Phonological Processes in A 18-Months Bilingual Toddler

<em>The toddler’s first words were unintelligible speech by adult. This study was conducted to investigate the language development undergone by a 18-months bilingual toddler. The study of language development had two perspectives in terms of clinical and linguistic perspective. This study was a linguistic perspective to find out the language development processes especially in phonological processes undergone by a 18-months bilingual toddler. This study employed descriptive case study as the method with observation and video recording as the data collection. The participant of this study was a 18-months Javanesse-Indonesian toddler. The data were collected for 30 days. The data were categorized and analyzed based on </em><em>Ingram's theory (1976)</em><em>. The result revealed that there were three categories of phonological processes undergone by 18-months Javanesse-Indonesian toddler such as substitution, assimilatory, and syllable structure processes. The syllable structure processes with initial consonant deletion is the most dominant types of phonological processes. The results are expected to enrich the study of language development especially in a 18-months Javanesse-Indonesian toddler in which the information will benefit for the practicing clinicians.</em>

Are Synonyms Always Synonymous? A Corpus-assisted Approach to Announce, Declare, and State

<p><em>The study on (near) synonymous word has been of intriguing topic in the recent decades. Scholars have investigated them from diverse perspectives including but not limited to semantics, grammar, and language teaching. However, few of them examine synonymous verbs. This study endeavors to scrutinize ‘announce’, ‘declare’, and ‘state’ by employing descriptive qualitative approach and British National Corpus as data source. Besides, it also attempts to shed pivotal light the pedagogical implication of corpus linguistics to the teaching of word or vocabulary and meaning in use. Sketch Engine is used as instrument analysis by which collocation and concordance analysis were employed to elucidate word combination and contexts to produce meaning. The findings demonstrate that ‘announce’, ‘declare’, and ‘state’ could not be used rudimentary interchangeably since they carry out (slightly) different meaning depending on collocate word and grammatical pattern. This study also corroborated the notion that corpus linguistics plays significant role in foreign language teaching since it offers authentic materials and contextual clue for language use.</em><strong><em></em></strong></p>

Quantifying student satisfaction with technology-enhanced textbooks in the Japanese university context

Thirty-three students used their personal mobile devices to access digital media in a paper-based textbook containing Quick Response (QR) codes. The students worked in small groups with minimal intervention from the course instructor to participate in activities and complete assignments. Information regarding student satisfaction with the course, as well as their perceptions of the benefits and disadvantages of the instructional method employed, were gathered through a questionnaire and a reflective writing activity. The results indicated that overall satisfaction was high (<em>M</em> = 3.38), especially regarding the role of the instructor (<em>M</em> = 3.35) and interaction (<em>M</em> = 3.35). However, participants indicated a lower level of satisfaction with the materials (<em>M</em> = 2.89). Further inquiry revealed that dissatisfaction with the course materials was due to the lack of a stable Wi-Fi connection at the university rather than the design or content of the textbooks.

Multimodal Teaching Proposal in an English as A Foreign Language Subject

<p>XXI century society has a multimodal nature and it is referred as 2.0 era, in which the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is essential. This implies that tertiary education needs to be adapted to this context and, therefore it is necessary to highlight multimodal teaching in University classrooms thanks to <em>Power Point</em> or <em>Prezi</em> presentations, the use of videos or social networks such as <em>Facebook</em> or <em>Twitter</em>, the use of <em>google</em> tools, etc. This article intends to be a contribution to highlight the importance of multimodal teaching in higher education. It describes some activities that promote multimodality used in the subject English Language V of the degree in English Studies at the University of Alicante. The selection of activities is determined not only for its multimodal nature but also because they contribute to the acquisition of competences that are essential for the labour market. In addition, a survey was prepared in order to know students’ opinions about a teaching proposal based on multimodality. The results of the survey show that students consider that multimodal teaching facilitates learning and increases their motivation. Moreover, multimodal teaching contributed to the acquisition of different social competences.</p>

The Application of Functional Theory: Indonesian Presidential Debate

<em>Functional theory is a one of theories that are common used on the research of political debates in American campaign discourse. In the present article, Indonesian presidential debate is analyzed from the perspective of functional theory. The goal of this study is to analyze language function produced by candidates and to evaluate the applicability of functional theory in analyzing Indonesian presidential debate. The authors employ qualitative method in analyzing data. Supporting instruments in analyzing data were functional theory and political discourse analysis (PDA). PDA used in interpreting language function in political context. While, functional theory provides three functions, namely: attacks, defends, and acclaims. The finding shows that two different axioms are found. The first is the use of attack more than defense; it is line with the prediction of functional theory that has been tested in American political debate. Second, the use of acclaims less than attack, it differs in a way from the prediction of functional theory. Fundamentally, functional theory can be used as an instrument in analysis political debates in Indonesia even though the findings were not exactly consistence with the prediction. Thereby, the theory needs to be developed discursively</em>.

A Comparison of Teacher-directed and Author-directed Peer Review in a Japanese University EFL Class

<em>Peer review is widely-used in EFL writing classes, and it has been found that students hold generally positive attitudes towards both providing and receiving peer feedback. However, while it is common for teachers to utilize peer response worksheets, little research has looked at the impact that the specific style of these sheets can have on how language learners conduct peer review and their attitudes towards it. In this study, participants first used a generic peer response sheet designed by the teacher (teacher-directed peer review), then an individualized peer response sheet that each learner had created, focusing on specific points that they wanted advice on (author-directed peer review). Surveys were conducted after each peer review session, and the data revealed that the two peer review styles prompted peer reviewers to give different types of feedback, with a greater focus on surface level issues during author-directed peer review. Furthermore, although all students agreed that both styles had been useful, 60% stated a preference for the author-directed style.</em>

Swearwords in Subtitling: A Case Study on Students’ Translation Project

<p><em>Despite their consideration as impolite remarks in communication, swearwords play an inseparable part from linguistics repertoire. As defined by Aijmer (2002:12), swearwords “[express] the speaker’s attitude towards the situation spoken about, his assumptions, his intentions, his emotions”. Carrying ‘negative’ label makes swearwords the centre of attention. Interestingly, movies that have turned into public entertainment sphere blooms the use of swearwords. The statement is supported by Azzaro (2005:1) who states that “television is often blamed for the circulation of once forbidden expression, and films in particular get the blame.” To add fuel to the fire, Cressman et al (2009) has also noted a rising frequency of swearwords usages in Hollywood movies. With the increasing number of Hollywood movies in Indonesia, English swearwords phenomena cannot be neglected. However, deleting or even softening swearwords will put the artistic touch of cinematography at stake. In this context, translators, especially subtitle translators, play an important role in dealing with swearwords phenomenon. As to introduce translation students to this complex matter, the writer gave them a subtitling task of swearwords. Twenty students consisting of twelve males and eight females were involved in this project and ‘8 Miles’ movie was used as the translation task. Surprisingly, both male and female students did not try to soften or delete the use of swearwords. Most of the English swearwords were adopted into Indonesian swearwords.</em></p>

Tutors’ Experiences and Perceptions of a Problem-based Learning Approach in an ESL Writing Classroom

<em><span>This study investigated tutors’ experiences and perceptions of using a problem-based learning approach (PBL) in an ESL writing classroom. The participants of the study are two Nigerian tutors who facilitated an intact class of 18 second-year students in an English composition course which lasted for 12 weeks. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The tutors were interviewed after the implementation of the PBL process. The overall findings of the study show that the tutors have positive perceptions of the use of PBL in a writing classroom. Specifically, the findings reveal the tutors’ positive experiences and perception of the workshop conducted prior to the PBL process, the ill-structured problems presented to the students, tutor facilitation and students’ group activities. Finally, the paper gives some pedagogical implications which would give insight for better implementation of the PBL approach.</span></em>

Examining Teachers’ Perceived Barriers to the Integration of Critical Thinking in Moroccan High Schools

<em><span lang="EN-CA">Several scholars acknowledge that the ability to think critically and process new information is a skill that must be learnt in order to challenge a rapidly changing world. It is important to enhance students’ critical thinking skills to help them be successful in their upcoming life plans in numerous domains. In other words, integrating critical thinking skills in schools is not only a way to assist learners obtain favorable outcome in schools, but it is also crucial if learners are going to be able to operate in an increasingly difficult world. However ; little attention has been given to examine strategies that can help teachers incorporate critical thinking skills in education. This paper attempts to address the importance of critical thinking in education. Besides, it aims to discuss the issue of teaching critical thinking for the 21st century students learning English as a foreign language. Finally, the paper addresses elements that prevent the improvement of critical thinking in classrooms.</span></em>

Promoting Cultural Site by Improving English Language Ability: An English Specific Purpose for Tourism

<p>This research was carried out to improve English ability of young generations of Tapakrejo village in order to promote Punden cultural sites to be tourism destination. It is specialized in practicing communicative speaking skill as the implementation of ESP for tourism. This research included into Classroom Action Research which was conducted in two cycles. The subject of this research was 20 young people of Tapakrejo village, Blitar. The data were collected using observation checklist, interview guide, and test. The result showed that there is a significant improvement of English ability from the first cycle into second cycle. The criteria that have been used to test speaking ability were fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. The technique used in promoting Punden Cultural site is advertising technique through four steps: (1) drawing the tourism potential, (2) creating banners, posters, and slogans that contain the information about the Punden cultural site, (3) creating directions to reach the Punden cultural site, and (4) creating articles to be uploaded in the internet. Furthermore, the tourism potential of punden cultural site was also describe in this research.</p>