Journal of Language, Culture, and Translation: 1 (1)

Open Access Article

1 - Translation and body-part terms:The case of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian
فرزاد شریفیان

10.30495/lct.2012.551413

Translating body-part terms from one language to another presents a significant challenge due to the fact that such terms are usually associated with cultural conceptualisations, such as those of emotions and mental activities, which in many cases vary across languages. More

Translating body-part terms from one language to another presents a significant challenge due to the fact that such terms are usually associated with cultural conceptualisations, such as those of emotions and mental activities, which in many cases vary across languages. A literal translation of a body-part term from SL to TL, therefore, may alter the conceptual basis of the term, which may have significant semantic or pragmatic implications. This paper focuses on the case of cheshm ‘eye’ in Persian, a body-part term that is predominantly associated with emotions, including love, envy, and greed, as well as character traits such as naivety or wilfulness. The analysis of some Persian expressions that are associated with the body-part term ‘eye’ reveal significant differences with the connotation of ‘eye’ in English. For example, the conceptualisation of understanding is seeing, is not a dominant conceptualisation in everyday use of language by Persian speakers. There are, however, some words which do refer to the process of visual perception and which are mainly used in association with thinking. These expressions seem to be reminiscent of a historical cultural conceptualisation that can be traced back to the Pahlavi language, the major form of Middle Persian. The observations made in this paper call for a cultural-conceptual level of analysis, as a step in the general process of translating from one language to another. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

2 - A Comparative Study of Textual Metadiscourse Markers in Introduction and Method Sections of Applied Linguistics Research Articles
Alireza Jalilifar Fariba Kabezadeh

One important approach to macro structure study of a text is to analyze it in relation to its generic structure. The present study investigated variations in the use of textual meta-discourse markers (TMMs) in two major sections of research articles (RAs), that is intro More

One important approach to macro structure study of a text is to analyze it in relation to its generic structure. The present study investigated variations in the use of textual meta-discourse markers (TMMs) in two major sections of research articles (RAs), that is introduction and method. It aimed to find out how TMMs are deployed and whether differences in the rhetorical structures of introduction and method account for any change in the distribution and use of TMMs. Sixty-five RAs from international journals published 2005 onward were selected. In order to identify TMMs, Hylands' (2004) model of metadiscourse markers (MMs) was used. Findings marked variations in the use of TMMs in introduction and method sections which, in turn, justify generic variations in the two sections. An awareness of the kinds of meanings that can be construed and the linguistic resources available to do so may be an important step in students’ learning to manage these resources in their own writing. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

3 - The Relationship between Intelligence and Foreign Language Learning, and the Role of Practice
Masoomeh Salehi Firooz Sadighi

This study investigates the relationship between intelligence and foreign language learning in general, and the learning of vocabulary and grammar in particular. It also investigates the effect of extra practice on foreign language learning on learners with equal intell More

This study investigates the relationship between intelligence and foreign language learning in general, and the learning of vocabulary and grammar in particular. It also investigates the effect of extra practice on foreign language learning on learners with equal intelligence. The participants were 182 high school students at grades two and three. They were given Raven’s Progressive Matrices, which is a test of general intelligence, and an achievement test of English based on their EFL textbook at school. The English test consisted of two subparts: vocabulary and grammar. Correlation coefficient was run on intelligence test scores and English test scores. The results showed a weak positive relationship between intelligence and foreign language learning, and learning of vocabulary and grammar. For investigating the effect of practice, some students who attended English classes and some of those who didn’t were chosen in a way that their mean intelligence score was equal. Then their mean English test score was calculated. The mean English test score of the students who attended English classes was significantly higher than those who didn’t. These results suggest that intelligence affects foreign language learning, but extra practice can offset the effect of intelligence. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

4 - Intensification of Apology Strategies in Persian: A Politeness Perspective
Mohsen Shahrokhi

This paper is an endeavor to investigate whether apology supportive intensification is motivated by contextual variables in Persian. In this respect, the relevant apology speech acts were collected through the administration of a Discourse Completion Test consisting of More

This paper is an endeavor to investigate whether apology supportive intensification is motivated by contextual variables in Persian. In this respect, the relevant apology speech acts were collected through the administration of a Discourse Completion Test consisting of situations which varied in terms of Social Dominance, Social Distance, and Severity of Offence. The elicited data was analyzed and codified according to a coding scheme developed by Blum-Kulka et al. (1989). The results indicated that participants’ assessment of contextual variables motivated the strategy they used as apology supportive intensifications. Moreover, the study identified the use of culture-specific strategies as far as apology speech act supportive intensifications are concerned. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

5 - Engagement Markers: a Technique for Improving Writing Skills
Hamid Allami Haleh Serajfard

Writers use metadiscourse markers to create and maintain relationship with their readers, influencing them by addressing them directly in various ways. The present study aimed at exploring the use of engagement markers as related to the quality of texts produced by IELT More

Writers use metadiscourse markers to create and maintain relationship with their readers, influencing them by addressing them directly in various ways. The present study aimed at exploring the use of engagement markers as related to the quality of texts produced by IELTS student writers. To this end a quasi-experimental design was conducted through which 30 university level IELTS student writers were selected to comprise an experimental group which received instruction on the use of engagement markers. Another group of 30 students was selected to form the control group which received instruction on developing compositions only through a process method. The results indicate significant differences between the performance of experimental group and that of control group in terms of effectiveness of produced texts. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

6 - Schematic Structure of Job Advertisements in English and Persian: A Comparative Study and Preliminary Framework
Biook Behnam Nasrin Behnam

In this study the researchers intended to investigate the similarities and differences in the schematic structures of English and Persian job advertisements. In order to reach this objective, the researchers selected 20 job advertisements from Washington Post and 20 job More

In this study the researchers intended to investigate the similarities and differences in the schematic structures of English and Persian job advertisements. In order to reach this objective, the researchers selected 20 job advertisements from Washington Post and 20 job advertisements from The Times; and also 20 job advertisements were selected from each of the following Persian newspapers Aseman-e dusti and Sahand. The selected data were analyzed for their moves and sub-moves and a separate X-move schematic structure was proposed for each. The regularities present in the data were calculated manually and an overall schematic structure (structural framework) was proposed for each set of the English and Persian job advertisements. The researchers were then able to compare the two overall schematic structures to investigate the existing similarities and differences. The results indicated that regularity existed in certain moves of the proposed structural frameworks, but there was no specific fixed pattern in their occurrence. That is, there is a difference in the distribution and sequence of the employed moves. Our results were in line with Bhatia's (1993) study in that the proposed schematic structures appear not to vary systematically cross-culturally and that more evidence and research are needed in this area. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

7 - Gender Representation in ELT Materials: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Top Notch
Saeed Taki Atefeh Shahbazi

This study was carried out to investigate aspects of gender as represented in one of the currently used English language series in Iran, namely, Top Notch. In effect, the study analyzed the series in terms of nine major aspects of gender: female and male’s charact More

This study was carried out to investigate aspects of gender as represented in one of the currently used English language series in Iran, namely, Top Notch. In effect, the study analyzed the series in terms of nine major aspects of gender: female and male’s characters, female and male’s pictorial representations, female and male’s titles, activities, firstness of female and male in the mixed gender dialogues. To this end, Fairclough’s (2001) three dimensional model was adopted in order to extract the ideology behind these textbooks. The results revealed that the series tends to favor a certain gender. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

8 - The Effect of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) On Learning Idiomatic Expressions: A case of Iranian EFL students
Omid Tabatabaei

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) deals with teaching of foreign or second languages via computer programs and softwares and can offer many potential benefits for both learners and teachers (Zinovjeva, 2005). A strong knowledge of idioms will help students to b More

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) deals with teaching of foreign or second languages via computer programs and softwares and can offer many potential benefits for both learners and teachers (Zinovjeva, 2005). A strong knowledge of idioms will help students to be better speakers and negotiators. This study seeks to find the most effective way of learning English language, to implement a computer program that supports and enhances the pedagogy, and then measures how effective people can learn idioms by using computer programs. The sample consists of 60 female university students who are 18-22 years old and are all Iranian and majoring in English Translation at Shahr-e-kord university. They were selected through the administration of Quick Placement Test (QPT) and were divided into 2 groups (the control group and the experimental group). The first part of the work was the development of a computer program for teaching the new idioms of English book 136 American English Idioms. The next step was teaching the new idioms of the lessons to two groups of 60 students, in one of which the medium of instruction of the idiom was Idiom LX software and in the other one the traditional method presented by a language teacher and the results were analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that the use of the above-mentioned software led to higher ability of the learners in long term recall of the English idioms and it can also be used as an effective educational material for improving the students' learning of English idioms and also for changing their negative attitudes toward learning English idioms as a difficult and in some cases an impossible task. Manuscript profile

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