Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends最新文献

{"title":"Discrepancy between Self-Reported and Actual Phonics Content Knowledge of Government Primary School Teachers in Pakistan","authors":"Sadia Malik, Saiqa Imtiaz Asif, Nasir Saleem","doi":"10.32350/jcct.51.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.51.08","url":null,"abstract":"The discrepancy between teachers' self-reported and actual knowledge can be lethal for any pedagogic process. In that case, they cannot achieve the learning objectives by transferring the required knowledge and skills among the learners. This research intends to explore the gap between phonics-related self-reported and actual knowledge of Pakistani government primary school teachers to see how far they are competent in phonics knowledge. This investigation further elucidates the quality of pre-and in-service teacher preparation programs in equipping the primary grade instructors with the required skill. For this purpose, 230 government primary school teachers were asked to report their phonics knowledge through a Likert scale questionnaire. In addition, a section of 10 MCQs was added to assess their actual knowledge of which different aspects of phonics, i.e., the definition of phonics, number of sounds in the English language, identifying consonant and vowel digraphs, short and long vowel sounds, number of sounds and syllable in a word and consonant blend. The findings realised the severe discrepancy between the self-reported and actual knowledge as only 28.3 % of teachers could score average or above-average marks, though the majority overrated their competence. Comparatively older, less qualified, and less professionally trained teachers with non-M.A. English qualifications were more prone to the tendency of overvaluing their knowledge. This situation implies that specific phonics content-based training is not provided to the teachers during pre-and in-service teacher preparation programs. However, the phonology of English is taught to them to some extent; teacher knowledge is not assessed at any stage. These findings propose content-based teacher training, teacher knowledge assessment, and the incorporation of technology to facilitate teachers.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133015875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gender Representation: A Survey of Public Sector English Textbooks of Grades 7 and 8, KP, Pakistan","authors":"T. Hussain, Hazrat Umar, Iftikhar Khan, I. Batool","doi":"10.32350/jcct.51.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.51.04","url":null,"abstract":"Gender representation in textbooks helps to develop the students' perceptions of gender construction.  It gradually becomes ingrained in students, and they develop their perspectives on gender in society with the help of these textbooks. The represented yardsticks of masculinity and femininity directly impact the gender conception of both male and female students. The current study analyzed gender representation in the newly designed English textbooks taught in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's (KP’s) government schools.  Using a mixed-method approach, the study analyzed two textbooks, one from grade 7 and the other from grade 8.  The linguistic (nouns, noun phrases, pronouns, verbs, verb phrases, adjectives, and adjective phrases associated with male and female constructions) and non-linguistic (invisibility and association of roles with males and females) data was collected, analyzed, and interpreted using textual analysis. The results confirmed the androcentric portrayal of gender in the recently designed English textbooks, which mostly associate females with emotional, friendly, indoor, and dependent activities. On the contrary, it tends to associate males with heroic, intellectual, strong, brave, dominating, decisive, outdoor, and independent qualities. Apart from addressing the issue of education and gender equality, this study has implications for the concerned research community, educational institutions, and the social science disciplines along with the humanities.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129276481","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Structure and Communicative Import of Selected Proverbs in Nzema Language and Culture","authors":"M. Yakub, Nana Anima Wiafe-Akenten","doi":"10.32350/jcct.51.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.51.03","url":null,"abstract":"Adopting an Ethno-pragmatics framework, the current study aims to describe the sentential structures and communicative imports of selected proverbs in Nzema, a Kwa language of Ghana, West Africa. Using data obtained from primary and secondary sources, this study identifies the structural properties of the proverbs by further highlighting structures which contribute to the pragmatic interpretations of these proverbs. The findings revealed that structural properties such as conditional constructions, causative constructions, focus constructions, and simple, compound, and complex-embedded sentences are prevalent in the syntactic manifestation of Nzema proverbs; which make affirmative and negative propositions. Hence, it was observed that these structural features have a significant contribution to determining the pragmatic import of these proverbs, based on the Nzema social norms, values, beliefs, experiences, and cultural worldview. This research also underscores existing postulations that proverbs are ‘multi-layered’ in terms of their interpretations, and they rely heavily on metaphoric representations and contextual use in any situation. Additionally, it was also noted that the oral construction of proverbs in Nzema is grammatically insightful; and thus, provides a window to the syntactic description of the Nzema language.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122713846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Words in Mental Lexicon: A Comparative Analysis of Word Association (WA) Responses of Pakistani L1 and Afghan L2 Speakers of Urdu","authors":"Sar B. Khan, M. A. I. Anjum","doi":"10.32350/jcct.51.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.51.05","url":null,"abstract":"Vocabulary acquisition in both L1 and L2 has depended on the opinion of associative language learning to help recognize and elucidate the procedures of lexical acquisition and development in the mind of language learners. To date, L2 studies in this area have delivered relatively controversial findings. The current study revisited certain corresponding issues in order to gain insight into the restoration of words in the mental lexicon. Moreover, it also strived to understand the relationship between lexical development and the process of word association (WA). To better understand the relationship between lexical meaning and mental lexicon, this study explored and compared the word associations of a group of Afghan Urdu speakers and a group of Urdu native speakers. It aimed to understand how mental links are developed between lexical items in the mental lexicon, a process commonly believed to partially support vocabulary acquisition. The findings revealed that paradigmatic relations created by L2 learners are dominant in their data sets, while syntagmatic relations are leading in L1 data sets. The findings support general trends in this area of research, that is, learning of Urdu language in Pakistan by foreigners. Moreover, the findings further highlight the importance of lexical associative processes employed in second language acquisition. To conclude, the study contributes to WA research, the description of mental lexicon, and L2 language learning and teaching.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115378839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Representation of Women: A Corpus-based Analysis of Pakistani English Newspapers","authors":"Salman Asghar, Urooj Akhter","doi":"10.32350/jcct.42.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.42.04","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the use of gendered lexical items and collocates to deconstruct the patriarchal social system of Pakistan with the help of corpus tools. Media frame the mind and thinking of people with its repetitive announcements. Women being a part of the society are also part of media news but they are underreported by reporters and editors as most of the news are male- filtered news. Pakistani English newspapers are one of the popular sources of getting information across Pakistan. The local social system and male dominating mindset have influenced all types of media in Pakistan. It is observed that like all other fields of life, women are marginalized in Pakistani English newspapers too. It is hypothesized that male are over represented as compared to female and women related news are written by female writers and reporters. A corpus of 270 Pakistani English Newspapers has been selected from The News International, The Dawn and Daily Times with 90 articles from each paper. A corpus-based analysis has been carried out to identify gender discrimination and gender stereotypes in Pakistani society. All collocate of women and men are kept in attention in this work. The results reveal that women are represented as a minority and marginalized victims by male dominating society. On the contrary, the modern writers raise their voices to support and highlight the role of women in society. The study is the first attempt of its kind for an amalgam of corpus-based and CDA approaches. \u0000Keywords: representation, corpus-driven analysis, newspapers, women, marginalized, minority","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133594459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Serial Verb Constructions in Nzema: A Descriptive Analysis","authors":"John Nyame, Cecilia Tomekyin","doi":"10.32350/jcct.42.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.42.05","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims to discuss Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) in Nzema, a Southern Bia (Kwa) language. It draws on some of the characteristics and properties that have been surveyed in the existing literature, for instance, subject/object sharing, tense, aspect, and negation. It also discusses the types and functions of SVCs in Nzema. The current paper analyses the notions of tense, aspect, and polarity and how they are marked in Nzema SVCs. Most of the data used in the analysis has been derived from the daily conversations of native speakers. Four respondents were approached for the purpose of this study. The analysis shows that Nzema SVCs belong to the types explored in the literature as clause chaining, both integrated and concordial. Moreover, serial verb patterns are used by the speakers to add argument, such as an instrument or beneficiary. Future markers are used before the verbs, while past markers occur after the verbs. On the other hand, progressive aspect markers occur before the verbs in the speech of the respondents. Furthermore, tense and aspect marking are repeated by the respondents on all the verbs in the series. Regarding argument sharing, the object is only shared when the verbs in the series are transitive. \u0000Keywords: argument sharing, clause chaining serialization, concordial serial verb, integrated serial verb construction","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133400127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ethical Dilemma Created by Media Circulation of the Graphic Images of Child Refugees: A Case Study of Aylan Kurdi","authors":"R. Lulu, Sohayle M. Hadji Abdul Racman, Monaimah Gubat-Manabilang","doi":"10.32350/jcct.42.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.42.02","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the coverage of the iconic graphic images of children (who died an unnatural death) in the media, particularly in newspapers. Precisely, it focuses on an iconic graphic image of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy who was drowned and whose body was washed up on a beach in Turkey, while his family was attempting to reach Greece. The circulation of this image in the media and how it has been presented in different newspapers is the subject of the current study. The researchers discuss the possibility of publishing this photo in newspapers in relation to the Codes of Ethics of SPJ. The findings reveal that the photo of Aylan Kurdi changed the world’s point of view about the Syrian refugee crisis. They also signify the fact that it is important to provide appropriate context to the graphic images circulating in the print media. Indeed, the context written under the images published in newspapers and the one that circulates in the media are significant because it hails a large number of audience. \u0000Keywords: iconic graphic images, media, newspapers, portrayal, refugees","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129399794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Politeness or Submissiveness: Gender Dichotomy in Everyday Interactions within the Ndebele Society in Zimbabwe","authors":"Matandare Soneni","doi":"10.32350/jcct.42.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.42.03","url":null,"abstract":"In the traditional Ndebele society of Zimbabwe, there is a marked asymmetry of knowledge and authority between men, women, and children. It implies a difference in the application of negative and positive politeness by them based on their traditionally assigned gender roles. Hence, this study demonstrates how gender roles and relations within the Ndebele society influence the forms and functions of politeness used in daily interactions. The analysis was conducted by using the politeness theory as the theoretical framework, which proclaims that communication is a way that structures social relations. Personal and participant observations were used as sources of data collection. The research revealed that the forms and functions of politeness used in daily interactions within the Ndebele society are influenced by the formal and socially distant relationships between men, women, and children. In this regard, politeness conventions were determined by analyzing the norms, values, and particular power structures of the Ndebele society. Moreover, it was also found that gender dichotomy is developed from an early age and the “I” holds the power dynamics in relationships. So, it was concluded that the forms and functions of politeness in the Ndebele society are determined by one’s position in it. Furthermore, this position implicitly represents the social and power relations within the society, maintaining a patriarchal social structure and habitus. In this respect, the submissiveness of women towards their husbands shows the set pattern of the patriarchal society and its expectations from a woman. \u0000Keywords: gender roles, patriarchy, negative politeness, politeness, positive politeness, submissiveness","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125933350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Schematizing Societal Problems in Namibian Novels: A Case Study of The Other Presence and The Hopeless Hopes","authors":"Linus Nghilifavali Hafeni, H. Z. Woldemariam","doi":"10.32350/jcct.42.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.42.01","url":null,"abstract":"The current research presents a cognitive stylistics study of two Namibian novels: Francis Sifiso Nyathi’s The Other Presence and Salom Shilongo’s The Hopeless Hopes. These novels were selected because they present societal problems specific to Namibia from two different perspectives. The study also argues that only a few such Namibian novels have been investigated via conceptualising cognitive stylistics. The researchers have raised three fundamental questions: How does cognitive metaphor help explicate psychological hitches as captured creatively in the two novels? What is the mind’s contribution in conceptualising and comprehending contextual meanings in the two novels? How does content schema contribute to the understanding of the two novels? It is, therefore, against the backdrop of these three questions that the two novels were purposefully selected and studied. Conceptualising and implementing the cognitive metaphor, the current study also analyses the root causes of societal problems, such as unemployment, unfair treatment of people, HIV/AIDS, and witchcrafts, prevailing in the Namibian social fabric. In The Other Presence, it is the HIV/AIDS which is  referred  to  as the other presence. Shilongo’s The Hopeless Hopes also reveals how Robert and the other fellow Namibian ex-combatants gathered at a Big House in Windhoek to hand over their petition to Honourable Zopa. It indicates clearly that the State House is being contextualised as a Big House in the novel, while the ‘Founding Father’ and the former president of the country Honourable Sam Nuyoma is referred to as Honourable Zopa. The contextual meaning of the selected novels can thus only be understood if the readers of these novels have a general background knowledge of the Namibian society. Within a cognitive stylistics theoretical framework, the study also follows a schema theory to explain mental problems and contextual meanings. It manifests how a cognitive stylistics approach to Namibian novels can advance the literary understanding of the multiplicities of themes, such as culture, taboo, superstition, unemployment, colonialism, corruption, and mental health. \u0000Keywords: cognitive metaphor, cognitive stylistics, content schema, contextual meanings, mental problems, schema theory","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"110 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134393348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Role of Social Networks, Attidude, and Motivation in Informal Foreign Language Learning: A Case Study of the Tourism Industry in Mombasa County, Kenya","authors":"Gerry Ayieko, P. Mwangi","doi":"10.32350/jcct.41.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.41.02","url":null,"abstract":"The current paper investigates the predictive values of five independent variables including attitude, motivation, social networks, and problems encountered during the process of informal language learning. These values were calculated based on the dependent variable, that is, the scores on Test de Niveauenfrançais (TNF) of the informal learners of French working in the tourism industry in Mombasa, Kenya. A quantitative descriptive survey design was used. Data was collected through a set of three questionnaires and TNF was administered to 45 informal learners of French working in different tourism sectors in Mombasa County. The results revealed that instrumental motivation and interest in the language were the most significant predictors of the TNF score of the respondents. A multiple linear regression model was used to estimate the predictive value of social networks, attitude, and motivation in informal language learning. The results revealed a significant combined effect of variables on foreign language mastery. Furthermore, the results also revealed that the sum effect of the remaining social network variables on the respondents’ mastery of French was not significant. We discovered a highly positive correlation between learners’ social networks and their mastery of the language. Network density was found to be the most significant predictor when all the social network variables were factored into the model. In the first step, it was determined that the respondents’ initial proficiency level and the percentage of native French speakers in their network were the most significant predictors of French language mastery. The second step added overall size and density in the model and they were found to be significant as well. Finally, it was concluded that informal foreign language learning seems to be a viable model of language learning that should be given attention by stakeholders in the tourism industry. \u0000Keywords: attitude, French language competence, motivation, informal language learning, social network","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125428676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}