Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics

9

Authors: Artur Hadaj

This paper centers on a practical and relevant way to teach English as a second language learners how to avoid logical fallacies. The paper begins with a brief overview of the importance of teaching subtleties of language and a four stage method that can be used to teach not only logical fallacies, but principles of conversational coherence. This method leads students through a series of exercises in which they reimagine and reconstruct contemporary public arguments in ways that produce different and, perhaps, more favorable outcomes. The paper concludes with a case study instructors may use to introduce the concepts of logical fallacies and principles of conversational coherence to students. The case study contains the heated exchange between the editors of the Albanian daily newspaper Shekulli and representatives of the U.S. Embassy. In 2011, Shekulli published a lengthy editorial without a statement saying that views expressed in the article did not represent the stand of the newspaper. Immediately after this editorial, the U.S. Embassy issued a brief statement accusing this newspaper of using an ad hominem argument when they explicitly referred to the ambassador’s Asian looks and his short stature. In their statement, the embassy conveyed information regarding money the U.S. government had donated to the Albanian Media Institute for the qualification of Albania journalists. The implication being that the journalists of this newspaper either did not want to attend the qualification courses organized by the Institute or they could not understand the modern principles of newspaper writing. A few days later, the Dutch Embassy in Tirana severed relations with Shekulli, accusing its editors of engaging in slander. Throughout the case, analysis that focuses on logical fallacies evident in the discourse (e.g., ad hominem arguments, non sequiturs, argumentum ad baculum, and glittering generalities) is provided.

11

Authors: Agnes Pisanski Peterlin & Nataša Hirci

In many traditional types of translator training, there is a strong focus on individual work undertaken by trainee translators, while pair-work and group-work is used less extensively. Such a focus may, to some extent, reflect the contemporary Western perception of translation as a solitary activity, with a single translator working individually, isolated from the rest of the world. This perception, however, is oversimplified since translation often involves some type of collaboration, such as the translator collaborating with an editor, a copyeditor, the client, or a disciplinary expert. In addition, some emerging trends in translation in the digital age are collaborative in their nature (e.g. crowdsourcing). It seems, therefore, that collaboration is an aspect of translation that needs to be addressed more carefully in translator training. The present paper reports on a study focusing on collaboration in a translation course. The goal of the study was to examine the types of collaboration that trainee translators use when they are presented with a collaborative assignment. In the study, trainee translators were asked to complete two collaborative translation assignments using a wiki, which enables monitoring the degree of participation for each wiki participant. The first assignment encouraged free collaboration in an attempt to mirror informal collaboration: trainee translators were asked to collaborate in any way they wished. The second assignment was focused on structured collaboration: trainee translators were given detailed guidelines on the types of collaboration expected of them, and on the extent of the contribution they were expected to make. The findings show that the second assignment resulted in more intensive teamwork and promoted more diverse types of collaboration than the first assignment. This suggests that carefully structured collaboration should be given additional attention within the context of translator training.

11

Authors: Marie J. Myers

With new developments in applied linguistics, especially in countries relying on immigration for population growth, a new approach to intercultural linguistic competence is needed. Newcomers to Canada faced with two official languages and cultures, in addition to their own, require second language teacher preparation programs to cater to these new demands. The proposed second language teaching preparation programs must keep in mind both the different amounts of detail involved in acquiring professional acumen the accurate balance across cultures. A number of suggestions have been made for the processing of information in an intercultural context through a step-by-step mental approach. In today’s global knowledge economy, some parameters take on crucial importance in situational contexts (Barton & Tusting, 2005; Myers, 2012; Olson, 2003). Developing awareness of self and of how people interact in their native language is a crucial aspect of this approach. In order to enhance comprehensibility and for clearer output on language teaching issues, we look at integrating an interactional perspective while simultaneously developing intra-personal intelligence. We investigated future teachers’ endorsement of new implementations in an attempt to shed light on ‘professionalization at work’. Data were collected through observations of group discussions and an analysis of written productions to uncover emergent themes. The findings primarily pointed to the perceived importance of the development of linguistic competence based on new approaches advocated in applied linguistics and a new way to integrate culture knowledge in teaching. We also analyzed Ministry instructional videos intended to demonstrate how to develop intercultural linguistic competence. These findings are discussed in light of the literature and contextual elements. The results were overall positive and indicate that these new implementations required a change in beliefs.

12

Authors: George Shaduri

The teaching method of suggestopaedia, which originated in the 1970s owing to the efforts of Bulgarian psychotherapist Georgi Lozanov, has already been applied in the framework of studies dealing with ELT. In practice the method consists of several stages, the central of which represents intonation reading against appropriate musical background. Unconscious or not fully conscious psychical activity linked to the concept of “concert pseudo-passivity” is critical at that stage. There have been a number of studies conducted in Georgia with the use of this method. This paper is a modest attempt to contribute to this relatively new and exciting field of pedagogy. The author conceived to conduct the experiment, while using 20th century music during the phase of concert pseudo-passivity. It should be mentioned that suggestopaedia generally uses classical music to create the concert pseudo-passivity. The author, however, experimented with two genres of the 20th century: blues and jazz. Thus, the experiment was broken down into two parts. In the first part, the author investigated whether applying blues poetry as means for intonation reading, combined with the blues music as an audio-mirror of the read verse, influences the degree of acquisition of the vocabulary at the advanced level. This yielded positive results allowing further investigation in the area. In the second part of the experiment, the author conducted twelve academic sessions, of which eight (8) went on to use traditional ways of teaching vocabulary, and four (4) were done with the elements of suggestopaedia, with the use of jazz music. The experiment has proven that with the use of suggestopaedia, the academic outcome of the students increased by 20%, which can definitely be qualified as methodological success that should be used as an auxiliary tool in the course of teaching.

15

Authors: Alma Piric

According to the staff of the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Zenica, second year students are not easily motivated to participate in classroom discussions. Most of the time, students are encouraged to participate, but only a selected few do. When asked why that is so, students reported that they feel uncomfortable, mostly because they feel that they have noting important to share or that they are embarrassed to speak in front of their colleagues. The author of this paper tried to encourage students to open up and participate in classroom discussions. For the purpose of this research, the author worked closely with second year students at the Department of English Language and Literature, introducing a new approach to ensure maximum student participation. The Socratic Circle approach was introduced and applied several times throughout the semester, and the students provided feedback each time they participated in the discussions. Two structures were used and the students were given the opportunity to express their opinions about each, as well as to comment about the Socratic Circle Rubric that was introduced for the purpose of grading their participation. This paper describes the steps that were taken over a fourmonth period. The author claims that by using the Socratic Circle approach, it is possible to motivate every student to participate in classroom discussions on a regular basis, and that the students appreciate the use of the Socratic Circle Rubric because they know what is expected of them as well as how their participation will be graded.

16

Authors: Kemal Gönen and Azamat Akbarov

Mobile learning in higher education in Turkey is on the rise. University students use their mobile devices mostly for self-directed informal learning rather than in the formal academic context, creating challenges to acquire an accurate picture of academic use. In this study, we collected data about ownership of mobile devices among students using a diverse sample from various universities in Turkey. We also explored students' language learning practices with mobile technologies and focused on the interactions among technologies, contents, and pedagogies. The results indicate that learners need better access to academicfriendly devices such as tablets and additional support to integrate mobile technologies for language learning purposes. The findings also help shape future directions of faculty development. Instructors must integrate these innovative technologies into the curriculum with sound facilitation and assessment strategies, as well as be able to support the mobile practices of students.

24

Authors: Rebecca Tipton

This article explores the problem of intersubjective understanding in interpreter mediation as an emergent process in order to illuminate the gaps and slippages that occur at the interface where different professions meet in providing service delivery to service users with a limited linguistic capacity for dealing with complex institutional contexts. Building on a small study of interpreter and service provider perceptions of the occupational other (Tipton 2012), the article considers a range of sites where intersubjective understanding can be discursively accomplished (e.g. service encounters and research interviews) and the conceptual and methodological implications of such sites for evaluating reflexive orientations to other at the level of service delivery.