Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends最新文献

{"title":"Evaluation of Learning Outcomes: A Case Study of Secondary Level Compulsory English Textbooks of the Punjab Board, Pakistan","authors":"A. Fayyaz, Haseeb ul Hasaan, Kausar Parveen","doi":"10.32350/jcct.31.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.31.05","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the learning outcomes of selected English textbooks at the cognitive level. The aim of the present study is to explore the levels of criticality in the learning outcomes of compulsory English textbooks (Grade 6-10) published by the Punjab Board, based on which their activities and exercises are designed. Learning outcomes of compulsory English textbooks (Grade 6-10) were analyzed following the Critical Thinking Evaluation Model (CTEM). Post-use evaluation of the learning outcome of compulsory English textbooks (Grade 6-10) has not been carried out yet. To fill this gap, selected English textbooks were evaluated in terms of their critical thinking skills based learning outcomes. The evaluated textbooks were selected through stratified sampling. A mixed-method approach including both qualitative and quantitative data analysis was used to make findings more reliable and valid. Exploratory research design was adopted to explore the levels of criticality in compulsory English textbooks (Grade 6-10). The totality of results showed that the ‘implementation’ level of CTEM was the most frequent among the learning outcomes. The second most frequent level of criticality was ‘background knowledge’ and the third most frequent was ‘apprehension’. ‘Anatomization’ and ‘creativity’ levels of criticality appeared less frequently among the learning outcomes of compulsory English textbooks, while the ‘conceptualization’ level of CTEM was the least frequent. It was found that the learning outcomes of compulsory English textbooks (Grade 6-10) were not designed to enhance critical evaluation and self-directed learning. The results are beneficial for textbook designers, textbook evaluators, examiners, paper setters, teachers, students, and teacher trainers. This study contributes to the development of the English language teaching system in public schools.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"71 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114670458","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":"A Study of Endurance and Aspiration in Maya Angelou’s Poems The Caged Bird (1968) and Still I Rise (1978)","authors":"H. Aslam","doi":"10.32350/jcct.31.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.31.04","url":null,"abstract":"The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994) manifests that Maya Angelou’s personal consciousness and public awareness sharpened her poetic capabilities. She used art to communicate the pathos and joys of her evolving spirit. This research paper explores the elements of survival, that is, endurance and aspiration in her poetry. The only freedom she enjoyed was the freedom to write which was rooted in her mind and not curbed by societal forces. \u0000The rationale of this paper is to trace how personal struggle and the quest for self-sustaining dignity in Maya Angelou’s poetry serves as an aspiration for America’s black community. Her cerebral autobiographies manifest her struggle for survival in a hostile and racist social environment and her poetry reflects the same. \u0000The objective of this research is to locate the motifs of endurance and aspiration in two of her poems namely The Caged Bird (1994) and Still I Rise (1994) from her anthology of Complete Collected Poems (1994). Caged Bird has become legendary due to the use of strong images, dichotomy and masked metaphors. Through these devices the poetess depicts her span of fragile development. As she grows physically and emotionally she discards her old mask and in Still I Rise, she presents her self-image with courage. The lyrical qualities of both poems provide soothing and healing power to the black community. In the light of the current analysis, this research paper concludes that the ultra fine resonance with repetition in Angelou’s poetry generates strong emotions. At the same time, it becomes a mode of free expression and endurance for the poetess. Furthermore, the outcome of this research is that it traces the dynamic elements of aspiration in her poetry through which she gains a voice, a voice to address her pathos with a modulated tone and to introduce the tools for productive survival.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134240240","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":"A Postmodern Reading of Don DeLillo’s Short Stories","authors":"Sameen Shahid, Arooba Khurram","doi":"10.32350/jcct.31.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.31.01","url":null,"abstract":"The focus of this paper is to study how different techniques are incorporated in the postmodern fiction to present the multiplicity of meaning and subjectivity of the reality. For this purpose, the researcher has selected American novelist and short story writer Donald Richard DeLillo’s short stories “The Itch” and “Coming. Sun. Mon. Tues”. The researcher has analyzed the selected works using the theoretical frameworks provided by Fredric Jameson, Linda Hutcheon and Henri Bergson. The theoretical insights of the selected theorists help understand the subjective reality of the postmodernism. Textual analysis has been used as a method to study the selected fictional work. Postmodernism is critical of certain foundational conventions of philosophy, specifically, the Enlightenment thinking, as it symbolizes the pursuit of reason and logic. On the other hand, it focuses on the personalization and subjectivity in the construction of truth and worldviews. The rejection of objective reality gives way to multiple realities and subjectivity. American fiction, in the second half of the twentieth century, has been influenced by postmodernism to a great extent. The analyzed short stories provide a good postmodern reading since they cover a range of features that are relatable in the postmodern world.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133526499","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":"‘Observable Signals’ of Motivation in Teaching-Learning Process","authors":"Muhammad Umer Azim, Zaheer Hussain, Azhar Munir, M. Iqbal","doi":"10.32350/jcct/2020/21/849","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct/2020/21/849","url":null,"abstract":"The current study focuses on the identification of the ‘observable signals’ of motivation perceived by the language teachers in the teaching-learning process. This phenomenon is worth studying as it can open new dimensions  for conducting research on motivation and engagement in the field of applied linguistics. It can be very helpful for teachers in assessing their students’ motivation. Data were collected for this phenomenological study through questionnaire, interviews and focus group discussion. The sample consisted of twenty-six English language teachers. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The ‘observable signals’ of motivation were categorized in the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive domains. The results identified that asking probing questions, eye contact, asking for extra resources, loving and respecting teachers, coming on time, completing classroom tasks quickly, enjoying group activities, and suggesting topics to teachers were comprised the ‘observable signals’ of motivation. The majority of the teachers agreed on observing most of these signals. Teachers can use these signals to assess the motivation of their learners and future researchers can use the findings of this research for conducting further research.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134466965","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":"Language Shapes Socially Constructed Gender Roles: Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ in Focus","authors":"Haniya Munir","doi":"10.32350/JCCT.21.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/JCCT.21.02","url":null,"abstract":"Language plays an important role in human life that can be seen from various perspectives such as the cultural perspective, linguistic perspective, social perspective, psychological perspective, perspective of gender and moral and ethical perspectives. This is undoubtedly a proven fact that we use language and at the same time, language uses us to define, designate, tag and shape our places in the society (Cameron, 2005). This role of language is generally suitable for all human race either male or female but the basic purpose of this study is to explain how language shapes a woman’s place and identity in society. Often we find that women face linguistic discrimination in two different ways: one is the way; they are taught to speak and use language and the other way is about how language treats them (Lakoff, 2004). These linguistic disparities tend to specify a woman’s role and function in the society as a sex object, a servant, a wife, a daughter, a mother and specifically a woman (Kerber, 1988). The researcher collected the data for this study from Ibsen’s (1999) ‘A Doll’s House’ in which different lexical items, phrases and sentences were uttered intentionally to explain the role of the main character Nora as a wife, as a daughter and as a woman. The researcher examined the speeches of different characters only to show the language –made and man- made places of women in the society. For this purpose, the researcher used a theoretical framework based on the qualitative approach while consulting the related ideas of Lakoff (2004) who, in her ‘Dominance Theory,’ explains how language shapes a woman’s place in the society by analyzing her own speeches and the speeches of different people in the society. The findings of the study go a long way in telling people and the upcoming researchers that language not only specifies gender roles individually, but also internally and externally as well. Basically different social characters surrounding a woman use language in such a way that it starts shaping a woman’s character in different sub- characters as explained in the work of Ibsen (1999). Furthermore, language use tells us that a man remains a man in every situation either as a father, as a husband, as a son, and above all as a man but a woman’s place in society is changeable according to language use and those tagged names that men have used for women ever. For example, if a little girl talks roughly like a boy, she is scolded by her parents and friends (Lakoff, 2004). This process of socialization is harmful in the sense that it is making women weak, incapable and less –confident but if we analyze the last lines spoken by Nora in the selected text of Ibsen (1999), we come to know that constant battering and hammering of socialization and generalization are now making women aware of their individual place and identity in the society and they are now looking at life from a different perspective that is still unacceptable in the man-made society (Kram","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121131116","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":"Observable Signals of Motivation in Teaching-learning Process","authors":"Muhammad Umer Azim, Zaheer Hussain, Azhar Munir, M. Iqbal","doi":"10.32350/JCCT.21.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/JCCT.21.04","url":null,"abstract":"The current study focuses on the identification of the observable signals of motivation as perceived by the language teachers in the teaching-learning process. This phenomenon is worth studying as it can open new dimensions for conducting research on motivation and engagement in the field of applied linguistics. It can be very helpful for teachers in assessing their students’ motivation. Data was collected for this phenomenological study through questionnaire, interviews, and focus group discussion. The sample consisted of twenty-six English language teachers. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis. The observable signals of motivation were categorized in the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive domains. The results identified that ‘asking probing questions’, ‘eye contact’, ‘asking for extra resources’, ‘loving and respecting teachers’, ‘coming on time’, ‘completing classroom tasks quickly’, ‘enjoying group activities’, and ‘suggesting topics to teachers’ comprised the observable signals of motivation. The majority of the teachers agreed on observing most of these signals. Teachers can use these signals to assess the motivation of their learners and future researchers can use the findings of this research for conducting further research.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121226141","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":"Semiotic Analysis of the Objectification of Women in Selected Pakistani Advertisements","authors":"K. Ahmed, Anila Tariq, Arfan Akram","doi":"10.32350/JCCT.21.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/JCCT.21.01","url":null,"abstract":"This study explored the objectification of women in Pakistani advertisements of print and electronic media. The objectification and presentation of women in the advertisements of the western world has been extensively studied but this area lacks research in Pakistan. Semiotic analysis was used as the research tool in order to explore how multiple meanings and beliefs are built in a society by advertising sex. In this research, five advertisements from different Pakistani TV channels and newspapers were selected as sample. These commercials were selected because they presented women in a specific way. For analysis, Barthian semiotic analysis on two levels of significance, that is, the denotative and connotative levels, was employed. The findings of this paper revealed that advertisements in Pakistan focus on the physical appearance and depiction of women body.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":" 29","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114051136","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":"Visual Signification in Thematic concerns: A Semiotic Analysis","authors":"Malik Haqnawaz Danish, Abida Batool","doi":"10.32350/jcct.11.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.11.04","url":null,"abstract":"Visual narrative is a modern way of dispensing information or conveying a story to audience through elements with significations. Twenty first century is marked with the revolutionary trends of constructing narratives through images. Facebook and other social networking sites have made ‘image’ an easy way of communicating ideas, feelings and emotions. The researchers in the current study attempt to highlight the superiority of visual information using semiotic tools as the medium of decoding signs and their signification in elements appearing on a visual screen. Furthermore, the current research tries to elaborate the use of patterns, designs and concepts embedded in the video of the song by utilizing mise-en-scene, dexterously. The paper analyzes the visuals in the song by Sajjad Ali, ‘Tasveer Bana Kay’ semiotically, using Charles Peirce’ model and assigns signification to the elements of the visual text. The theme of the song is constructed through camera shot and angle, settings, colour and gestures and abstract ideas are metaphorically presented. Six images have been selected from the song video and analyzed semiotically. The current study establishes that a message can easily be conveyed with the help of images, amplifying the main theme of a narrative. The study gives an impetus to work on the genre of film studies and specially mise-en-scene as a supplementing device to communicate more than what is presented on the screen by decoding and constructing meaning which are implicitly explicit.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"30 12","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120855692","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":"Rapid Automatized Picture Naming as a Proficiency Assessment for Endangered Language Contexts: Results from Wilamowice","authors":"R. Borges","doi":"10.32350/jcct.11.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.11.01","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses the use of rapid automatized picture naming (RAN) in the assessment of proficiency among new speakers of endangered languages. Despite the fact that measuring proficiency among new speakers is crucial vis-à-vis the development of didactic materials and understanding language change, there are often a number of practical issues that reduce the practicality of traditional language evaluation methods. This paper investigates the potential of RAN assessments to provide a suitable indication of language proficiency by means of accuracy (ability to name pictures), speed (how quickly a verbal response is produced), and cognitive control (how well the speaker mediates cognitive load while performing the task). Results from RAN assessments administered among new speakers of Wymysorys, in concert with other data collection procedures, indicate that this type of task provides accurate insight into speakers’ proficiency. Latencies in the bilingual picture naming allow accurate insight into speakers’ proficiency as a function of the relative degrees of language entrenchment. However, increasing cognitive load during the assessment via speed of cue stimulus and frequently switching trial language showed no effect relative to the proficiency rank order established by naming accuracy and speed.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"109 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129718320","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 and Importance of Schemas in Pedagogy and Learning: A Cognitive Approach","authors":"N. Ansari","doi":"10.32350/jcct.11.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32350/jcct.11.03","url":null,"abstract":"Educational strategies are designed to cope with and fulfill the multifarious pedagogical and educational needs of teachers and learners. Moreover, no educational plan can possibly yield the required results without incorporating suitable instructive strategies. This research paper advocates the role and importance of schemas in learning new forms of knowledge and data in the perspective of class room teaching-learning. Cognitive approach is adopted to understand how students learn new forms of knowledge and experiences through different mental processes, quite unlike that of behaviorism. The concept of schema helps us understand how learners can link new pieces of information to the already existing knowledge in their minds. The notion of ‘Constructivist Approach’ has been extracted from the field of educational psychology for triangulation. Extracts are taken from the textbooks of English used in matriculation and intermediate through purposive sampling. Their analysis shows that schemas can play a vital role in enhancing the learning experience and making new forms of knowledge a permanent part of the memory of students which is the ultimate goal of education.","PeriodicalId":257118,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication and Cultural Trends","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127431588","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}