Synergy

2

Authors: Anca-Teodora ŞERBAN-OPRESCU

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9

Authors: Irina DAVID

This article highlights Eastern European positive perceptions of America, as they are described in the scholarship. Particular attention will be paid to the reasons which explain Eastern European pro-Americanism. As shown in the article, the experience of communism and the subsequent post-communist European and worldwide reconfigurations are perceived by scholars as the main factors that prevent most formerly communist countries – Romania included – from expressing the same degree of anti-American reactions that can be seen in Western European countries

9

Authors: Virginia Mihaela DUMITRESCU

This article explores the relationship between culture and rhetoric starting from the premise that language is not only a major element of culture, but also a faithful reflection of it, as confirmed by linguistic anthropologists who tend to equate language learning with culture learning. More specifically, it focuses on the cultural characteristics of the UK and the US along two pairs of descriptors (“dimensions”) provided by Geert Hofstede and Michael Minkov – Long-Term Orientation vs. Short-Term Orientation, on the one hand, and Monumentalism vs. Flexumility (understood as a mix of flexibility and humility) on the other-, in an attempt to identify certain cultural differences and their corresponding linguistic expression: an effaced vs. an enhanced self-image, and the rhetorical use of understatement vs. overstatement. The article is meant as a tentative, cultural approach to rhetoric, and a possible starting point for future research on the rhetoric-culture relationship.

10

Authors: Monica CONDRUZ–BĂCESCU

This article deals with the issue of blended learning from a perspective less used in the specialized literature, applying blended learning to foreign language learning. There are highlighted several advantages of using this type of learning in the process of acquiring a foreign language, which can be extended to other areas of learning and that meet the central idea of the article, that blended learning is the future in terms of methods, learning strategies and lifelong learning. A big advantage is to have the assistance of a tutor 24 hours a day, managing to combine time saving, space, that an online classic program with the presence of human factor offers, without which the coherent, effective, genuine and lasting learning can not occur. The article also highlights the disadvantages of this concept; an important one being the fact that some students are not familiar with the latest technology. The last part approaches the issue of online platforms that continue to provide ever more useful applications, at affordable prices and tools for language learning. Even if blended learning has been a functional process for about ten years, there are already numerous supporters of this type of learning, particularly in higher education, where the combination of traditional courses and online interactive activities have already been implemented.

10

Authors: Monica CONDRUZ–BĂCESCU

This article deals with the issue of blended learning from a perspective less used in the specialized literature, applying blended learning to foreign language learning. There are highlighted several advantages of using this type of learning in the process of acquiring a foreign language, which can be extended to other areas of learning and that meet the central idea of the article, that blended learning is the future in terms of methods, learning strategies and lifelong learning. A big advantage is to have the assistance of a tutor 24 hours a day, managing to combine time saving, space, that an online classic program with the presence of human factor offers, without which the coherent, effective, genuine and lasting learning can not occur. The article also highlights the disadvantages of this concept; an important one being the fact that some students are not familiar with the latest technology. The last part approaches the issue of online platforms that continue to provide ever more useful applications, at affordable prices and tools for language learning. Even if blended learning has been a functional process for about ten years, there are already numerous supporters of this type of learning, particularly in higher education, where the combination of traditional courses and online interactive activities have already been implemented.

13

Authors: Maria HRIŢCU, Mariana NICOLAE

This paper focuses on a growing trend of interest in “spiritual leadership” and three important directions arising from a mindful and meditative approach to leadership - selfawareness, empathy and system awareness. The paper also tries to make sense of the experience one of the authors embarked upon in India, at the end of which she noticed significant changes in her understanding of and reactions to her professional and personal life. The methodology employed is of a qualitative type, being based on the narrative inquiry as the most appropriate to the sensitive issues discussed.

16

Authors: Lavinia PETRE Ruxandra CONSTANTINESCU-ŞTEFĂNEL

The present article explores the cultural and communication parameters of both Romania and Japan with the purpose of finding the main cultural barriers that can become potential sources of conflict at the negotiation table. Particularly, what are the profiles of the Romanian/ Japanese negotiator and how culture impacts on business people’s behaviour. The methodology used covers two empirical methods: a qualitative survey, with data collected from expert interpreters with first-hand experience in the negotiation field; and a case study, with an in-depth analysis of a failed negotiation between a Romanian and a Japanese company. Findings suggest that, although there are huge differences between the two cultures, they can be overcome by preparing thoroughly and keeping an open mind to other cultures’ peculiarities.

6

Authors: Ruxandra CONSTANTINESCU-ŞTEFĂNEL

This article presents the author’s experience in teaching business correspondence in French to students who learn both business French and business English. The author is interested in the interferences between the French and the British communication styles and in the errors such interferences cause in the students’ written productions. She proposes an original solution to diminish or even eliminate these errors. At the same time, her solution increases students’ cultural awareness and their motivation

8

Authors: Diana TSOTOVA

The article describes a model of the European Language Portfolio specially developed for people with visual impairments within a European project and received the accreditation of the Council of Europe. It outlines specific features of the electronic model, gives a short review of its structure and provides some practical recommendations on introducing the ELPBVI in the language classroom with a particular focus on building of self-evaluative skills. Furthermore, the article briefly presents further initiatives of the developers to disseminate the ELPBVI and support both teachers using the application and individual unsighted language learners. Keywords: European Language Portfolio, electronic format, blind and visually impaired, self-evaluative skills, self-assessment checklist

11

Authors: Sanja MARINOV Gorana DUPLANČIĆ ROGOŠIĆ

With the advent of computing and the Internet, language teachers have been given a new tool that could be used in English language teaching classrooms. However, the use of technology is showing its drawbacks and the biggest one is definitely the sense of déjà vu. Students too often use the Internet to find already made solutions for their take-homeassignments and simply copy-paste them. In order to battle plagiarism (more) successfully, we decided to have our students do one of their tasks in the computer lab during class. It was believed that doing this task in the lab would also increase student motivation and encourage peer correction and cooperation. This paper will present the results of using web-based materials with first-year, second-semester students of Tourism, enrolled in the course “English in Tourism II” at the Faculty of Economics, University of Split.

13

Authors: Monica CONDRUZ–BĂCESCU

The main topic of the article is effective communication in modern companies. Employees of the companies who can communicate feel connected to the progress of business and understand how their actions can support that business. A company or organization that communicates effectively – both outside and inside – records higher profits than "introverted" companies with a poor or nonexistent communication strategy. Basically, it shows that the communication process is not a "software" function of a company, but a driver of business performance, playing a key role in the organization’ performance. Measuring the communication process becomes mandatory to design, implement and change – where necessary – the communication strategy of a company or organization, in order to increase its profit

14

Authors: Raluca Şerban Mihai Şerban

John Barth’s Book of Ten Nights and a Night seems to mark if not a turning point in Barth’s writing, at least an isle of concern for everyday reality, with its complex social and political matters, in the midst of an ocean of playfulness and “irrelevant” storytelling, as the author himself labels his fiction. The eleven stories themselves are light, playful, funny, ironic, in his words, “irrelevant” to the world out there – in one word, entertaining. They self-reflexively turn towards obsession themselves, as the author’s fascination, indeed , with writing and story-telling is as noticeable as ever: virtually all stories, one way or another, revolve around writers and teachers of literature, and they include extensive commentary on writing, yet something is radically different: the real world finally managed to creep into Barth’s writing in a way it had never done before. Even a writer of so “light” novels could not turn his face from the nightmarish Ground Zero, the scene of the 2001 terrorist attacks that literally put an end to the world as Americans knew it. The full horror of September 11 is depicted in the frame of the stories. The moral seems to be that if mankind, if America is to survive such horror, it is going to be through storytelling.

14

Authors: Raluca Şerban, Mihai Şerban

John Barth’s Book of Ten Nights and a Night seems to mark if not a turning point in Barth’s writing, at least an isle of concern for everyday reality, with its complex social and political matters, in the midst of an ocean of playfulness and “irrelevant” storytelling, as the author himself labels his fiction. The eleven stories themselves are light, playful, funny, ironic, in his words, “irrelevant” to the world out there – in one word, entertaining. They self-reflexively turn towards themselves, as the author’s fascination, indeed obsession, with writing and story-telling is as noticeable as ever: virtually all stories, one way or another, revolve around writers and teachers of literature, and they include extensive commentary on writing, yet something is radically different: the real world finally managed to creep into Barth’s writing in a way it had never done before. Even a writer of so “light” novels could not turn his face from the nightmarish Ground Zero, the scene of the 2001 terrorist attacks that literally put an end to the world as Americans knew it. The full horror of September 11 is depicted in the frame of the stories. The moral seems to be that if mankind, if America is to survive such horror, it is going to be through storytelling