The Skills of Intended Meaning behind the Context when Reading Poetry among Fifth Grade Students- Literary Branch from Teachers’ Perspectives

The current research aims to investigate the skills of the intended meaning beyond the context when reading poetry among fifth literary students. To achieve the aim of the research, the researcher has followed the descriptive approach and used two tools: an open questionnaire that includes an inquiry about the skills of the intended meaning beyond the poetic context, and a closed questionnaire that were examined by the juries, and modified accordingly. Besides, its validity and stability were examined by applying the study on an exploratory sample of (15) teachers to reach its final version and determine the time required to answer it. Then, the researcher applied it on the research sample of (96) male and female teachers selected from various schools in the center of Babylon Governorate, who teach fifth grade of the literary branch. After processing the responses statistically, the research has concluded the following: three intended meaning skills have been identified to determine the intended meaning beyond the poetic context. Regarding the item (training students to be able to determine the meaning of difficult words in the text) of the first item of the skill, it has the highest score, as its intensity reached (4,41) and its percentage weight reached (%88,3). The item (training students to be able to understand the hidden meaning of the text and the recognition of its aesthetic value) of the second item of the skill has gained the highest score which amounts to (4.33) with a percentage weight of (%86.6). The item (training the students on the use of educational aids related to the text, which may be pictures or phrases) of the third item of the skill has received the highest score, as its intensity reached (4.5) a percentage weight of (%90). According to these results, the researcher has recommended that students should be given enough time to be able to consider and understand the meaning of a text.

Dimensionality Reduction and Visualization of Bharatanatyam Mudras

Cultural dances are practiced all over the world. The study of various gestures of the performer using computer vision techniques can help in better understanding of these dance forms and for annotation purposes. Bharatanatyam is a classical dance that originated in South India. Bharatanatyam performer uses hand gestures (mudras), facial expressions and body movements to communicate to the audience the intended meaning. According to Natyashastra, a classical text on Indian dance, there are 28 Asamyukta Hastas (single-hand gestures) and 23 Samyukta Hastas (Double-hand gestures) in Bharatanatyam. Open datasets on Bharatanatyam dance gestures are not presently available. An exhaustive open dataset comprising of various mudras in Bharatanatyam was created. The dataset consists of 15[Formula: see text]396 distinct single-hand mudra images and 13[Formula: see text]035 distinct double-hand mudra images. In this paper, we explore the dataset using various multidimensional visualization techniques. PCA, Kernel PCA, Local Linear Embedding, Multidimensional Scaling, Isomap, t-SNE and PCA–t-SNE combination are being investigated. The best visualization for exploration of the dataset is obtained using PCA–t-SNE combination.

Visualizing Metaphor: Teaching Metaphor to Conceptualize Personal Experiences

Language power lies behind the iconicity of metaphor, which evokes sensory perceptions and integrates them into meaningful constellations selectively. This selective process makes it possible to conceptualize experiences and also to link new and prior experiences. Thus, the power of metaphor calls for great attention from teachers to focus on figurative language when teaching English language learners so that they achieve the uppermost goal of teaching the target language. This study aims at investigating forms of metaphor, specifically visual ones, and how to teach them in order to help students discover the connection between those constructions and the way of communicating the intended meaning.

THE PROCESS APPROACH TO THE TEACHING OF WRITING: FOCUS ON PROCESS RATHER THAN PRODUCT

Composition writing has always been an integral part of the English Language curriculum in primary, secondary and tertiary education in Malaysia, yet being the most difficult of the four skills in English as a Second Language; the teaching of writing has often been neglected. Process writing, as distinguished from ‘Product Writing’, is playing a large role in ESL classes. Writing is seen as a communicative act with an intended purpose and audience. The teacher and other learners help the writer find a topic and revise drafts of a written piece until it conveys the intended meaning. While working to make their meanings clear, learners are assumed to acquire competence using the style, syntax, grammar and surface features of the language. During the writing process, students engage in pre-writing, planning, drafting and post-writing activities. However, learners do not necessarily engage in these activities in that order because the writing process is recursive in nature. Language rules are taught in teacher-led- mini-lessons but always in the context of expressing the learners’ own ideas. This paper reports on a study that explores how a process-oriented approach to writing influences a group of university ESL students.

A Pragma-Stylistics Analysis of Lowell and Snodgrass’ Confessional Poems

Analyzing any text according to pragmatic principles means approaching the text's meaning and the writer's intention. This study investigates the role of pragmatics theories in interpreting and understanding poetic text and their impact on the poet's style. In other words, how the poets exploit pragmatics theories, such as Searle's speech acts, Grice's maxims, and deixis, in their style of writing to convey their intended meaning to the readers. Therefore, two confessional poems are selected to be analyzed pragma-stylistically: The Dolphin was written by Robert Lowell (1973), and Mementos 1 was written by W. D. Snodgrass (1960s). The current study aims to: 1) analyze the texts of selected poems by applying pragmatics theories to find out the style of each poet through which one can reach the right interpretation of the poem.2) find out the most dominant type of speech acts used by each poet. 3) investigate any flouting of Grice's maxims. 4) identify types of deixis and find out the most dominant types used in confessional poems. The present study concludes that 1) representative speech acts are performed more than other types.2) most of Grice's maxims are flouted, and the quantity maxim is the most dominant flouted by each poet. 3) Both poets use person deixis more than other types.

Adad [Antonyms] and Its Impact on the Exegesis of Al-Samin in His Books (Al-Durr) And (Al-’Umda)

This research tackles the subject of the indication of antonyms and its impact on the exegesis of al-Samin in both his books “al-Durr al-Masun” (Preserved Pearls) and “‘Umdat al-Hufaz” (Reliance of the memorize-rs). In this research, I have combined between the language and tafsir (exegesis) and clarified the efforts exerted by al-Samin in serving the interpretation of the Quran. Moreover, I have introduced his great contribution to linguistic research and compiled the conclusions he has reached in both his books (al-Durr) and (al-’Umda) on antonyms. I have organized his ideas, studied his tangible effects in his exegesis of the holy Quran in addition to methodologically establishing the role of the language being one of the tools in the past and contemporary exegesis of the holy Quran and clarified its multiple indications and various manners. I was also keen in highlighting the importance of the indication of antonyms and the extent of its impact on interpreting the noble Quran. Moreover, I have studied the points of contention among the scholars and exegists on the meaning of the Quranic statement and clarified the importance of the Quranic context in determining the exact meaning of the vocabularies and structures. Furthermore, I have highlighted the close connection between the developed indication of words and the intended meaning in the Quranic verse.

How Three Different Translators of The Holy Qur’an Render Anthroponyms from Arabic into English

The present paper examines anthroponyms in the Holy Qur'an in three different English translations to shed light on how procedures used by translators can help target-language (TL) readers understand the implied meaning of anthroponyms. In order to conduct the research, the anthroponyms in the Holy Qur'an were isolated and English equivalents were identified. Then Vermes’s (2003) model was applied to the collected data to find answers to the following research questions: (1) What strategies are used most frequently by the translators examined to render the Qur’anic anthroponyms into the target-language (TL)?; (2) How consistent are the translators in using particular strategies when translating the anthroponyms?; (3) Does the type of translator affect their choice of translation strategy?; (4) Does the model suggested by Vermes (2003) cover all of the strategies employed by the three translators?; and (5) Which procedures are source-language-oriented, TL-oriented, or deep-reader oriented? Overall, the findings indicated that the procedures most frequently used by the translators were “substitution” and “transference.” It was found that the native speaker of neither Arabic nor English foreignized 96.80% of the Qur’anic anthroponyms by using “transference,” while the native translators of either the target-language or the source-language domesticated 71.00% of the anthroponyms by using “substitution.” “Substitution” was used when an exact Biblical equivalent for the Qur’anic anthroponym existed. Otherwise, “transference” was used along with notes to transport the meaning and form while remaining faithful to the intended meaning of the sacred text.

The absurdist liberation of architecture

<p>I am Sisyphus and architecture is my boulder. For those who are not already familiar, Sisyphus is the Greek mythological king of Ephyra. However, he is perhaps most well-known for his unique, boulder-rolling, fate. As punishment for deceitfulness, Sisyphus was condemned to a life in which he was to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down again; he was to repeat this task for eternity (Homer, Odyssey, XI.593). At the beginning of the final year of my architecture master’s degree, I felt much like I imagine Sisyphus to feel as he walks back down the hill to begin his task once more. Another year at university pushing another piece of architecture up the hill of hopeless, sure to be lost to interpretation, meaning - something with which many contemporaries, and architectural critics seem to have become mildly obsessed. This incessant striving for meaning is reinforced through the typical university design project’s marking schedule. It is common a student must prove that his or her design is meaningful, and was not merely plucked from their imagination. Often, according to these marking schedules, a ‘good’ design must have undergone numerous conceptual iterations (methodology), have included a range of theoretical and practical influences (context) and be something that no-one has seen before (originality). Other than undermining a student’s confidence in his or her own imaginative creativity and the value of creativity alone, this demonstrates the level of the contemporary architectural critics’ obsession with meaning. It is this hopeless push back up the hill of meaning that we now too often call design. This phenomenon can also be observed outside of the university walls. A fine example is Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye which, though no longer contemporary, is still undoubtedly relevant due to its lingering influence and fame. I will also admit that I would certainly be lying if I said that provocation has had no effect on my selection; I find it serves as a useful tool in point making. Regardless, Villa Savoye is a landmark of hopeless intended meaning. Corbusier’s five points of architecture are indicative of the meaning he had hoped to convey through this building: an original expression and glorification of the Modern (Western) context of living (Corbusier, 1986). This is all fine and well, and yes it is true that one can recognise this expression in the architecture once it has been explained. In fact, I have no doubt that some uninformed observers may even realise that the semicircular path of the Villa Savoye’s driveway is exactly the turning radius of a 1927 Citroën automobile. However even of those impressive few who do, even fewer will recognise this as a design strategy to aid in the celebration of the industrial phenomena of the automobile. The building’s context, originality and methodology, its meaning, have undeniably been lost to interpretation - a fate shared by all attempts to portray and interpret meaning in architecture. So is it sensible to strive for meaning so passionately? A remarkably similar question was identified by a number of post-war philosophers who, spurred by the atrocities and revelations of war, went on to become the pioneers of movements which now collectively fit under the heading Existentialism. Questions around the conditions of existence, and whether any human can experience true meaning within the apparent meaninglessness of our universe, began to be considered (Solomon, 1974). Within this, the theory of Absurdism arose from the identification of the paradoxical act of an individual’s hopeless attempt to determine meaning within a meaningless existence; that being the Absurd Act. The similarities are, I hope, apparent, as it is the identification of this similarity that initiated this thesis. Just as individuals seek meaning in their existence, they seek meaning in their architecture. And both can undeniably be considered Absurd Acts due to the limitations of perception and interpretation. I need to explain Absurdism in more depth, and I do so in the following chapter, but what needs to be understood for now is that, according to the Absurdist theory, no individuals will find true meaning in their meaningless universe, or in their architecture. Assuming you too refuse to accept this bleak outlook, we must ask a question of architecture, and existence also. How can its meaning be validated? The clues to a solution lie in the discussions of Absurdism; and it is the findings and explanations of Albert Camus that will pave the path that I will follow in the establishment of architecture within the paradox of meaninglessness.</p>

The absurdist liberation of architecture

<p>I am Sisyphus and architecture is my boulder. For those who are not already familiar, Sisyphus is the Greek mythological king of Ephyra. However, he is perhaps most well-known for his unique, boulder-rolling, fate. As punishment for deceitfulness, Sisyphus was condemned to a life in which he was to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down again; he was to repeat this task for eternity (Homer, Odyssey, XI.593). At the beginning of the final year of my architecture master’s degree, I felt much like I imagine Sisyphus to feel as he walks back down the hill to begin his task once more. Another year at university pushing another piece of architecture up the hill of hopeless, sure to be lost to interpretation, meaning - something with which many contemporaries, and architectural critics seem to have become mildly obsessed. This incessant striving for meaning is reinforced through the typical university design project’s marking schedule. It is common a student must prove that his or her design is meaningful, and was not merely plucked from their imagination. Often, according to these marking schedules, a ‘good’ design must have undergone numerous conceptual iterations (methodology), have included a range of theoretical and practical influences (context) and be something that no-one has seen before (originality). Other than undermining a student’s confidence in his or her own imaginative creativity and the value of creativity alone, this demonstrates the level of the contemporary architectural critics’ obsession with meaning. It is this hopeless push back up the hill of meaning that we now too often call design. This phenomenon can also be observed outside of the university walls. A fine example is Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye which, though no longer contemporary, is still undoubtedly relevant due to its lingering influence and fame. I will also admit that I would certainly be lying if I said that provocation has had no effect on my selection; I find it serves as a useful tool in point making. Regardless, Villa Savoye is a landmark of hopeless intended meaning. Corbusier’s five points of architecture are indicative of the meaning he had hoped to convey through this building: an original expression and glorification of the Modern (Western) context of living (Corbusier, 1986). This is all fine and well, and yes it is true that one can recognise this expression in the architecture once it has been explained. In fact, I have no doubt that some uninformed observers may even realise that the semicircular path of the Villa Savoye’s driveway is exactly the turning radius of a 1927 Citroën automobile. However even of those impressive few who do, even fewer will recognise this as a design strategy to aid in the celebration of the industrial phenomena of the automobile. The building’s context, originality and methodology, its meaning, have undeniably been lost to interpretation - a fate shared by all attempts to portray and interpret meaning in architecture. So is it sensible to strive for meaning so passionately? A remarkably similar question was identified by a number of post-war philosophers who, spurred by the atrocities and revelations of war, went on to become the pioneers of movements which now collectively fit under the heading Existentialism. Questions around the conditions of existence, and whether any human can experience true meaning within the apparent meaninglessness of our universe, began to be considered (Solomon, 1974). Within this, the theory of Absurdism arose from the identification of the paradoxical act of an individual’s hopeless attempt to determine meaning within a meaningless existence; that being the Absurd Act. The similarities are, I hope, apparent, as it is the identification of this similarity that initiated this thesis. Just as individuals seek meaning in their existence, they seek meaning in their architecture. And both can undeniably be considered Absurd Acts due to the limitations of perception and interpretation. I need to explain Absurdism in more depth, and I do so in the following chapter, but what needs to be understood for now is that, according to the Absurdist theory, no individuals will find true meaning in their meaningless universe, or in their architecture. Assuming you too refuse to accept this bleak outlook, we must ask a question of architecture, and existence also. How can its meaning be validated? The clues to a solution lie in the discussions of Absurdism; and it is the findings and explanations of Albert Camus that will pave the path that I will follow in the establishment of architecture within the paradox of meaninglessness.</p>

Investigating the Translation Strategies Used in Rendering Cultural Bound Expressions in Barghouthy’s Memoire I Was Born There, I Was Born Her

This study investigates the translation strategies used in translating 25 cultural references and expressions in Mourid Barghouty’s autobiography ‘I Was Born There, I Was Born Here’ (2009) from Arabic into English. The results of this research may assist the trainee translators to improve their understanding of the effect of culture on the quality of the translation. The researchers adopt two theoretical models: Venuti’s domestication and foreignization (1998) and Ivir’s (1987) procedures for the translation of cultural references. This study tries to find out to what extent the translation has accounted to render the original cultural bound expressions maintaining their meaning in the target language. The researchers adopt a qualitative research since the data analysis is based on analytical and descriptive approaches. After analyzing the selected data, the researchers find out that the domestication strategy has been the most frequently-used strategy at (52%), and foreignization comes second at (48%). The procedure of substitution has been used the most (seven times), followed by literal translation and borrowing with the same number of times (six times), then defining the elements of culture (four times), then omission (twice). Lexical creation and addition have not been used at all. The findings also show that the translator has managed to capture the intended meaning sought by the original author in most extracts. The researchers recommend that translators of culture-bound expressions should be aware of the two involved cultures. This helps them to determine the cultural context in which a text takes place, so they can achieve the closest equivalents in the target text.