conclusion The use to which pornography and profanity are used in Beyond the Horizon and The Housemaid is completely in keeping with Amma Darko’s rebuff of moral decadence. For her, prostitution can never be the panacea for female empowerment or need for financial security. She indicates that it is death in itself and there is the need to make it repulsive. A morally upright world destroyed by pornography and profanity (coupled with aspects of them such as prostitution and exploitation) is replaced by the relief of our possibility of experiencing a decent world in a more radical way; i.e. through the repulsive use of the same pornography and profanity. That is pharmakon. References Ankomah, A. and Ford N. (1993). Pre-marital sexual behaviour and its implications for HIV prevention in Ghana. Occasional Paper No. 22, Institute of Population Studies, University of Exeter. Bushman, B. et al. (1999). Catharsis, aggression and persuasive influence: Self-fulfilling or self-defeating prophecies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Vol. 76, No. 3: 367-376. Bushman, B. (2007). Catharsis of aggression. In R. Baumeister and K. Vohs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of social psychology. (pp. 135-138). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. Gera, A. (2001). Three Great African Novelists: Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Amos Tutuola. New Delhi: Creative Books. Dako, K, A. Denkabe and H. Yitah. (2006). Pawns and Players: The Women in Amma Darko’s Novels. In C. Oppong, Y. P. A. Oppong and I. K. Odotei (Eds.), Sex and Gender in an Era of AIDS: Ghana at the Turn of the Millennium,. Accra: Ghana Sub-Saharan Publishers, Darko, A. (1995). Beyond the Horizon. London: Heinemann, Darko, A. (1998). The Housemaid. London: Heinemann, Oduyoye, M. A. (2004). Daughters of Anowa: Africa Women and Patriarchy. New York: Orbis Books. ALLS 5(2):108-114, 2014 114 Powell, E. (n.d.). Catharsis in psychology and beyond: A historic overview. Available online <http://primalpage.com/cathar.htm> (18/02/2014). Scheff, T. J. (2001). Catharsis in Healing, Ritual, and Drama. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com. West, C. (2004/2012). Pornography and censorship. In E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, (Fall Edition), http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/pornography-censorship/ (12/03/2014). Williams, B. (Ed.). (1981), Obscenity and Film Censorship: An Abridgement of the Williams Report, New York: Cambridge University Press. Note: i http://www.care.org.uk/resources/internet-misuse/what-is-pornography (10/07/2013) http://tampep.eu/documents/Sexworkmigrationhealth_final.pdf (13/02/2014) iii The story of Jagua Nana’s Daughter centres on the heroine's traumatic search for her real mother. All the intricacies of family life and relationships are woven into the story. ii Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Reflection of Learning Theories in Iranian ELT Textbooks Hossein Hashem Neghad Islamic Azad University, Khoy Branch, Iran E-mail: Hossein535986@gmail.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.115 Received: 30/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.115 Accepted: 07/04/2014 Abstract This study was undertaken to evaluate Iranian ELT English textbooks (Senior High school and Pre-University) in the light of three learning theories i.e., behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Each of these learning theories embedding an array of instructional strategies and techniques acted as evaluation checklist. That is, Iranian ELT English textbooks were evaluated in terms of instructional strategies and techniques cited in the related literature for each learning theory. The analysis of data in this descriptive study through frequency count and relative frequency revealed that the major principle of organization in Senior High school is the learning theory of behaviourism. Although Constructivism was observed to be the prominent learning theory in Pre- University English textbooks, combination of other learning theories were indicated. It was also indicated that cognitivism was rated as the second most important learning theory across all educational level. Analysis of the data through Chi-Square showed that reflection of learning theories in Iranian ELT textbooks is not by chance and the differences are significant with behaviourism on the one side, cognitivism in between and constructivism on the other side of continuum. Keywords: Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism, Textbook Evaluation 1. Introduction Education psychology as in the other areas of knowledge has evolved through a number of rise and fall within its short life. Within its journey, education psychology has been affected by some fashions and trends some of which had greater impact upon it. Tracing the wax and wane of education psychology and how learning theories emerged, connected and conflicted can shed light on one’s evaluation and contribution to language teaching. (William and Burden, 1997). They stated that, late in the nineteenth century, discipline of psychology, which was in its germinal form, tried to assert itself as a science on a par with the natural sciences. This adaptation of the so called scientific method advocated an experimental methodology which is part of philosophical form of enquiry known as logical positivism. Behaviorism as an approach to positivism is exemplified by the works of Bloomfield, Skinner, Thorndike and Watson. In their view, language learning like any other kinds of learning is simplified as the formulation of habits. This view stems from the work in psychology which saw the learning of any kinds of behavior based on the notion of stimulus and response (Mitchell and Myles, 1998). According to Mirhassani (2003), the basics of behaviorism can be examined through the works of Pavlov (1927); Skinner (1938); Thorndike (1898); Ebbinghaugh (1913). Pavlov (1927, as cited in Mirhassani, 2003), as the first approach to associative learning, proposed the notion of signal learning, or classical conditioning to emphasize that the learner is associating an already available response with a new stimulus or signal. As the second approach to associative learning, skinner (1938, as cited in Brown, 2007) put forward the notion of operant conditioning. As Mirhassani stated this operant conditioning was also found in Thorndik’s (1898) work with animal boxes, as well as in many other animal learning studies involving maze, compartments, lever and other devices in which a response is instrumental to a subsequent learning. Ebbinghaugh (1913, as cited in Mirhassani, 2003) revealed the third trend as the verbal association learning emerged. The intention of this fashion was to investigate the characteristics of association as a learned connection between one word and another. Mirhssani (2003) adds chaining as another aspect to these three basics of learning situation. Chaining which is an individual association and connected in sequence is readily learned by animals as successive turn in a maze or by human as mental maze. Since behaviorism ignored the significant role of learners and the cognitive or mental processes that they bring to the task of learning, the pre – eminent role of environment which was argued by skinner in shaping the child’s learning and behavior lost the ground in the 1950s and more developmentalist views of learning such as Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory, in which inner forces drive the child, in interaction with environment came into vogue. (Mitchell and Myles, 1998). As a result, cognitive psychologists became interested in the mental processes that are involved in learning and the way people build up and draw upon their memories. (William and Burden, 1997). However, the way in which human learning and memory is investigated varies greatly within cognitive psychology in which pendulum is moving from a theoretical framework based on cognitivism to a constructive framework. (Doolittle, 1998). According to Mirhssani (2003), cognitivism which is defined as the scientific study of mental events takes the responsibility for acquiring, processing, storing and retrieving information. Therefore, the main emphasis of cogntivism is how information is processed and stored. With regard to storage system, Doolittle (1998), proposed that the idea of cognitivism or mind as computer. This idea was enhanced by Atkinson and Shiffrin’s (1968, as cited in Doolittle, 1998) dual store information model which consists of two separate and distinct memory, short term memory and long term memory. In the same vein, Anderson (1995) attributed short tem memory to a temporary stage in which information is held by rehearsal. This process of rehearsal is responsible for transferring the information from short term memory to ALLS 5(2):115-119, 2014 116 long term memory which is a permanent storage with an ultimate capacity. Another term which is frequently discussed in the realm of cognitivism is working memory. According to Anderson (1995), working memory is used to mean the information we currently have available in any of our memory for working on a problem. In other words, it refers to all transient information to which we currently have access. Learning, memory and cognition as memory functions are the basic elements of cognitivism which involve intricate process that are organized under three different stages: acquisition, retention and retrieval (Doolittle ,1998). Doolittle continued that the acquisition process involves the initial creature of records and their associations. He stated that while the retention process is concerned with how these records decay over time and how various cues lose the ability to activate a memory records, the retrieval process is concerned with how current cues activate specific records. Since cognitivism, as is evident, placed little or no emphasis upon the ways in which the individuals bring meaning to their world, constructivism as another perspective within cognitive psychology has deserved attention. Fosnot (1996, p. ix) defined constructivism as follow: “Learning from this perspective is viewed as a self regulatory process of struggling with the conflict between existing proposal models of the world and discrepant new insights, constructing new representations and models of reality as a human meaning making venture with culturally developed tools and symbols, and further negotiating such meaning through cooperative social activity, discourse and debate. Therefore, according to Doolittle (1998), constructivism can be observed as the active creation and negotiation of thought, ideas, and understanding as the result of experience that occur within a socio-cultural context. In line with his proposal, two crucial elements which led to separation of constructivism from cognitivism and paved the way for the constructivism were learner autonomy and wholistic perspective. Learner autonomy is the concept that learners are active participants in the learning process and ultimately responsible for their own learning. The wholistic perspective is a non reductionist approach that emphasizes learning in context. As far as the implication of theoretical findings and positions of some schools of thought in pedagogy is concerned, behaviorist views of learning were taken up widely by language teachers and were a powerful influence on the development of the Audio Lingual approach to language teaching. As William and Burden (1997) stated the implication of behaviorism in ALM can be summarized as the process of providing learners with the stimuli in the form of small, sequential step to which learners responds to repetition or substitutions which is followed by teacher’s reinforcement. Mechanical habit, instant error eradication, pattern drill, memorization of dialogue, choral repetition of structural drill can be some of the building blocks of this approach toward learning. Moving from behaviourism to cognitivism was reflected in the acquisition of complex cognitive skills in pedagogy. Based on William and Burden's (1997) view, for a learner to become proficient, subskills of the complex cognitive tasks must be practiced, automatized, integrated, and organized into internal representations and rule systems are constantly restructured as proficiency develops. Therefore, it can be inferred that memory is particularly important in language learning. Oxford (1990) also proposed that chunking, rehearsal, mnemonics, meaningful learning, prior knowledge, summary, outlining, contextualization are among the strategies and techniques favored by cognitivism. The implications of constructivist psychology, philosophy and epistemology to the characterization of constructivist learning environment present the challenge of synthesizing a large spectrum of somewhat disparate concepts. (Murphy, 1997). In the same way, Doolittle (1998) stated that constructivist pedagogy as the link between theory and practice suffers from the breadth of its theoretical underpinning. He argued that many theorists and practitioners e.g., Jonassen (1991) and Peveto (1997) have generated constructive pedagogies with an array of results which seem to share a set of core design but their peripheral principle vary greatly. In this regard, Matusevich (1995) has proposed a typical list of constructive programs and activities e.g., whole language, real worlds audiences, peer review, cooperative learning, authentic activities, inferencing, self evaluation etc. Reflections of learning theories and values are emphasized by Hutchinson (1987) and Nunan (1988). They stated that materials which are the most prominent in the curriculum are not simply the everyday tool of language teacher but an embodiment of aim, value and methods of teaching and related theory. Therefore, materials are the most concrete manifestation of curriculum in action. While evaluation in general and textbook evaluation ,specifically, have been greatly emphasized (Atkinson, 2001; Ellis, 1997), Atai (2002) mentioned that any type of evaluation i.e., summative and formative is a missing link and Iranian ELT and ESAP curriculum suffers from incoherent system and mismatch between components.. Accordingly, this study has tried to evaluate Iranian ELT textbooks based on learning theories, namely behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism. The present study, specifically, set out to determine the extent to which Iranian ELT textbooks reflect techniques and strategies of behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism. The purpose of this study was to understand to what extent the strategies and techniques related with the referred learning theories are reflected in Iranian ELT textbooks. 2. Method 2.1 Material To perform this evaluation study, the researcher closely examined Iranian ELT textbooks (Junior high school English textbook I and II; Senior high school I, II, III and Pre-university English textbook I and II). Iranian ELT textbooks are published by the Ministery of Education and are the main textbooks in national curriculum. While both junior high school English textbook I and II and Senior high school English textbook I, II, III are reprinted and used annually and have not been revised recently, Pre-university English textbook I and II were revised thoroughly in 2004. 2.2 Procedure To evaluate Iranian ELT textbooks based on different learning theories (behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism), the researcher devised a framework of instructional techniques and strategies to act as the evaluation checklist. In other ALLS 5(2):115-119, 2014 117 words, the implication of these learning theories which are in the form of instructional techniques and strategies were used to form the basis of Iranian ELT textbook evaluation. This formulated evaluation checklist or instructional strategies and techniques were constructed based on the works in the related literature. Instructional strategies and technique related to the learning theory of behaviourism were borrowed from Richard and Rodgers (2001). Oxford (1990) and William and Burden’s (1997) model were used for the instructional strategies and techniques related to cognitvism. Finally, instructional strategies and techniques for constructivism were taken from Doolittle (1998), Jonassen (1991, as cited in Doolittle, 1998) and Matusevich (1995). The implications of these learning theories were investigated across different educational levels (Junior High school; Senior High School and Pre University) to see which level is more influenced with which learning theories or a combination of them. Since the format of different lessons in each textbook is exactly the same, techniques are almost exactly repeated over. Therefore, the researcher considered a single occurrence of techniques in different section of a single lesson. For example, questions and answers as one of the behaviouristic techniques has been repeated in different sections of Junior High school English textbook II (Dialogue, Pattern, Oral Drill, Write it Down, and Speak Out) in all eleven lessons. Therefore, the frequency must be 55. But the researcher, focusing on the occurrence of this technique in different sections of a lesson, considered its frequency as five. 3. Data Analysis To analyze the data in this study, frequency count, relative frequency and Chi-square analysis were utilized. The data was firstly presented in frequency count and relative frequency and then Chi- square analysis was employed to find out whether there is any significant difference between instructional strategies and techniques presented in Iranian ELT textbooks. 4. Results and Discussions Table 1. shows the frequency count of learning theories, namely bahaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism in Iranian ELT textbooks. Table 1. Frequency Count of Learning Theories Reflected in Iranian ELT textbooks Iranian ELT Textbooks Junior II Senior I Senior II 16 19 17 Learning Theories Junior I Behaviourism 16 Cognitivism 5 5 4 Constructivism 0 0 1 Senior III PRE-U I PRE-U II 17 6 7 6 5 10 10 1 1 19 18 According to table 1, behaviorism is the focus of attention in Junior and Senior High school English textbooks while it has the least frequency count in Pre-university English textbooks. This table shows while constructivism has almost no role in Junior and Senior High school English textbook, it has the largest frequency count in Pre- university textbooks. As far as cognitivism is concerned, table 1 also indicates that this learning theory has its largest frequency count is in Pre-university textbooks. Since Iranian ELT textbooks have almost exactly the same organization in each educational level, it may be more systematic and meaningful if the reflections of learning theories will be considered across educational levels .i.e., Junior High School; Senior High School level and Pre- University rather than each single textbook. Table 2. Frequency Count of Learning Theories Reflected in Iranian ELT textbooks Behaviourism Cognitivism Constructivism Iranian Educational Level Junior High school Senior High School 32 53 10 15 0 3 Pre-University 13 20 37 Table 3. Relative Frequency of Learning Theories Reflected in Iranian ELT textbooks Iranian Educational Level Junior High school Senior High School Pre-University Behaviourism 76.2% 74.6% 18.6% Cognitivism 23.8% 21.2% 28.6% Constructivism 0% 4.2% 52.8% Table 2 and 3 indicate that behaviourism with the frequency count of 32 and relative frequency of 76.2% plays the largest role in Junior High school English textbooks. Cognitivism with the frequency of 10 and relative frequency of 23.8% is rated as the second learning theory in Junior High School English textbooks. Table 2 and 3 also illustrate that constructivism has no role in these textbooks. The realization of learning theories in Senior High school English textbooks follow the same trend; that is, behaviourism with the frequency count of 53 and relative frequency of 74.6% is on the one side and constructivism with ALLS 5(2):115-119, 2014 118 the frequency count of 3 and relative frequency 45 is on the other side. Cognitivism with the relative frequency of 21.2% is again rated as the second learning theory in these textbooks. The distributions of learning theories change dramatically in Pre-university textbooks. That is, constructivism with the relative frequency of 52.8% and frequency count of 37 is the major principle for the organization of the textbooks and behaviourism with the frequency count of 13 and relative frequency of 18.6% is at the bottom of the list. Cognitivism is still considered the second most important learning theory. To sum up, it can be said that while behaviourism is the major learning theory in Junior and Senior High school English textbooks, constructivism has been give no treatment. Cognitivism, however, received some minor attention. Combination of learning theories can be observed in Pre-university textbooks but the degree of emphasis can be respectively traced as 53%, 28% and 19% for constructivism, cognitivism and behaviourism. Table 4. Chi-Square for the Distribution of Learning Theories in Iranian ELT Textbooks c 77.2 * Critical value 9.48 Table 4 indicates that Chi-Square is far larger than critical value. That is significant differences exist in Iranian ELT textbooks with regard to the implications of learning theories. In other words, behaviourism is the main element of organization in Junior and Senior high school English textbooks and consrtructivism is the main learning theory for PreUniversity textbooks. Reflection of learning theories in Iranian ELT textbooks can be in tandem with Jonnassen and McAleese (2005) and Schewier's (1995) views. Schewier (1995) elaborated on behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism as what works where and how we should knit everything to gain at least some focus in our approach to instructional design. He stated that it is the circumstances surrounding the learning theory situation that help us decide which approaches to learning are most appropriate. In the same way Jonnasson and McAleese (2005) proposed that the predetermined, constrained and sequential materials are most suitable for introductory learning; that is, learners who have very little prior knowledge about a skill or content area. According to Jonnasson and McAleese (2005), advanced knowledge acquisition and expertise, however, are the stages in which constructivist approach would work. Therefore, the emphasis of behaviourism in Senior High school and Constructivism in Pre-University level can be considered in line with what the argument proposed by these educators. In favor of cognitivism, Gange and Medsker (1996) stated that, it is imperative to design instruction in a way to establish learning. Training should support the cognitive processes of the brain by activating mental sets that affect attention and selective perception, enhance encoding by providing necessary organization for the new data, and maintain executive control that keeps the instruction going in the right direction. That is, establishing and employing effective learning strategies, for example, sequencing, organization and structuring are the key to successful encoding of information in long term memory. Accordingly, table 2 and 3 indicated that although cognitivism was not dealt with thoroughly, it was the learning theory which was rated as the second most important in all Iranian ELT textbooks. 5. Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications: The results revealed that the major principle of organization in Junior and Senior High school was the learning theory of behaviourism while Pre-university textbooks oriented more toward constructivism. Although, reflection of learning theories may be justified based on what Schewier (1995) mentioned in terms of proficiency level, some points should be remembered with regard to Iranian curriculum development and learners’ proficiency level. First, No smooth shift was observed from behaviourism to constructivism; since, learners are taught through instructional strategies and techniques of behaviourism in five years and suddenly in the last year of their educational program, they are faced with instructional strategies and techniques of constructivism. Second, under no circumstances, we can definitely determine learners’ proficiency level based on their educational level. Different factors e.g., geographical position (whether one lives in a remote area or a big city), taking part in private institute, motivation, individual differences, etc can contribute to face learners with different proficiency level within the same educational level. Therefore, each learner will bring a different set of knowledge and experience to the classroom. It is, therefore, the teacher’s responsibility to take into account different learners variables e.g., learners’ proficiency level, learners’ prior knowledge to select, adopt and present instructional strategies and tasks relevant to individuals. Having involved in action research, teachers can fully avail themselves from the great benefits. They can have an in depth knowledge of the textbook organization, probable strengths and weaknesses of the textbooks and provide learners with supplementary material to reinforce their teaching. The learning activities presented in textbooks reflect the belief and value of curriculum developers. Teachers should act as an interface between the textbooks and learners to consider learners’ need, foster the right climate for learning to take place, develop confidence and learners’ individuality to be respected. References Anderson, J.R. (1995). Constructivism: Theory, perspective and practice. New York: Teacher College Press. Brown, D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching. New York: Pearson Education. Atai, M.R. (2002). ESAP curriculum development in Iran: An incoherent educational experience. Journal of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities, 9 (3), 17-33. Doolittle, P. (1998). Integrating constructivism and cognitivism. Retrieved from http://edpsychderver. ed.vt.edu/ research/ icc.html. Ellis, R. (1997). The Empirical evaluation of teaching materials. ELT Journal, 51(1), 36-42. Fosnot, C.T. (1996). Constructivism: Theory, perspective and practice. New York: Teacher College Press. ALLS 5(2):115-119, 2014 119 Gagné, R. M., & Medsker, K. L. (1996). The conditions of learning training applications. Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company. Hutchinson, T (1987). What's underneath? An interactive view of materials evaluation. In L. E Sheldon (Ed.), ELT textbooks and materials: Problems in evaluation and development (pp. 37-44 ). ELT Documents 126. London, UK: The British Council. Matusevich, M. N. (1995). School reform: What roles can technology play in a constructive setting? Retrieved from http:// pixel.cs.vt.edu/fis/techcons.html/. Mirhassani, A. (2003). Theories, approaches and methods in teaching English as a foreign language.Tehran: Zabankadeh Publication. Mitchell, R., & Myles, F. (1998). Second language learning theories. Oxford: OUP. Murphy, E. (1997). Characteristics of constructive teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://cdli.ca/~elmurphy/ emurphycle3.html Nunan, D. (1988). The learner-centered curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What every teacher should know. University of Alabama. Newbury House Publisher. Peveto,C. (1997). Constructive design principle. Retrieved from http:// gramma, is.tcu.edu /~cpeveoto/ treatise /design html. Richards, J. C. and Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge: CUP. Schwier, R. A. (1995). Issues in emerging interactive technologies. In G. Anglin (Ed.), Instructional technology: past, present, future (2nd ed.), pp. 119-130. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. William, M., & Burden ,L.(1997). Psychology for language teacher. Cambridge: CUP. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Textual Transformations in Contemporary Black Writing in Britain Jawhar Ahmed Dhouib Department of English, University of Gabes PO Box 6000, Ali Jmel, Gabes, Tunisia E-mail: jawharahmed@hotmail.fr Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.120 Received: 21/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.120 Accepted: 08/04/2014 Abstract While the first wave of Caribbean immigrant writers brilliantly explored race-related issues, black Britons like Andrea Levy, Zadie Smith and Caryl Phillips, among others, have sought to depart from earlier fiction, motivated in their project by the changing white face of Britain. In this article, I would like to argue that cultural change in Britain has deeply influenced literary production and has, consequently, laid the ground for a series of textual transformations. To capture instances of creative excess in contemporary black writing in Britain, I will bring under examination Caryl Phillips’s (2009) novel In the Falling Snow. My intention is to show to what extent Phillips’s work surpasses the ‘noose of race’ and already-familiar representations of multicultural Britain to celebrate a ‘post-racial’ society. Keywords: Caryl Phillips, Caribbean diaspora, contemporary black writing, multiculturalism, polyculturalism 1. Introduction Novels by pioneer West Indian writers in Britain, chief among whom are V.S. Naipaul, Samuel Selvon, George Lamming and Wilson Harris, to name but a few, have offered a lively palette of stories, bittersweet anecdotes, vivid experiences and profound meditations on the journey from the Caribbean to the metropolis. A particularly prominent feature of this fiction is the sense of social marginalisation and alienation experienced by post-World War II Caribbean immigrants to Britain, generically known as the Windrush generation.1 i The trope of the solitary West Indian migrant floundering in London railway stations or wandering aimlessly in the alleyways of the city in search of descent housing is central to the large body of West Indian novels written during the 1950s and 1960s. The Lonely Londoners (1956), as suggested by Samuel Selvon’s landmark novel, engage acrimoniously in setting in contrast the grim English weather to the tropical climate back home in the Caribbean archipelago. Another substantial feature of these novels of migration, as often referred to, is the portrayal of West Indian expatriates concentrating together in “imagined communities,” Anderson (1983), seeking to support fresh off the boat new arrivals, while looking back with atavistic nostalgia to their imaginary Caribbean homeland.ii While the first wave of Caribbean immigrant writers brilliantly explored the desire for return that haunted the Windrushers, contemporary black fiction in Britain, by contrast, dispenses with the idea of return, and more significantly, with establishing comparisons between the ‘here’ of black Britons and the ‘there’ of their progenitors. The descendants of the Caribbean diaspora in the metropolis like Andrea Levy, Zadie Smith and Caryl Phillips, among many others, have sought to depart from earlier fiction, motivated in their project by the changing white face of Britain. In this paper, I would like to argue that social and cultural change in Britain has deeply influenced literary production and has consequently laid the ground for a series of textual transformations. To capture instances of creative excess in contemporary black writing in Britain, I will bring under scrutiny Caribbean-born writer Caryl Phillips’s novel In the Falling Snow, first published in 2009.iii Phillips’s novel is set at the cross-currents between the familiar migration novels written by pioneer West Indian writers and the growing body of twenty-first century cosmopolitan fiction produced by black Britons. My intention in what follows is to show to what extent the novel exceeds in Phillips’s terms the “restrictive noose of race” (Phillips, 2001, p. 131) and clichéd representations of multicultural Britain to celebrate a ‘polycultural’ (Prashad, 2001) cosmopolitan society. Examining Phillips’s oeuvre offers, then, an entry into the engagement of contemporary black writers in Britain in developing a culture-predicated discourse that gives prominence to mixed-race identities and that squares with the demographic profile of new millennium Britain. To this extent, this paper argues that the representation of polycultural London in Phillips’s novel exceeds hyphenated forms of identity to renegotiate the metropolis as a ‘home space.’ 2. Changing Currents: Superseding the Multiculturalism Model: In 1978, Stuart Hall identified the relationship between the black diaspora and Britain as “the land which they are in but not of, the country of estrangement, dispossession and brutality” (Hall 1978), whereby ‘blackness’ is defined in terms of difference and resistance to the white mainstream culture. Hall’s argument on the double-helix model of being ‘black’ in a nation that defines itself primarily as ‘white’ represents an avenue to explore the literature of the England-based black writers whose fiction has played a substantial role in transcending the limitations of modernity locked behind the ALLS 5(2):120-126, 2014 121 enclaves of ‘race’ and the ‘color line.’ Indeed, critics of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, namely Stuart Hall and Paul Gilroy, have released the term ‘diaspora’ from the confines of historicity and the topos of theology to explore novel avenues whereby ‘diaspora’ resists coupling with ethnic-centered identities. Khachig Tölölyan’s influential journal Diaspora, first issued in 1991, Stuart Hall’s series of referential essays and Paul Gilroy’s seminal works have significantly shaped the understanding of the diaspora as a metaphoric concept that transcends the Manichean binarism of ‘homeland’ and ‘host country’ to celebrate commitment to identity formation in a crossroads of cultural currents. Credited to these critics of cultural studies is their insightful adaptation of Benedict Anderson and James Clifford’s theoretical input on the diaspora(s) to the Afro-Caribbean context. For instance, Paul Gilroy’s criticism of ethniccentered identities predicated on the ethos of essentialism start with There Ain’t no Black in the Union Jack (1987) to take a sharper critical tone in The Black Atlantic (1993) where he valorizes a kind of diasporic identity that looks back at origins only to construct “an imaginary anti-modern past and a postmodern yet-to-come” (Gilroy, 1993, p. 37). Gilroy’s project of the ‘black Atlantic’ delineates a counter-cultural model that interrogates immutable forms of identity promoted by “absolutist conceptions of cultural difference […] to produce an explicitly transnational and intercultural perspective” (15). In this regard, affiliation to a particular geographic space, i.e. an ‘imaginary homeland,’ to evoke Salman Rushdie’s catchphrase, does not constitute a firm basis for identity, as the sense of be-longing depends on the potentialities of recreating one’s self in different homes. The diasporic identity is in essence fluid; one that contests the bounded scope of topos (space) and chronos (time) or the “sedentary poetics,” to borrow Gilroy’s terminology.iv Perceived as such, there seems to be little interest in reproducing and remaining true to the set of rules adopted in one’s ancestral culture while dwelling thousands of miles away on distant shores. In this case, the fracturing chasm between the ‘claustrophobia of cultural authenticity’ and (the cosmopolitan) space is likely to trigger a permanent clash between the legacy of “cultural identity” (Hall, 1990) and the cultural milieu.v Aligned to Gilroy’s critique of an identity model that points to its origins, Avtar Brah ascertains in Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities (1996) that diasporic identities celebrate “multi-locationality across geographical, cultural and psychic boundaries” (Brah, 1996, p. 194, original emphasis). Inspired by Benedict Anderson’s ideas developed in his seminal book Imagined Communities (1983), Brah argues that diasporic identities resist the nostalgic mist of homeland and cannot, therefore, be held captive within the confines of a monadic site called ‘home’ as the concept of diaspora, according to him, “places the discourse of ‘home’ and ‘dispersion’ in creative tension, inscribing a homing desire while simultaneously critiquing discourses of fixed origins (Brah, 1996, pp. 192-193, original emphasis). Brah’s critique of origin-oriented approaches to identity testifies to the vitality of polysemy, fragmentation and difference for diasporic identities, perceived as bringing to fruition the negotiation between ‘imagined’ and “encountered communities” (Brah, 1996). In this respect, diasporic subjects are the offspring of cultural hybridity, rather than inheritors of nationalist legacies. This prospective vision implies that the diasporic self exists “in a place where the centre is always somewhere else” (Hall, 1995, p. 6). This elucidation is not meant to create a gypsy-like, ‘nomadic’ form of the diaspora, but rather to underline that hybrid identities are the product of a simmering mixture of cultures rather than a mosaic of ethnicities. Predicating my argument on a conception of the diaspora as a counter-return narrative in the Afro-Caribbean context, I will attempt in my discussion to dispense with the long-hailed concept of ‘multiculturalism.’ It is my contention that multiculturalism has long served as a permanent reminder of a split diasporan identity, of the ‘twoness’ of belonging to Britain and to elsewhere.vi The argument I wish to advance is that ‘polyculturalism,’ as advocated by Vijay Prashad (2001), tends to be more accurate in the context of contemporary black writing, as it takes into account the sensibilities of fusion rather than mere co-existence. Pronouncing on the discrepancy between ‘multiculturalism’ and the polycultural approach, Prashad argues that: A polyculturalist sees the world constituted by the interchange of cultural forms, while multiculturalism (in most incarnations) sees the world as already constituted by different (and discrete) cultures that we can place into categories and study with respect (and thereby retain 1950s relativism and pluralism in a new guise). (Prashad, 2001, p. 67) Polyculturalism breaks with the schizophrenic nature of overt doubleness, as suggested by black and British, to celebrate Britishness as an inclusive concept in a cosmopolitan space. If Samuel Selvon qualified the early arrivals to the metropolis as ‘the lonely Londoners’ more than fifty years ago, the systematic racial profiling of post-War Britain classifying people into English versus foreigners no longer holds. Polyculturalism offers, then, alternative visions and sets forth transcending hyphenated and race-predicated conceptions of identity beyond “the high walls of parochialism and ethno-nationalism” (Prashad, 2001, p. 65). The offspring of black immigrants in Britain today are acquainted with the foggy London-scape, they do not share the sense of anticipation and alienation felt and experienced by their progenitors as they are simply at home. Little surprise then, Phillips’s latest novel In the Falling Snow (2009) does not mark stop at the experience of the ‘Windrush Generation,’ epitomised in Earl Gordon and fellow Caribbean immigrants, but extends out to bring to the limelight the generations of England-born offspring like Keith and his mixed-race son Laurie. This understanding opens vistas on twenty-first century polycultural British society that is dismantling the presumed ‘polarities’ of Black and English while smoothly superseding hyphenated forms of identity. On the discrepancy between the first generation of immigrants and their children, Caryl Phillips observes in his collection of essays A New World Order (2001) that ALLS 5(2):120-126, 2014 122 “whereas they could sustain themselves with the dream of one day ‘going home,’ we were already at home. We had nowhere else to go and we needed to tell British society this” (Phillips, 2001, p. 242).vii Indeed, Phillips and his generation grew up with the sense that England is home, not the tropics, which suggests that attachment to Britain cannot be reduced to holding a British passport.viii Little surprise, then, that we read in In the Falling Snow that Keith and his “generation of kids, who were born in Britain […] had no memory of any kind of tropical life before England” (FS 41), at least if compared to the generation of the first arrivals, like his father Earl and his friend Ralph. For this reason, I think that the commonplace term ‘second generation’ of immigrants is rather misleading as it does not capture the specificity of this England-born generation and as it inserts another “relationship of entailment” (Stein, 2004) to the Anglophone Caribbean, not to England, as their ‘original’ homeland. Thus, if the classification of early immigrants as ‘foreigners’ can possibly find reason in that they left the Caribbean for England, the so-called ‘second generation’ cannot fit under the same heading for the mere fact that they are either born, bred or both on English soil. Therefore, out of the profound sense that black Britons belong to England, the response of the younger generation “was different from that of [their] parents, who often held their tongues in order that they might protect their children” (Phillips, 2001, p. 276), which marks a break from the passivity that stigmatized the ‘Windrushers’ and declares the beginning of black resistance in Britain. The experience of Keith in the novel foregrounds the willingness of the well-educated of this new generation of black Britons to challenge the limitations of a racist system. Phillips underlines that the battle for equality can be fought on different fronts and that activism is not merely rioting in the streets since other venues of intellectual militancy can be fruitful. One of the artistic forms of excess in the novel can be captured in Keith’s contemplation to write a three-part monograph on music in the 60s, 70s and 80s. On the one hand, Keith’s project points to his generation that resisted absorption into the scope of black history, which implies that the process of moving from the exclusiveness of “Englishness” to the inclusiveness of “Britishness” is conditioned by constructing a model of identity predicated on a cultural rather than on a racial basis. On the other hand, the three parts of the book are meant to answer the expectations of three distinct, yet intertwined generations. Keith’s book represents an artistic response adopted by a generation sandwiched between the uprootedness of their parents, the hostility of white English society and the growing alienation of their children, like Laurie, the hybrid son of Keith and white Englishwoman Annabelle. 3. Hybrid Identities and the Fracturing Generational Chasm: Characters with mixed racial heritage have peopled recent fictional productions as a creative translation of the new demographic profile of twenty-first century Britain.ix The trope of the mixed-race person is crucial in Phillips’s novel as it bears witness to the metamorphic nature of British society and indexes how, as scholar John McLeod rightly argues, the different “kinds of British identities – Black British and beyond – are conceptualized in ways which supersede received racialised models of subjectivity and selfhood” (McLeod, 2010, p. 47). The increasing presence of hybrid characters in the scope of contemporary black writing bears witness to the changing white face of Britain in the new millennium. To support my argument, I will bring into the limelight the experience of Laurie whose central presence in the novel has a direct bearing on a hybrid generation born to black and white parents in Britain that has sought to stamp out the racism directed against their parents. Another aspect of excess in the novel is that it traces connections and disconnections between generations of parents and offspring and explores the concerns of a new generation of hybrids, like Laurie, born to black and white parents. In this vein, In the Falling Snow foregrounds social change in Britain in different areas, most prominently in matters of ‘race’ and racism against black Britons. While Keith remains deeply focused on questions of ‘race,’ prejudice and identity, which are specific to his generation, these issues are out of tune with the new generation’s concerns and no longer stimulate their curiosity for the mere fact that teenagers like Laurie have not witnessed the brutality of midtwentieth century racism, which may possibly explain the ever-widening chasm between Keith and his son. Obviously, the impact of racism on parents and children cannot be perceived through the same lens. What the experience of Laurie suggests is that this younger generation is more interested in contemporary issues, and to a large extent oblivious of the legacy of racism. Laurie, as I have mentioned above, is the hybrid son of Keith and white Englishwoman Annabelle. Even though Annabelle and her husband live apart after this latter’s confession of a one night spent with his co-worker, the ‘couple’ remains linked by their son Laurie. The three years Laurie spends with his mother following her break up from Keith have served to widen the breach further between the 17-year-old teenager and his father who tries hard throughout the novel to understand the Britain of his son from his position as a middle-aged person. Indeed, Keith’s estrangement, aloofness and disconnectedness from his son do not spring from unwillingness to get in touch with Laurie, but rather from his insensibility towards the ‘change’ that marked Britain starting from the 1990s. If we assume that In the Falling Snow is structured on “partial discontinuity” between generations, as (McLeod, 2010) notes, it is equally valid to argue that it is a novel that captures the metamorphic character of British society. For instance, following Laurie’s interpellation by the police and then his discharge for committing no crime, Keith still wonders whether his son was abused during the interrogatory: ‘Did the police abuse you in any way?’ Laurie looks up at his father. ‘What?’ ‘I’m talking about racial abuse. Did the interviewing officer verbally abuse you in any way?’ ‘What are you on? The copper who interviewed me was black.’ (FS 227) ALLS 5(2):120-126, 2014 123 While Keith remains deeply focused on questions of ‘race,’ prejudice and identity, which are specific to his generation, these issues are seemingly out of tune with the new generation’s concerns and no longer stimulate their curiosity for the mere fact that teenagers like Laurie have not witnessed the brutality of mid-twentieth century racism. In this sense, Keith’s inability to achieve a compromise with Laurie bespeaks not just of his failure to understand his son, but more importantly of his total disconnectedness from twenty-first century black teenage Britons. 4. Alternative Visions of the Metropolis: No wonder then characters who populate contemporary black British writing dispose of familiar images and exhausted clichés about London as museum, petrified in history and Anglo-Saxon tradition. The marketing of a mythic image of London with “fog sleeping restlessly over the city” (Selvon, 1956, p. 23) attributes a sense of “unrealness about London” as if it were “some strange place on another planet” (23).x Westminster Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park and many other familiar locales furnish the tableau of London. This is the London we read about in canonized fictional works and admire in postcards. This is the tourist brand of London. It is the very image of the city that early West Indian arrivals expected, identified with and yearned to discover. Yet, to the dismay of these fresh off the boat migrants, the British capital has preserved the banks of the Thames, marooned, as they are, between borders, banks and thresholds. Contemporary black writers in Britain, by contrast, have sought to offer alternative visions of the city. As Phillips puts it in a recent essay entitled “A Bend in the River” (2012), “the fog of the first half of the 20th century has long gone, [...] exuberant and energetic London is clearly open for business and busy” (Phillips, 2012). The charm of London which has marked the literature of West Indian immigrants post-WWII has given way to a more realistic vision of the city, an image that counterpoints what Phillips calls “iconic London,” the fabrication of immigrants’ imagination, and as V.S. Naipaul has brilliantly expressed in The Enigma of Arrival (1987): Cities like London were to change. They were to cease being more or less national cities; they were to become cities of the world, modern-day Romes, establishing the pattern of what great cities should be, in the eyes of islanders like myself and people even more remote in language and culture. (130) The celebration of polycultural Britain necessitates, then, a shift in focus from the London of Hardy and Wordsworth to a twenty-first century metropolis where participation is granted for all and no one could claim full ownership of the ‘home space.’ “Nothing holds the whole of Britain,” to pan on E. M. Forster’s motto. The white face of London, and by extension of Britain, is no longer representative of radical social transformations and the image of ‘iconic London’ no longer squares with new hybrid identities. To my mind, British history as inscribed in edified buildings stands as an eternal symbol of white integrity, rather than integration. The conspicuous presence of hybrid forms of identity in literary productions requires, in turn, an adaptation of space, whereby events no longer take place in Victorian-style palaces, but rather in geographic locales that exceed the déjà vu with scenes set, literally, in suburbs, in dimly-lit alleyways and underground stations, and metaphorically on the banks of Thames. For instance, in In the Falling Snow, readers are on a virtual tour in London. However, the London we cross while reading the novel is perceived through different eyes. One of the remarkable passages that needs to be recognized for capturing Britain ‘before and after,’ as it were, is what I will refer to, following John McLeod’s appellation, the ‘Bridge scene.’ After their rather unsuccessful tour in London, Keith seeks once more to unlock Laurie’s silence while on Westminster Bridge.xi However, to Keith’s dismay, Laurie has a sharply different understanding of the new millennium Britain: ‘The thing is, Dad, I don’t know if things are the same now as they were when you were my age.’ […] ‘So tell me then, how are they different?’ ‘It isn’t about discrimination and stuff. I know that’s important, and that’s your job and everything, but it’s also about other things.’ ‘Other things like what?’ (FS 167) Phillips sets in contrast Keith, who is rather interested in the historical grandeur of London and the ever expanding business infrastructure that has markedly changed, if not disfigured, the face of the city he knew fifty years ago and Laurie who takes this middle-aged man for “some demented tour guide” (FS 163) with what he perceives to be his annoying discourse on London’s monuments. Conversely, while in the pod at the top of the London Eye, Laurie shows much interest in “the newly refurbished Wembley Stadium” (FS 161) rather than in his father’s woeful history lecture, which reflects the disparate interests and attitudes of father and son towards the city. “One would never want to dismiss the evidence of tradition,” as Phillips suggests, but, “there seems to be disjuncture between the narrative of British history, as evidenced in the landscape and buildings and the narrative of a twenty-first century polycultural society” (Phillips, 2012), vexing problems that motivate Phillips’s journey in “search of other visions of London” over the Thames. ALLS 5(2):120-126, 2014 124 5. Polyculturalism and Beyond: To a certain extent social change in Britain has been registered, at least statistically. For example, in her introductory essay to the 2010 Wasafiri special issue baptised Black Britain: Beyond Definition, Bernardine Evaristo records that “in today’s UK, 48% of Black Caribbean men and 34% of Black Caribbean women have white partners” (Evaristo, 2010, p. 2). Indeed, one can only agree with Evaristo’s opinion that these figures point fairly to “the triumph of love over loathing, integration over separation, connection over tribalism” (Evaristo, 2010, p. 2). In addition, efforts have been made through multimedia, movies, rebellious music styles and new technologies to create an atmosphere of polycultural compromise that unites rather than divides whites, blacks and other ‘minority’ groups. While Keith’s generation, for example, found in the then emerging rebel Bob Marley and his songs the spirit of challenge, the new generation enjoys an ever-widening scope of entertaining facilities that goes beyond the literal and figurative meanings of the ‘color bar.’ Little surprise, then, that In the Falling Snow swarms with references to recreational facilities ranging from cyber cafés, internet and Wikipedia to iPods, DVDs and Hip Hop. This supposedly virtual connectivity, as it has proved to be more real than merely said virtual, has helped create what Gilroy refers to as the “transracial intimacy” (Gilroy, 2000, p. 215).xii In response to Keith’s contestation, expanding urbanism and the corporate business world have facilitated “contact across the color line” (Gilroy, 2000, p. 215) as ‘armies of business,’ conglomerates and “the commercial world” have proved to be color blind, loyal only to those able to feed them coins. Transracial “conviviality” (Gilroy, 2005) is further consolidated by the city-born Hip Hop as an urban form of artistic expression adopted and shared by all those who feel marginalized within their societies (Lipsitz, 1994). No wonder, then, that while Keith laments the loss of a familiar London landscape, unconsciously reminiscent of the virginity of West Indian islands, Laurie and city dwellers of his generation are reasonably more interested in city life and adopt for this reason urban modes of expression to voice their concerns. In this sense, mixed-race youths like Laurie have resorted to hybrid forms of expressions that suit best their identities, voting unanimously for mixed forms like Hip Hop, combining old and new styles, on the tangent between Jazz and country music, on the one hand, and ghettoized rhythms of urban rap, on the other (Lipsitz, 1994). However, fervent optimism in regard to multi-cultural Britain can be debunked by statistics, testimonies, reports and other factual details revealing that racism is still prevalent in today’s Britain and that Keith’s skepticism in In the Falling Snow is realistic rather than amplified as it may seem to be. Indeed, we notice that the legacy of old problems inherited from parents and grandparents still continues to afflict the new generation of mixed-race children like Laurie. For example, in what relates to the relationship between black youth and police force, mistrust and discrimination still prevail. In this sense, (Evaristo, 2010) notes that “there are six times more stop-and-searches of black people than white people [and] the arrest rate for black people is around three times higher than that of white people” (Evaristo 2010, p. 2), which implies that black people, especially youngsters, are still ‘judged by the color of their skin,’ and therefore holding a central position in the arena of suspicion. At school, the situation is also alarming and stands reminiscent of the 1970s generation deeply influenced by white teachers’ low attitudes and confirmed by drop outs amongst black children. In this regard, British Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledges in the Guardian that “Black pupils are permanently excluded from school at more than twice the rate of white pupils. Some 9,500 black children leave primary school every year unable to read, write and add up properly” (Cameron, 2010, online). At university things have even been worse if we take into account that “of the 3,000 students who started at Oxford in 2008, only five are black Caribbean in origin” (Cameron, 2010, online). As for employment, the black presence has been deeply affected by the mediocre if not low educational achievements, which sounds logical. Research, as Cameron points out, reveals that “almost half young black people are unemployed, well over twice the rate for young white people” (Cameron, 2010, online). No wonder, then, that long periods of joblessness and low-income are likely to result in a growing rate of criminality among black people and other minority groups who already “account for approximately 27% of the total prison population” (Evaristo, 2010, p. 2) in Britain according to the 2006 Prison Reform Trust census. In governmental representation and British home affairs, claims that racism has shrunk is a rather tenuous argument. Suffice it to look at the composition of Mr Cameron’s cabinet to grasp the sense of the so-called democratic representation of those populating the nation with a solitary black person, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, joined to “twenty Oxbridge graduates, sixteen privately educated and four women” (Evaristo, 2010, p. 2). This can be counterpoised by the American model whereby presidency, for example, is no longer monopolized by ‘White Only’ politicians, which keeps Britain trailing behind rather than in the front of real change. If Gilroy gained prominence almost a quarter of century now for his There Ain’t no Black in the Union Jack (1987), it is important to point out that in 2013 ‘there ain’t no black’ offspring in London’s 10 Downing Street. Even though the ravage of prejudice against Afro-Caribbean immigrants can be said to have abated with the new millennium generation of black children, it is my belief that racism is still there, yet directed against other arrivals like Indians and Pakistanis who were overshadowed by the flux of West Indians in the 1950s and the following years and most recently Arabs and Muslims. If racism was primarily directed against the black community during the mid-twentieth century, the growing number of other minorities and their increasing presence in English society has contributed to alleviate the perils of racism against blacks as these minorities have equally received their proper quota of discrimination. In this regard, racism has been disseminated and distributed ‘democratically’ on the different ethnic minorities rather than disappeared, which makes one wonder to what extent is ‘post-racial’ Britain capable of resisting the burden of ‘race’ and the legacy of racial hierarchies. ALLS 5(2):120-126, 2014 125 Notes 1 . Authoritative academic references, such as Peter Fryer’s Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain (1984) and Mike and Trevor Phillips’s Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-racial Britain (1998) written in memorial of fifty years of the first Windrush landing document the arrival of the first group of Caribbean immigrants to June 1948. Indeed, there is consensus among critics on this rather ‘official’ version of the Windrush narrative whereby on June 22nd, 1948, the SS Empire Windrush set anchor at the harbor of Tilbury Docks, England carrying 492 male immigrants from Jamaica. ii . The predicament of West Indian migrants consists in their maroonage between a remote past in the Caribbean, their ‘imaginary homeland,’ to evoke Salman Rushdie’s ubiquitous phrase, and a foggy future in England as members of an ‘imagined community,’ in Benedict Anderson’s sense. iii . Further citations from In the Falling Snow will be henceforth abbreviated as (FS). iv . Gilroy formulates his contestation to anchor identity to specific spatio-temporal parameters in his evocative term “transcultural mixture” that vigilantly draws attention to “the purity-defying metamorphoses of individual identity in the “contact-zones” of an imperial metropolis” (Gilroy, 2000, p. 117). Worthy to note is that the inextricability of topos (space) and chronos (time), or the “sedentary poetics” in Paul Gilroy’s terms, finds roots in Deleuze and Guattari’s idea that “history is always written from the sedentary point of view and in the name of a unitary State apparatus, at least a possible one, even when the topic is nomads” (Deleuze and Guattari, 1988, p. 230). v . I owe the idea of ‘claustrophobia of cultural authenticity’ to African-American scholar Louis Chude-Sokei who advocated the concept in a keynote lecture entitled “The Newly-Black Americans: Africans, Immigrants and AfricanAmericans” presented during the international conference “What is Africa to me now? The Continent and its Literary Diasporas” held at the University of Liège, Belgium in March 2013. vi . In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), W.E.B. Du Bois wrote memorably: “One ever feels his twoness, – an American, a Negro.” vii . Further references to Caryl Phillips’s A New World Order (2001) will be mentioned in the text as (NWO). viii . Pioneer West Indian immigrants were privileged to enter the ‘mother country’ with British passports, which presumably entitled them to the same rights conferred on white English citizens. Worthy to note is that not just West Indians, but also African and Asian nationals of Commonwealth countries were conferred British citizenship by dint of the 1947 Nationality Act. For a thorough reading on the subject, cf. Peter Fryer’s Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain (1984) and Mike and Trevor Phillips’s Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-racial Britain (1998). ix . Mixed-race characters appear in a good number of fictional productions notabene by contemporary black women writers. Among these, I would like to single out Zadie Smith’s White Teeth (2001), Andrea Levy’s Fruit of the Lemon (1999) and Small Island (2004), Bernardine Evaristo’s Blonde Roots (2008) and Jackie Kay’s Red Dust Road (2010). x . A similar image about the “Unreal City” of London appears in T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922). xi . The bridge scene evokes William Wordsworth’s sonnet “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” (1802) where the poet celebrates the serenity of the city of London and the splendour of its famous monuments. xii . Obviously Gilroy has adjusted the concept of “diasporic intimacy” developed in There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack (1987) to discuss “transracial intimacy” in Against Race (2000) and “conviviality” in Postcolonial Melancholia (2005). Notes on contributor Jawhar Ahmed Dhouib is an Assistant Professor of English at the Higher Institute of Languages of Gabes, Tunisia. He holds a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Liège, Belgium and the University of Sfax, Tunisia. His main research interests are in Anglophone literatures, Postcolonial studies and contemporary black writing in Britain. References Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. U.S.A.: Verso. Brah, A. (1996). Cartographies of diaspora: contesting identities. London: Routledge. Cameron, D. (2010). We’ll change black Britain. The guardian. [Online] Available: http://guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/17/black-britain-unemployment-conversation. Dhouib, J.A. (2011). The experience of the black diaspora on distant shores: shattered subjects and fragmentation in the writing of Caryl Phillips. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Liège, Belgium and University of Sfax, Tunisia. Evaristo, B. (December 2010). The illusion of inclusion. Wasafiri. 25. 2, 1-16. Fludernik, M. (2003). Imagined communities as imaginary homelands. In M. Fludernik (ed.), Diaspora and multiculturalism: common traditions and new developments (pp. 261-285). Amsterdam: Rodopi. Gilroy, P. (1993). The black atlantic: modernity and double consciousness. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ———. (2000). Against race: Imagining Political Cultural Beyond the Color Line. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ———. (2005). Postcolonial melancholia. New York: Columbia University Press. ALLS 5(2):120-126, 2014 126 Hall, S. (1990). Cultural identity and diaspora. In J. Rutherford (ed.), Identity: community, culture, difference (pp 222237). London: Lawrence and Wishart. ———. (1995). Negotiating caribbean identities. New left review. 209, 3-14. Ledent, B. (2009). Black British literature. In D. Birch (ed.), The Oxford companion to English literature. (pp. 16-22). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lipsitz, G. (2006). Diasporic noise: history, hip hop, and the post-colonial politics of sound.In D. Brydon. (ed.), Postcolonialism: Critical concepts in literary and cultural studies. (pp. 1957-1979). London and New York: Routledge. McLeod, J. Postcolonial London: Rewriting the Metropolis. London and New York: Routledge, 2004. ———. (December 2010). Extra dimensions, new routines: contemporary black writing of Britain. Wasafiri. 25. 2, 4552. Mishra, V. (1996). The diasporic imaginary: theorizing the Indian diaspora. Textual practice. 10, 421-427. ———. (2007). The literature of the Indian diaspora: theorizing the diasporic imaginary. London and New York: Routledge. Naipaul, V.S. (1987). The enigma of arrival. London: Penguin. Prashad, V. (2001). Afro-Asian connections and the myth of cultural purity. Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon Press. Phillips, C. (2001). A new world order. London: Secker and Warburg. ———. (2007). Foreigners: three English lives. London: Vintage. ———. (2012). A bend in the river. [Online] Available: http://thespace.org/items/e00014mq?t=cffcc (April 2012). Selvon, S. (1956). The lonely Londoners. London: Penguin. Stein, M. (2004). Black British literature: novels of transformation. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Linguistic Focus of Language Related Episodes in Intermediate and Advanced EFL Learners’ Group-based Interactions: A Case Study Zhila Mohammadnia (corresponding author) Department of Language & Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran E-mail: mohammadnia@tabrizu.ac.ir Abdolreza Khalili Department of Language & Literature, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran E-mail: reza_khalili_urmia@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.127 Received: 20/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.127 Accepted: 09/04/2014 Abstract The present study investigated linguistic focus of language related episodes (LREs),in Iranian EFL classrooms. Eighteen male participants in the advanced and intermediate levels from Urmia branch of Academic Centre of Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) participated in the study. They were assigned to intermediate and advanced levels with one class at each level, based on their results on a placement test. Then, the data were collected over five weeks, two one-hour sessions per week for each class during which the participants carried out some communicative tasks. Next, these interactions were analyzed to account for the types and contents of their LREs. The results revealed that L2 learners in both advanced and intermediate levels were primarily concerned with lexical LREs. Furthermore, based on the results it was found that incidental focus on form lended itself more easily to vocabulary teaching compared to other language components while grammar needs more explicit techniques of focus on form instruction. Keywords: Focus on form, focus on forms, focus on meaning, Task-based Language Teaching, Language Related Episode (LRE) 1. Introduction Over the recent decades, focus on form instruction has been one of the debated areas in the field of foreign/second language teaching. In the context of performing a communicative task this kind of instruction is related to incidentally directing the learners' attention to the linguistic forms in their tasks (Ellis, Basturkmen & Loewen, 2001). The importance of the principles of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) such as meaningful communication, and also the explicit study of the formal elements of the language are emphasized in this kind of instruction (Poole, 2004). Many studies have considered the effect of focus on form instruction on second language learning (e.g., Doughty 1991; Pica 1994; Spada & Lightbown 1993).Some studies have considered the kinds of forms that learners attend to in second language contexts (e.g. Williams, 1999).However, only a few studies have considered the content of the forms that ESL learners attend to while performing communicative tasks (e.g. Poole, 2004). Furthermore, there is little information on the kinds of forms and their content that the learners attend to in EFL contexts (Poole, ibid). The present study by examining the kinds of language forms and their content which learners attend to in EFL task-based language classrooms aims to determine the methods of focus on form instruction which are effective at intermediate and advanced EFL classrooms. 2. Review of Related Literature 2.1 Focus on Meaning Instruction According to Long (1991) and Long and Robinson (1998) focus on meaning instruction is a communication-based approach to language teaching in which formal elements of the language are not treated in an intensive way. Furthermore, Long and Robinson (1998) claim that language use in situations which are very similar to the real life in which meaning and comprehension along with acceptable fluency in the use of language are vital, constitute the distinguishing features of this approach. Finally, they conclude that the main reason for meaning-focused language instruction is that learning the language is for using it as a tool rather than as a subject for study. 2.2Focus on Form and Focus on Forms Instructions According to Long (1991) there are two kinds of instructions which deal with the formal aspects of language including focus on forms and focus on form instructions. He further argued that, in focus on forms instruction some specific elements of a language are pre-selected based on a linguistic or structural syllabus and are treated in a systematic way during the language course. He finally concluded that, the main focus of attention in focus on forms instruction is on the formal aspects of the language. However according to Ellis et al. (2001), the meaning of second language is considered to be the main focus in focus on form instruction and this arises from communication–based activities in which L2 learners use the language as a tool for communication and not as a subject for study. ALLS 5(2):127-133, 2014 128 2.3 Tasks and Task-based Language Teaching Focus on form instruction is closely related to Task-based Language Teaching (Long, 1985). According to Skehan (1998) tasks are activities in which meaning is more important than the form and these activities deal with solving some communication-based problems. He further argued that tasks involve relationships to the activities in the real-world and the main goal for the learners is the completion of these tasks. Finally he concluded that tasks are assessed regarding their outcome. However, although tasks are intended to have the main focus on the meaning, they involve a secondary focus on the formal elements of the language (Long, 1985). Considering this issue, Task-based Language Teaching has been defined in a different way by other researchers (e.g. Long, 1985; Long & Crookes, 1992). Long (1985) emphasized the need for a conscious attention to the formal aspects of the languagein the process of communication and referred to this kind of attention as focus on form. He finally concluded that tasks should be designed to involve a main focus on the meaning and a secondary peripheral focus on the formal elements of the language. According to Ellis (2003) there are some differences between task-based and task-supported approaches in second/foreign language teaching. He further argued that, in task-based language teaching, the basis for a whole language syllabus is provided through the use of tasks. However in task-supported language teaching tasks do not provide a means for the learners to restructure their developing interlanguage systems, or are not sources for new language knowledge and only play a role in the fluency enhancement of the L2 learners. 2.4 Theoretical Bases of Focus on Form Instruction Traditionally a focus on the forms of second/foreign language which was operationalized by the use of structural or linguistic syllabi was the dominant trend in the field of second language learning and teaching (Richards & Rodgers 2001). This obsession with the formal aspects of the language was evident in the popular language teaching methods of the time such as Audiolingualisim. With the rise of CLT, communication-based approaches such as Natural Approach (Terrell & Krashen, 1983), in which there was a complete disregard of the formal elements of the language and which considered the meaning of language to be the only and main focus of language teaching came into vogue (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). However these approaches had their own problems (Harley & Swain, 1984) and because of the unsatisfactory results of both focus on forms and focus on meaning instructions, Long and Robinson (1998) introduced focus on form instruction which was considered to provide more promising results than its previous teaching approaches.Long and Robinson (1998, p. 23) defined focus on form as: “during an otherwise meaning focused classroom lesson, focus on form often consists of an occasional shift of attention to linguistic code features—by the teacher and/or one or more students—triggered by perceived problems with comprehension or production". As mentioned previously few studies have examined the kinds of forms learners attend to in the process of their communicational exchanges. Williams' (1999) research is one of the few studies which have addressed this problem. In this study the researchers operationalized focus on form instruction through Swain and Lapkins’ (1995) notion of Language-Related Episodes (LREs) and stated that LREs involve “discourse in which the learners talk or ask about language, or question, explicitly or implicitly, their own language use or that of others. Language use might include the meaning, spelling, or pronunciation of a word, the choice of grammatical inflection, word order, and so on”(Williams, 1999, p. 595).She distinguished five kinds of LREs discovered in learners’ discourse including: learner-initiated requests to other learners, learner-initiated requests to the teacher, metatalk, negotiation, and other correction. She argued that, learner-initiated requests to other learners involve questions from one learner to another learner in a direct way and learner-initiated questions to the teacher involve direct questions which learners direct to their teachers. She further argued that, in metatalk, language learners in order to arrive at mutual understanding of a concept which is larger than the actual language form, focus on some particular formal elements of language. According to her, the difference between metatalk and negotiation is the purpose of discussion in negotiation which deals with clarifying communication-based problems which have a grammatical or a lexical misunderstanding as their source. Finally, she noted that, other correction is the process of perceiving and correcting an error by another learner or the teacher without any kind of request from the learner who made the error. Another study which is closely related to Williams' (1999) study is the study by Poole (2004), which by considering the content of the forms which learners attend to in ESL contexts expanded Williams' (1999) study. As mentioned previously,according to (Long, 1985) and (Long & Robinson, 1992),tasks have to be designed in ways that will involve a main focus on meaning but also will permitan incidental focus on the formal aspects of the language. The present study by considering the original definition of focus on form by Long and Robinson (1998)and by adopting a task-based syllabus which is closely related to focus on form instruction (Long, 1985), tries to reveal the kinds of forms and their content which EFL learners attend to in their communicational activities by doing various kinds of tasks. Considering focus on form instruction, the classification of the different kinds of LREsdeveloped by Williams (1999), and considering the content of the LREs the classification developed by Poole (2004) is used in the present study. 3. Methodology 3.1 Design of the Study The present study examined two separate classes which were in the advanced and intermediate proficiency levels with nine male learners in each group, and by comparing the results of these two proficiency levels tried to expand the previously cited studies and give a clear understanding of the issue. Therefore the study employed a case study design and through the use of percentages tried to describe the behavior of the groups and compare their results. ALLS 5(2):127-133, 2014 129 3.2 Participants The participants in the study were 18 male learners of English ranging in agefrom 15 to 26 who were from Urmia, and had studied English in Urmia branch of Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research(ACECR), between 3 to 6 years.They were the researchers' students at ACECR that participated in their regular classes in the institute and also in the course which was designed by the researchers for the study as volunteers. Based on the participants English proficiency level which was determined by Objective Placement Test, from New Interchange Passages Placement and Evaluation Package (Lesley, Hansen, & Zukowski/Faust, 2003) the researchers assigned participants to two classes, one intermediate level and one advanced level. Then each class was divided to three groups with three learners in each group. In order to prevent learners from forming sub-groupsthe researchers included learners of mixed ages in each group and encouraged the learners to actively participate in the group tasks. The researchers acted both as organizers and facilitators by observing the class and answering the learners' questions when they had task related problems. 3.3 Materials 3.3.1 Homogeneity Test Objective Placement Test, from New Interchange Passages Placement and Evaluation Package (Lesley, Hansen, & Zukowski/Faust, 2003) was used to place the participants in their appropriate proficiency levels and also to ensure their homogeneity in each level. This homogeneity test was comprised of four parts.The first part (Listening) consisted of twenty recorded items. The second part (Grammar) had a total of thirty items. The third part (Vocabulary) included a total number of thirty items, and the final part (Reading) consisted of twenty items. 3.3.2 Communicative Tasks Most of the group work in the study was based on a range of carefully planned communicative tasks. Mostly these tasks included consensustasks in which groups of learners must finally agree on a certain issue, like the dictogloss task, and Jigsaw tasks which include a two-way oral interaction for putting the different pieces of information together to complete the tasksuch as a map task and a story completion or a story sequencing task in which parts of the story either inpictorial or written form are given to different learners and the learners are asked to make a complete story out of the separate parts. Most of the tasks were taken from Pica et al. (1993). No materials were used to direct learners’ attention to language forms in these tasks. 3.3.3 Clip-on Microphones During data collection 3 clip-on microphones were used to record the participants’ interactions within each group in each level. The participants in each group sat around a table and the microphone was placed at the center of the table to record the voice of the participants in that group. 3.4. Procedure In the present study first the researcher administered the Objective Placement Test, from New Interchange Passages Placement and Evaluation Package (Lesley, Hansen, &Zukowski/Faust, 2003) to ensure participants’ homogeneity before data collection. Based on the results of this test participants were assigned to intermediate and advanced proficiency levels.During the data collection the researchersthemselves acted as models and organizersfor the learners in both of the proficiency levels. At the beginning of each class the researchers first modeled the task for the class with the help of two students and then participants focused on a range of carefully planned tasks which were designed by the researchers for them with the main focus on communication and meaning comprehension. Data was collected during five weeks, two sessions each week for each class, and one hour each session during which participants focused on a range of communicative tasks. Totally ten hours of data were collected for each proficiency level over ten sessions during which the learners were tape-recorded with the help of 3 clip-on microphones for three groups in each proficiency level for recording learner-learner interactions within each of the groups. 3.5 Data Analysis Tapes of students' interactions were analyzed for LRE categories and content by the researchers. In transcribing the LREs, Swain’s (1998) conception of the term was used to guide the study. The five LREs categories were used to identify how students attended to form: (1) learner-initiated requests to other learners (2) learner-initiated questions to the teacher; (3) negotiation; (4) metatalk; (5) and other correction. “Content” in the present study refers to the specific lexical and grammatical types of LREs. More specifically as Poole (2004) argued the content refers to the lexical LREs which deal with the meaning, spelling, usage, and pronunciation of the individual words in the learners' communicative tasks. Furthermore as he argued grammatical LREs, involve items with a morphological or syntactical focus. In analyzing the LRE categories the classification of Williams (1999) and in determining the content of the LREs the classification developed by Poole (2004) was used in the present study. In order to identify Williams’ (1999) LRE categories, the researchers listened to the tapes and transcribed those sections in which they thought that LREs had occurred. Students were regarded as engaging in an LRE when they explicitly exchanged information with one or more peers about a grammatical or lexical form of the language. The researchers judged the end of the LREs when either the content of specific forms was overtly agreed upon by the learners or when the participants stopped explicitly talking about them. For example in extract 1 below, two learners from the first group of the intermediate level negotiate the meaning of the word intercom in the course of a story completion task: Extract 1 L1: And then he pushes the intercom button L2: Intercom? L1: You don’t know intercom? L2: No I don’t. L1: It is something that you use to knock the door. It has a button and you use it and someone answer you. ALLS 5(2):127-133, 2014 130 L2: Yes ok I understand it. Another example from the second group in the advanced level is provided in extract 2 below and entails othercorrection during a dictogloss task: Extract 2 L1: The teacher asked about the meditation L2: No it was medication L3: Yes it was medication because of the word pharmacy in the second paragraph. Finally the last example from the first group in the advanced level which entailed metatalk during a dictogloss task is provided in extract 3 below: Extract 3 L1: He recommended that Ahmad must be ready for tomorrow L2: Did you say must be? L1: Yes. WHY? L2: I think it is not right to say must after the verb recommend. What do you think? (Asking the third learner) L3: I think you are right. I remember from the grammar part that we must use the base form of the verb after some verbs like demand or insist. We can ask the teacher. The researchers only transcribed the LREs as they occurred in the tape recordings, and after one week they returned to the transcriptions to revise them on the assumption that some mistakes might have occurred in the transcription but there were no such errors and only a few LREs were discarded from the data pool because of the noise problems in the tape recordings. Cohens’ Kappa which represents the average rate of agreement for an entire set of data, accounting for the frequency of both agreements and disagreements among the raters was employed to measure inter-rater reliability. The results of this statistical test revealed an inter-rater reliability of 0.90 which is considered to be acceptable and satisfactory. 4. Results The results show that in the intermediate class out of 59 forms 53 (89.8%) were vocabulary while 6 forms involved morphosyntax (see Table 1). There was some variation among the groups and the range of the proportion of vocabulary to grammar changed from 87.5%/12.5% (Group 3) to 94.4%/5.6% (Group 2) thus all of the groups in intermediate class focused on vocabulary instead of grammar. Moreover, in the advanced class, 57 out of 62 individual forms involved vocabulary while 5 forms involved morphosyntax (see Table 2). Furthermore the range of the proportion of the vocabulary to grammar ranged from 90%/10% (Group 3) to 95.2%/4.7% (Group 2). Therefore in the advanced class too all of the groups focused on vocabulary instead of grammar. In the Intermediate class out of 59 forms 31 (52.5%) were concerned with meaning, followed by pronunciation (13-22%), spelling (5-8.4%), adjective-form (3-5%), voice and tense equally (2-3.3%), and plural nouns, word choice and subject verb agreement equally (1-1.6%) (see Table 3). In the advanced group out of 61 form 32 (51.6%) concerned meaning followed by pronunciation (14-22.5%), spelling (69.6%), word choice (3-4.8%), adjective form and tense equally (2-3.2%), and plural nouns voice and subject verb agreement equally (1-1.6%) (see Table 4). As can be seen in Table 5 and Table 6, at least 48% of LREs in each group is concerned with meaning in the intermediate group and at least 47.6% of LREs in the advanced group is concerned with meaning. Table 1. Types of Forms for Intermediate Learners Group Vocabulary 1 2 3 Total 22 88% 17 94.4% 14 87.5% 53 89.8% Table 2. Types of Forms for Advanced Learners Group Vocabulary 19 1 90.4% 20 2 95.2% 18 3 90% 57 Total 92% Grammar Total 3 12% 1 5.6% 2 12.5% 6 10.1% 25 100% 18 100% 16 100% 59 100% Grammar 2 9.5% 1 4.7% 2 10% 5 8% Total 21 100% 21 100% 20 100% 62 100% ALLS 5(2):127-133, 2014 131 Table 3. Content of the Forms for Intermediate Class Content Frequency Meaning 31 (V) Pronunciation (V) Spelling (V) Tense (G) Plural Nouns (G) 52.5 13 22 5 8.4 2 3.3 1 1.6 3 5 1 1.6 1 1.6 2 3.3 59 100 Adjective Form (V) Word Choice (V) Subject-Verb Agreement (G) Voice (G) Total Key: V=Vocabulary; G=Grammar Percent Table 4. Content of the Forms for Advanced Class Content Frequency Percent Meaning (V) 32 51.6 Pronunciation (V) Spelling (V) 14 22.5 6 8.4 Tense (G) 2 3.2 Plural Nouns (G) 1 1.6 Adjective Form (V) Word Choice (V) 2 3.2 3 4.8 1 1.6 Voice (G) 1 1.6 Total Key: V=Vocabulary; G=Grammar 62 100 Subject-Verb Agreement (G) ALLS 5(2):127-133, 2014 132 Table 5. Content of Forms within Groups for Intermediate Class Group M T P PN S WC 1 12 1 5 1 3 1 %In group 2 48 11 4 1 20 5 4 0 12 1 %In group 3 61.1 8 5.5 0 27.7 3 0 0 %In group Total 50 31 0 2 18.75 13 0 1 A V AF TO 0 1 1 25 4 0 0 0 4 0 4 0 100 18 5.5 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 100 16 6.25 5 0 1 6.25 1 6.25 2 12.5 3 100 59 %In group 52.5 3.3 22 1.6 8.4 1.6 1.6 3.3 5 100 Key: M=Meaning; T=Tense; P=Pronunciation; PN=Plural Nouns; S=Spelling, WC=Word Choice; A=Subject-Verb Agreement; V=Voice; AF=Adjective Form; TO=Total Table 6. Content of Forms within Groups for Advanced Class Group 1 M 12 T 1 P 4 PN 1 S 2 WC 0 A 0 V 0 AF 1 TO 21 %In group 2 57.14 10 4.7 1 19 5 4.7 0 9.5 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 4.7 1 100 21 %In group 3 47.6 10 4.7 0 23 5 0 0 9.5 2 4.7 2 0 1 4.7 0 4.7 0 100 20 %In group 50 0 25 0 10 10 5 0 0 100 Total 32 2 14 1 6 3 1 1 2 62 51.6 3.2 22.5 1.6 9.6 4.8 1.6 1.6 3.2 100 %In group Key: M=Meaning; T=Tense; P=Pronunciation; PN=Plural Nouns; S=Spelling, WC=Word Choice; A=Subject-Verb Agreement; V=Voice; AF=Adjective Form; TO=Total 5. Discussion and Conclusion Although there were differences in the design and context of the present study with the studies by Williams (1999) and Poole (2004), the results of the present study supported the results of the previous studies. This study by investigating the kinds of forms and their content in the advanced and intermediate levels expanded the previous studies and also tried to answer whether learners in EFL contexts focus on the similar forms as learners in ESL contexts or not. The findings of the present study suggest that the kinds of forms and their content that learners attend to in EFL contexts is very similar to the forms along with their content in ESL contexts. Firstly in both intermediate and advanced classes most of the forms that the learners focused on involved vocabulary and only a minor part of the forms were related to grammatical forms, and secondly the content of the forms in both the advanced and intermediate levels involved meaning of the words followed by pronunciation and spelling which support the findings of Poole (2004). According to Fotos (2002), in foreign language settings, in which a large amount of target language input is not available an explicit approach is required for second language teaching. A more explicit and obtrusive approach than incidental focus on form can be found in the Processing Instruction procedures of VanPatten (1996). It is argued that the reason for the effectiveness of this approach lies in its activities which require learners to attend to form in order to process meaning (VanPatten, 1996; VanPatten & Lee, 1995). Ellis (1998, 2001) uses the term, structured input for Processing Instruction and argues that this approach is a kind of focus on forms instruction since the main attention in this approach is given to the formal aspects of the language rather than the meaning. Based on the findings of the present study it may be argued that incidental focus on form may be more effective in vocabulary teachingfor EFL learners but not for grammatical features, and more explicit and planned forms of instruction like Processing Instruction procedures (VanPatten, 1996) may be needed to teach grammatical aspects of the language to learners in EFL contexts. However more research studies must be conducted before reaching firm conclusions and future research must address the issue involving larger number of learners in different proficiency levels. Finally it is hoped that curriculum ALLS 5(2):127-133, 2014 133 designers and teachers may benefit from the results of the present study in developing materials and employing appropriate classroom techniquesfor the vocabulary and grammar learning of students in the EFL contexts. References Doughty, C (1991). Second language instruction does make a difference: Evidence from an empirical study of ESL relativization. Studies in SecondLanguage Acquisition, 13, 431-469 Ellis, R. (1998). Teaching and research: Options in grammar teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 32, 39-60. Ellis, R. (2001). Introduction: Investigating form-focused instruction. Language Learning, 51, 1-46. Ellis, R. (2003). Task- based language learning and teaching. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Ellis, R., Basturkmen, H., &Loewen, S. (2001). Doing focus-on-form.System, 30, 419-432. Fotos, S. (2002). Structure-based interactive tasks for the EFL grammar learner. In E. Hinkel & S. Fotos (Eds.), New perspectives on grammar teaching in second language classrooms (pp. 135-154). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Harley, B., & Swain, M. (1984).The interlanguage of immersion students and its implications forsecond language teaching.In A. Davies, C. Criper& A. Howwat (Eds).Interlanguage (pp. 291-311). Edinburgh, Britain: Edinburgh University Press. Lesly, T., Hansen, Ch., & Zukowski/Faust, J. (2003).New interchange passages placement andevaluation package. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Long, M. (1985). A role for instruction in second language acquisition: Task-based language teaching. In K. Hyltenstam & M. Pienemann (Eds.), Modelling and assessing second language acquisition (pp. 377-393). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Long, M. (1991). Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. In K. DeBot, R. Ginsberg, & C. Kramsch (Eds.), Foreignlanguage research in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 39–52).John Benjamin, Amsterdam. Long, M., & Crookes, G. (1992). Three approaches to task-based syllabus design. TESOL Quarterly, 26, 27-56. Long, M., & Robinson, P. (1998). Focus on form: Theory, research, and practice. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form instruction in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 15-63). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pica, T., Kanagy, R. &Falodun, J. (1993). Choosing and using communicative tasks for second language instruction. In G. Crookes & S. M. Gass (Eds.) Tasks in a pedagogical context. Cleveland, UK: Multilingual Matters. Poole, A. (2004). An exploratory study of focus on form instruction: How advanced ESL writers attend to form during group work. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 14, 119-134. Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd Ed.). UK: Cambridge University Press. Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Spada, N. & Lightbown, P. (1993).Instruction and the development of questions in L2 classroom.Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 15, 205-221. Swain, M. (1998). Focus on form through conscious reflection. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form instruction in classroom second language acquisition (pp. 64-82). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16, 371- 391. Terrell, T., & Krashen, S. (1983).Natural approach: Language in the classroom. Oxford: Alemany Press. VanPatten, B. (1996). Input processing and grammar instruction. New York: Ablex. VanPatten, B., & Lee, J. (1995).Making communicative language happen.New York: McGraw-Hill. Williams, J. (1999). Learner-generated attention to form.Language Learning, 49(4), 583-625. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia EFL Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence and Their Personality Types: Exploring Possible Relations Roya Razavi Department of Language and Humanities Education Nabi Akram University,Tabriz,Iran E-mail: razavi_r2002@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.134 Received: 03/03/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.134 Accepted: 09/04/2014 Abstract The major aim of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers’ emotional intelligence and their personality traits in an Iranian context. To this end, 85 Iranian EFL teachers were asked to fill out The Big Five Inventory Personality Test (John & Srivastava, 1999) and The Bar-On Emotional Intelligences test (1997). The results showed both negative and positive correlations among different subscales of the variables under study. It was found that among the 15 components of EI, problem solving has the highest positive correlation with personality types (i.e., agreeableness). Also, problem solving was found to have the highest negative significant correlation with personality types (i.e., neuroticism). Pedagogical implications are discussed. Keywords: EI, Personality types, EFL teachers 1. Introduction As Horn and Noll (1994) put it, teachers play important roles in students’ achievement and success in the classroom. Teachers are important effective agents in the classroom and their significant effect on education in general and ELT in particular have been studied from different perspectives and angles. The Qualities of a good teacher have been explored over the past fifty years (Barr et al., 1955; Long, 1957; Feldman, 1976; Gage, 1978; Soar et al., 1984; Barry and Rogers, 1985; Borich, 1986; Adams, 1987; Lombard and Bunting, 1989; Reid, 1999). What these studies have focused on has been the general idea of traits rather than the teachers’ emotions. Only some of these studies have explored emotional variables such as Emotional Intelligence (EI), and some other variables related to teachers’ general data processing and cognitive styles. The concept of EI was first introduced by Peter Salovey and John, D. Mayer (1990) as a variable to help recognize that emotions in fact played a decisive role in Problem-Solving and adaptation in everyday life. Later, Goldman’s (1995) book entitled “Emotional intelligence, why it can matter more than IQ” propelled the concept to get on the bad-wagon in the research arena. It should not go unmentioned that EI is understood in two general ways among researchers and those specialists in the field: First, as a restricted set of mental abilities involving the process of emotional information (Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 1997; Salovey and Mayer, 1990). And second, which is also the concern of the present study, puts EI as a set of personality traits, skills and abilities (Bar-on, 1997: Goldman, 1995) accessed through Selfreport or 360 degree evaluation model. (Bar-on, 1997). Yet the concept of EI as a variable may not be that much practical in the teaching classroom with observable behavioral outcomes. Thus, it ought to be linked somehow to variables such as personality types among teachers or students. Personality in general has been studied in several different levels with each trying to unfold new aspects of human behavior (John, Hampton and Goldberg, 1991; McAdams, 1995). One very important level has been that of Human traits. (Cosling and John, 1999). John and Strivastava (1999) propose four main personality types namely, introversion vs. extroversion, agreeableness vs. antagonism, and consciousness vs. lack of attention, neuroticism vs. emotional stability, and finally openness vs. closedness to experience. The Big Five taxonomy offered by John and Srivastava (1999) is based on the following factors: I. II. III. IV. V. Extroversion or Surgency that is the extent to which a person is talkative, assertive and energetic. Agreeableness which describes the extent to which a person is good natured cooperative and trustful. Conscientiousness that is how a person is orderly, responsible and dependable. Emotional stability versus Neuroticism describing the nature of being calm, not neurotic and not being easily upset. Finally Intellect and openness, which go to that intellectual, imaginative and independent-minded nature of people. The above factors have also been employed by several researchers (Norman, 1963; Borgatta 1964; Digman and Takemoto-chock, 1981) The purpose of the present study is to explore the relationship between EI and the Big Five Personality Types. ALLS 5(2):134-141, 2014 135 2. Review of the related Literature Though results from three studies done by Petrides et al. (2007) show that emotional intelligence might be an informative construct above and beyond personality and not affected by that, there existed various limitations to their studies .In the first two of the studies, Petrides et al. employed a recently developed scale called the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) with two samples of participants (n = 166 British college students and n = 354 unspecified). They saw that the TEIQue was related to measures of rumination, life satisfaction, depression, along with dysfunctional attitudes and coping. However, the remaining associations between EI and the other variables were not rather high after accounting for the Five Factor Model of personality (FFM) variance, making the meaning of the associations questionable. In their third study, Petrides et al. demonstrated that trait EI might be the underlying factor that explains person’s susceptibility to a great range of personality disorders. In that third study, Petrides et al. gave the TEIQue to college students in Spain (n= 212), as well as measures of personality disorders, depression, and dispositional (or “trait”) mood. EI was significantly correlated with all of the variables of personality disorder, which are typically highly associated with personality disorders. This study suggests that low EI may be a basic risk factor for the development of serious mental health problems and not the result of mental health problems. However, these results were correlational and also obtained from a group of College students, so any interpretation from these results should be with caution. Mayer and Cobb (2000) propose that the FFM personality model is by no means perfect, and in fact has been depicted to have very little relationship with job success in certain occupations (e.g., teachers), leaving an opportunity for EI to provide information in these areas. However, in a review of personality and EI, McCrae (2000) points out how each of the trait EI concepts overlaps with the FFM and shares some features. On the other hand, though there is enough evidence showing that FFM is a cross-culturally valid theory of personality (McCrae & Costa, 1999). This has direct implications for the use of trait EI measures (e.g. the ECI-U that was administered to Pacific’s 2006 incoming freshmen class) because they were developed in a Western culture. Thus, persons in a culture with low norms for expressiveness may not rate items in a manner that is considered “emotionally intelligent” in a culture with norms of high expressiveness. In the past years there have been numerous studies exploring the relationship between EI and demographic factors such sex and age, we summarize some of them below: 2.1 EI and Age Generally in children the older they get, the greater their Emotional Competence will get. The studies have showed that EI increases with Age and grade. It has been put that emotional maturity was positively related with physiological maturity. Salovey and Mayer (1990) showed that EI increases with age and experience. Furthermore, in another study Goleman (1995) found that the signs of EI appear in young children. Goleman (1996) have also stated that emotional intelligence increases with age and it can be learned, cultivated and increased in adulthood. In a series of longitudinal studies, it was shown that people can change their EI competencies over two to five years (Boyatzis, 2000). Mayer et al. (2000) also showed with a series of studies that emotional intelligence increased with age and experience which qualifies it as ability rather than a personality trait. Wong and Law (2002) who replicated the study on a different group of subjects found that age is positively correlated with emotional intelligence in various job contexts. Similarly, Kafetsios (2004) did a study on 239 adults who were aged between 19-66 years. He concluded in his study that older participants got higher scores on three out of four branches of EI which were facilitation, understanding and management. This study backs the idea that emotional intelligence increases with age. In another study Srivastava and Bharamanaikar (2004) explored the relationship between age and EI among 291 Indian army officers. Their study also supported the idea that EI increases with age. Tyagi (2004) did a study on secondary school language teachers in order to measure their EI level. In his study he found that there is not a significant relationship between EI and age as an independent variable. Parker, Saklofske, Wood, Eastabrook & Taylor, (2005) conducted a study aiming at finding where EI related abilities were stable during life transitions. They focused on the transition from high school to university in a period of 32 months. The study employed Bar-on (1997) 's test, and concluded that the overall change in the EI level of the participants was more than the level to be a result of the short time span and change in the age of the participants. Van-Rooy, Alonso and Viswesvaran (2005) administered a common measure of EI to 275 participants a large majority of which were female (about 216) to examine how different age-groups scored on a test of EI. The results indicated that emotional intelligence scores tended to increase with age and that there was a positive correlation between the two variables, namely EI and age. In order to get an account of EI in early and middle adulthood, Chapman and Hayslip (2006) made a cross-sectional analysis and explored if the age exerts a significant difference on EI. In their study mid-life adults reported greater use of optimism (a component of emotional intelligence) as a mood regulation strategy compared to young adults. Gowdhaman and Murugan (2009) conducted a study on 300 teacher trainees to explore the relationship between EI and age. The results of their study proved that age affects EI to a large extent. ALLS 5(2):134-141, 2014 136 2.2 EI and Gender Thingujam and Ram (2000) in their effort to get the Indian adaptation of Emotional Intelligence Scale (Schutte et al, 1998) developed Indian norms (N=811) for males and females separately and the results showed that gender affected their performance on the EI scale. Ciarrochi, Chan and Bajgar (2001) reached the idea that EI was reliably measured in adolescents and based on the results it was presumed that IE was higher for females than males. Other scholars who worked on the relationship between IE and age were Charbonneau and Nicol (2002). They conducted a six-week study in a military training camp by which they observed higher EI scores for girls, although the results were not statistically significant. In order to observe EI levels of undergraduate male and female college students aged 17-20 years, Nasar (2008) conducted a study which rendered higher EI in the adolescent girls compared to the boys. Brackett, Mayer and Warner (2004) reported in their study that women scored significantly higher in EI than men. According to Uma Devi and Rayal's (2004) study (N=224) on gender differences and EI it was found that boys have scored higher than their girl counterparts (81 percent of boys as compare to the 76 percent of girls in their EI scores) . Hunt and Evans (2004) studied individuals which had traumatic experiences and reported that males have higher EI than females. Furthermore, Carr's (2009) study among 177 medical students revealed that males score higher in EI test than females do. In spite of the above findings, Kafetsios (2004) studied gender differences in Emotional Intelligence among 239 adults with the age 19-66 and using the Mayer, Salvony and Caruso Emotional Intelligence test (MSCEITV20) found that females' scores were higher than males' scores on both emotion perception and experimental area. Another study in line with Kafetsios (2004) is the study done by Pandey and Tripathi (2004) with a sample of 100 individual (50 male, 50 female). It showed that females scared highly than males in Emotional intelligence test and females were reported to be more adept in managing and controlling their own emotions and those of others. Studying on the 86 hetrosexual couples' EI ability, Beckett, Warner and Bosco (2005) found that females have higher Emotional Iintelligence scores than their male counterparts. VanRooy, Alonso and Viswesvaran (2005) conducted a research with 275 participants and found that women scored slightly highly than males in EI test. Austin, Evans, Gold water and Potter's (2006) study on Emotional Intelligence among 156 first year medical students revealed that females scored significantly higher than men. Investigating the level of Emotional Intelligence among police constable trainees Jadhav and Havalappanavar (2009) found that Women Police Constable (WPC) trainees scored higher than men in EI test .The reason may be because women spend more life in home and with family while men tend to be more with peers. So women can better control their emotions. Of course it was found that Women Police Constable (WPC) had higher scores on emotional stability, altruism, empathy, self -motivation and self- awareness components of EI than men. Pant and Prakash (2004) study of gender difference in Emotional Intelligence with 60 Indian participants and using multifactor Emotional Intelligence scale for assessing them revealed that there was no significant gender differences on the various EI sub-tasks of managing other emotions. Although in the sub-tasks 'managing other' the males (M=0.28, SD=0.08) scored higher than females (M=0.26 / S.D=0.08). On the 'managing self ' sub-tasks they were same (M=0.25). Worth mentioning women scored slightly higher than men on total EI. But another study by Saranya and Velayudhan (1008) among 60 university students showed that there wasn't any significant difference in self-awareness, social awareness, self- regulation and social skills among boys and girls. The difference was in the amount of motivation. It was found that girls are more motivated than boys because of having more driving and pulling forces towards their goals. Regarding gender difference and variables of emotional intelligence such as attribution, taking responsibility and scholastic achievement among high school students aged 13-17 years, Mathur, Malhotra and Dube (2005) found that there wasn't any significant difference between girls and boys on their EI variables. The results of a research on participants' perceptions of own and parental psychometric intelligence(IQ) and emotional intelligence(EI) by Petrides, Furnham and Martin(2004) showed that people perceive psychometric intelligence to be primarily male-attributed while emotional intelligence is perceived to be more female-oriented . Of course this result may be altered when participants consider specific EI rather than overall self-estimate. Another study examining culturally relevant variables like universal diverse, orientation and emotional intelligence and gender revealed that there was variance in empathy. Singh Chaudhary and Asthana's (2008) study on gender differences and EI among 400 adolescents revealed that male and female adolescents represent some type of EI like giving, caring, enriching and supporting. Gowdhaman and Murugan(2009) conducted a study on 300 effect on EI scores. teacher trainees and found that gender had a significant In Iran, there are a number of studies which have investigated the correlation among teacher variables. For example, Safaree and Tarlani (2013) have indicated positive correspondences between the teacher's personality traits and their ALLS 5(2):134-141, 2014 137 teaching reflection practices. Extrovert teachers, for instance, were found to draw on the affective elements in their teaching practices. Given above, the purpose of the present paper is to investigate whether there are correlations between the teachers’ EI and their personality types. 3. Methodology 3.1 Participants 85 Iranian EFL language teachers including 36 males (42.35%) and 49 females (47.65%) constituted the participants of the present study. They were all majoring in English language Teaching with varying years of experiences ranging from 5 (14%), 6 (24%), 7, (9%), 8 (23%) to 9 (30%) years in ELT. They were teaching in language institutes in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. They were asked to fill in the two questionnaires (see 3.2) at their convenience. They were allowed to take the questionnaires home. The researcher was in constant email (and in some occasions phone) correspondence with the teacher participants to respond to possible questions. 3.2 Instruments The following instruments were used in the current study: a. The Big Five Inventory Personality Test (John & Srivastava, 1999) b. The Bar-On Emotional Intelligences test (1997) John & Srivastava's (1999) the Big Five Inventory Personality Test is a 44-item questionnaire (on a five-lickert scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”) which measures five different personality types: openness, extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The Cronbach alpha values for each subscale’s internal consistency were as follows in the present study: .78 (Conscientiousness), .73 (Neuroticism), .82 (Extraversion), .72 (Openness), and finally .81, (agreeableness). With regard to EI test, 133 items comprised the questionnaire employing a 5-point scale ranging from ‘very seldom’ or ‘not true of me’ to ‘very often’ or ‘true of me’. (see above for the sub-components of the questionnaire. The Cronbach alpha values for each subscale’s internal consistency were as follows in the present study: .69 (Independence), .74 (Empathy), .85 (Interpersonal Relationship), .71 (Social responsibility), .86 (Impulse Control), .88 (Happiness), .89 (Optimism), .77 (Problem Solving), .77 (Reality Testing), .81 (Flexibility), .80 (Stress Tolerance), .89 (Emotional SelfAwareness), .76 (Assertiveness), .81 (Self-Regard), .82 (Self-Actualization). 3.3 Procedures and Data analysis Credibility and feasibility of the language institutes were factors based on which we chose participants. Then, the participants were chosen and given the questionnaires to fill out. They were all explained. To diagnose the normality of the distribution, descriptive statistics was employed. As shown in Figure 1, the data are normal since the scores gather around the straight line. Thus, we are safe to use a Pearson product-moment correlation to determine whether the teacher’s EI are correlated with their personality types. Figure 1. P-P plot for diagnosing normal distribution of data 4. Results and discussion Table 1 shows correlations between the observed components of the EI and personality types. It was found that among the 15 components of EI, problem solving have the highest positive correlation with personality types (i.e., agreeableness). Also, problem solving was found to have the highest negative significant correlation with personality ALLS 5(2):134-141, 2014 138 types (i.e., neuroticism). To begin with, there is a positive and significant relation between independence and openness. Empathy is positively correlated with both agreeableness and openness at .01. However, mixed results were found with reference to the correlations between interpersonal relationship with agreeableness, neuroticism and openness. We found that interpersonal relationship is negatively correlated with agreeableness. In contrast, it was positively related to neuroticism and openness. Table 1. Correlations among Construct Variables Personality Types Extroversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Neuroticism Openness Independence -.106 .178 .143 -.250 .320* Empathy .448** -.211 .032 .147 .250** Interpersonal Relationship .115 -.385** -.214 .484** .392** Social responsibility .198 -.603** .667** -.635** .310* Impulse Control -.413** .142 .022 -.273** .010 Happiness .051 -.023 -.102 .156 .315* Optimism .464** .314* .257 -.202 .463** Problem Solving .148 .830** .632* -.767** .257 -.434 ** .121 -.116 -.561 ** .177 -.391 ** .560 -.452** .055 .100 .041 EI Reality Testing -.137 -.497 ** -.587 ** Stress Tolerance -.346 ** -.451 ** Emotional Awareness -.546** -.103 -.037 .261* Flexibility -.112 Self- Assertiveness Self-Regard -.493 ** -.532 Self-Actualization -.632** -.015 ** -.636 -.104 ** .651 .065 -.083 ** -.289* -.124 -.114 ** -.427** -.258 ** Correlation is Significant at the 0.01 Level (2-tailed) * Correlation is Significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) Social responsibility which is the ability to demonstrate oneself as a cooperative, contributing and constructive member of one’s social group was negatively correlated with agreeableness. However, we found positive correlations between Social responsibility and conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. Impulse control which is the ability to control one’s emotions and resist an impulse to act was negatively correlated with both extroversion and neuroticism. However, happiness was only correlated with openness in a positive way. One reason is that teachers might found themselves happy and feeling satisfied with life in being open to a strong intellectual curiosity and a preference for novelty and variety. Optimism was found to be positively correlated with extroversion, openness and agreeableness. When one is optimistic about the ongoing statuses of the affairs and has the ability to look at the brighter side of life and maintain a positive attitude in the face of problems is also extrovert (that is they have a higher degree of sociability, assertiveness, and talkativeness) and open to novelty and variety and is ready to be helpful, cooperative, and sympathetic towards others. Problem solving was found to be positively related with agreeableness and conscientiousness but negatively with neuroticism. The reason is that, as research shows people can solve effectively a problem (for example in the case of teacher who has a student difficult to deal with) by having a cooperation, seeking their colleagues’ sympathy and also by being disciplined, organized, and achievement-oriented. However, those who are emotionally instable, controlled in an impulse way and anxious are not capable enough to effectively solve problems. Reality testing was found to be negatively correlated with agreeableness and conscientiousness. We argue that those who have the ability to validate their feelings and thoughts by assessing the correspondence between what is subjectively experienced and what objectively exists do not believe in seeking cooperation and are sympathetic towards others for the reason that they keep constantly validating their feelings and thoughts with world outside rather than being engaged in social cooperation. ALLS 5(2):134-141, 2014 139 Also flexibility was found to be negatively correlated with agreeableness and conscientiousness. The result was in contrast with the general idea that those who have the ability to adjust their feelings and thoughts to change are cooperative and sympathetic towards others and also they are disciplined, organized, and achievement-oriented. Stress tolerance which requires the ability to manage one’s strong emotions, adverse events, and stressful conditions by positively coping with problems was found to be negatively correlated with extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Emotional self-awareness that is the ability to be aware of, recognize and understand one’s emotions was found to be negatively correlated with extroversion and conscientiousness. Assertiveness that is the ability to express one’s feelings, beliefs, and thoughts to defend one’s right was positively correlated with agreeableness. Self-regard , the ability to be aware of, understand, accept and respect oneself, was found to be correlated negatively with extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. However, it was observed to be positively correlated with neuroticism. And finally, self-actualization, the ability to realize and reach one’s potential, was negatively correlated with only extroversion which is achieved through a higher degree of sociability, assertiveness, and talkativeness. 5. Conclusion and pedagogical implications To sum up, the present study yielded a number of linkages among the observed components of the EI and personality types. The implication is that teachers characteristics that they actually bring with themselves to the classroom can potentially be employed to improve students’ final achievements. In other words, if teachers are identified with possessing particular personality types and aligned their preferred emotional intelligences, this, no doubt, will affect their teaching behaviours in the class and this will in turn enhance their students’ success. Also, of importance is the teacher training courses specifically designed for training teachers in particular areas focusing on skills associated with EI. Bar-on (2000) argues that EI develops over time and can be improved through training, programming, and therapy. According to Mafian and Ghanizadeh (2009), these courses should help them manipulate their emotions appropriately, shift undesirable emotional states to more productive ones, understand the link between emotions, thoughts and actions, attract and sustain rewarding interpersonal relationships in the classroom, and be sensitive to students’ emotions. They point out encouraging and assisting teachers to gauge, manipulate, and improve their emotional stands, create greater student satisfaction with teachers and schools. Since, to the best knowledge of the researcher, this is the first study in an Iranian context to examine the correlation between the teachers’ emotional intelligences and their personality types, the results should be generalized with caution. 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Personality and Individual Differences, 38(3), 689-700. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia OUTSELVES Linked: Cultural Alienation in Literary Performance M.Gewaily Minia University, Egypt E-mail: mahmohamedg@yahoo.com.au Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.142 Received: 01/03/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.142 Accepted: 09/04/2014 Abstract This article is a study of the relationship between the self and its others. It aims to reconsider the two major principles of relevance and context to present a human relationship between the art of communicative performance and the art of cognitive competence throughout some mental representations in literary performances. The article here draws attention to the three main criteria of the discourse of a work of art: ‘Make, Intend and Agree’. This set of three key terms is to be compared with the liberal art of writing in a random selection from the oeuvre of four different authors. The main question is: Is there unity in the writings of different writers? There will be reference to the selective works of a group of well-known writers: such as J.Swift, N.Mahfouz, N.Gordimer and L.Hughes. The article attempts to present how these four writers stress that the cultural alienation (betrayal) is generated by the mechanical execution of legislation, and then contrasts it with the contact (moral belonging) established in the intuitive understanding of right and wrong. Keywords: Culture, alienation, translation, belonging and betrayal 1. A Way of Seeing The three fundamental levels of a work of art, in Martin and Jacobus’s book The Humanities through the Arts (5th ed, 1997: p. 19), are given: (A) that the work of art is “made” by an artist; (B) that it is “intended” to be a work of art by its creator; and (C) that pioneer critics and experts “agree” that it is a work of art. After much discussion the authors state that these three criteria are not to be determined, unfortunately. Nevertheless, it is debatable whether this remains true of all the three criteria of the comparative construal that Martin and Jacobus describe. The spectrum of this article is sweeping as it highlights three key terms (make, intend and agree); they sit in parallel lines to the three other terms I discussed elsewhere (translation, liberty, and art) (Gewaily 2013). That is, the article questions the possible making of translation adaptation; the possible intention of liberty as a course of action; and the agreement or disagreement of critics toward the political and verbal art of Césaire. It has been important to rethink the three dimensions of ‘translation, liberty and art’ in a comparative study of Césaire’s play (AT) and Shakespeare’s (TT) to provide an objective rereading of the two texts. This indicates how both the self (mastery) and the other (colonialism) may work, when placed in dialogic interface, and this can present a response to the challenges against the political and literary stance of Césaire then. Still, the three proposed terms are not without meaning. I shall undertake them next as they work as a catalyst to the development of the study. The focus here will be, not indiscriminately, on the roughly neglected ‘content and style’ debate in order to address the change of style as an “attitude.” the following discussion of worlds on paper is an attempt to present a dialogic way of seeing in away to respond to the two first verbal action: the “making” of the work of art and the” intention” beyond it. Before this article (Gewaily 2013) discusses Translation as Liberal Art in four main voices, the article Translation and the Metaphor of Relation *Gewaily, 2014) proposed to approach the relational view of these four voices to the view of the relationship of reflection, selection and deflection and how this triple play leads to the voice of coalition as a foundation to a developed way of looking at a literary work of art. I analyze the research on Bakhtin as a translationalist, concentrating on the role of earlier scholars interested in dialogism. In the second, “VOICES Selected” I will examine the position taken to specify the first two primary aspects of the linguistic and the cultural: the art of answerability as a liberal art along with its connective to the cultural aspect of (post-)colonialism. Although the relationship between dialogism and answerability has been paid considerable attention, relatively little attention has been paid to the relationship between answerability and (post-)colonialism. In this preparatory background, I show how the thought by Bakhtin and by others around him come together. This view of togetherness in view of the self and the other was applied in some detail through a comparison of the two plays (TT and AT), reflecting the other two semiotic and pragmatic aspects of the relationship between (the self and the other), between (the ST and the TT) through a discussion of the basic contents of certain contexts of situations to reflect shades of meaning between (the TT and the AT). In the present article, I turn back to the consideration of voices through a discussion of the self and the other from the two major principles of relevance and context. The goal of discussion is to determine how a parallel mix of the three criteria of the work of art along with the proposed three key terms can help determine how far the position taken by the author’s presentation, regarding “Engaging the Mind’s Eye”, is worth consideration. This presentation requires to divide the study into three sections and a conclusion. Section 2 will shed a brief light on the finding of the term culture in cultural alienation. Section 3 will discuss the “making” of the past literature through a particular focus on Swift’s literary masterpiece. Section 3 will discuss aspects from the works of the three renown writers, Mahfouz, Gordimer and ALLS 5(2):142-148, 2014 143 Hughes, in two complementary subsections. Then, I will devote a final note to the whole position of the article I have taken. 2. TRANSLATION User as Performance The term “culture” refers to the knowledge of the world that the members of a particular society share. It plays a crucial role in one’s understanding of one’s world and one must be familiar with it so that one can be familiar with others’ behaviors and their attitudes, through “a set of semiotic systems, a set of systems of meaning, all of which interrelate” (Halliday, 1989: 4). In the view of Ong (1977: 10), the new studies involving the relation between the Occident (Europe and the Americas) and Central and West Africa “have been grouped around the dialectically related themes of change or alienation on the one hand and growth or integration on the other.” Alienation generally means an estrangement from society, isolation, and powerlessness. There are two types of alienation: when the alien is a bit of rebel, very independently minded, or when he is a victim of corrupt social and political surroundings, one who lets himself be trampled upon without a fight. One of many necessary elements of community, including a culture, is the real sense of cosmic order which is necessary to crown all aspects of life-personal and public with a degree of power. A way of looking at the core of the function of language in the establishment of communication between speech communities is to think of translation, as Baker (1992, p. 4) aptly puts it, as a “discipline which has to concern itself with how meaning is generated within and between various groups of people in various cultural settings.” In other words, a central twentieth-century crisis is cultural alienation -- it widens the gap between tradition and modernity, the old and the new, throwing the individual into an abyss of self-apathy which in turn annuls one’s duty of belonging to the motherland. Not only is modern man alienated from his own community, his family, and his past, but he is thus, inevitably deprived of the chance to know all that is required about himself, his raison d'être, and what he lives for. It is this lack of belonging which accounts for his own sense of being betrayed and consequently leads to an act of betrayal by him. In this particular sense of culture, alienation, translation, and cultural alienation, it has been the aim of this article to see through the ways of presenting the meaning of cultural alienation across different literary texts in the attempt to understand how meaning, as Baker said, is “generated” with different people across different communities. In principle, this article pays attention to how the two types of political order and the moral order are interlocked, along with a representation of the lack of such order in a number of literary texts, as this particular focus on order will show the play of literary performances. Within a discussion of this view of order, a sample of political order will be given first (Jonathan Swift), and through that I will come to a discussion of the moral order which is focal to this article through a discussion of samples of writings by three international and pioneer writers (Jonathan Swift, Nadine Gordimer, Naguib Mahfouz and Langston Hughes). 3. Making the Past: A Question of Perspective As a politician, Swift was only aware that “our duty, by becoming our interest, would take root in our natures, and mix with the very genius of our people.” If anything, to be sure, foreign commentators were still more loudly impressed, Martin Price had arrived at a quite remarkable conclusion in his book To The Palace of Wisdom: “Swift’s interest in politics and morality raises the larger issue of his cast of mind” (1984: 184). In Gulliver’s Travels, Swift represents orders in conflict with one another at its best expression. Gulliver, the protagonist of this novel, is a traveler, who has been, at one time or another, physically, or mentally imprisoned. He has a set of four voyages to Lilliput, to Brobdingnag, to Laputa, and to Houyhnhnms, respectively. The Yahoos are allegorical representations of the ignorant, hungry, and subjugated Catholic peasantry of Ireland. There has been much disagreement over Swift’s use of satirical allegory. One feature of Swift’s use of language is that he can hide behind the façade of the language he chooses to employ and thereby say a great deal than would otherwise be permitted. Swifts tries to detach himself to achieve an objective criticism. This is achieved when he removes the action to a remote location as it is the case in Gulliver’s voyages. For Price (1984: 197) Gulliver’s Travels takes into consideration essential questions about: the nature of politics, like the ideal reconciliation of duty and interest among the Houyhnhnms and the less perfect, but more humanly feasible, reconciliation in Brobdingnag. To these political orders are opposed such societies as that of the Lilliputians, which is elaborately administered disorder, the tyrannies of Laputa and Maldonada, and the savage democracy of theYahoos. Gulliver’s Travels is a tribute to the mixed state in which order is reconciled with freedom and yet made stable. To achieve such an order, one must come to terms with the nature of power, and the most essential feature of power is its tendency to become absolute. What does the practice of law in Lilliput mean? At the very beginning, the narrator in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1974) is careful to “gratify the curious reader” with some general ideas. He discusses some laws and customs in this empire, which are so distinctive. These laws and customs are different from his own “dear country”(1976: 59). The first is about “Informers.” Gulliver mentions that any crimes against the state is a punishable offense with “the utmost Severity”: the accuser is committed to death when the accused is found innocent. The wish of the Emperor to conquer the world is opposed by Gulliver as a symbol of absolute weapon. It is the “spirit of opposition” that governs the world of Lilliput; there is also “a violent faction at home, and the danger of an Invasion by a most potent Enemy from abroad” (1976: 50). Among the events in this state are the appointment of ministers and the declaration of the clemency of the king. The judgment of the court is misleading and obfuscated. This is clear when Gulliver sets fire into the palace of the Empress; the court’s accusation is not biased: “Whereas … it is enacted that whoever shall make water within the precincts of the royal palace shall be liable to the pains and penalties of big treason...” (68). We see Gulliver’s reactions are minimal because of a partial sense of gratitude, but later he reveals to the court of Brobdingnag the truth. This happens when he assimilates that power confers the sense of right. With the rejection of his proposal, Gulliver says: “A ALLS 5(2):142-148, 2014 144 strange effect of narrow principles and short views! That a prince … should from a nice, unnecessary scruple, whereas in Europe we can have no conception, lit slip an opportunity put into his hands, that would have made him absolute master of the lives, the liberties, and the fortunes of his people” (71). In “A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms,” Swift presents the fact that there is no law in this country because the people living there need no law at all. This voyage represents the complexity of European civilization traced in the savage behavior of Yahoos. Houyhnhnms perform the necessary actions of a reasonable being. They believe that “reason alone is sufficient to govern a rational creature”; lies and worse vices have no place in their behavior. What Swifts admires and what he satirizes, have been the source of controversy in many of his scholarships. Many critics envisioned that Swift develops a complex satire of radical Protestantism. At the beginning of his sojourn in Houyhnhnmland, Gulliver acknowledges a connection between Yahoo and humans, but such acknowledgement does not exceed identification: “My horror and astonishment are not to be described, when I observed, in this abominable animal, a perfect human figure,” he recalls, but then confides that “I now apprehended, that I must absolutely starve, if I did not get to some of my own species” (199). He takes pains “to distinguish” himself as much as possible, “from the cursed Race of Yahoos” by concealing himself with clothing(204). Even after the embarrassing incident in which he is forced to disrobe before his Houyhnhnm Master, Gulliver resists this identification : “I owned my resemblance in every part, but could not account for their degenerate and brutal nature (206). He speculated a certain connection but was still not able to see it with conviction. Once convinced of his own Yahooness, Gulliver “turned away my face in horror and destruction of myself; and could better endure the sight of a common Yahoo, than of my own person” (243). Here, he becomes certain of the power of this conviction. Also significant for Gulliver to find in the Houyhnhnm Master a teacher “who daily convinced me of a thousand faults in my self, whereof I had not the least perception before” (224). But Swift does not consider forcing a conviction of sin and repentance as the main goal of preaching. In “A letter to a Young Gentleman Lately Entered into Holy Orders,” Swift cautions against exploiting emotions: “I do not see how this Talent of moving the Passions, can be of any great use towards directing Christian men in the Conduct of their Lives” (69). He proposes instead a simple method: “first to tell the People what is their duty, and then to convince them that it is so” (70). While he encourages self-analysis because it seeks very much “to mortify and humble a Man into a modest and low Opinion of himself” (359), he also believes and approves that such self-analysis “maketh Men less severe upon other People’s Faults” (361). Houyhnhnms, Price (1984: 203) stresses, “represent the order of mind at its purest, free of its rationalistic systembuilding or of pride in intellectual constructions. Conceived in this way, it contains much that is given to humans only in the order of charity-amoral sureness and serenity, a spontaneous goodness such as is bred in men by a “daily vision of God”. From three different communities, the following two sections will discuss samples of writings of Gordimer, Hughes and Mahfouz. 4. The Intended Present: Relevance & Context 4.1 The Belonging-Betrayal Question: Relevance In much the same vein, how to reconcile the right with the good is central to the overlapping meanings of order. Moral order reflects ethics with obligations like having a choice, duty…etc. The sense of having a duty is fixed in the thought of a moralist -- one should be aware of the right use of making moral conception very powerful. This article aims to discuss how the mind’s we can be effective through the literary writings of three pioneer writers. In this sense, the article posits here in this section the belonging-betrayal question as the subject of a comparative study of three different cultures through the creative genre of short fiction of three pioneer writers: Nadine Gordimer (1923-), Langston Hughes (1902-1967), and Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006). Not only is it a study of race relations to the conflicting attitudes of different races living together, but it seems fruitful to feed it with the same race’s conflicting attitudes of living as well. South African Apartheid and the US racialism share a common denominator: the former demonstrates a dehumanized system of segregating blacks from whites in law, while the latter implies a fierce dislike for the black majority through political and social actions based on assumptions of white superiority. World War I had broken the ties between the individual and his society, lowering his standard of living. The Egyptian society presents varieties of conflict like the ambitions of people for the privilege of his official occupations, the bureaucrats’ cares, the youth’s suffering after 1067 war which generated feelings of bitterness and frustration, and the influence and the implication of economic revival for all social classes. The vision of belonging and betrayal illustrates aspects of the relationship between individual and society in view of the social commitment to a cause and the moral commitment to humanity. In essentials, this study illuminates the struggle between our present condition and what ought to be, with an attitude towards past tradition. It attempts to see how those above mentioned writers engage in a complete revolutionary action-- the dual self-conscious reaction -- in order to weed society out of its epidemic corruption and to help combat modern man’s terrible sense of crisis, as reflected in the cultural identity dilemma by suggesting ways out of it. To defend a cause sincerely is to pose ideas baldly, see things in their reality and have a deeper insight than any of one’s contemporaries. One of these definitions is E.B. White’s view of ‘freedom” in which he never detaches real belonging from knowing that he will be “the first to have his lopped off-even before the political dandies” (Shaw, 1955: 267). The positive/negative non-belonging means a complete revolutionary descent! To recut your cloth to follow the fashion, not to be in symbiosis with the dual sense of commitment, is never positive belonging but negative-non-belonging. This finds its echo in the interdependence of the self-personal and national-upon each other. It is the lack of selfconsciousness that leads to the irresistible crisis of cultural identity. “Commitment,” in a succinct statement of Martin Aims, the English novelist, “flows as hugely as the sea. What is important is the emergence of art”. The greater the conscious appeal to the crisis, the better is the reality of belonging. ALLS 5(2):142-148, 2014 145 Art is indispensable to the realization of life in which the two types of realism-psychological and social-mirror the works of Gordimer, Hughes and Mahfouz. The apprehension of reality in life depends on the writer’s ‘limited’ scope of culture, vehicle of manipulation, and the response to human experience of which all cultures have one denominator like the brotherhood of man, for example. There is fidelity to both fact and truth. Henry James sees the former as fidelity to reality by means of verisimilitude and the latter as not merely functioning like fact but makes necessary the universal appeal. Robert Bone rephrases the same criterion in two terms: “immediacy” and “distance” (1958: 248-50). Both are essential to the aesthetic success of a work of art. With no propaganda but with growing commitment to their black fervor, the white South African Gordimer and the black Harlem Renaissance Hughes have an anti-attitude, in turn, toward apartheid and racism during their lifetime career. Not only is their work against injustice, oppression and the lack of human rights, but also they yearn for the American dream of equality for all: Gordimer supports the NGOs’ struggle to free themselves and Hughes, who is “cultural ambassador,” says Richard Wright, for the case of the blacks”, elevates the real sense of his people’s dignity in wishing for them not to forever forget “their racial background”. While the world-wide applause of Mahfouz epitomizes a prestigious talent steeped in mature thought. At the centre of his human message stands the individual: the human nature and the self-crisis of modern man, and the social and political problems. Believing that one’s nationality is the inevitable way to internationality, he gets himself involved in the local problems so as to accurately identify what is evil to uproot and what is good to support and develop. Applying this view to only one representative novel as a model, this is intended to trace the writer’s initial thought, usually initiated first in the novel form, then followed up the short stories in order to judge properly the question of belonging and betrayal in the long and short fiction. There are many novels which are worth discussion. Those novels are: Gordimer’s July’s People (1981); Hughes’ Not Without Laughter (1930); and Mahfouz’s Respected Sir (1975). July’s People focuses on the forthcoming period in which while superiority finishes before the inevitable coming of the black state. The reversal of roles in inter-depending a white family on a black servant reflects the deeply-rooted bitter feelings of prejudice and racial superiority. Not Without Laughter depicts the conflict between the upper class and the lower class Negro life. The upper class adapts itself to the white ideals, and dislikes the traditional blues and spirituals of the Negro culture; the lower class is proud of being Negro and respects greatly its music. Naguib Mahfouz’s Respected Sir pursues the career of the bureaucrat Othman Bayyumi, who lives in a world within which hypocritical manners of lip service precede man’s effective qualifications in determining high chances of appointment. He is so ambitious that he longs for the death of an employee, superior to him in rank, but he atones to God instantly. The narrator states the ceaseless belief of Bayyumi that “the holy purpose of man in life is the way to glory or the realization of divinity on earth” (1975: 90). But his lifetime ambition never comes true till on his death bed. 4.2 Mental Representations in Literary Performances: Context This section aims to present some of the ways the writings of three authors across geographical countries are contextually linked. This will be discussed in three main subsections: Authority and the Individual; Familial Bonds; and In Quest of Identity as Moral Belonging. First. This section will discuss the clash between the individual voice vis-a-vis the society in the form of official authorities. There is an exposition of the superior position of the ruler and the passive submission of the ruled with the attempts of few or more individuals to change the malfunctions in society. There are opposite roles committed by individuals and the result is either the compliance of some characters known as acts of adaptation or the defiance of those who better prefer to die as lions than to live as rats, as acts of revolution. There are different types of settings like religious, psychological, ...etc. An individual who is in conflict with the rule-governed society adapts certain religious or political views. The portrayal of religious characters should judge either their sincere loyalty to a real religion or just hypocrites. Gordimer’s stories include types of characters in a state of avoidance, confirmation or an attempt to change. Not for Publications and Other Stories and Livingston’s Companions depict ordinary people defying Apartheid. Something Out There reflects an extreme ability to posit the connection between the personal and the political in a divided society so full of tensions and possible disintegration. The story ‘Some Monday for Sure’ within Not for Publications narrates the holding of a lorry carrying explosives materials for the mines in order to be used for sedition. The certainty and danger of revolution is inevitably emphasized to reveal aspects of black terrorism in future: some perfectly ordinary day, for sure, black South Africans will free themselves and rule themselves.” Critics see Hughes as no racist in its horrible current sense, though he write exclusively of the condition of being a Negro in America. It is rare to find a literary figure like Fesse B. Simple, in the Simple series, who is as reputable as its creator, Hughes. He is the writer’s tongue to comment on the Harlem: its women, war, current events, and particularly on race. He admits that the race problem is a serious business. From Simple’s Uncle Sam, Simple enumerates the many problems facing him: “I was born young, black, voteless, poor, and hungry in a state where white folks did not even put Negroes on the census.” In addition, he never hesitates to mirror the black shortcomings with an honest eye in order to satirically unmask the false, shallow hypocritical nature of black and white alike. The Ways of White Folk is retrospective of the 1920s of the Harlem’s aspects. The stories like ‘Slave on the Block’, and ‘Poor, Little Black Fellow’ specifically present the theme of white patronage. In ‘Slave’ for example, the betrayal of whites through their false motto of “philanthropic” paternalism is symbolized by Mrs. Carraway, who tells Luther, her servant:”I never liked familiar Negroes”, and he immediately answers “Huh! That is too bad! I never liked poor white folks.” Mahfouz textures the individual-society conflict in countless member of stories. ‘Fear’, in A House of Bad Honor, turns around the struggle between bullying and the courage of a policeman who wins the battle and protects common people ALLS 5(2):142-148, 2014 146 from the evils of bullying. The story whose title is to give to the Sector Organization states against the government for fulfilling their ends. Crimes like killing, suicide, physical violence, bullying and others are taken into consideration. The hypocritical nature of ElAlrami’s followers in a ‘A Tale Without Beginning or End’ is emphasised in addition to the presentation of secular ambitious men who, in other stories, support the authorities. Second. This section will discuss the way familial bonds are bound together. The inescapable family is the business of this section to see if a character has a sense of home (attachment) or leaves it (detachment). It has seemed important to compare stories in which the central issue originates in the fact that every individual is obliged to belong to a family of one shape or another. Others establish time limits in the relationship between small children and their parents, along with the attempt of adult characters to make liberation because of their mature thinking. The problems of marriage in the husband-wife relationship will be considered in an attempt to see the suitable foundations for the goodness of the family. A smaller world of society like family motivates us to see how persistent and inevitable social and familial links are. Gordimer has many stories which belong to the family structure with reference to the relation of white or black toward their own skin-color as a large family. This is evident in ‘Six feet of the country’, primarily concerned with the white South African women towards members of their own sex. A story like ‘Tenants of the Last Tree house’ is in touch with the world of adolescence and the children-parents failure of communication. And ‘Jump’, a collection of 16 stories, three of which ‘The Ultimate Safari’. ‘Home’, and ‘Journey” succeeded fully because of the writer’s focus on the personal, the ordeal of human being, caught in a terrible place and at a terrible time. Of the three, ‘Home’ is a story of mixed marriage between a Swedish scientist and the daughter of a South African family whose political active role is clear. As a result, the mother and brother of the daughter are detained by the police. It ends with the spouse's committed loyalty to her own family in visiting them. The spouse who is unaware of her real commitment to the original blood-ties and because of his complete inability to positively identify himself, then asks herself if she was fallen in love with another person but finally realizes the truth: “Perhaps there was no lover? He saw it was true that she had left him, but it was for them, that how, the dark family of which he was not a member, her country to which he did not belong (my italics)”. Hughes has already handled themes like isolation, mulatto, and the byways of prejudice for the several forms of racism in education, housing, employment, for example, He is primarily interested in the mulatto theme because of being really estranged after 1922 from his mulatto father. The inability of black women to oppose the raping of whites led to the cultural and psychological predicament suffered by the mulatto who is still unacknowledged, tells his white father, in a poem ‘Mulato’ tragically: “I am your son, white man”. This became the basis of three stories: Father and Son’, ‘Passing’ within his first collection Ways of White Falks and ‘American Morning’ within the collection Laughing to Keep from Crying which portrays black people themselves. This leads to a sense of alienation and psychological perturbation on the psyche of the son. Mahfouz records major aspects within Egyptian family like the appearance of suspicion between husband and wife in ‘the Arena of Lasses’, given in A Tale Without Beginning or End, which reveals the husband’s jealousy leading, therefore, to divorce. The matrimonial infidelity is explicitly discussed in ‘Robabikia’ through the men-women dialogue, who intend to marry but are frank first with each other as to what they like and dislike in common: He: Ugliness and deviation She: Deviation? --He: Recklessness. She: Is this a disease? He: Maybe. She: There is no woman of a forever betrayal. (A Tale [Arabic version], 133-34) Also, the sense of alienation is caused by the solitude of the lover as in ‘Visitation’ in The Tavern. And ‘the Echo’ reveals the children’s ingratitude toward the mother/ While the ideal father-son relationship is given in ‘the Paradise of Children’ which emphasizes the would-be father’s patience in answering the amazing mind of his daughter’s questions, while the story ‘the World of Allah” gives a real portrayal of how significant a salary to the husband as a responsible man. Third. This section is in quest of identity as moral belonging. The ought-to-be necessity of what the modern man is seeking -but-never-losing the hope-in finding one’s identity. Prominent as a subject prone to many meanings, identity is individually seen by E.H. Erikson as a means for knowing and identifying the self, and socially seen by others for the possibility of finding a meaning for the person in his/her relations to society. To belong or not is, for sure, determined by the action and reaction followed as a result. Since a moral action depends on the infinite number of choices available to an individual through already-done behaviors and the obligations he ought to do, there is an inevitable relation between ethics and the individual’s identity of belonging. Within a painful real world full of conflicts not only between individual and society, but also between members of the one family or another (sec above), the value of this section is, therefore, to focus on the variant types of moral belonging in the quest for their misdirected souls, for the moral self that stimulates them toward a conscious sensitive development of belonging in actually-performed action as an end per se. The philosophical vision finds a room in this section, too. This leads to variant stories in their hope for belonging and ALLS 5(2):142-148, 2014 147 the realization of identity either through love, hope, dream, having virtues like patience ...etc as individual acts in quest of truth or through sharing experience publicly for the common good, meaning collective contact with each other. The best of the three writers’ short stories will be selected to express the ethos of this section. Gordimer seems to penetrate deeply into an understanding of her both colored and white characters. Her work is pregnant with the themes of understanding, forgiveness, and adjustment. Like Forester’s A Passage to India, she records the abortive attempts of both middle-class whites and more blacks to respect the values of each other. ‘Ah, woe is Me; is a tender story within The Soft Voice of the Serpent. It reveals the dilemma of a young black girl who, because of the sickness of her mother and of her father’s loss of job, weeps in front of a white woman who cannot do anything for her but just giving her hand kerchief. The story ‘Which Negro Era WouldThat Be?’, within Selected Stories, is so successful in showing the insoluble problem of human inability to communicate. Friday’s Footprint admits the moral action of Gordimer in the liberal stand against apartheid. ‘The Smell of Death and Flowers” in Six Feet of the Country presents a liberal while girl’s hesitation to have a final commitment to the native cause. Two of the stories in Something Out There , rather, shed light on two women[one black and the other white-who give unconsciously shelter to a man on the run from the police. The black woman, Nanike, hates the power system, and the other Pat, who is a member in liberal parties, but never commits herself to acts of resistance for danger and suffering. Gordimer encircles her in the ordeal of either staying as she is or rather a different person. Also, the Jump collection is important to consider for including stories like ‘Crimes of Conscience’ which unmask the inhumanity of life in South Africa. Hughes is proud of the Negro folk culture to defy the white folk culture and the implicit decisive vision of a moral encounter that will accelerate aspects of brotherhood relations in America. All what he needs is seeing some writers, he states, of both races to write about “our problems with black tongue in white cheek, or vice versa”. He admits that the Simple figure helps him to fulfill. In reading the dialogue, a reader finds himself giving “lip service”, a critic says, to the liberal side of the discussion but the heart shares Simple’s more realistic evaluation of a given situation. For example, Simple, who blames every bad thing happened to him on race, says: “I have been caught in some kind of riffle since I been black.” When the writer object in a way to illuminate the race question-and what do I see? Me (italics added).” This means that though his blackness is the problem, he is preoccupied with discovery of what it really means to be black. This is successfully applied to his outstanding achievement ‘The Blues I’m playing’ within The Ways of White Falks. He emphasizes the almost degradation of the pretended superiority of while culture acted by Dora Ellsworth, the protagonist by presenting her absurd judgments. A representative of the black culture is the pianist, black protege, Oceola Jones who elevates her cultural identity throughout her music by standing bravely against the cultural alienation of her patroness, who says: I[Ellsworth] must get her out of Harlem at once. I believe it’s worse than Chinatown.” But Oceola shows an eager belonging to live among and within her Harlem people. Mahfouz poses varieties of subjects essential to the body of this section like the cause of freedom in ‘Rave Whisper’/ The value of love, especially brotherly love, is discussed to bring up a world devoid of hatred but full of friendship, virtues, duty, responsibility, alternatives, the past’s respect, and others. Most of these concepts are primarily discussed in the collection The Satan’s Preaching. A story like ‘Ayoub’ signifies the value of work per se. Other topics like the double-sized blessing of money, and the truth of death are blended in stories to ponder. The story ‘love and Mask’ is liable to be tackled mainly here because of its essential significance of having religious beliefs in approaching the reality of human existence. It narrates the son’s disobedience of the father, Dawood ElNadorgi’s policy of bringing up. The protagonist represents the misdirected soul of those lost people who are in quest of the right direction, while the narrator in the story ‘Sultan’ provides us with a pivotal wisdom to the dual self-consciousness of the thesis: “Life does not lie in the beating of heart or the moving of blood but in the consciousness of people as a meaning.” 5. AGREE: a final note This previous discussion of four sections has developed a discussion of memory in context and its relationship to culture, history and self. Based on the discussion of two main questions, a question in perspective and the belongingbetrayal question, the fact is that any transfer from the discussion of one question of the language (and culture) in the past to another discussion of another question of the issue of culture (and language) in the present is a transfer of these three parameters (Make, Intend and Agree). This triple structural parameter of the work of art is considered the best way for my presentation of a study of the relationship between language and culture. The agreed principles influencing the actual translation transfer from one the language and culture in the past into the culture and language in the present shows the possible relevance of factors that determine each. That is, the linguistic and semiotic aspects can be well presented in view of the British linguist Halliday’s Language as a Social Semiotic and the cultural and pragmatic will be finally discussed in the philosophical view of Bakhtin’s the dialogic principle. At the outset, the article refers to the reliance of the discussion on the two pivotal elements of relevance and context as given in some detail in section 4 can be attempted to investigate the individual’s commitment to the whole society, then to the family, the smaller unit where it presents the moral commitment of the misdirected souls in quest of their identity. The position taken here has been to deploy the dialogic ideas of the language philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin not only to emphasize the analytical tools required to describe the dialogism of the past and the present as a liberal art of translation but also to map a new space for the art of answerability to the appropriation of (post-)colonialism, from the spectrum of outspoken engagement of the political conception going down to the conception of Engaging the Mind’s Eye as a force for social change and liberation. Danow (1991: 23) stresses this point by contending the following: Essentially the same idea finds its concise formulation in the writings of the American logician and semiotician, Charles Sanders Pierce, who claims that ‘thinking always proceeds in the form of a dialogue - a dialoge between different phases of the ego…’ (1933: 4.60. Even more succinctly, Pierce observes: ‘All thinking is dialogic in form’ (1935: 6.338), a premise with which Bakhtin would surely agree. A ALLS 5(2):142-148, 2014 148 special emphasis emerges, however, when Bakhtin claims that dialogic relations ‘lie in the realm of discourse for discourse is by its very nature dialogic’ (PDP, 183). Accordingly, dialogue is perceived as immanent to language as the basis of all human communication. References Bakhtin, Michael. (1994). Discourse in Life ad Discourse in Art. In Elbow.Mahwah, NJ (Ed), Landmark Essays on Voice and Writing (pp. 3-10), Hermagoras Press. Danow, K. D. (1991). The Thought of Mikhail Bakhtin. Palgrave. Gewaily, M. (2014). Translation and the Metaphor of Relation: Confluences of 'Answerability in IJCLTS, 2 (1), 22- 29. Gewaily. M. (2013) Translation as Liberal Art: Four Voices in IJCLTS, 1 (3), 6-12. Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, Ruqaiya (1985). Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mahfouz, Naguib. (1975) ‫ اﻟﻤﺤﺘﺮم ﺣﻀﺮة‬Hadrat al-Muhtaram. Respected Sir (Trans. & Introd. by Rasheed El- Enany. The American University in Cairo Press, 1966. Munford, Clarence & Identical, J. (1996). Race and Reparations: A Black Perspective for the 21th Century. Trento: Africa World Press. Ong, Walter J., S.J. (1977). Interfaces of the Word. In Walter Ong (Author), Studies in the Evolution of Consciousness and Culture. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Price, Martin. (1984).To The Palace of Wisdom: Studies in Order and Energy from Dryden to Blake. New York: Garland Press. Shaw, Charles B. (1955). American Essays. New York: Mentor Book. Swift, Jonathan. (1974). Gulliver’s Travels. PA: The Franklin Library. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Teaching Semantic Prosody of English Verbs through the DDL Approach and its Effect on Learners' Vocabulary Choice Appropriateness in a Persian EFL Context Niloofar Mansoory English Department of Payame-Noor University of Rasht, Guilan, Iran E-mail: nmansoory@gmail.com Mohsen Jafarpour (corresponding author) Payame-Noor University of Rasht, Guilan, Iran E-mail: mohsenjafarpour_64@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.149 Received: 05/03/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.149 Accepted: 11/04/2014 Abstract This study examined teaching SP of English verbs through the data-driven learning (DDL) approach and its effect on learners' vocabulary choice appropriateness in the Persian English foreign language (EFL) context. In the present study, two male intact classes were selected. One of these two classes was randomly selected as a treatment group and another one as a control group. The treatment group was provided with SP instruction through the DDL approach. The control group was exposed to SP as well, but traditionally and not through a DDL approach. The corpora used in the DDL approach were the Brown corpus and British National Corpus (BNC). Pretests and posttests of vocabulary choice appropriateness were administered and a repeated-measures ANOVA was used to compare means of test scores within and between subjects. The results indicated that SP instruction through DDL was significantly an effective approach to improve EFL learners' vocabulary choice appropriateness. Keywords: Semantic prosody, Data-driven learning, Vocabulary instruction, Vocabulary choice appropriateness 1. Introduction Nowadays, it is observed that vocabulary teaching and learning has significant effect on communication and acquisition (Richards & Renandya, 2002). On the other hand, L2 learners relying on just dictionaries and thesauri make a number of semantic errors as they provide denotational meaning of a lexical item and do not present the subtle implications embedded in contexts (Lee & Liu, 2009). In vocabulary instruction, in many cases, traditional teaching methods do not bring about native-like competence of English vocabulary so complements are necessary. Among these complements is teaching SP of vocabulary particularly of near synonyms through the DDL approach. The term SP has been studied for at least two decades and a part of corpus-based research has centered on it. Partington (2004) argues that there are two forms of evaluative meaning: One form of evaluative meaning is connotative meaning which is obvious and in-build, for example items such as excessive and flabby have negative connotative meaning which are clear to language users. Another form of evaluative meaning is SP which is spread over a unit of language and goes well beyond the single word and is much less evident to language users. According to Bednarek (2008), SP "refers to POS/NEG [positive/negative] connotation as well as more complex attitudinal connotations, affecting both single words and larger units of meaning such as phrases" (p.132). It is also defined as "word forms which have a tendency to be (or in some cases which are always) followed by words with certain connotations, basically positive or negative" (Zethsen, 2006, p.279). In short, it is a kind of (positive, negative, or neutral) connotative meaning which a word takes due to its consistent collocations. As a case in point, the verb CAUSE is almost always associated with words such as difficulty, trouble, problem, and damage which are unpleasant and negative (Stubbs, 1995; cited in Xiao & McEnery, 2006). A random selection of instances of the verb CAUSE in the BNC are the following: 1. terial and methods of warfare of a nature to CAUSE superfluous injury or unnecessary su 2. which are intended, or may be expected, to CAUSE widespread, … severe damage to th 3. tment of neutral shipping, or prisoners, can CAUSE serious problems. The laws of war m 4. ble and bruising or damaging the plant may CAUSE an eruption of all green foliage. Divi 5. re unsatisfactory on a blind as they too will CAUSE an unattractive bulge on the roller. w ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 150 6. ve the disadvantage of flexibility which can CAUSE problems during installation. Fibregl 7. lters. Caddis flies The larvae of caddis flies CAUSE extensive damage to the flowers, leav 8. live and whether your exhibition is likely to CAUSE traffic congestion and aggravation to 9. t perpetuate myths, reinforce stereotypes or CAUSE offence to particular groups or minorit 10. ger on the scene can create confusion and CAUSE distress. Changes of staff during the sl The words indicating what entity is 'caused' in each line are highlighted in bold. In most cases this entity is one which would normally be considered to be undesirable. On the other hand, the verb BRING ABOUT, which is in the same synonym-set with the verb CAUSE and therefore has the same denotational meaning as it, is usually followed by positive entities such as improvement and significant which are desirable (Xiao & McEnery, 2006). Here is a random selection of instances of the verb BRING ABOUT in the same corpus: 1. n, not only did the incoming millions BRING ABOUT innovations in agricultural method 2. equest the Sri Lankan government to BRING ABOUT an annulment of the amendment. 3. ct industry and commerce, and hence BRING ABOUT the creation of jobs. However, in o 4. dging that it is not law alone that can BRING ABOUT the changes we desire, but it is that 5. mpact: properly implemented it could BRING ABOUT improvements in the criminal justi 6. practise them repeatedly to be able to BRING ABOUT fairly rapid relaxation when tense 7. cts will be drawn together in order to BRING ABOUT better understanding of this care. 8. law, the Task Force has stepped in to BRING ABOUT correction. What of the future and 9. nises that a major effort is required to BRING ABOUT a fundamental change of attitude 10. s doing it.) 5. How do we attempt to BRING ABOUT a generic capacity for change am C. Zhang (2010) states that "in a semantic prosody, there is nothing explicitly positive or negative for the node word. It is its characteristic collocates that have a similar particular semantic association" (p.192). Therefore, SP is not visible from the individual word itself, but it must be observed by the word's set of participants (Philip, 2010). As choosing inappropriate words as a result of lack of knowledge of SP is very common among EFL learners of English (Xiao & McEnery 2006; W. Zhang, 2009 among others), researchers have admitted the importance of SP for English second language (ESL)/EFL vocabulary instruction (W. Zhang, 2009). Furthermore, intuition is not effective enough to make learners aware of SP of lexical items (Louw, 2000; Stewart, 2010; Louw & Chateau, 2010; C. Zhang, 2010). Although SP "does not belong to speakers' conscious knowledge of a language" (W. Zhang, 2009, p.3), native speakers are still able to understand the effects of it, of course, without ability to explain these effects (Louw & Chateau, 2010). Broadly speaking, "native speaker intuition certainly can detect the usage of a word at odds with its semantic prosody" (Xiao & McEnery, 2006, p.126) and SPs "are part of all [native] readers' prior knowledge" (Louw, 2000, p.3). In fact, concerning SP, the problem is with EFL learners who represent inappropriate vocabulary choice. "Learners' L2 intuition … is inevitably less reliable than their L1 intuition" (Xiao and McEnery, 2006, p.126). Ahmadian, Yazdani, and Darabi (2011) showed that the knowledge of SP is insufficient in most Persian EFL learners in both receptive and productive mode and this lack of knowledge is obvious in all proficiency groups. In traditional instruction of vocabulary especially verbs, teachers usually teach vocabulary by giving synonyms of them, among other things, without identifying their differences; and as Watter (1992) states in doing so, "important information about words is often missed, and it is easy to see how learners can be led to use words inappropriately" (p.129). Therefore, knowledge about the differences among near-synonyms is necessary to convey slight differences of meaning and to avoid undesirable implications (Inkpen & Hirst, 2002). Among these distinguishing features is SP, that is, "near synonyms usually differ in their collocational behavior and semantic prosodies" (Xiao and McEnery, 2006, p.126). Poor synonym-choosing conveys undesired connotations, implications, and attitudes (Inkpen & Hirst, 2006; Inkpen, 2007). Nevertheless, this important information is not included in both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, and it is "largely uncaptured by dictionary definitions" (Guo et al., 2011, p.417). Similarly, Ahmadian et al. (2011) argue that one of the possible reasons for students' poor performance in SP test is that most of monolingual dictionaries used by learners "have no or poor information" on SP (p.294). Positive SPs may be presented in bilingual dictionaries through translation equivalent, but this is not the case about negative semantic prosodies (Wang, 2004; cited in W. Zhang, 2009). What does matter here is how to present SP in an effective way. Most writers recognized that SP can be recovered only by corpus analysis (Louw, 2000; Lee & Liu 2009; Louw & Chateau, 2010; C. Zhang, 2010). Corpus analysis can give EFL learners the opportunity to even surpass the native speakers' intuition in judgment on SP (Louw and Chateau, 2010). As non-native speakers, "only through interpreting large numbers of instances of a word or phrase can we observe semantic prosody" (W. Zhang, 2009, p.3). In other words, SP "can only be reliably observed in a large number of keyword-in-centre (KWIC) concordances" (Xiao & McEnery, 2006, p.126). ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 151 Additionally, working out words from the context to observe the collocations which accompany a specific word appears to be a revolutionary way to learn semantic behavior particularly SP of vocabulary, and many research problems including semantic issues can be settled by language data access possibility and statistical summarization functions of concordancing tools (Lee and Liu, 2009). It is, in fact, "in DDL [that] sorted concordances of words and phrases are presented to students, who [can] induce meanings and identify form-function relationships and patterns of semantic prosody" (Reinhardt, 2010, p.244). It "rests on a methodology which can uncover facts about language hitherto unexplored" (Flowerdew, 2009, p.395). Surprisingly, a little research has been done about SP; and there are not any reports of teaching prosodic behavior of lexical items particularly verbs and their near-synonyms through the DDL approach, and its effectiveness on young students' vocabulary choice appropriateness in an EFL context. "Practical and empirical research, therefore, will be needed with respect to how semantic prosody may be effectively integrated into ESL/EFL vocabulary teaching and learning" (W. Zhang, 2009, p.10). Therefore, the DDL approach for learning or teaching of lexis in context should be proposed to present SP features of vocabulary (C. Zhang, 2010). Consequently, the present study seeks to fill the gap and supplement the existing studies of SP literature by reporting on the following research hypothesis: 1- Teaching SP of English verbs through the DDL approach has a significant effect on learners' vocabulary choice appropriateness in an EFL context. 1.1 Semantic Prosody Semantic prosody, also called semantic harmony (Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, 1996), is a relatively new concept in linguistic field. The concept first emerged in the writing of Sinclair (1991) who claimed that "many uses of words and phrases show a tendency to occur in a certain semantic environment" (p.112). However, the term SP was first discussed in details by Louw (1993) (Ahmadian et al., 2011). Semantic prosody "describes the consistent aura of meaning that is created through the general tendencies of the set of collocates associated with the central node word" (Louw & Chateau, 2010, p.755). Also worth mentioning is that the main function of SP is to express speakers' or writers' attitude or evaluation. When SP condition is violated some effects for example irony, insincerity, or humor can be resulted in the hearer (Louw, 2000). However, as Bednarek (2008) claims that is the case "only if lexical items exhibit a very strong preference" (p.127). A phrase or a clause may also have a SP; for instance the phrase PAR FOR THE COURSE (Channell, 2000; cited in W. Zhang, 2009) has a negative SP. SP can also be associated with grammatical principle, for example as Louw (1993) observed BUILD UP has a positive SP when it is used transitively and it has a negative SP when it is used intransitively (W. Zhang, 2009). Finally, it is worth noting that not all lexical items have a SP; "semantic prosodies seem to be inconstant friends" (Philip, 2010, p.1). Table 1. Examples of SPs (Xiao & McEnery, 2006) Author Negative prosody Positive prosody BREAK out Sinclair (1991) HAPPEN SET in [be] bent on Louw (1993, 2000) [be] build up of [intransitive] END up verbing BUILD up a [transitive] GET oneself verbed ACCOST Stubbs (1995, 1996) CAUSE Partington (1998) COMMIT PROVIDE PEDDLE Hunston (2002) SIT through Schmitt and Carter (2004) bordering on Table 1- adapted from Xiao and McEnery (2006) - is given as a brief summary of verbs whose conditions (positive, negative and neutral) had already been determined by different researchers. Semantic prosody instruction has considerable benefits for EFL learners. Some of them are mentioned here: 1- Awareness of semantic prosody is helpful in both interpreting a text producer's hidden attitudes and understanding how to use lexical items appropriately (W. Zhang, 2009). 2- By being aware of SP of lexical items, learners can use them to communicate effectively (Xiao & McEnery, 2006). 3- "The knowledge of SP can also provide insight into the teaching of vocabulary, especially near synonyms" (C. Zhang, 2010, p. 193). ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 152 4- From the traditional view, near synonyms can be differentiated through experience and intuition, but SP provides a new way to distinguish them (Fan, 2010). 5- Being unaware of knowledge of SP causes learners to make pragmatic errors (Siepmann, 2005; cited in W. Zhang, 2009). Actually, the necessity of being aware of SP of lexical items is inevitable for EFL learners as a big number of inappropriate vocabulary choice by learners (and sometimes their teachers) may stem from ignorance of this knowledge. Lack of the knowledge of SP may also reveal non-native language competence. Therefore, this knowledge "should be transferred to second language learners" (C. Zhang, 2010, p.193) and to do this, SP "should be integrated into ESL/EFL vocabulary teaching to help develop language learners' communicative competence" (W. Zhang, 2009, p. 9). 1.2 Data-Driven Learning Over the last decades corpora evidence has been used both in linguistic research and teaching and learning of language; and language teaching benefits "from the resources, methods, and insights provided by CL [corpus linguistics]" (Roemer, n.d., p.112). On the other hand, along with technology advancement, using new tools for language learning is inevitable. Among these technologies and tools are computers and concordancers respectively. On a computer, a concordancing program is used to investigate different kinds of corpora (i.e. large body of texts). Computer tools can assist the applying of a language learning methodology which is oriented toward authenticity in contexts and contents (Rüschoff, n.d.). The pedagogical approach that studies corpora by software programs named concordancer, usually on computers, in order to identify regular patterns, is called DDL. Johns (1991) by arguing that the innovative aspect in DDL is that "''research [to the large quantities of text] is too serious to be left to the researchers": that the language-learner is also, essentially, a research worker whose learning needs to be driven by access to linguistic data" (p.2), introduced, first, DDL to describe his approach. Lee (2011) believes that, in the DDL approach, students can work with a concordancer either individually or in groups, and they are not viewed as passive learners. By using a concordancer, students can find how some linguistic features are emphasized. concordancing "flavours learning by discovery" (p.401), and through it, students are able to "develop appropriate learning strategies" (p.401). It makes learning process become more exploratory, motivating, and experiential. Since students are confronted with lots of examples of specific forms, they, themselves, through inductive learning, generalize rules and finally test them. Therefore, they develop their knowledge of English. He also states that "DDL is helpful for students both in preparing for their exams and also for their general English acquisition because they can learn English in context and are interested in doing so" ( p.406). In the DDL approach, language learners do not need to rely on the researcher as providers of corpus-based materials, but they, themselves, get the ability to work with corpora and concordancers and find patterns and behavior of words and phrases in such a way that can gain autonomy. DDL activities also bring about awareness-raising in language learners (Roemer, n.d.). Jafarpour and Koosha (2006) claim that "the main advantage of the DDL is that learners of a language can get access to authentic text from a corpus and interact with a corpus database that provides comprehensive input to the second or foreign language learner" (p.22) [italics added]. It also provides a lot of contexts, and therefore provides opportunity for students to learn through "discovery learning and problem solving" mode (p.23). Regarding concordancing, they suggest that it is possible to use concordancers with any text. As a result, the concordancer "opens language classes to the use and integration of up-to-date and often authentic language even at lower levels" (p.23). Collecting more than 90 studies of DDL (Boulton, 2010b), Boulton (2011) classified them into four groups by their objectives (most studies had more than one focus): a. b. c. d. 54 studies of learners' attitudes: learners are receptive to DDL 44 studies of learners' behavior: learners work successfully with corpora 32 studies of learning outcomes: DDL is more effective than learning through other approaches 24 studies of using corpora as a reference resource: referring to corpora helps learners in their writing, errorcorrection, translation for specific purposes Regarding DDL, we have come to the conclusion that "DDL researchers certainly make no claim it is a panacea … or that it should be used to the exclusion of other techniques … but [teachers/researchers] ultimately have but one option: to try it out. (Boulton, 2011, p.6) 2. Method 2.1 Participants Forty one learners participated in this study. All participants were studying English at Farhang English language Institution in Talesh, Iran, and were native speakers of Persian. In fact, two intact (one twenty-student and another twenty-one-student) classes were selected. One of these two classes was randomly selected as a control group and another as a treatment group. Participants' ages were 16 to 18, and they were all male, high school students. They had already studied English for 4 to 6 years; with a mean of 5 years. They had studied the let's go series for two years and Interchange series for three years and had just entered the Passage series, which is a higher level than Interchange series and the learners were to know at least 3000 English words. The main reason for choosing these subjects was that they attended English classes six terms per year, six weeks per term, and three sessions per week. In other words, they took about 150 hours of English classes ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 153 for one year. Thus, they had a greater chance to improve their lexical depth. The coursebook that they were studying was passages 1 (Richards, 2008). The classes were held three times a week for 4 months and each session was 90 minutes. However, the class practiced vocabulary twice per week. Both groups were taught by the same teacher. Participants' ages were 16 to 18, and they were all male students. Gender was not considered as a moderator variable in this study. English was the medium of instruction in these classes. They had already studied English for 5 to 7 years; with a mean of 6 years. They had studied both let's go series and Interchange series for three years and had just entered the Passage series, which is a higher level than Interchange series and the learners were to know at least 3000 English words. The main reason for choosing these subjects was that they attended English classes six terms per year, six weeks per term, and three sessions per week. In other words, they took about 150 hours of English classes for one year. Thus, they had a greater chance to improve their lexical appropriateness. The coursebook that they were studying was Passages 1 (Richards, 2008). The classes were held for 34 sessions and each session was 90 minutes. In each session about 30 minutes were devoted to the SP instruction. It is worth noting that students were taught American English. British English was paid attention to, though. 2.2 Materials For training, verbs were chosen from Passages 1 (Richards, 2008) - the book that they were taught as their coursebook. Words whose SPs were investigated were chosen based on the following conditions: Words presented in context: Words which were presented in the book (Passages 1, Richards, 2008) Semantic sets/clusters: Synonyms of selected words, from Oxford Learner's Thesaurus Dictionary As a case in point, when the word USE was taken from the book for identifying its prosodic behavior, its synonyms (i.e. EMPLOY, DRAW ON/UPON, EXERT, MAKE USE OF, UTILIZE, and RESORT TO) were also under investigation so that the students were to investigate SP of the whole synonym set. There were also some words in the test which were not available in the coursebook. The reason for this was to encourage students to pay attention to SP of words in every English text that they came across. A pilot study for 6 weeks (one institute semester) was carried out. The pilot participants, 12 male EFL learners, were very similar to the main study participants. Vocabulary Choice Appropriateness Test (appendix A) was piloted in the pilot study. The quality of tests was proved as a result of the piloting- some items were deleted and some other items were changed. To calculate the reliability, Kuder-Richardson formula (KR-21) was run. The reliability estimate for vocabulary choice appropriateness test was 0.86, which meant the test was reliable. The test included 30 multiple choice items with three choices as it was supposed that the prosodic behavior of a word could be one of three behaviors: positive, neutral, negative. There was no penalty for guessing. The actual examples in the test came mainly from corpora which were used in the study. An example of vocabulary choice appropriateness test is presented here: Sentence: The constantly threatening nuclear war will ---------. Original word: break out Near-synonym set: {start, develop, break out} It is the advantage of this kind of tests that the teachers, as Odlin (1994) states, do not need to use the statement such as in this context this answer "'is likely to be used'", instead the teacher has a previously-used (original) answer to the test item "which can lead to a genuine examination of the reasons … underlying the choice" (p.294) [Italics added]. A choice which entailed decisions of appropriateness rather than correctness. Each test item was then applied to predict an answer (the most appropriate near-synonym) that could fill the gap. The possible candidates were three near-synonyms (including the original word) in the given set. In this study, the original word was considered as the correct answer. The proposed answers could then be evaluated by examining whether they could restore the original word by filling the gap with the most appropriate near-synonym. Ideally, the correct answers should be provided by human experts. To check the validity of test, it was sent to some native speakers of English for human judges, to select the missing words. The results (5 native speakers answered the test and sent it back) showed that the agreement between the five judges was high (about 85 %), but not perfect. The agreement between each native speaker's judgment and the original word was also high (about 85%). The human judges were allowed to choose more than one correct answer when they were convinced that more than one near-synonym fitted well in the context. They used this option sparingly, only in 2 items (about 6 %) of the 30 sentences. In the treatment group, to find semantic behavior of lexical items, the Brown corpus and BNC (100 million words) were chosen. They were chosen because they were easily available, they had been used in previous studies; they were also manageable and easy enough to use. BNC is a part-of-speech tagged corpus which is helpful for extracting collocations relevant for a synonym set. It was used as a supplementary corpus in this study. It is worth noting that semantic prosodies of lexical items were supposed to be examined in general English environment. Using the general corpus helps to control genre. In order to control the register differences among near synonyms, it had been tried to select those near-synonyms (from each set) which were in the same register. Also, in order to control the effect of grammatical form on prosodic behavior of verbs, only the main form of the verbs had been investigated in corpora. However, in some rare situations, when past or past participle form of verbs had been used, it had been made sure that different grammatical forms did not have any effect on SP of the verbs. ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 154 2.3 Treatment The positive, neutral, and negative prosodies were taken like Xiao and Mcenery (2006), corresponding to Partington's (2004) favorable, neutral, and unfavorable prosodies. Students, in the treatment group, were provided regular teaching of SP of verbs which they came across during their lessons. In fact, verbs were chosen by the teacher. The learners were also provided training in using corpora and concordancer mainly at the beginning of the study and also during the study in order to find SP of items by themselves. The teacher advised them, helped them, and gave them useful feedback. To create a DDL-friendly environment, the institution was equipped with an online wireless internet connection so that students had access to online corpora and their concordances; nearly all students had access to online internet at their homes, too. During the class sessions, some laptop computers were provided by the students and the teacher to work with corpora through concordancing software. To make DDL coherent, a set of concordance lines were displayed for presenting idea, followed by complete sentence examples for comprehension. Also, in order to motivate students and to prevent them from over loading, fewer examples were presented at the beginning. For each verb, in the treatment group, students were given, at first, the near synonyms of the selected verb in a dictionary of synonyms (Oxford Learner's Thesaurus); then were required to find SP of the verb and its near synonyms through the DDL approach for comparative purposes, so that they would know that, in a synonym set, which word had a positive, which word had a neutral and which word had a negative SP. For example working on the word USE (mentioned above), extracted from the coursebook, along with its synonyms, students reported that EMPLOY had a positive, RESORT TO a negative, and others had a neutral SP. In vocabulary choice appropriateness tests, students were required to choose a verb with its appropriate prosodic condition. Students were asked first to examine the concordance lines with keyword-in-context where the keywords were arranged below each other on the center of the page, with a fixed number of words which provided context to the both left and right side of the keyword. The learners were allowed to use dictionaries to get the meaning of new vocabulary. However, they were encouraged to focus on the words in the middle of the page so that they did not have to translate every words that did not understand. After checking the students' analysis, if needed, the teacher presented another analysis. At this stage, students compared answers and gained knowledge of how to recognize the prosodic behavior of the verb. Having done the exercise, students were able to find out the SP which applied to the lexical items. The teacher easily gave feedback by presenting commentaries in the class. The quick way of commenting helped the teacher to monitor the learning process of the student without spending hours on correcting assignments. Consequently, through practical exploring of corpora and concordances over time, the students got autonomous. A note of caution should be stated here that sometimes a word has a positive SP, but it collocates with negative words (semantic preference); that is to say, SP is not the characteristic of the collocated word, but the characteristic of the whole unit. However, in this study, to discover SP of a specific word, the learners had to figure it out from its collocations. For example, the word GIVE UP would a have positive SP if it almost always collocated with negative words and a negative SP if it collocated with positive words. On the contrary, the word INSIST ON would have negative SP if it collocated with negative words and positive SP if it collocated with positive words. In the control group, students were given the same lexical items and their synonyms from the same dictionary. The concept of SP was explained to them. However, they learned SP of vocabulary traditionally, and without using a DDL approach. That is, to find the prosodic difference between near-synonyms, they were expected to check the difference through dictionaries and the definitions that dictionaries presented or through Persian equivalents of near-synonyms, or through their intuitions. In the control group, too, the (same) teacher advised learners, helped them, and gave them useful feedback. In both groups, the same number of synonym-sets (about 5) were presented during each session; the overall number was about 150, and about 20 sets of them were tested in the posttest. However, sometimes, the students were to complete their class activities as homework. In both groups, verb synonym-sets and the difference among them were taught for the receptive mode. The time on task for the groups of study was controlled as both groups had taken equal time to do the related activities. It should be mentioned that both groups had not been exposed to SP until the beginning of the study. They even did not know what the semantic prosody was. Although the nature of the present study was not qualitative, it was found useful as a complement to the quantitative tests, to speak shortly with participants in order to gain understandings into any unexpected findings about the participants' experiences. Therefore, in the second part of the study, qualitative stage, all participants were interviewed briefly and individually. In brief, semi-structured interviews, specific questions and their sequence were determined in advance. Subjects were allowed to speak in either English or Persian, whichever allowed them to express their ideas more clearly. 2.4 Procedure Before administering the pretests, students in both groups read a consent form that explained the purpose of the study and they agreed to participate. To the both classes, the pretests were given which consisted of 30 multiple-choice items. At the end of the study, the posttest (the same test) was given to the students. Subjects were required to answer to the tests in 20 minutes. At the end of the study, both groups were interviewed informally. Interviewing was used to elicit the participants' attitude, opinions, and evaluations of the method being used. Both groups were questioned about their feelings and ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 155 insights about the method that they used to find the SP of words, the control group was also questioned about the ways they used to do so. 2.5 Data Analyses In this study, there were one dependent variable (EFL learners' vocabulary choice appropriateness) and two independent variables (teaching SP of English verbs through data-driven learning, and teaching SP of English verbs traditionally). To compare means of each test within and between subjects, a repeated-measures ANOVA was used to analyze the data. All of these assumptions such as skewedness for this statistic were met. In this calculation, the alpha level was set to .05. 3. Result Statistics for vocabulary choice appropriateness test score, for both groups, are presented in Table 2. In the control group, the means improved slightly from 7.85 to 8.65. The standard deviation (SD) remained almost stable (1.424 and 1.755). In the treatment group, the means, from the pretest to the posttest, improved from 8.14 to 13.43. Here, too, the standard deviation (SD) remained almost stable (1.824 and 2.181). Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of Vocabulary Choice Appropriateness Test GROUP Mean Std. Deviation N control 7.85 1.424 20 treatment 8.14 1.824 21 total/average 8.00 1.628 41 control 8.65 1.755 20 treatment 13.43 2.181 21 total/average 11.10 3.113 41 Pretest Posttest Table 2 shows that, in the control group, there was no significant improvement (M = 8.65-7.85= -0.800) from pre-test to post-test, but in the treatment group there was (M = 13.43-8.14= -5.29) (55 percent). Table 3. Repeated-measures ANOVA (Tests of Within-Subjects Contrasts) Source TES T Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. TEST Linea r 189.696 1 189.696 109.209 .000 TEST * GROUP Linea r 103.062 1 103.062 59.333 .000 Error(TEST) Linea r 67.743 39 1.737 Table 4. Repeated-measures ANOVA (Tests of Between-Subjects Effects) Source Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Intercep t 7423.929 1 7423.929 1515.314 .000 GROUP 131.733 1 131.733 26.888 .000 Error 191.071 39 4.899 The result also showed that the interaction was highly significant: F=59.33, df=1, 39, p<0.05 (in the repeated-measures ANOVA) (tables 3 and 4), and the differences were larger than what was expected. ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 156 Figure 1. The comparison of each student's scores in the pretest and posttest (control group) Figure 1 shows that, in the control group, the scores in the posttest exhibit the same histogram as those of the pretest, on vocabulary choice appropriateness; and those of the posttest are slightly better than the pretest. Students (3), (4), (7), (9), (11), and (18) had the same score on both tests, though. Figure 2. The comparison of each student's scores in the pretest and posttest (treatment group) Figure 2 indicates that most of the learners' vocabulary choice appropriateness test score in the posttest increased. Except one student (8), all students were able to boost their scores 3 to 7 numbers. Figure 3. The comparison of improvement in the pretest (test 1) and posttest (test 2) ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 157 4. Discussion The results of the present study showed that, in both groups, before the study, the participants' overall performance on vocabulary choice appropriateness (based on SP) was poor; the mean score was 7.85 and 8.14 out of 20 respectively for the control and treatment groups. However, the EFL learners' vocabulary choice appropriateness ability improved significantly, in the treatment group, after a 34-session teaching SP (as a discriminative training for near-synonym substitution) through the DDL approach. In the treatment group, the participants' vocabulary choice appropriateness ability improved significantly by learning prosodic behavior of verbs through the DDL approach: they increased their mean (5.29 scores). Consequently, it was proved that the DDL approach is an effective way for teaching SP of verbs. Also, DDL gave EFL learners the opportunity to surpass native English speakers in recognizing prosodic behavior of English verbs as some learners in the treatment group, in the posttest, performed better than native English speakers in vocabulary choice appropriateness test. In the control group, the participants slightly improved their mean scores (0.800) on vocabulary choice appropriateness through traditional instruction of SP, but the improvement was not significant. It means that traditional teaching of SP is not helpful for students to find out prosodic behavior of English vocabulary. That is, dictionaries, whether EnglishEnglish or English-Persian ones, are not helpful for learning prosodic behavior of English verbs. They have not introduced the prosodic behavior of verbs. Plus, Persian EFL learners are not successful in identifying prosodic behavior of English vocabulary through their intuitions. The results of the control group supported the research hypothesis that EFL learners' vocabulary choice appropriateness was improved by SP learning through the DDL approach: in the control group, students did not use the DDL approach to learn SP. As a result, their posttest score did not change significantly. This indicates that the EFL learners' improvement on vocabulary choice appropriateness test, in the treatment group, was not the effect of teaching SP alone, but teaching SP through the DDL approach. It also indicates that the EFL learners' improvement, in the treatment group, was not the effect of normal classroom teaching, or of taking the test twice since if this was the case, the control group should have had the same improvement. 4.1 Findings from the interviews Almost all participants in the treatment group felt that DDL could help in improving their English ability. Generally, the participants found it more interesting, but a few number of students found it confusing and difficult. The attitudes toward DDL were more positive than negative. All the students, even those who, at first, seemed least motivated, were working eagerly on the activities. It was discovered that participants tended to work in pairs or groups. However, Participants did feel that the DDL approach would make them more autonomous and active. Nearly all participants in the control group claimed that they used dictionaries as their tools for learning the prosodic behavior of vocabulary; and those who had better function in the posttest claimed using English-English dictionary definitions. Generally, they found it frustrating and a hard task. Additionally, participants with lower test score claimed using English-Persian dictionaries or their intuitions (in order to find SP through Persian equivalents). In order to appropriately address the results of vocabulary choice appropriateness, they should be interpreted with caution, though. 4.2 Differences in vocabulary choice appropriateness test scores Possible explanations for the noticeable differences within treatment group may be found by considering the following three factors: 1- Participants' expectations 2- Measurement 3- Number of the verbs under investigation First, students may have expected some improvement in their vocabulary choice ability after the treatment. This is because the purposes of the study and of the instruction were explained to them before the treatment. In addition, the consent form they read revealed the purpose of the study. Second, the vocabulary choice appropriateness results could be different depending on the way they were measured. In this study, a 30-item test in semantic prosody was constructed and the scores of students in answering questions were considered as a method for measuring vocabulary choice appropriateness. In addition, instead of four-choice items, three-choice items were provided that have made the test quite easier. Third, since the verbs under investigation were limited to the verbs in the book (Passages 1) in order to find their prosodic behavior, the number of semantic sets which were under investigation was also considerably small. As it was already mentioned, there was a slight improvement in control group, though. There are 3 reasons for this: 1- The improvement was because of taking the test twice which seems highly improbable because there was a 3month gap between pre-test and post test. 2- The improvement was as a result of the method (fining out the difference among near-synonyms mostly through dictionaries) in control group; this seems reasonable because some English-English dictionaries imply the negative or positive prosodic behavior of their items. This is true since when interviewing students, those who had slight improvement in posttest stated that they had used English-English dictionary definitions, on the contrary to those who had used English-Persian dictionaries, that is, had used translation for investigating the difference among near-synonyms, had no improvement. ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 158 3- Participants' vocabulary choice appropriateness test score improved because of the effect of normal classroom teaching. 4.3 Results Compared with the Research Hypothesis The hypothesis, that teaching SP of English verbs through the DDL approach has a significant effect on the improvement of EFL learners' vocabulary choice appropriateness, is confirmed and accepted. The differences, in the treatment group, were significant in the repeated-measures ANOVA. Test results showed that participants, in the treatment group, improved their scores in the posttest by learning SP of English verbs through the DDL approach. This improvement was supported by control group's low score in the posttest. 5. Conclusion 5.1 Implications and Recommendations for Teaching The first outcome of the present study is that it is possible to teach SP of vocabulary and consequently it is possible to learn prosodic behavior of vocabulary consciously. As it was shown that near-synonyms have different prosodic behavior, teachers should be cautious in introducing new English vocabulary by giving synonyms of it. While learning vocabulary, EFL learners have to take into account SP of verbs especially in synonym-sets. The study also suggests that the DDL approach is a better way for finding out the prosodic behavior of English words. In classes with the same background language, teachers should be cautious about using the EFL learners' background language in order to introduce prosodic behavior of vocabulary. Textbook writers should pay enough attention to the prosodic behavior of vocabulary in that they should make use of authentic materials in their textbooks so that words are used in their appropriate prosodic behavior. As nowadays it is common to evaluate vocabulary knowledge of EFL learners by asking for its synonyms, test designers are suggested to use words with the same SP to avoid negative backwash effect of the test. English-Persian dictionaries have not paid serious attention to prosodic feature of vocabulary at least verbs in choosing Persian equivalents. Therefore, to lexicographers, this study suggests considering prosodic behavior of vocabulary in selecting equivalents from different languages. 5.2 Limitations Participants were male learners. No female learners were able to participate in this study for institutions in Iran are not allowed to hold mixed classes. Only students of English Language institution of Farhang participated in the study. Since the formation of new classes, because of its expenditure and institutional issues, was not possible and because using natural classes is becoming prominent nowadays, two intact (a twenty-one-student and another twenty-student) classes were selected. 5.3 Suggestions for Future Study This study used verb near-synonyms. Future researchers may work on other parts of speech such as nouns and adjectives. The test conducted and the study itself were in receptive mode, further research can investigate SP in productive mode. Further research might be conducted on female learners, and/or using extensive interviews or case studies as a technique for data collection, and/or using different (numbers of) corpora. References Ahmadian, M., Yazdani, H. & Darabi, A. (2011). Assessing English learners' knowledge of semantic prosody through a corpus-driven design of semantic prosody test. English Language Teaching, 4(4), 288-298. Bednarek, M. (2008). Semantic preference and semantic prosody re-examined. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 4(2), 113-139. Boulton, A. (2011). Blending research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches to researching computer corpora for language learning. Proceedings of KAMALL 2011: New Directions for Blended Learning in EFL. Daejeon: KAMALL, 1-9. Boulton, A. (2010b). Learning outcomes from corpus consultation. In M. Moreno Jaén, F. Serrano Valverde & M. Calzada Pérez (Eds.), Exploring new paths in language pedagogy: Lexis and corpus-based language teaching (pp.129144). London: Equinox. Fan, P. (2010). Lexical acquisition viewed from a contrastive analysis of collocational behavior of near synonyms. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 33(5), 52-64. Flowerdew, L. (2009). Applying corpus linguistics to pedagogy: A critical evaluation. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 14(3), 393-417. Guo, X., Zheng, L., Zhu, L., Yang, Zh., Chen, Ch., Zhang, L., Ma, W. & Dienes, Z. (2011). Acquisition of conscious and unconscious knowledge of semantic prosody. Consciousness and Cognition, 20(2), 417-425. Inkpen, D. (2007). A statistical model for near-synonym choice. ACM Transactions on Speech and Language Processing, 4 (1), 1-17. ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 159 Inkpen, D. Z. & Hirst, G. (2002). Acquiring collocations for lexical choice between near-synonyms. Proceedings of the Workshop on Unsupervised Lexical Acquisition, 40th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL 2002), Philadelphia, 67-76. Inkpen, D. & Hirst, G. (2006). Building and using a lexical knowledge-base of near-synonym differences. Computational Linguistics, 32 (2). Jafarpour, A. A. & Koosha, M. (2006). Data-driven learning and teaching collocation of prepositions: The case of Iranian EFL students. Research on Foreign languages/ Journal of Faculty of Letters and Humanities, 200, 1-30. Johns, T. (1991). Should you be persuaded: Two samples of data-driven learning materials. In T. Johns & P. King (Eds.), Classroom Concordancing. ELR Journal, 4, 1-16. Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B. (1996). Cross-linguistic and language specific aspects of semantic prosody. Language Sciences, 18 (1-2), 153-178. Lee, H-C. (2011). In defense of concordancing: An application of data-driven learning in Taiwan. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 12, 399–408. Lee, H-C., & Liu, J. (2009). Effects of collocation information on learning lexical semantics for near synonym distinction. Computational Linguistics and Chinese Language Processing, 14 (2), 205-220. Louw, B. (2000). Contextual prosodic theory: Bringing semantic prosodies to life. In C. Heffer, H. Sauntson, (Eds.), Words in Context: A Tribute to John Sinclair on his Retirement. Birmingham: University of Birmingham. Louw, B. & Chateau, C. (2010). Semantic prosody for the 21st century: Are prosodies smoothed in academic contexts? A contextual prosodic theoretical perspective. Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Statistical Analysis of Corpus Study, 755-764. Odlin, T. (1994). Perspectives on pedagogical grammar. In T. Johns (Eds.), From printout to handout: Grammar and vocabulary teaching in the context of data-driven learning (pp.293-318). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Partington, A. (2004). "Utterly content in each other's company": Semantic prosody and semantic preference. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 9 (1), 131-56. Philip, G. (2010). Why prosodies aren’t always present: Insights into the idiom principle. [Online] Available: http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/publications/cl2009/317_FullPaper.rtf (August 15, 2012). Reinhardt, J. (2010). The potential of corpus-informed L2 pedagogy. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 3 (1), 239- 251. Richards, J. C. & Sandy, C. (2008). Passages (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C. & Renandya, W. A. (2002). Methodology in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Roemer, U. (n.d.). Corpora and language teaching. [Online] Available: http://www.uteroemer.com/HSK_Roemer_ uncorrected_proofs.pdf (August 15, 2012). Rüschoff, B. (n.d.). Data-driven learning (DDL). [Online] Available: http://archive.ecml.at/projects/voll/rationale_and_help/booklets/resources/menu_booklet_ddl.htm (December 19, 2012) Sinclair, J. (1991). Corpus, concordance, and collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Stewart, D. (2010). Semantic prosody: A critical evaluation. New York: Routledge. Watter, E. (1992). Semantic set-defining: Benefits to the lexicographer and the user. [Online] Available: http://www.euralex.org/elx_proceedings/Euralex.pdf (September 22, 2012) Xiao, Z., & McEnery, A. (2006). Collocation, semantic prosody and near synonymy: A cross-linguistic perspective. Applied linguistics, 27 (1), 103-199. Zethsen, K. K. (2006). Semantic prosody: Creating awareness about a versatile tool. Tidsskrift for Sprogforskning ,4 (12), 275-294. Zhang, C. (2010). An overview of corpus-based studies of semantic prosody. Asian Social Science, 6 (6), 190196. Zhang, W. (2009). Semantic prosody and ESL/EFL vocabulary pedagogy. TESL Canada Journal, 26 (2), 1-12. http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ http://www.lextutor.ca/concordancers/concord_e.html ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 160 Appendix A The items selected for the test includes those cases of SP whose conditions (positive, negative or neutral) have already been determined by different researchers (the first 10 items) or have been determined by the teacher (items 11-30). 1. While being inexpensive and readily transportable, vacuum-formed plastic pools do have the disadvantage of flexibility which can---------- problems during installation. a. cause b. bring about c. lead to 2. Despair seems to have --------- among the team. a. taken place b. set in c. come about 3. The small shops must be retained for they -------- essential service to the community. a. provide b. supply c. issue 4. He --------- to make/making life difficult for me. a. is bent on b. is determined c. is resolved 5. Whoever is born of God does not --------- sin. a. practice b. commit c. perform 6. The organization has -------- the myth all over the word. a. spread b. communicated c. peddled 7. I could just ---------- a reputation for myself and make some real money. a. accumulate b. pile up c. build up 8. There were several fairly good minor portraits in the play, including Katherine Squire's vigorous characterization of a farm mother who ---------- no hifalutin nonsense from her daughter, or anyone else. a. allowed b. brooked c. accepted 9. The constantly threatening nuclear war will ---------. a. start b. develop c. break out 10. "You see", she said, looking past him into the room, where the highlight glasses sparkled dully in the bright light, "you and I can't understand the many hardships they have to ----------. a. undergo b. experience c. have 11. Strict local rules of pleading cannot be used to ---------- unnecessary burdens upon rights of recovery authorized by federal law. a. apply b. impose c. enforce 12. We are evidently trying hard to think of new ways to ---------- the problem of fear these days. a. handle b. see to c. deal with 13. Only under rare circumstances would a bride ---------- an orgasm during her first intercourse. a. suffer b. run into c. experience 14. Changes in light and color will ---------- a variety of visual designs. a. trigger b. set off c. spark 15. Leadership is lacking in our society because it has no legitimate place to ----------. a. break out b. erupt c. develop 16. The dispute has --------- on for months. a. dragged b. kept c. carried 17. The two cities have the examples of Little Rock and New Orleans to hold up as warnings against resorting to violence to try to --------- the processes of desegregation. a. avert b. avoid c. stop 18. Availability of housing and social facilities with the creation of an attractive environment would attract industry and commerce, and hence ---------- the creation of jobs. a. result in b. bring about c. cause 19. The road's engineers ---------- further improvement when the turnpike is extended into Boston. a. await b. anticipate c. look for 20. And some of the fragrant molecules are inhaled, thus stimulating smell receptors connected to the part of our brains which ---------- our emotions, well-being and many other bodily functions. a. controls b. curbs c. contains 21. Fulham ---------- one of her worst raids of the war. a. got b. received c. reaped 22. In order to secure the payment of tribute, servicemen would often ---------- taking/to take hostages. a. resort to b. employ c. use What do you think he means by remembrance? He doesn't ---------- his friends. a. forget b. wipe c. blot out 23.Eire is planning to use its forthcoming Presidency of the European Commission to press Britain to ---------- a major upgrading of road and rail links between North Wales. a. embark on b. start c. commence 24. The students who are most willing to --------- the suppression of civil liberties are also those who are most likely to be prejudiced against minority groups. a. agree with b. go along with c. acquiesce in ALLS 5(2):149-161, 2014 161 25. The primordial deity, Nun, advised Re to use this powerful Eye, the sun itself and possessor of its own complex mythology, to ---------- vengeance on the evildoers, and furthermore to send the Eye in the person of Hathor. a. hold out for b. exact c. press for 26. If the washing machine ---------- wrong, it will diagnose the problem itself. a. becomes b. goes c. gets 27. The speed of change was such that it had become difficult to ---------- developments of which perhaps we have not yet seen the end. a. keep up with b. proceed c. go on with 28. We'd very much like to hear from others who have ---------- profitable solutions to this seasonal problem. a. dreamt up b. conceived c. come up with 29. Not only was Haumd's intonation and phrasing without flaw, but [also] he seemed to ---------- every tonal eccentricity. a. look after b. take … in stride c. take care of Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Study Of "Stephen Dedalus ", The Main Protagonist Of A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man Fatemeh Azizmohammadi (Corresponding author) Department of English Literature, College of English, Arak Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran E-mail: Meena_mina_mina@yahoo.co Sepide Kamarzade English Literature, Islamic Azad University-Arak Branch, Arak, Iran E-mail: Sepid_Sparkler@yahoo.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.162 Received: 04/03/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.162 Accepted: 11/04/2014 Abstract A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, written in 1916, is an autobiography and the first novel of the great Irish writer, James Joyce. It's written in Modernist style. So it can be contain of some category of realism, naturalism, and Marxism which aroused in mid-to late nineteenth century. But it mostly included realistic style because of the beginning date of this literary school. By reading all works of James Joyce is maybe committing ownself to an outstanding trickery world of "chaosmos" (Finnegans Wake, p. 118.21), which stands for poetic mystery that few writers have achieved. In this study attempted is made to survey the main Protagonist in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus, and its relationship to the author. Keywords: James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Modernism, Humanism, realism, self-awareness 1. Introduction James Joyce was born in Dublin in 1882, became one of the most impor­tant writers that we've ever known. He was son of a genious but incompetent father who is described exactly by "Stephen Dadalus" in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, as a man who is appeared in the story as the protagonist and antihero, who is " the chief person in modern novel whose character is widely discrepant from that of traditional protagonist or hero. Instead of manifesting largeness, dignity, power or heroism, the antihero, like Stephen Dedalus in Joyce's work, is petty, ignominious, passive, clownish, or dishonest" (Abrams, 2009, p. 10). As we see during the story that how he becomes petty by the words of his College's friends in chapter one, bacause of his name and social rank. When Joyce was a child, Ireland had been under British rule since sixteenth century, and tension between Ireland and Britain had been high. In addition to political strife, there was religious tension between Catholics, the majority of Irish, and Protestant. James Joyce's whole education from age six to nine was at Clongowes Wood College, and from age eleven to the age sixteen at Belvedere College in Dublin was Catholic. As he studied in Clongowes Wood College, in his early youth, he was very religious, but in a year to his graduation from Belvedere he began to reject his Catholic faith and that's why he saw as involving in rebellion and exile. After all the problems that happens to him, Joyce, by writing a series of stories which engraving with remarkable lucidity aspects of Dublin life, began his job as a successful writer. Like Stephen, his fictional hero, Joyce in his youth felt restrained by the pressures of religion and politic, and limited and spare interests which surrounded him in Ireland during the nineteenth century. Because of the restricted atmosphere, in 1904 at age twentytwo, unfortunately he left his family and the Roman Catholic Church of Dublin, which he was interested during his childhood, for becoming a great writer to Europe. Thereafter he remained away from his nation and family, with brief exceptions, for the rest of his life. By looking at his style of writing, we encounter that most of Joyce's work contain the style known as stream of consciousness, which leads reader to a certain character's thoughts and insights as reader visualize. In another word, he ,by using stream of consciousness, can see character's mind. Roman and Greek mythology, Catolic religion, and Celtic language are also integrated with Joyce's work. In most of his works, including Ulysses, the greatest novel of nineteenth century, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, an autobiographical novel, compulsion with above mentioned mythology can be found easily. 2. Discussion 2.1 Summary of The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a story about the formation of a person, Stephen Dedalus, from his childhood to youth. He should study at a Jesuit school for boys, as his family decides, at Clongowes Wood College. The young Stephen finds it hard to integrate with others. He never participates in games with the other children, because the older boys always mock him and treat him as an outsider or stranger, so he always annoyed by behaviour of his classmates. He often recognizes ownself as a hero but remains isolated from others and "exile" himself. As he becomes younger, he ALLS 5(2):162-165, 2014 163 goes to Cork as a short trip along with his father. His father was a Corkonian, who humiliates his son, during a short trip, by drinking, flirting, and a long talk. Cork city causes Stephen' father to remember his youth. Stephen cannot realize his father's attitudes and emotions. Stephen believes he is wiser and older than his father, however he was young and this feeling of authority was a part of his arousal sexuality. He became strange with his family, by passing school days. Instead of his deep religious beliefs, he understands that lust is surronded him by pleasures which he can find in worldly enjoyments and delights. Stephen looking for a way of escaping from the conflict around and within him. He was full of regrets because of many sins that he committed. In this moment he visits a priest, Father Arnall, who speaks of hell. The description of hell makes him scared and it was a motivation for his confessession. Despide a short time his belief to Catholic, his religion, begins to fade again. When he leaves his family, in Europe, Stephen continues his studies at university. In this time, he was away from society while by writing and studying literature he tries to go inside of himself. Finally, Stephen knows himself and realizes that he must decline the ideologies which surronded him. As a result of his revolution, he leaves all the lost paths and continues the way which he has chosen for himself from leaving Ireland to become a successful artist. 2.2 Stephen Dedalus Stephen Dedalus, the main character in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and a significant character in Ulysses, is the embodiment of Joyce's mythological passions. In etymology dictionary (2014): "Stephen or Steven is a masculine first name, derived from the Greek name "Stephanos", in turn from the Greek word, meaning "wreath, crown, honour, reward", literary "that which surrounds or encompasses" and in adition,in Greek mythology, Daedalus /di:dəlɪs/ or /dɛdəlɪs/ (Ancient Greek:Daedalos, meaning "clever worker"; Latin: Daedalus; Etruscan: Taitale) was a skillful craftsman and artist" (Online Wikipedia & Online Etymology Dictionary, 2014). "Joyce extends across two boundless prospects by naming his wellknown protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, after the builer of the Cretan Labyrinth "Daedalus" from classical Greek title meaning "cunningly wrought" muffle our sense of Stephen's individuality by suggesting a mythical analogue and possible type quality in his name" (Online Encyclopedia, 2014). "In Christianity Ste­phen's first name strikes as St. Stephen the martyr who was stoned to death by a mob because he claimed that he saw God appear in the heavens" (Fargnoli, 1996, p. 55). Stephen himself feels unfairly to the same degree. "Joyce's view of the artist as isolated and exiled, misunderstood by his neighbors and consequently vilified by them, would have made the association with St. Stephen" (Givens, 1963, p. 119). Stephen becomes the hero and creator of his own story while many myths was surrounded him. "Joseph Campbell . . . divides the journey of the archetypal hero into three parts: departure (the call to adventure); initiation (a series of adventures that test or develop the hero's skills); and return (the hero arrives transformed)" (Robbins, 1994, p. 261). "The basic myth that is prevalent in Portrait, is the Greek legend of the escape from the island of Crete by Daedalus and his son Icarus. Daedalus, a great architect, cre­ated a large maze called the Labyrinth to house a half-man, half-bull called the Minotaur. The Minotaur was birthed to King Minos' wife as punishment for keeping a sacrificial bull that was to be given to the sea-god Poseidon. Therefore, Poseidon made Minos' wife fall madly in love with the bull. Minos, to keep the secret of the Labyrinth safe, imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in the Labyrinth on Crete. The only escape from the island was by air. Daedalus created two pairs of wings from feathers and wax and he and his son flew from the island together. Yet this story is not without a lesson to be learned. Icarus, who did not heed his father's warning took his pride and himself high into the sky. The wax melted and Icarus fell to his death " (Hamilton, 1969, p. 144-45, 157). Many extraordinary literary stories illustrating Daedalus' wings as that of Ovid: in his Metamorphoses (VIII, p. 183235) "Daedalus was shut up in a tower to prevent his knowledge of his Labyrinth from spreading to the public. He could not leave Crete by sea, as the king kept strict watch on all vessels, permitting none to sail without being carefully searched. Daedalus set to work to fabricate wings for himself. He tied feathers together, from smallest to largest so as to form an increasing surface". The name "Dedalus" also offers Stephen's interest to "fly" above constraints of religious, nationality, and politics in his own growth, as we see at the end of the novel when he builds two wax wings in order to use them for flying over everything. 2.3 Look over and analyze of "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" We can see during the story, especially the beginning, when Stephen is spend his childhood, his contemplation to his name and the significance of identity. As we encounter in the story: “Stephen Dedalus / Class of Elements / Clongowes Wood College / Sallins / County Kildare / Ireland / Europe / The World / The Universe” (Portrait, 1991, p. 12), when he writes in a fly leaf of his book, his name and location, he is trying to find the relationship between his name and the place which he is physically in. His nasty classmates for scorning also had rediculously written on the opposite page: "Stephen Dedalus is my name. / Ireland is my nation. / Clongowes is my dwelling place / And heaven my expectation" (Portrait, 1991, p. 13). By a brief thinking on his name and its relevance to the people and universe, Stephen finds out some differences (like God and Dieu) which is existed in association with a person and an entity with its name in comparison to his own: "God was God’s name just as his name was Stephen. Dieu was the French for God and that was God’s name too… But though there were different names for God in all the different languages still God remained always the same God and God’s real name was God. God’s name always pointed to God; whereas, Stephen’s name was ambiguous" (Portrait, 1991, p. 13). ALLS 5(2):162-165, 2014 164 As he moves from childhood to adulthood, without any self-awareness to consciousness, from a Portrait to Ulysses, language is the foundation and structure of Stephan's character. To the reader, the personal identity of Stephen is introduced by his first conversation at Clongowes Wood College with a classmate when he is at age six. This conversation starts when a classmate questions Stephen's name and the meaning of it. This part of the novel foreshowing Stephen's identity-crisis when he doesn't have anything to answer: And one day [Nasty Roche] had asked: —What is your name? Stephen had answered: —Stephen Dedalus. Then Nasty Rocke had said: —What kind of a name is that? …Stephen had not been able to answer… (Portrait, 1991, p. 5). A little time after, another classmate by the name of Athy, when Stephen is in weakingly, claims that: “you have a queer name, Dedalus” (Portrait, 1991, p. 23). In other part of novel we see: "What is your name? Stephen had answered: Stephen Dedalus. Then Nasty Roche had said: What kind of name is that? And when Stephen had not been able to answer Nasty Roche had asked: what is your father? . . . Is he a magistrate?" (Portrait, 1991, p. 8-9). As seeing in mentioned parts, Stephen's sensitivity about his name and identity continually is challenged at school in a way that he doesn't realize the reason of it. In another word, he has identity-criss at his childhood age. Nasty Roche who is one of his classmates, is always challenged authority of Stephen's father and identity of them, like Dante, who represents the cruel, nasty, and unpleasant side of the church, (roche = rock = church), and Stephen never can answer his questions. In his adolescence, young Stephen through questioning his name's meaning strives for increasing his self-awareness. It "serves as the central dynamic of Stephen’s adolescent development and motivates the plot of the novel by igniting its narrative desire" (Baxter, 2000, p. 207-8). Especially, Stephen is efforting to "make a name for himself", in order to illustrate his attempt to find out his identity which becomes a translation for him, it involves "a relationship between identity and language exists at the root of the adolescent identity crisis and the adolescent’s movement into adulthood" (Baxter, 2000, p. 204). "Stephen’s perceptions of self and struggles with identity begin in Portrait with the questioning of his name. The significance of his name precipitates in questions of paternity. He tries to be loyal to his blind acceptance of authority, but his ability to do so is ruined by the argument at dinner at home, and later by the unfair punishment he receives at school. When he is punished it is too much for his scheme, and his confusion and disappointment are emphasised by the way he thinks the priest is going to shake hands with him" (Mcbride, p. 32). At school, Stephen never takes part in the activities of the other boys, so because of his identity-criss, he send himself to a kind of exile. He can't even talk to others. Exile, silence and cunning, he actually separates himself from others and these three categories were Stephen Dedalus's weapon in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. As well, these were weapons of James Joyce, its author, against unfriendly world. He chooses these weapons in order to act against language, nationality, and religion, which always make him feel ashamed and deprived from free life. Also in Joyce's real life, he exiles himself from Ireland not only because of his personal dislikeness or repulsion, but also because of the unfriendliness and hatred of Irish people towards their artists. And through the story, when Stephen visits the National Theatre on its opening night, people's hatred is proved to him. Stephen's desire to resist authority and control, in order to maintain his values and beliefs in front of the dominance rule that always efforts to bridle him, is vital for him, but there is also a strong indication of martyrdom in his name's identity which he carries its attitude by his name, that he identifies himself and the hidden characteristic of his own with the Irish politician Charles Parnell. We are also mentioned before that one of the reason of Joyce for choosing the name Stephen is association of him with Stephen the first Christian martyr. ALLS 5(2):162-165, 2014 165 At the end of Portrait Stephen proclaims, "I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. … Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead" (Portrait, 1991, p. 275-76). Regardless of Stephen's father and all that he symbolizes, Catholic Church and its inflexible rules, little by little, turn Stephen's soul to stone. Stephen’s father, in this story, is a symbol of disorderly life which is never be at the fix and steady regulation and in literary language we can refer him as a symbol of temptation in human. Both of the above mentioned sources send Stephen’s soul to prison. In order to set his soul free from the mysterious identity, which becomes a jail for him, he has to discover, through self-perception, what his identity is and, next, how to accept all the social requirement without losing his characteristic. Stephen creates a serious, efficient, thoughtful, and business-minded nature. He is one to make his own decision and not to be influenced by others. He desires independence and freedom in authority and interference of others. He isnot overly ambitious and in his personal relations, he is inclined to be serious and not to see the humor or likely to respond spontanously. As we see in some parts of the novel that he doesn't participate in boy's playing. Thus in A Portrait of the Artist as aYoung Man, Stephen gets a great deal of reader's sympathy. In a section of the story when Stephen's eyeglasses were broken, he saw movements of life, reality, and physical truth by a short-sighted glimps. 3. Conclusion As it had been discussed before, James Joyce creates a deeply personal and emotional portrait to every man. The study of the main character of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus, showed that Joyce tried to capture the insufficiency of self-awareness and freedom in his life, which comes into contact with universal feelings of detachment, guilt, and awakening. The result is the relationships that are based on wrong factors and consequently instead of shaping a new possibilities, leads to loss, failure, and destruction. Through the novel, by close looking, it becomes obvious that reality is absolutely different from what appears in the story and the mind of Stephen. At the end of the novel, he understood that all the ways which he had gone, was wrong and invaluable so thereafter he decides to make himself ready for what he belongs to. He chooses to be artist because he wants to be free from all the rules and regulations. He escapes from this material world by using wax wings, which is symbol of his free soul. We can see all of these despair, loneliness, and feeling of guilt, which happen to him, because he isnot able to accept others. So he tortures himself by exile and jailing within a imaginary fence in order to be away from others. He experiences a kind of exile, silence, and cunning which shows nationality and religious of him. This story is a kind of symbolic, alligorical one which is autobiography of the author. References Gibson, A. (2006). James Joyce. London: Reaktion Books Ltd. Frontisi-Ducroux, F. (1975). Dédale: Mythologie de l'artisan en Grèce Ancienne. Paris: François Maspero. Fargnoli, A., N. (1996). James Joyce from A to Z: The Essential Reference to the Life and Work. New York: Oxford UP. Abrams, M. H. (2009). A Glossary of Literary Terms. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Givens, S. (1963). James Joyce: two decades of criticism. New York: Vanguard Press. Grayson, J. (Sept 1996). "The Consecration of Stephen Dedalus". English Language Notes 34. P. 55-63. Hamilton, E. (1969). Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. New York: Mentor. Joyce, J. (1991). A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York: Signet Classic. Litz, A.,W. (1972). James Joyce. New York: Twayne Publishers. Magalaner, M. (1956). Joyce: the man, the work, the reputation. New York: New York UP. Robbins, D., D. (Spring 1994). "Coming Down Along the Road' :the journey motif in A Portrait of the Artist" . The Midwest Quarterly 35. P. 261-76. Online Etymology Dictionary. (2014). Stephen Dedalus. Retrieved from http://www. Online Etymology Dictionary.com Online Wikipedia. (2014). Stephen Dedalus. Retrieved from http://www. Wikipedia.com Baxter, Kent. (2000). “Making A Name For Himself: Paternity, Joyce, And Stephen’s Adolescent Identity Crisis.” Naming the Father: Legacies, Genealogies, and Explorations of Fatherhood in Modern and Contemporary Literature. P. 203-222. Lanham, MD: Lexington. Bakhtin, Mikhail. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination. Ed. Michael Holquist. Austin: U of Texas. Retrieved from http://www.public.iastate.edu/~carlos/607/readings/bakhtin.pdf Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Overcoming The Biological Trap: A Study Of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms And The Old Man And The Sea Tsavmbu, Aondover Alexis (Corresponding Author) Federal University Dutsin-ma, Nigeria E-mail: atsavmbu@fudutsinma.edu.ng Amase, Emmanuel Lanior Federal University Dutsin-ma, Nigeria E-mail: eamase@fudutsinma.edu.ng Kaan, Aondover Theophilus Federal University Dutsin-ma, Nigeria E-mail: akaan@fudutsinma.edu.ng Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.166 Received: 08/03/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.166 Accepted: 15/04/2014 Abstract Ernest Hemingway is one of the greatest writers that America has produced. His works have indeed, contributed immensely in shaping the literary path in his country. All his novels are tragedies and his heroes tragic heroes because he is always conscious of man’s mortality. In this paper, we have undertaken a critical study of Hemingway’s exploration of the theme of ‘the trapped man’ in A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway believes that man is biologically trapped and doomed to suffer and die. This is clearly demonstrated by Frederick Henry in A Farewell to Arms. However, in The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago, the protagonist has demonstrated that though man is a victim of a hostile universe, he is not made for defeat. Santiago’s actions prove that with a dogged determination and focus, it is possible for humanity to overcome the biological trap and achieve success in life. We believe that this important lesson lays credence to the utilitarian value of literature to the society. This prerequisite for overcoming the biological trap is a necessary antidote because the trap does not only hang over Hemingway’s characters but humanity as a whole. Keywords: Overcoming, biological trap, tragic heroes, trapped man, hostile universe, victim 1. Introduction All of Hemingway’s novels are tragedies and his heroes, tragic heroes. This, we believe, is because Hemingway is always conscious of man’s mortality. For him, the human being is doomed because he believes that man is so biologically trapped such that whatever he does on earth, and not withstanding his best efforts, he must ultimately either lose or die; or suffer both at the same time. That is why Marca (2010) affirms Hemingway’s belief that the human race is irretrievably lost by explaining why Hemingway creates protagonists who are, “struggling to come to terms with how they fit into the complicated world they were born into and looking for meaning or cause in their lives” (Marca, 2010). As a result of Hemingway’s preoccupation with the biological trap that holds all human beings captive, “… some critics have accused him of being obsessed by death, but we believe that he is simply debriefing life as he experiences and understands it” (Curry, 1988). Curry (1988) affords us an insight into Hemmingway’s chequered life that was characterised by an unhappy childhood during which he is reported to have professed hatred for his mother. We also have glimpse of a life during which Hemingway experienced the disasters of warfare at a tender age, endured a compendium of failed marriages and witnessed several other painful experiences including suicide by members of his family including his father and later even himself (Wikipedia, http://schools-wikipedia.or/wple/ernest_Hemingway.htm, 2013). With such a background, one can understand the apocalyptic, nihilistic and woebegone perception of life that characterises Hemingway’s works. It is therefore believed that Hemingway used autobiographical details as framing devices about life in general—not only about his life. For example, it is postulated that Hemingway used his experiences and drew them out with "what if" scenarios: "what if I were wounded in such a way that I could not sleep at night? What if I were wounded and made crazy, what would happen if I were sent back to the front?" (Benson, 1989). Mellow agrees with this position when he says, “His wartime experiences formed the basis for his novel A Farwell to Arms” (Mellow, 1991). That is why it is important not to expect a happy ending while reading any of Hemingway’s works since there is a doom that hangs over all his novels from the very first chapter. However, it is important to observe that such foreboding atmosphere does not make the reader lose interest in the story because Hemingway maintains a life-death tempo that sustains interest and brings the reader to the last chapter uplifted; only to be cast down into the depths of sadness. ALLS 5(2):166-170, 2014 167 Although the above analogy aptly captures the essence of Hemingway’s creativity, especially as regards the presentation of his protagonists, there appears to be a subtle, yet remarkable difference between his other protagonists and that in The Old Man and The Sea who embodies the positive virtues necessary for human development; virtues that are either completely missing or found in very limited amounts in Hemingway’s other protagonists, particularly in the protagonist of A Farwell to Arms. This is why we believe The Old Man and the Sea stands out when compared with his other works and contains the recipe for overcoming the biological trap. It is therefore not surprising that Hemingway did not get the Nobel Prize for Literature until he wrote The Old Man and the Sea. In fact, from the wordings that accompanied the award, it is clear that this novel more than any of Hemingway’s other works, tipped the scales in his favour (Meyers, 1985). The Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, supports this position when it posits that in 1954, when Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, it was for “his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea” (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ernest_Hemingway#cite-ref-162, 2010). Apart from the Nobel Prize, we are also told that “The Old Man and the Sea became a book-of-the-month selection, made Hemingway an international celebrity, and won him the Pulitzer prize in May 1952” (Desnoyers, 2011). 2. The Biological Trap in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms A Farwell to Arms is the story of Frederick Henry, a young American volunteer for the Italian ambulance service in the First World War. Up near the Austrian and Italian fronts, he meets and falls in love with Catherine Barkley, a British nurse and for the first time since he was born, begins to find more meaning in life. The events of the war however, lead to disillusionment; he is wounded in the knee by a shell, and later he is nearly killed by the Italian battle police while taking part in a general retreat. He then decides to desert the army and take Catherine with him to Switzerland. Although several writers have written about World War 1, Hemingway’s A Farwell to Arms has distinguished him as a writer of extraordinary freshness, power and indeed as one of the makers of a new American fiction. Commenting on the star features of this novel, Carlos Baker states that “Hemingway managed to catch and hold in his novel a set of attitudes towards war and human love which are essentially ageless” (Baker, 1964). His characters in this novel are aware of the fact that nature has conspired against man; an affirmation of the biological trap. The novel makes it clear that war is evil as it causes death to humanity; but because man is biologically trapped and destined to die, he embraces war instead of love. When Catherine lies in pains in the hospital in Switzerland, Frederick Henry says, “it’s just nature giving her hell” (227). This means that even the war that is being fought is nature’s grand design for man to experience pain and eventually the ultimate end (death). Frederick Henry, Hemingway’s hero has discovered the emptiness of the trapped man’s life with his symbolic encounter with a dog nosing at empty cans on a refuse heap in Chapter Forty-One of the novel. While Catherine’s labour continues at the hospital, Henry goes down a street to have breakfast. He comes across a dog nosing at an empty can on a refuse heap and he asks the dog, “what do you want?....There isn’t anything, dog” (223). This incident is symbolic of the emptiness that the trapped man experiences. Throughout the novel therefore, Henry is searching for some consistent system of values to which he can adhere; unfortunately, it is clear he finds none other than the realisation that man is trapped right from birth. When he goes on leave for instance, he spends most of his time visiting brothels and also drinking heavily. At this point in Henry’s life, drink and sex are both escape symbols. He is trying to obliterate the meaninglessness and emptiness of this world of war and death. Therefore, he devotes himself to the fulfillment of these appetites. This desire to satisfy ephemeral appetites is typical of Hemingway’s heroes who are always conscious of human mortality and are thus prepared to make the best use of their period of existence. Frederick Henry is also afraid of darkness because it is like the darkness of death. He is restless and cannot face sleeping in a dark room and this fear forces him to search for some type of sensation during the night. A Farewell to Arms is a tragedy and some critics refer to it as “a narrative of doom” (Baker, 1964: 139). Hemingway himself believes that because man is trapped, his life can have only one end. He is quoted by Baker to have once stated, “The fact that the book was a tragic one did not make one unhappy since I believed that life was a tragedy and knew it could only have one end” (Baker, 1964: 139). Man’s life is meant to end tragically. Therefore the lives of the main characters in this novel are tales of woes. At Frederick’s first meeting with Miss Barkley, she talks of her young fiancé who was killed while fighting in the Somme. During their first conversation, Catherine Barkley makes a statement that gains significance throughout the novel. Speaking of her late fiancé she says, “Then of course he was killed and that was the end of it” (18). It was indeed the end of his life and also the end of their love affair. Frederick Henry protests and Catherine dismisses the comment by repeating that death ends everything. Frederick does not accept this view completely at the time, until at the end of the novel when Catherine herself dies that it dawns on him that death is indeed the end of all things. As we pointed out earlier in this paper, Hemingway believes that man is biologically trapped; therefore, all his efforts to be happy are often thwarted by fate. Henry falls in love with Catherine and hopes to marry and make a family, but this is never to be. Miss Ferguson, a fellow nurse and friend of Catherine, can see the end of the relationship from the beginning. When Henry asks her if she would attend their wedding, she replies, “You will never get married…. You’ll die then. Fight or die. That’s what people do” (80). ALLS 5(2):166-170, 2014 168 Henry’s relationship with Catherine results to pregnancy and she breaks the news to him thus: “I am going to have a baby, darling. It’s almost three months along” (101). Even though they planned to get married one day, the pregnancy is not expected at this point. She had tried to avoid getting pregnant but to no avail. She states: “I did everything. I took everything but it didn’t make any difference” (101). Catherine and Henry suddenly feel trapped with the coming of the pregnancy and the possibility of having a baby they are not yet prepared for. Conscious of the fact that Henry is obviously worried about this discovery, Catherine asks: “And you don’t feel trapped?” (102) And Henry replies, “May be a little. But not by you…. You always feel trapped biologically” (102). When Henry says he is brave and “nothing ever happens to the brave” (103), Catherine replies that “They die of course” (103). This discussion shows clearly that the two lovers know that man is trapped by nature; that the misfortunes that man faces are indeed merely a necessary prelude to the ultimate end – death. The night Henry is to return to the warfront after his recovery from leg injuries, he and Catherine spend some good time together at a hotel near the train station in Milan. In spite of the good time they have together, Henry suddenly remembers how short man’s life is and quotes Andrew Marvel’s words, “And always at my back I hear Time’s winged chariot hurrying near” (113). Again, when Catherine’s labour starts at the hotel and she is to be rushed to the hospital, the elevator operator cannot be found. When eventually that challenge is overcome, it is again difficult getting a taxi to convey her to the hospital in time. These are all indications of nature’s conspiracy against the trapped man. Also, as Catherine’s labour becomes abnormally prolonged, Henry becomes uneasy as it dawns on him that the trap in which they are is gradually being tightened. He therefore laments, “Poor, poor dear Cat. And this was the price you paid for sleeping together. This was the end of the trap. This was what people got for loving each other” (227). Henry realises that no matter what man does, he eventually gets caught up in the trap that nature has set for him. He regrets “so now they got away with anything” (227). Henry has a premonition of Catherine’s death. He can feel it but has no power to stop it. In the end Catherine cannot deliver the baby on her own so she has to undergo a fatal caesarean section. The baby is removed dead and Catherine also dies due to complications from the surgery – a further confirmation of the trap. Also worthy of note in this novel is the strong emphasis on the rain symbolism, especially in Chapter Nineteen of the book. Rain is used as a symbol of tragedy or death and destruction. We realise that Catherine is afraid of the rain because for her, it is symbolic of death. She sometimes sees herself as being dead in the rain. Man is thus helpless in the face of death. The inability of man to help himself shows that he is a victim of a hostile universe. Hemingway continues his use of the rain symbolism in exploring the theme of the trapped man by associating tragic events with rainfall. The retreat of the tired Italian troops is halted by rain and later turns into a disaster, the parting of Catherine and Henry at the railway station as he heads for the front again is also done while it is raining. Henry’s escape with Catherine to Switzerland, where Catherine later dies after a caesarean operation, is done while it is raining and more importantly, it is raining at the time of Catherine’s death in the hospital. Frederick Henry feels trapped after he learns that Catherine is pregnant. This feeling has a wider application because Hemingway is implying here that ultimately, man is trapped in almost everything he does. All he can do is to accept his fate with stoicism, just as Catherine faces her death at the end of the novel. In Book III of the novel we are confronted with many more images suggestive of death and destruction, barrenness and sterility. Book III speaks of hostility, the dead, the crushed and the rain. We are introduced to the town of Caporetto where the retreat turns into anarchy, confusion and disorder. Even Henry and Bonello, one of his drivers, kill a sergeant that is retreating with them. This shows how chaos has taken over from reason, thus sending thousands to their graves. The killing of Aymo by his own countrymen is equally another indication of the senselessness and confusion of the war. Equally appalling is the insanity demonstrated by the Italian battle police who execute military officers. In the last chapter of the novel, Frederick Henry finally learns in a hard way that there are indeed forces against which he cannot fight, that Catherine’s death is the trap that he felt earlier. He also learns that mortal man must be totally independent in this world. If you trust in another mortal being, you can easily be defeated when the person bows to death, like Catherine. Thus he comes to terms with the idea of man’s defeat and futility of life. Frederick had hitherto doubted the finality of death. Now however, he knows that the only value in death is man’s knowledge that death is inevitable; it must come when it must come. Frederick’s desertion of the army was to bid farewell to arms and the war. It is rather ironical that because man is trapped, his action is of double effect. Just as he bids farewell to arms and the war, he also bids farewell to Catherine’s arms. 3. The Biological Trap in Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea The Old Man and the Sea is a very interesting story of a Cuban fisherman’s fight with a great fish. Santiago, simply referred to as the old man, has gone on fishing expeditions for eighty four days without a catch. His bad luck has become so legendary that he is not only described as “salao” (a person of incurable bad luck) but the boy that used to go fishing with him as a trainee fisherman is withdrawn on the fortieth day by his parents and attached to a luckier boat. Due to his prolonged misfortune, the old man no longer can feed himself and would have died of hunger but for the intervention of his former apprentice, who though withdrawn from the old man, retains deep affection for his former ALLS 5(2):166-170, 2014 169 master and makes it a point of duty to care for the old man and provide him food and bait. In fact, the old man is so poor that no one would steal his property even if he carelessly leaves it outside. On the eighty-fifth day, the old man decides that the number eighty-five is usually a lucky number so he is determined to make the magic of this number work for him. He therefore goes out to fish with more determination than ever before and dares into waters or parts of the ocean rarely ventured into by other fishermen and here he gets the biggest catch of his life; and what a catch considering his many years on earth! The old man battles with the great fish for three days and just when he thinks he has won the battle, sharks appear to deprive him of his hard won prize! He resolves to fight the sharks as well; saying, “Man is not made for defeat…. A man can be destroyed but not defeated” (75). With this determination, he kills four sharks and injures two others badly before he runs out of weapons but continues to fight with his oar even as darkness catches up with him and he can barely see his fish being torn away with impunity. In fact, we are told that he fights so much that, “he felt a strange taste in his mouth…. It was slippery and sweet and he was afraid of it for a moment. But there was not much of it” (86). Santiago finally arrives home when everyone is asleep to be attended by the boy that has remained loyal to him all along and to the admiration of all the other fishermen whose perception of the old man changes forever. It is true that even in this novel the biological trap is evident in Santiago’s battle with the elements. We have the feeling of man being the hunted specie rather than the hunter; a recurrent thematic preoccupation in Hemingway’s works. However, it is significant to note that unlike what we see in most of his works particularly his A Farewell to Arms, Santiago has been excellently depicted. Here, we have a protagonist that has refused to resign to fate; Santiago has refused to meekly accept whatever nature dishes out to him. On the contrary, he has fought back every step of the way. Man is portrayed here as standing up to denounce, in the loudest terms possible, the docile posture of Hemingway’s heroes in his other works; a posture that irrevocably precipitates their destruction. In this novel, man’s philosophy of life is captured on page 75 where the old man says, “But man is not made for defeat…. A man can only be destroyed but not defeated”. It is this philosophy that empowers the old man to triumph at the end. This same determination can make any man overcome the biological trap no matter how formidable it may be. It is true that Santiago does not succeed in coming home with the whole fish but his success can be measured at various levels: at the first level, we can say Santiago has succeeded because he has permanently laid to rest the belief that he is “salao”. The fish he finally captures becomes a sort of tourist attraction even among fellow fishermen despite the fact that only the skeleton and the head survive to testify to its enormity. We are told that early the following morning, “many fishermen were around the skiff looking at what was lashed beside it, and one was in the water, his trouser rolled up, measuring the skeleton with a length of line” (89). At the second level Santiago has succeeded because as a result of his latest achievement, the old man’s former trainee, who was forced by his parents to abandon Santiago, decides to follow his mind and reunite with his master regardless of whatever anybody would think saying, “the hell with luck,… I’ll bring the luck with me’ (90). When asked what his family would say he laconically replies, “I do not care… we will fish together now for I still have much to learn” (90). This is a tacit admittance by the boy that the old man is the sole repository of knowledge and only from this fountain of knowledge can he draw enough experience to be a successful fisherman one day. At the third level and most significantly, Santiago has not abandoned fishing due to this terrible ordeal on the high sea. On the contrary, he resolves to be a better fisherman than he ever was. This is not the mark of one that has been defeated! It is the hallmark of a winner and that is why the hero of this novel stands at opposite ends with that of A Farewell to Arms. The fact that Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature one year after the release of The Old Man and the Sea (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ernest_Hemingway#cite-ref-162, 2010) is also instructive in the value of this novel: such awards are won by those who by their works have contributed significantly to humanity. When a writer portrays characters in his work, he intends to pass a message to the rest of humanity through the characters and there is no gain overemphasizing the fact that of all of Hemingway’s protagonists, the old man is arguably the most impressive: he epitomises the dogged determination and unwavering sense of focus needed for success. The fact that he goes without a catch for eighty-four days but never gives up is a clear pointer to this conclusion. Apart from that, we learn a lot from the old man’s refusal to succumb to self-pity and revel in charity, as many in his position would do, despite his extreme privation. That is why despite the fact that he relies on the boy for food, drinks and fishing bait, he does so reluctantly and pretends he does not actually need these things; not due to ingratitude but because he does not want to relapse to that comfort zone of living off charity. We are told that, “there was no cast net and the boy remembered when they had sold it. But they went through this fiction every day. There was no pot of yellow rice and fish and the boy knew this too” (10). However, both of them knew the importance of pampering one’s ego as a means of self-motivation, and self-motivation is critical for worthwhile achievements. Another significant lesson we learn from the Old Man’s character is the need to focus on one thing at a time and avoid distractions. We see that the old man had gone for eighty-four days without a catch but it is on the day he makes the biggest catch of all time and is battling to subdue the fish that his other baits become major sources of attraction for fish in order to distract him from pursuing his main goal. Sometime before daylight something took one of the baits and the line began to rush out over the gunwale of the skiff. In the darkness he loosened his sheath knife and taking all the strain of the fish on his left shoulder he leaned back and cut the line against the wood of the gunwale. Then he cut the ALLS 5(2):166-170, 2014 170 other line closest to him and in the dark made the loose ends of the reserve coils fast…. Now he had six reserve coils of line (36) There is much wisdom in what the Old Man has done here. What he is saying is that when pursuing a worthwhile target, one should avoid distractions no matter how tempting they might be lest you be torn in between. The Old Man is telling humanity that rather than divide your attention and be defeated, we should pool our resources and channel them towards the achievement of our main objective as he has done by cutting the ropes and joining them together to have reserve coils. The importance of focusing on the main objective of our pursuit is further demonstrated shortly after when Santiago allows himself to be distracted by a bird, “How did I let the fish cut me with that one quick pull he made? I must be getting very stupid, or perhaps I was looking at the small bird and thinking of him. Now I will pay attention to my work” (40). 4. Conclusion From the foregoing, it is true that in Hemingway’s works generally, man is confronted by a biological trap; a challenge inherent in man’s nature that frustrates every of his efforts at attaining a good and comfortable life for himself. This is why we see all Hemingway’s protagonists suffering and sweating against daunting odds placed in their paths to success both by man and, especially, by nature. However, the deciding factor is how we respond to that biological trap when we encounter it. It is that response that determines whether we succeed or fail, whether we are celebrated by our friends and foes alike or we are ignored as just another victim of the trap, fit only to be abandoned in the abyss of historical oblivion. In the two novels under study, we have seen two such responses: whereas Frederick Henry of A Farewell to Arms has opted for resignation, Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea believes in the never-give-up spirit. When Catherine is in the operating theatre, Frederick sits outside and clothes himself in self-defeat and negativism I sat down on the chair in front of a table where there were nurses’ reports hung on clips at the side and looked out of the window. I could see nothing but the DARK (emphasis mine) and the RAIN FALLING across the light from the window. So that was it. The baby was dead…. I wished the hell I’d been choked all like that. No I didn’t. Still there would not be all this dying to go through. Now Catherine would die. That was what you did. You died. You did not know what it was about….. (232) Instead of seeing the light, he prefers to see darkness and with such a mindset, it is not surprising that Frederick Henry stands no chance against the biological trap that all Hemingway’s protagonists encounter. That is why he does not only lose the child but also the love of his life. However, the protagonist of The Old Man and the Sea refuses to yield to such nihilistic philosophy as Frederick Henry revels in. Even after going without a catch for eighty-four days, he refuses to see darkness; rather he sees the bright blue sky at its best even when he is all alone in a part of the sea where several other fishermen dare not venture into. That is why he catches the greatest fish of his life. When he catches the fish, he struggles with it for three days before he subdues and kills it. After he kills the fish, he begins the bitterest battle of his life, this time with the sharks which he fights till he tastes blood in his mouth. Through all this, his resolution is “…man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated”, (75). This is the prerequisite for overcoming the biological trap that hangs over not just Hemingway’s characters but all humanity. References Baker, C. (1964). Forum Lectures: The American Novel. Washington: U.S. Information Agency. Benson, J. (1989). "Ernest Hemingway; The Life as Fiction and the Fiction as Life". American Literature Volume 61, Issue 3, 354-358. Curry, D. e. (1988). Highlights of American Literature. Washington: U.S. Information Agency. Desnoyers, M. F. (2011, November 30). John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Online Resources. Retrieved February 26, 2014, from John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Hemingway, E. (1952). The Old Man and The Sea. London: Heinemann Educational Books. Hemingway, E. (1987). A Farewell to Arms. London: Grafton Books. Marca, T. (December 11, 2010). "Characters Comming of Age in Ernest Hemingway's Works". Yahoo Contributor Network, 1- 8. Mellow, J. (1991). Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein and Company. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Meyers, J. (1985). Hemingway: A Biography. New York: Macmillan. Wikipedia. (2010, March 7). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ernest_Hemingway#cite-ref-162. Retrieved February 27, 2014, from www.google.com. Wikipedia. (2013, December 10). http://schools-wikipedia.or/wple/ernest_Hemingway.htm. Retrieved December 10, 2013, from www.google.com. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia A CALL-based Lesson Plan for Teaching Reading Comprehension to Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners Hooshang Khoshsima Deparment of English Language, Chabahar Maritime University, Chabahar, Iran E-mail: Khoshsima2002@yahoo.com Mahboobeh Khosravani (Corresponding author) Deparment of English Language, Chabahar Maritime University, Chabahar, Iran E-mail: Khosravani7@gmail.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.171 Received: 02/03/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.171 Accepted: 16/04/2014 Abstract The main purpose of this descriptive research is to provide a CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning)-based lesson plan for teaching reading comprehension to Iranian intermediate EFL learners. CALL is a new way of learning and teaching language. It is proved that CALL mainly has positive effects on educational contexts. Although teachers believe that CALL will have positive effect in the process of learning a language, they prefer the traditional methods. The reason is that they do not have a guide to work based on it. As a result, this study tries to design a CALL-based lesson plan to suggest not only the teachers, but also the students to examine the benefits of the method. Keywords: Comprehension, CALL, Lesson plan 1. Introduction During the process of learning a language, we deal with four skills of reading, speaking, writing, and listening. Among these four skills, reading receives the main focus for many reasons such as being able to read for educational purposes, for future jobs, for pleasure, for information. According to Chastain (1988) “reading is a process involving the activation of relevant knowledge and related language skills to accomplish an exchange of information from one person to another.” (p.216). Nunan (2006) considers reading as an active skill and unlike speaking, it is not something that every individual learns to do. He believes that “an enormous amount of time, money, and effort is spent teaching reading around the world.” (p.249) As soon as a child is exposed to a language he/she has to start with his/her reading skill. The crucial thing for becoming fluent readers is learning how to comprehend what they read. Reading comprehension involves several tasks like reading, knowing the meaning of words, being aware of idioms and expressions and so on. As a result, it is so important to find a way to help the students to learn how to comprehend a text. According to Duke and Pearson (2002) research on reading comprehension has a long and rich history. Myriad studies in the literature have examined the nature of reading comprehension as a process and about effective reading comprehension instruction. Without knowing how to comprehend a text, one cannot understand the meaning of a text. Although there are a lot of researches on reading comprehension, the students still face a lot of problems (Nunan, 2006.P.249). All the time the researchers are working on this issue to find an effective way for teaching reading comprehension. In the process of learning, there are a lot of changes in human thoughts and the way of solving the problem of learning a language. In psychology, we can mention these changes from behaviorism to cognitivism and now to constructivism, which is the foundation of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) (Cooper, 1993). Constructivism theory is based on experimenting. Constructivists believed that when we learn something, we should provide a relationship between new notions and old ones. Among different ways of teaching reading comprehension, the researcher chose the newest one, which is CALL. CALL is somehow a new issue in teaching environment as it started in 1960s and70s; as a result, it needs more work and researches (Moras, 2001). As computers have become widespread in schools, homes, and business, a need for language learning has become urgent and the necessity of computer literacy has become very obvious, language teachers have started to use new technologies as a new pedagogical tool in foreign language teaching (Seljan, Berger& Dovedan, 2002). According to Moras (2001) CALL has been used since the 1960s and 1970s, but it still lacks a clear research methods. CALL development can be divided into three phases: Behaviorist, Communicative, and Integrative. At first the use of CALL in educational situations was very limited. ALLS 5(2):171-176, 2014 172 We can use Computer-Assisted Language Learning in different fields of teaching like teaching vocabulary, grammars, composition, pronunciation, and reading comprehension. In this research, the researcher will work on using CALL for teaching reading comprehension. As a result, a CALL-based lesson plan will be proposed. This study seeks to find the best CALL-lesson plan to help not only the teachers but also the students to comprehend a text better and independently. As a result, during this research the following questions will be investigated: Q1: How to use CALL in the process of teaching reading skills? Q2: How to produce a CALL-based lesson plan to help students to comprehend a text? 2. Review of Related Literature 2.1 Nature of Reading comprehension Reading is perceiving a written text in order to understand its contents. This can be done silently. The understanding that results is called reading comprehension (Richards & Schmidt, 2002). Richards and Schmidt (2002, P.443) argued that there are three types of reading comprehension according to reader's purposes in reading and the type of reading used. A: Literal comprehension: reading in order to understand, remember, or recall the information explicitly contained in a passage. B: Inferential comprehension: reading in order to find information which is not explicitly the reader's experiences and intuition, and by inferring. stated in a passage, using C: Critical or evaluative comprehension: reading in order to compare information in a passage with the reader's own knowledge and values. D: Appreciative comprehension: reading in order to gain an emotional or other kind of valued response from a passage. Among different ways of comprehending a text the newest one which is CALL will be investigated in this paper. 2.3 The Definition of CALL Richards and Schmidt (2002, P.101) stated the definition of CALL as the use of a computer in the teaching or learning of a second or foreign language. They also cited that CALL may take the form of A: activities which parallel learning through other media but which use the facilities of the computer. B: activities which are extensions or adaptations of print-based or classroom based activities. C: activities which are unique to CALL. According to Arishi (2012), before starting reviewing literature on CALL, it is valuable to give some definitions about CALL along with emphasizing some aspects which are beneficial in the process of learning and teaching. The previous researchers have come up with slightly differing definitions of CALL which varies depending on which aspect of it is important for researchers. Egbert (2005), for example, defined CALL as “using computers to support language teaching and learning in some way” (p. 4). Her definition covers all language skills with no exception. Beatty (2003) defines CALL as “any process in which a learner uses a computer and, as a result, improves his or her language” (p. 7). Similarly, Levy (1997), stated that CALL is “the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning” (p.1) 2.4 The History of CALL Computers have been used for language teaching ever since the 1960's. "This 40-year period can be divided into three main stages: behaviorist CALL, communicative CALL, and integrative CALL. Each stage corresponds to a certain level of technology and certain pedagogical theories"(Lee, 2000). In 1960s the term Computer Assisted Language Instruction (CALI) was common in USA, until CALL became the superior term. During the 1980s CALL became widely known and passed on, focusing the communicative approach and some new technologies, mainly multimedia and communications technology. In early 1990s, CALL was substituted with Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL), which appeared to have a closer description of activities which belong to CALL. In fact, TELL didn’t become as widespread as CALL was. 2.5 Researches on CALL As the computers became widespread everywhere, the researchers started to work on different aspects of using computers in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages. As a result, nowadays CALL is one of the most favorite field of research for researchers. In this section, the researcher will explore the different studies on CALL, different attitudes toward it, and different CALL-based lesson plans. Many researchers have tried to prove the significant effect of CALL on learning foreign languages. (Chen, 1996; Fallon and Brown, 2003; Morrison, 2003; Dudeney and Hockly,2008; Chapelle, 2003; Lee, 2000) Fardy, Namdar, Farhadi, Shorabi, Saboori(2011) explored the effects of CALL on the reading comprehension of expository texts. The subjects of this research were divided into two groups, control group and experimental group. For experimental group computer-assisted instructions were used. On the other hand, control group received their instruction through traditional ways. Before instruction, both groups took pre-test followed by a 12 weeks follow up ALLS 5(2):171-176, 2014 173 posttest. The results proved that there were statistically considerable differences between two groups because of using CALL-based instruction on reading comprehension. On the other hand, others provided some negative aspects of CALL. For example, Lee (2000) said that “engaging in Computer Assisted Language Learning is a continuous challenge that requires time and commitment” (p. 5) There is a research about advantages and disadvantages of computer technology on second language acquisition, in which the researchers, Kritsonis and Lai (2006), explore four reasons about the disadvantages of using CALL. The first one as Gips, DiMattia, and Gips (2004) indicated is that using CALL will raise instructive prices and decrease the fairness of educational process. In other words, poor students won’t be able to have the same instructions as others. Second, using CALL in the process of learning and teaching needs basic knowledge of computers and technology for both teachers and students. The condition will be worst when teachers themselves don’t have the knowledge of technology, as a result they cannot help their students. Third, as CALL is a new phenomenon, its functions are not still developed. As a result, we cannot use CALL for all skills. Forth, computers are unable to manage unpredictable situations. This is an important weakness, as the process of learning a language is full of unexpected happenings. Some researchers tried to explore the students' attitude toward using CALL in the process of learning. As an example, Ashiri (2012) tried to find out the students' attitude at Saudi Arabia's Industrial Colleges toward CALL. The result of this study showed that students had positive attitudes toward CALL. In general, learning with CALL was very interesting for students. Another example was conducted by Onsoy (2004), who worked on students' and teachers' attitudes toward using CALL. The findings of the study indicated that students and teachers had positive attitudes towards the use of computers in educational instruction. The findings also demonstrated that students and teachers believed that CALL training is necessary especially for teachers to learn how to teach with CALL. Now it is clear that although CALL has some limits, mainly it has positive effects on the quality of learning foreign languages. To conclude, it can be said that both students and teachers have positive attitudes toward using CALL. The main problem is that teachers don't know how to start using CALL. Nowadays all schools have computers, but it is not enough. Although teachers know the positive effects of CALL on learning, they prefer to use traditional ways of teaching. The reason is that teachers are afraid of using a new technology in the process of teaching, because they don't have a specific frame about how to use CALL. As a result, this study tried to provide a CALL-based lesson plan for teaching reading comprehension. 3. Methodology 3.1 Method and Design This study was descriptive in nature. Type of research question was qualitative. In this study, the researcher worked in a way to design a CALL-based lesson plan for teaching reading comprehension. 3.2 Procedures The aim of this study is to design a CALL-based lesson plan, which can be used for all texts, in all settings, for all learners. At first, the researcher will try to understand different aspects and uses of CALL fully, and then she thought about different ways of learning reading comprehension. The researcher studied a lot of lesson plans and found out their weaknesses. So this study tried to reduce those weaknesses. 3.3 Data Collection As mentioned before, this study is very innovative and the researcher's aim was to design a useful CALL-based lesson plan. As the research is descriptive, we do not have any quantitative data. 4. Results and Discussion In this essay, it became clear that both teachers and students had positive attitudes toward using CALL in language learning and teaching. They also believe that CALL will have positive effects on students. CALL is a new way of learning a language, so teachers need a guide to use it. The current study aimed at helping teachers by providing a CALL-based lesson plan. This plan aims at helping not only teachers but also students. In this part the lesson plan will be provided. 4.1 CALL-based Lesson Plan This lesson plan is about colors. At the end of this activity, students should be aware of different colors and different mixtures. This lesson is organized in a way that teachers themselves can change it for each lesson. In other words, this lesson plan is a frame work that enables the teachers to start designing their own lesson plan. ALLS 5(2):171-176, 2014 ACTIVITY 174 OBJECTIVES MEDIA Time Preparing a new situation by doing the following activities: Opening the teacher's weblog and the part of "teaching colors" in it. PRE-TEACHING ACTIVITIES Showing the first two slides on the computer (that show the question "What color is it?" and masses of colors with a question mark under them.) Who can ever see rainbow? The teachers ask them to search for this web to see rainbow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow Who can estimate about the number of all colors? After receiving different responses from students, we ask them to go to these cites to see the large number of colors. - The teacher should provide the necessary background. (By asking different questions, by helping students to see different colors in different websites, by asking about their favorites.) - The teacher should attract his students’ attention. (By pointing to real objects, showing attractive slides on computer.) - Students should understand what they want to learn and become familiar with it.(through the teacher's weblog and beautiful slides) - Students learnt in advance how to search on internet. (So now the teacher should help them whenever they have problem with searching those URLs.) http://www.colorhexa.com/color-names http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors_ (compact) Who knows combination of different colors to have extra colors? You can see different mixture colors in these URLs. http://michaelbach.de/ot/col_mix/ http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/ Colormixing.shtml -The teacher should give the students enough time to see the colors carefully and talk with other students about those colors. - Computer (power point) - Internet (the teacher's weblog, different URLs) - Role playing (asking questions actively) 30 min WHILE-TEACHING ACTIVITIES ALLS 5(2):171-176, 2014 The students are given the passages on their computers. - The teacher should attract his students' attention. (by using the computer ) The teacher tells them that they can find the meaning of new words by searching on the electronic dictionary which is installed on their computers. The students should concentrate on the present topic (colors) and think about it. (By giving a passage about colors.) We asked them to click on the names of the different colors on the text to see the exact colors. - The students should be active and The students were told to have the headphones. (by using the computer, online dictionaries, and headphones) The can hear the reading, they can stop it and listen to it again and again. The next activity is answering different questions for evaluating. POST-TEACHING ACTIVITIES 175 they themselves computer use - Computer (power point) - Internet -Online dictionaries 30 min the -Headphones There is no limitation to number of listening reading, they can even listen to it more than three times. (The students have headphones, so there is no inconvenience for those who want to work on next exercises.) - Students should be active in the class.(pair work, surfing the net,etc) - Computer (power point, playing a music while the pair work is Wanting students to go to next slide and answer the questions according to text. The questions are essay type and multiple questions.(the students should type and choose the correct answer on computer, and the teacher can see all the answers on his own computer.) - Evaluation of what they learnt about the passage. performing) - Internet (the teacher's weblog - Students should also use the computer and internet at home. (giving homework & and answering the questions via the net) and surfing the net as the final evaluation and giving homework) Wanting students to visit the teacher's weblog and see their homework in it. They also can ask their questions via the teacher's email. 5. Conclusion As already mentioned, this study tried to provide a CALL-based lesson plan. The given lesson plan is a general sample, so the teachers themselves can design appropriate ones for their specific lessons. As one of the difficulty of teachers is how to use CALL in the process of language learning, so the aim of this study was to make teachers familiar with the use of CALL in process of teaching. This study has a number of implications. First of all, it might provide helpful hints for syllabus designers to provide CALL-based syllabuses. Second, teacher trainers might use the results of the study to change the attitudes of teachers toward using technology in the process of teaching. Third, this study can act as a provoker for teachers to use CALLbased lesson plan in their classes. The last one is that the lessons become more interesting for students, so they will have more interaction in the class. 30 min ALLS 5(2):171-176, 2014 176 This study is just applicable for teaching reading comprehension. As a result, future studies can examine the efficiency of CALL wise programs or lesson plans of other skills. The novelty of CALL provides more studies and more researches. Refrences Arishi, S. A. (2012). Attitudes of Students at Saudi Arabia industrial colleges toward computer-assisted Language learning (CALL). Teaching English with Technology , 12(1), 38-52. Beatty, K. (2003). Teaching and Researching Computer Assisted Language Learning. New York: Longman. Chapelle, C. A. (2003). English Language Learning and Technology. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Chastain, K. (1988). Developing second-language skills: Theory and practice, (3th). San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. Chen, J. (1996). CALL is not a hammer and is not every teaching problem is a nail: Changing expectations of computers in the classroom. the Internet TESL Journal , 3(1), 1-4. Cooper, P.A. (1993). Paradigm shifts in designed instruction: From behaviorism to cognitivism to constructivism. Educational Technology 33: 12-19. Lai, C., & Kritsonis, W. A. (2006). The advantages and disadvantages of computer technology in second language acquisition. National journal for publishing and mentoring doctorial student research , 3 (1).pp.11-13. Dudeney, G., & Hockly, N. (2008). How to teach with technology. England: Longman. Duke, N. K., & Pearson, D. P. (2002). Effective practices for developing reading comprehension. International Reading Association , 3, 205-242. Egbert, J. (2005). CALL Essentials: Principles and practices in CALL. Virginia: TESOL. Fallon, C., & Brown, S. (2003). E-learning Standards. United States of America: CRC Press LLC. Fardy, M., Namdar, L., Farhadi, S., Noori Shoorabi, H., & Saboori, A. (2011). the effect of using computer- assisted language learning(CALL) on the reading comprehension of expository texts for the Iranian university female seniors. Journal of Academic and Applied studies , 1(2), 1-7. Gips, A., Diamattia, P., & Gips, J. (2004). The effect of assistive technology on educational costs: two case studies. Published in Computers Helping People with Special Needs. K. Miesenberger, J. Klaus, W. Zagler, D. Burger (eds.). Springer-Verlag, 2004. 206-213. Lee, K. (2000). English Teachers' Barriers to the use of computer-assisted Language Learning. the International TES Journal . Hsuan Chuang University ,Hsinchu, Taiwan. Levy, M. (1997). Computer-Assisted Language Learning Context and conceptualization. Oxford, Uk: Clarendon Press. Moras, Solange. Computer-Assisted Lanaguage Learning (Call) And The Internet. Karen’s Linguistic Issues, 2001. Morrison, d. (2003). E-learning Strategies. England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Nunan, D. (2006). Second Language Teaching and Learning. Harlow, Portland: Heinle and Heinle. Onsoy, S. (2004). students' and teachers' attitudes toward the use of Computer-Assisted Language Learning at the preparatory school of Celal Bayar University, a master thesis. Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman Dictionary of Language Teachimg and Applied Linguistics. London: Longman. Seljan, S., Berger, N., & Dovedan, Z. (2002). Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Warschauer, M., & Healey, D. (1998). Computer and language learning: an overview. Language Teaching Journal 31, printed in United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press. PP. 57-71. Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia A Study Of Power Relations In Doctor-Patient Interactions In Selected Hospitals In Lagos State, Nigeria Qasim Adam Department of English, University of Lagos, Nigeria E-mail: mqradam@gmail.com Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.177 Received: 03/03/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.177 Accepted: 16/04/2014 Abstract This paper explores power relations in clinical interactions in Nigeria. It seeks to investigate the use of power between doctors and patients during consultations on patient-centred approach to medicine in selected public and private hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria. The objective is to establish how doctors' projection of power, using the discourse resources of transitivity, affects positively or negatively their relationship with patients. This study employs triangulation as its methodology. A judicious mix of quantitative and qualitative methods has been utilized to give the study a scientific shape. Proportionate stratified random sampling and purposive sampling procedures were employed. The study employs the theoretical and analytical paradigms of Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. The findings revealed that doctors predominantly use this process to the benefit of the patients. Minimal level of intrusive and cooperative interruptions was also observed. It is expected that this study will give more visibility on the best way patients can be empowered by lessening doctors’ use of polar interrogatives and completely avoiding interruptive discourse in clinical interactions. Keywords: Discourse Analysis, Power Relations, Transitivity, Doctor-Patient Interactions 1. Introduction This study is an exploration of the use of the discourse resources of transitivity as deployed in the enactment of power in doctor-patient interactions in selected public and private hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria. Issues of power in clinical encounters have been linked to the problem of imbalance in the discourse of the participants; hence, the study examines how the doctor's use of power supports or negates the principles of patient-centredness in medical consultations. Using the theoretical and analytical parameters of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this study examines how the discourse roles of interactants reveal the dynamics of power projection in clinical encounters (transitivity). 1.1 Background to the Study Studies on interpersonal communication in medical encounters confirm that doctor-patient rapport is key to effective health care delivery (Kurz et al, 2003). Patients' physical wellbeing is highly dependent on effective technical knowledge backed up by a robust and effective interpersonal communication (Ambady et al, 2002). Power relation is a pervasive phenomenon in social life and language, being an inalienable part of our social life, possesses multifarious ways of exhibiting power. As Kress (1982) observes ‘…language is entwined in social power in a number of ways: it indexes power, expresses power, and language is involved wherever there is contention over and challenge to power’. Again, studies have revealed that when doctors misuse their power within the doctor-patient encounter, patients' attitude towards doctors, health care, and in how they perceive themselves are adversely affected ( Gridley et al , cited in Polimeni, 2004). Clinical encounters have the fertile potential for social power abuse so also is patients consent to the doctor's authority and advice because of the doctor's gate-keeping monopoly over matters such as surgery, prescriptions, insurance, and sick leave (Friedson, 1970). Medicine is a social act and at the heart of effective diagnosis and treatment lies interaction between doctors and patients. A good rapport between doctors and patients is indispensable for a healthy society. This is evidenced by the fact that doctors conduct a mean of 120,000 to 160,000 interviews with patients in a practice lifetime (Lipkin et al, 1995). According to the American Medical Association (AMA) Code of Medical Ethics (1847), the life of a sick person can be shortened not only by the acts, but also by the words and the manner of a physician. 1.2 Objective of the Study The objective of this study is to investigate the role of transitivity options of power projection in doctor-patient interactions in Lagos State, Nigeria. 1.3 Statement of the Problem A catalogue of studies has been done on doctor-patient interactions. For instance, the use of questions to claim power (Frankel, 1992); problem presentation stage of medical talk (Ruusuvuori, 2000); diagnostic stage of medical interaction (Heath, 1992); opening stage of medical encounters (Robinson and Heritage, 2006); topic transition (Ainsworth- ALLS 5(2):177-184, 2014 178 Vaughn, 2001); the structure of medical consultation (Byne and Long, 1976) and women powerlessness in medical interactions (Polimeni, 2004). Most of these studies were done outside the theoretical and analytical frameworks of Systemic-Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. This study hopes to fill in this gap by taking an indepth look at power relations in doctor-patient interactions using the theoretical lens of SFL and CDA. Moreover, transitivity analysis of institutional talk has been described as “a novel enterprise” because previous studies "tended to concentrate entirely on written texts" (Shimazumi, 1996) including fiction (Gregory et al, 1988) or non-fiction (Francis and Kramer-Dahl, 1992). In Nigeria, studies on medical discourse are still in the infancy stage (Adegbite and Odebunmi, 2006). According to Odebunmi (2006), most studies on medical discourse in Nigeria have focused on the register, and the "pragmatics of the discourse" e.g. Ogunbode (1991) and Odebunmi (2003, 2006) and none of these works has adopted SFL analytical parameters nor have they employed an elaborate quantitative methodology. Hence this study attempts to fill in the theoretical and analytical gaps left by these studies by applying SFL and CDA paradigms in its exploration of power relations in doctor-patient interactions as well as deploy a mix of qualitative and quantitative methodology. Moreover, clinical consultations have often been criticized for being too paternalistic or doctor-centred. In this model, doctors see patients as cases or diagnosis rather than as persons. Doctors focus on symptoms but ignore the psychosocial context of the patients and their conditions. According to van Weel-Baumgarten (2010), "the doctor does most of the talking and takes decisions on diagnosis and treatment, without shared responsibility and decision-making" This strict bio-medical approach may breed negative outcomes such as low compliance by patients and social power abuse by doctors. Better outcomes can be achieved with a patient-centred clinical interaction. This study aims to critically analyze doctor- patient interactions in order to account for linguistic elements which negate or support patientcentredness in medical encounters in Lagos State, Nigeria. 2. Theoretical Framework In this study, two theories were employed: Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). 2.1 Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) SFL is a tristratal construct of semantics (meaning), lexico-grammar (wording), and phonology (sound) which constitute a semiotic system. According to Eggins (2004), (Systemic), systemic linguists make four main theoretical claims about language: (a) That language use is functional; (b) That its function is to make meaning; (c) That meaning is influenced by social and cultural contexts; and (d) That the process of using language is a semiotic process in which people make meanings by making linguistic choices. 2.2 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) CDA is a political school of discourse analysis whose major agenda is in "identifying how language contributes to power imbalances in society and how analysis of this might contribute to change in favour of the oppressed (Ward, 2004)). CDA aims to remove false or distorted consciousness and to render transparent what had been previously hidden from public consciousness by initiating a process of self-reflection in individuals and groups. CDA has a deconstructive agenda and is concerned with exposing language deployed in the service of power. 3. Methodology 3.1 Triangulation In this study, we adopted the concept of triangulation. Triangulation is the use of multiple methods in the study of the same object. According to Wolfram-Cox and Hassard (2005), the implicit assumption in using triangulation "is of developing a more effective method for capturing and fixing of social phenomena in order to realize a more accurate analysis and explanation". Since "different methods have different strengths and weaknesses" (Gillham, 2000) the "effectiveness of triangulation rests on the premise that the weakness in each single method will be compensated by the counter-balancing strengths of another" (Jick, 1979). Hence, triangulation can potentially elevate researchers above personal biases that emanate from a single methodology. 3.2 Types of Triangulation Used in this Study In this study, three types of triangulation have (b) theory triangulation, and (c) methodological triangulation. been employed: (a) data triangulation, (a) Data triangulation: This involves collecting and using data from male, female, young, old patients as well as male and female doctors in private and public hospitals in different parts of Lagos. (b) Theory triangulation: SFL and CDA have been employed as theoretical tools. (c) 'Methodological triangulation: "between" method triangulation is used whereby the following mix of qualitative and quantitative sampling procedures is employed: (i) Probability Sampling Technique (Proportionate Stratified Random Sampling); (ii) Non- Probability sampling Technique (Purposive Sampling) ALLS 5(2):177-184, 2014 179 3.3 Data Collection Procedure The data which constitute the focus of this study were drawn from audio recordings of spoken interactions between doctors and patients in selected private and public hospitals in Lagos State. It is the interactional record of face-to-face conversation between patients and General Practitioners (GPs). Routine interactions between GPs and patients were audio-taped and transcribed. Non-participant observation was adopted. This is often used to study focused aspects of a setting, to answer specific questions within a study. Hence, "it can thus be a powerful tool in triangulation" (Savenye & Robinson, 2004). Nonparticipant observation was chosen as the appropriate data collection method because the use of participant observation in close clinical setting may lead to what Stubbs (1983) calls observers’ paradox, which simply means that when an observer is physically present at a location, people being observed may put up artificial behaviour. This is highly likely in a medical setting where sensitive matters are topical and of ethical concerns. 3.4 Sources of Data Two selected hospitals were used for this study: (a) University of Lagos Health Centre (Public) and (b) R-Jolad Hospital, Gbagada, Lagos (Private) 4. Data Analysis and Findings 4.1 Role Projection (1) Dominant processes uttered by the doctor and the patient Table 1. Use of processes by doctor and patient PROCESS Material Relational Mental Verbal Behavioural Existential DOCTOR 102 54 30 19 6 5 216 (74.2%) % 80.3% 63.5% 76.9% 70.4% 75% 100% PATIENT 25 31 9 8 2 0 75 (25.8%) % 19.7% 36.5% 23.1% 29.6% 25% 0% TOTAL 127 85 39 27 8 5 291 The dominant processes in the data are material, relational, and mental. The doctor utters 80.3% of material process in all the data while the patient utters 19.7%. Of the 85 relational processes uttered by both doctor and patient across the five data, the doctor uttered 54 (63.5%) while the patient uttered 31 (36.5%). For mental processes, of the 39 used across the five data, the doctor used 30 representing 77% of the total while the patient uttered 9 representing 23% of the total. This shows again the doctor dominating the use of the major transitivity systems. The total number of the minor processes (verbal, behavioural and existential) amounts to 39 (13.4%) across the five data. The doctor also dominates them by uttering 30 processes representing 77% while the patient has 23%. Overall across the five data, 291 processes were uttered by both doctor and patient. The doctor used 216 processes representing 74.2% of the total while the patient uttered 75 processes representing 25.8% of the total. Hence, the percentage difference reveals that in terms of transitivity, the doctor apparently has the upper hand enabling him/her to control the course of the interaction. (2) Difference in the dominant processes used by doctor and patient The material processes uttered by the doctor (80.3%) differ significantly more than that used by the patient (19.7%). There is also a significant percentage difference between the relational processes uttered by the doctor (63.5%) and the patient (36.5%). However, there is no major difference between the mental processes used by doctors (76.9%) and those of patient (23.1 %). This shows that both the doctor and the patient do a lot of thinking exercise in the course of the encounter. The doctor also seems to have responded well to the patients' emotional needs in the encounter. Both interactants used most of the process types (material, mental, relational, verbal, and behavioural). From CDA standpoint, the patient is given a voice to express her views and concerns in the encounter. (3) Mutual role projection by doctor and patient This has to do with who projects whom in which roles? To answer the question, it is necessary to account for two types of role projections: projection by doctor and projection by patient. According to Table 2 below, the Doctor projects the Patient considerably more often (83.3%) than herself (16.7%). The Doctor projects the Patient more as Actor, Goal, Senser, Carrier, and Sayer. This is indicated by the percentage differences. Table 2. Projection by Doctor ROLES ABOUT DOCTOR Actor 15 (14%) Goal 5 (6.5%) ABOUT PATIENT 92 (86%) 71 (93.5%) N 107 (100%) 76 (100%) ALLS 5(2):177-184, 2014 Beneficiary Senser Phenomenon Sayer Receiver Carrier Behaver N 180 1 (16.7%) 19 (55.9%) 1 (14.3%) 3 (18.8%) 1 (9.1 %) 2 (8.7%) 0(0%) 47 (16.7%) 5 (83.3%) 15 (44.1%) 6 (85.7%) 13(81.2%) 10 (90.9%) 21 (91.3%) 2 (100%) 235 (83.3%) 6 (100%) 34 (100%) 7 (100%) 16 (100%) 11 (100%) 23 (100%) 2 (100%) 282 (100%) As indicated in Table 3 below, the Patient projects himself (85.90%) significantly more than he projects the Doctor (14.10%). These figures show that the general trend of the interactions focuses on the Patient. The Patient is so much consumed by her own condition that most of the major transitivity roles of Actor, Goal, Senser, Sayer and Carrier are heavily allocated to himself leaving little for the Doctor. Table 3. Projection by Patient ROLES ABOUT DOCTOR ABOUT PATIENT N Actor 2 (9.1%) 20 (90.9%) 22 (100%) Goal Beneficiary Senser Phenomenon Sayer Receiver 3 (23.0%) 1 (20%) 1 (10%) 0(0%) 2 (28.6%) 1 (25%) 10 (76.9%) 4 (80%) 9 (90%) o (0%) 5 (71.4%) 3 (75%) 13 (100%) 5 (100%) 10 (100%) o (0%) 7 (100%) 4 (100%) Carrier Behaver N 1 (6.25%) 0(0%) 11 (14.10%) 15 (93.75%) 1 (100%) 67 (85.90%) 16 (100%) 1 (100%) 78 (100%) (4) Differences in role projection for Doctor and Patient in each interactant's speech Table 4. Projection of Doctor ROLES BY DOCTOR Actor 15 (88.2%) Goal 7 (87.5%) Senser 19 (95%) Sayer 3 (60%) Carrier 2 (66.72%) Behaver o (0%) N 46 (88.8%) BY PATIENT 2 (11.8%) 1 (12.5%) 1 (5%) 2 (40%) 1 (33.32%) 0(0%) 7 (7.5%) N 17 (100%) 8 (100%) 20 (100%) 5 (100%) 3 (100%) o (0%) 53 (100%) It is important to show the difference in the way transitivity roles are projected for Doctor and Patient in individual interactant's utterances. Table 4 reveals the projection of Doctor in individual transitivity roles in the utterances of each discourse participant. Accordingly, the Doctor is projected by herself (88.8%) much more than by the Patient (7.5%). This difference is particularly significant for the roles of Actor, Goal and Senser. Table 5. Projection of Patient ROLES BY DOCTOR Actor 92 (82.14%) Goal 71 (87.65%) Senser 15 (62.5%) Sayer 13 (72.3%) Carrier 21 (58.3%) Behaver 2 (66.7%) N 214 (78.10%) BY PATIENT 20 (17.86%) 10 (12.35%) 9 (37.5%) 5 (27.7%) 15 (41.7%) 1 (33.3%) 60 (21.90%) N 112 (100%) 81 (100%) 24 (100%) 18 (100%) 36 (100%) 3 (100%) 274 (100%) Table 5 reveals that the projection of the patient significantly differs across interactants. The Patient is highly projected by the Doctor (78.10%) which is considerably different from the Patient's projection of himself (21.90%). This uneven distribution across speakers runs through all the major transitivity roles of Actor, Goal, Senser, Sayer, Carrier and Behaver. The implication of this in the medical practice is that the patient is put at the core of the ALLS 5(2):177-184, 2014 181 consultation. The considerable difference in role projection for both interactants in each other's speech is in favour of the Patient and good for medical practice. We are therefore led to hypothesize, following Shimazumi’s (1996) assertion that 'the Doctor will project roles for herself and patient, the patient will be projecting primarily her own role'. 4.2 Role Allocation The roles that social actors are given to play in representations play a major part in the studies of many critical linguists (e.g. Fowler et al, 1979 and van Dijk, 2009). Role allocation refers to "who is represented as 'agent' (Actor), who is 'patient' (Goal) with respect to a given action (van Leeuwen, 1996). Activation and passivation are the key elements in role allocation. Activation happens when social actors are portrayed as the active, dynamic forces in an activity while passivation occurs when social actors are represented as 'undergoing' the activity or are at the receiving end of it (van Leeuween, 1996). Transitivity structures activate and passivate social actors by giving them grammatical participant roles coded as Actor in material processes, Behaver, in behavioural processes, Senser in mental processes, Sayer in verbal processes or Assigner in relational processes (Halliday, 2004). An example of activation from our data is: (a) Pt: Eh well, I just want to know my condition again (Hypertension, 4) An examples of passivation is: (b) Dr: I want to change you from Nifedripin to Thiapril (Hypertens1on, 21) In (a), the active agent is the patient while in (b), it is the doctor. The patient is the passive agent in (b). Taking Table 2 into consideration, of the 107 allocations of Actor role in the doctor's utterances, 14% (15) is allocated to the doctor while 86% (92) is assigned to the patient. The role of Goal for the patient is 97.3% (71), while the doctor allocates (2.7%) to himself. This is because he is not the focus of the encounter. As for the role of Senser, the doctor allocated 55.9% to himself, while assigning 44.1% to the patient. 1t appears the doctor tends to assert his superior mental ability and activity in the encounter. Obviously, as the moderator-in-chief of the consultation, a lot of thinking and knowledge is needed to make it an optimal success. For the role of the Sayer, the doctor allocates 81.2% to the patient while 18.8% is assigned to himself. This is good news because it portrays the patient as someone who has 'said', 'told', 'asked' and 'explained' something in the interaction. How does the patient allocate roles in her utterances? Readings from Table 3 show that the patient allocates 90.9% (20) of the role of Actor to himself, while giving 9.1 % to the doctor. The patient also makes himself the Goal of his utterances 90.9% (10) while assigning 9.1 % (1) to the doctor. As a Senser, the patient assigns 90% (9) of the utterances to himself, giving the doctor a paltry 10% (1). As a Sayer, the patient has 71.4% (5) while the doctor has 28.6% (2). These figures confirm that the most activated or active participant in the interaction is undoubtedly the patient. In our data (Hypertension), the doctor constructs the patients as the main actor. The patient is the Agent (actor acting on things). The patient "have been using" drugs (12), "should consider changing" drugs (14), "can afford a thousand five hundred" on drugs (16), should "buy a month's dose" (23), "use Aldomet" (47) "bring your drug" (61) "collect the drugs" (69). The patient represents himself as "just want to know" his condition (4), "don't have any problem" with drugs (6), but "don't have enough" (8). The patient is "afraid" (11), but "thank God that there is no injury" (42), because "that would be very sad" (43), and he "would feel bad" (45). The patient is "just using" drug (53) but "don't know the name" (63). 4.3 Exclusion According to Van Leeuwen (1996), exclusion is "an important aspect of Critical Discourse Analysis". Powerful social actors exclude the less powerful from discourse events or texts to serve their own parochial agenda especially if such exclusions leave no trace of their activities. He postulates two main types of exclusion – suppression and backgrounding. Suppression operates when "there is no reference to the social actor(s) in question anywhere in the text". In the case of backgrounding, "the excluded social actors may not be mentioned in relation to a given activity, but they are mentioned elsewhere in the text". Suppression is realized in a text through passive agent deletion. Perhaps because of the real time and face-to-face dialogic nature of doctor-patient interaction, there is no hard evidence of suppression in terms of passive agent deletion in the data. Rather, the patient is portrayed as active agent, responsible for their actions. E.g.: Have you been using your drugs regularly (Hypertension, 12) Doctors and patients have been using active verbs to describe situation in which they are agents. So suppression is not evidenced in the data. Since the patient and her condition are at the heart of the consultation, 1t is very difficult for her to be excluded from the discourse of the encounter. All agents of action (patient, doctor and illness e.g. you, 1, and it) are not excluded. Hence, agentive participants are not excluded from the interaction. Beneficiaries (social actors who benefit from an activity) have also not been excluded 5. Discussion and Conclusion The use of material processes by the doctor shows that s/he is highly interested in "facts, events and information so as to assess the patient's condition. Doctors' use of material processes shows their interest in the physical conditions of the patient. The use of relational processes assists the doctor in effective diagnosis since relational process types serve to ALLS 5(2):177-184, 2014 182 identify and characterize (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004). The use of mental processes also shows that the doctor is more involved in the mental condition or feelings of the patient because when a patient describes how s/he feels, thinks or perceives a problem situation, it helps the doctor to present a more appropriate diagnosis, prescription and treatment. This is because mental processes involved a Senser (a human agent who feels and thinks) and a phenomenon (a thing felt, thought or perceived). By using material and mental processes predominantly, the doctor is able to delve into the outer (material) and inner (mental) worlds of her patients thereby achieving one of the golden principles of holistic medicine – "medical treatment based on the belief that the whole person must be treated, not just the part of their body that has a disease" (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Sixth Printing, 2012). While the doctor is the powerful discourse participant, he uses his power to the benefit of his clients through the judicious use of transitivity processes. References Adegbite, W. and Akin, O. (2006) "Discourse Tact in Doctor-Patient English: An Analysis of Diagnosis in Medical Communication Nordic Journal of African Studies 15(4): 499-519. Interactions in in Nigeria". Ainsworth-Vaughn, N. (1992) "Topic Transition in Physician-Patient Interviews: Power, Gender, and Change". Language and Society 21: 409-26. Ambady, N., Koo, J., Rosenthal, R. and Winograd, C. 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(2005) "Triangulation in Organizational Research: A Re-presentation" Organization 12(1) 109-133 APPENDIXES Hypertension (DOCTOR) SIN AGENT (Actor acting on things) PROCESS (Range) (what happens) MEDIUM (Actor acting or Goal being CIRCUMSTANCE (when and where) acted on 3 's the problem what 5 do ... have You (patient) 9 don't have (any problem) is You (patient) more [drugs] Here ... for you 10 with it 12 You (patient) Have ... been using your drugs regularly 14 (You, patient) Consider changing your drugs If it is not doing the work you want. .. 15 us (doctor) is for .. to write ... the alternative 16 You (patient) can ... afford 18 19 20 I (doctor) You (patient) (You, patient) would write use let ... know a thousand five hundred per naira this drug Thiapril for you (in that case ... it (drugs) us (doctor) ... the effect 21 I (doctor) want to change you 22 It (drug) would cost you 23 You (patient) just go, buy 24 25 You (patient) It (drug) .... use believe 30 It (drug) would not control the urine 32. It Is ... a clause would do I (doctor) let ... try me (doctor) 34 .. from nifedripin to thiapril about a thousand five hundred naira a a month's dose would it (drug) I (doctor) 35 36 1 [doctor] 1 [doctor] would give see (how you do) you (zextril) youjpatient] with it alone 37 You (patient) could iust buy one week or two weeks If you do well with it ALLS 5(2):177-184, 2014 184 38 I (doctor) would write 39 You (patient) can be using 41 two weeks or one week dose that one also claim (that it is okay for diabetes) people If you can tolerate that doing 47 You (patient) do .. use the Aldomet 49 You do .... still use it (drug) How 52 You 's That how .. ar using it right now Hypertension (PATIENT) SIN AGENT (Actor acting on things) 4 6 I (patient) 8 11 13 26 I (patient) PROCESS (Range) (what happens) MEDIUM (Actor acting or Goal being acted on Just want to my condition don't have (any I (patient) problem) don't have (any enough) am I (patient) Do is [the same thing that it (drug) would control CIRCUMSTANCE (when and where) Again with it Afraid even this morning for diabetes urine) 28 You (doctor) know ... am having I (patient) (that too) 42 thank (God that there is no injury) Would be (very sad) may take 43 may take I (patient) that (injury) 44 It me (patient) to another place 45 48 would feel (bad) do I (patient) I (patient) 51 You (doctor) said ( ... should use it) I (patient) in the morning 53 63 I (patient) am just using don't know it (drug) I (patient) Formerly the name 65 's (of this colour, It (drug) other one white) 75 can be done it (test) Today