Research Article
Elham Naji Meidani; Reza Pishghadam; Behzad Ghonsooly; Azar Hosseini Fatemi
Abstract
1. IntroductionIn our age of speed and communication, time plays an important role in all dimensions of our lives. Globalization, which has brought about intensity of human relations, has raised the value of time. Time is a complex concept which has developed a specific meaning in every culture and society. ...
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1. IntroductionIn our age of speed and communication, time plays an important role in all dimensions of our lives. Globalization, which has brought about intensity of human relations, has raised the value of time. Time is a complex concept which has developed a specific meaning in every culture and society. People's conceptions about time have such high significance that some perceive them as the type of culture those people live in. Levine (1997) contended that a culture’s basic value system can be reflected in its norms and beliefs about time; thereby time is considered a social construct. English language teachers and learners deal with English culture, in which time is highly valued. Using Bourdieu's (1984) terms, they are in a "field" in which time and punctuality are important, and which being punctual can turn into a "habitus". Therefore, it is assumed that because of their familiarity with English culture, these two groups may have different conceptions towards time and a critical view towards how time is managed in the Iranian society and the educational system.2. MethodologyTo collect the required data, face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted in Persian. The interviews were all conducted in language institutes. The number of participants was not set a priori and with 8 language teachers and 10 language learners saturation point was gained. The language teachers and learners were all teaching and learning at English language institutes in Mashhad, respectively. A set of eight questions was designed regarding the participants' sociological conceptions of time. The first five items were broad, general questions, and the researcher added complementary questions in the course of the interview. The last three questions consisted of three hypothesized scenarios based on White, Valk, and Dialmy's (2011) study, in which the interviewees were asked how late each person in the scenario can come late. The social relationships in three situations were designed based on Scollon and Scollon (2001). Therefore, three relationships were taken into account: deference, solidarity, and hierarchy.3. ResultsOverall, the findings revealed that both teachers and learners are dissatisfied with time management in the educational system and everyday culture and they themselves have not been influenced by English culture's punctuality. The themes extracted from the interviews were the following: lack of adequate attention to time in the educational system, high potentiality for waste of time in language classes, a passive attitude towards time in Iranian culture and society, having the right to be late based on social relationships, thinking about the future and not the present, and not being influenced by western culture's punctuality.4. DiscussionDue to their particular characteristics, English language classes have a different environment from other classes. Examples of these characteristics include: discussing various topics, doing group work, and having a friendly and fun environment (see Pishghadam, Zabihi, & Shayesteh, 2015). The aforementioned features increase the level of subjectivity in English language teaching (ELT) classes and learners try to present their ideas and opinions. They certainly do have many advantages for learners and can increase their creativity, emotional intelligence, willingness to communicate, and social skills. However, if management is not properly done, these positive points can lead to a waste of time in the classroom. Some learners' over talking lead to feelings of dissatisfaction in the others and decreases the efficiency of the class. The other issue mentioned in the interviews was error correction. What seems important is that error correction should not take up too much of classtime. A particular aspect of English language classes is the comparison of learners' home culture with the target culture. Unfortunately, past research has revealed that this point often brings about deculturaltion in learners and even teachers (Pishghadam & Navari, 2009; Pishghadam & Saboori, 2011; Rahimi, 2011; Shahasavandi, Ghonsooly, & Kamyabi, 2010). It appears that learners and teachers pay attention to the negative aspects of Western culture and become influenced by it, but they do not show much interest in the positive aspects, such as punctuality and time management. The results revealed that in two types of relationship lateness was considered acceptable, namely, solidarity and hierarchy. In case of solidarity, the close relationship that exists between the two sides allows for the tolerance of unpunctuality. This can be explained by the fact the Iran is a high-context culture (Hofstede, 1986). Similarly, the hierarchical context allows for acceptance of unpunctuality of the superior by the inferiors. A contradiction found in the results is that although the interviewees showed dissatisfaction towards the delay of instructors in appointments, when they were put in the hypothetical scenario and asked about how late a university instructor can come, they mentioned long periods. This point demonstrates that in our society, the cultural aspect can be more favored that the moral or reasonable aspect. As the findings of the interviews revealed, the basis of inadequate attention to time is culture. Time is an important concept in the field of language learning with many applications. Since learning English has become a necessity nowadays, there is a need for speed in learning to reach the required credits as soon as possible. Therefore, more research should be done in line with this study.
Research Article
Sara Khazai; Maryam Soltan Beyad; Mahmoud Reza Ghorban Sabbagh
Abstract
1. IntroductionA feminist-stylistic research of the Nineteenth Century British novel North andsouth by Elizabeth Gaskell based on the theory of speech acts by John Searle (1969, 1975, 1979, 1983, 2002), reveals that despite the period’s very strict codes of conduct and etiquette governing ...
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1. IntroductionA feminist-stylistic research of the Nineteenth Century British novel North andsouth by Elizabeth Gaskell based on the theory of speech acts by John Searle (1969, 1975, 1979, 1983, 2002), reveals that despite the period’s very strict codes of conduct and etiquette governing women’s behavior and interactions with the opposite sex, they nevertheless found ways and means of manipulating language to control situations in an intelligent fashion and maintain power. 2. Theoretical FrameworkSpeaking in a language, claims John Searle is a matter of performing “acts” with specific intentions governed by a number of rules (1975/2002: 4). Searle classifies speech acts into the five different groups of assertives, directives, commissives, expressives, and declaratives (1975/2002). He also discusses indirect speech acts, actual perlocutionary force/effect, directions of fit between language and reality and illocutionary dimensions. Furthermore, Norman Fairclough (1989) posits that discursive practices are ideologically shaped by struggles over power. He notes the various types of power struggles that can occur within class or social groupings such as between men, women, and ethnic minorities, or between the dominated and the dominating and considers such power struggles as ‘necessary and inherent’ in the social system. On the other hand, feminist stylisticians such as Deborah Tannen (1994), have introduced diverse points of view regarding the question of female identity and gender power relationships forged through social interaction. Tannen (1994) asserts that ways of talking are a matter not of identity but of display and that behavior is not a reflection of the individual's nature (identity) but rather of some performance that s/he is presenting (display).3. MethodologyThis article starts off with the hypothesis that a number of Victorian British novels showcase young and independent heroines who engage in constant battles of wit and misunderstandings with mature and reasonable male characters and apparently end up realizing the error of their ways through the course of the novel. Instead of treating women and men as an internally homogeneous group, an analysis of dialogues in novels focuses on specificity; that is, it looks at particular women and men in certain settings with their own detailed interactions, identity categories and power relations. A study of selected conversational exchanges between the main protagonists of Gaskell’s North and South (1855) here, using Searle’s theory of speech acts (1975), leads to some generalizations about identity and power relations between the two protagonists which may fit Faircough’s (1989) and Tannen’s (1994) aforementioned frameworks. 4. Results and Discussion Margaret’s speech acts initially contain numerous expressives to articulate her feelings and impressions, but in many cases they indirectly serve as assertives or directives that require a course of action on the part of the hearer and consequently have conditions of satisfaction in her trying to make a word to world direction of fit. Her speech acts are taken by Mr. Thornton not merely as reactions to situations, but as strong recommendations for reform which achieve the desired uptake as he applies many types of reform to his mills even when she has left Milton. The research shows that the female character actually creates an opacity (unclearness) of link between discourse and ideology, thus empowering herself and naturalizing her ideology for the male to make it seem common-sense. 5. Coclusions and Suggestions At the conclusion of the novel, despite the female character’s seeming submissiveness or shorter turns as compared to the male’s, there can be seen a shift in the power relationship between them in her clever manipulation of him through insinuation and the use of speech acts as she creates her intended uptake many times and constantly achieves her desired perlocutionary effect. Her speech mannerisms are “a matter not of identity but of display” (as Deborah Tannen asserts, 1994: 198) and is in fact a ‘performance’.
Research Article
Vahid Nejad Mohammad
Abstract
1. Introduction The twentieth century has witnessed a very close relationship between philosophy and literary creations and scope of human imagination and writing. The search for the truth is the search for the reasons of the events and identification of the tangible and intangible world. This kind of ...
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1. Introduction The twentieth century has witnessed a very close relationship between philosophy and literary creations and scope of human imagination and writing. The search for the truth is the search for the reasons of the events and identification of the tangible and intangible world. This kind of search refers to the asking questions about the life and awareness and these factors related the philosophy to the literature, imaginary and artistic achievements. The human describes its situation with its particular field of creation and every human being has its own interpretations and inferential concerning with various life status. This study investigates the philosophical elements of existentialistic constructs of Le Clézio, the contemporary French writer and it justifies the reactions and behaviors of his fictional and real characteristic. This study also seeks to find out the answer to the biological and social crises in mid of twentieth century and in the field of realistic writing.2. Methodology The method of this study is qualitative and the design of the study is historical research and content analysis. Historical research analyzes the documents and artifacts to gain insight into the past events and the content analysis focuses on the analyzing and interpreting the recorded material to learn about human behavior. 3. Discussion Sartre’ existentialism attempted to define the human behavior and its reactions by resorting to the awareness of subject and the discovery of human nature. Sartre have transformed the language into the sign in his philosophy and he explicated the events about the human. As the Husserl’s orientation in the phenomenology is ideal, Le Clézio’s approach also shaped its phenomenology by showing the intentional subjects and the subjects interrupted their association with the past due to the understanding of their world. The characters such as Ethel, Mondo, Alexi engendered their own situation. The nature of existence in the world stems from the quality of his specialized life or from his existence. The” other” is an original design in Le Clézio’s approach. The “other” is an entity which reveals itself. Having shown the writer and work commitment, Le Clézio could base his philosophy on the social notion of autobiographic and imaginary characteristic. The attitude towards the existence, in Le Clézio’s perspective, refers to the return to oneself or self- scrutiny in the words of Socrates4. Conclusion Le Clézio’s stories primarily focused on the objectives of phenomenology and existentialism and these stories try to associate the objective and tangible reality with the imaginations and they try to fertilize and make sense their actions with their freedom. In other words, the existentialism of Le Clézio is the humanism of Sartre and it has been in the filed biological philosophy .The selection and the design of characters have enriched the per-se and they define the surrounding world with the changing of themselves.
Research Article
Masood Khoshsaligheh; Elham Fazeli Haghpanah
Abstract
1. IntroductionThe current advancement of technology has significantly influenced various fields such as audiovisual translation. The emergence of fansub groups is among the most important effects of technological development in the translation world. Easy access to various types of computers as well ...
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1. IntroductionThe current advancement of technology has significantly influenced various fields such as audiovisual translation. The emergence of fansub groups is among the most important effects of technological development in the translation world. Easy access to various types of computers as well as free subtitling software programs have resulted in an increasing number of fansubs on a daily basis. A fansub is a non-professional subtitled version of an anime or movie, carried out collaboratively by an unpaid group of volunteers which will be available to users for free. Several reasons have been mentioned for fansubbing such as: providing translation for people who are not familiar with the source language, reluctance or failure regarding the official and commercial subtitling in portraying cultural issues and unique features of foreign products and also, introducing a cultural product that is not so well-known in other parts of the world. Primary studies in this field have been conducted during the late 1990s; over time, the number of such studies have been increased and their various aspects have been discussed. A number of studies have been conducted during the first decade of the current century, introducing specific features concerning this type of audiovisual translation and explaining the process, people involved, and technical requirements. Furthermore, some researchers have studied fansub from different perspectives such as: its distribution, comparison between the processes involved in fansubbing and professional subtitling, quality of translation, fansubbing norms, and political subtitling networks. 2. MethodThe process of producing fansub for anime and other forms of animations, common challenges, and the applied equipment and facilities in Iran have been investigated in this qualitative phenomenological study. To achieve this purpose, a few number of active users in fansubbing field were selected through the snowball sampling technique. By conducting interviews, a set of descriptive information have been gathered regarding technical dimensions of the production process such as timing, typesetting, encoding, among others. The interviews, consisting of almost 20 questions (general and specialized), were conducted individually through either face- to-face or telephone conversations. The seven participants were anime fansubbers in Iranian online forums who took on different responsibilities such as anime translation, editing, timing. Their educational backgrounds were very different from each other and often irrelevant to translation. Their ages ranged from 18 to 30 years with an average of 23.7 years old. These seven participants including three men and four women, have been working in this field for 7 to 10 years. Moreover, using a sample selection of products with non-professional Persian subtitles, some of the mistakes in translations were presented and discussed.3. ResultsBased on the results of interviews, fansubbers carry out this process through several steps using various software and hardware equipment. These steps include: 1) original anime acquisition, 2) translation, 3) translation check, 4) timing, 5) typesetting and karaoke, 6) final edit 7) encoding, 8) quality control and 9) distribution of final product. Active fansubbers are usually members of the anime and manga fandom who are quite skilled in working with different software programs. Iranian fansubbers’ motivation is to provide top anime masterpieces with Persian subtitles for Persian speakers as soon as possible. In the past, due to the low age range of anime and manga fans, their activities in producing fansubs had also started in an early age; they have been studying in middle school or high school when they began their activities. During the last few years, growth in the age range of anime and manga fans has resulted in older fansubbers working in this field who often study different majors in universities. The majority of active fansubbers in translation and editing sections are older than those active in technical and software related areas. Various software programs are used for different parts of fansubbing process; some are more popular and more useful: a) original anime acquisition: a peer to peer program like Bittorrent or direct link; b) translation: a text editor such as Notepad or Microsoft Word and a video player software like KMPlayer is sufficient; c) timing: Sub Station Alpha has been mostly used in the past but currently, Aegisub, JacoSub and Sabbu are also widely used. However, it is worth mentioning that the timing stage is no longer necessary, because many official companies release English subtitles in softsub format for anime series; d) typesetting and karaoke: Aegisub software has all the requirements for typesetting. Though Sub Station Alpha also meets all of typesetters’ needs; e) final edit: Similar to the translation stage, a text editor and a video player software are needed; f) encoding: softwares such as Format Factory, Freemake Video Converter and Virtual Dub; g) distribution of final product: softwares like Bittorent.4. Discussion and ConclusionThe results of this study reveal the non-professional dimensions of fansubbing process as a voluntary and collaborative activity and indicate that fansubbers are only involved in such a process because of personal interests. They do not have educational backgrounds in fansubbing field and their only intention is to translate their favorite works of anime for their Persian speaking friends who are not familiar with a foreign language. Fansubbers do not expect to make money form this profession and if someone were to do so by selling these products, the fansub community would regard such actions as improper and inappropriate. Due to the non-professional nature of producing this form of subtitling, the products’ quality are often too low and far from professional subtitling standards. Fansubbers usually decide to quit the fansubbing scene after a while; because fansubbing is a complicated and time-consuming task. Furthermore, fansub groups work for free and hence, the activity is not economically viable. However, we have to consider the fact that there is a wide range of audio visual productions including anime, animations, movies, TV series and even educational films with Persian fansub accessible for native Persian speakers. Certainly, Fansub is not a new phenomenon and has a long history in the world; it has been studied extensively in other countries yet in Iran, it seems to have passed unnoticed by our scholars and only a few have studied in this field.
Research Article
Purya Baghaei Moghaddam; Zahra Zohoorian; Mohammad Ghahramanlou
Abstract
1. IntroductionThere is a consensus among listening researchers that listening comprehension includes a variety of subskills; though there is not yet a general agreement on their precise nature or exact number (Buck & Tatsuoka, 1998). Thus, it should be possible to define listening as complex skill ...
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1. IntroductionThere is a consensus among listening researchers that listening comprehension includes a variety of subskills; though there is not yet a general agreement on their precise nature or exact number (Buck & Tatsuoka, 1998). Thus, it should be possible to define listening as complex skill operations which involve a number of subskills or constituent elements (Goh & Aryadoust, 2014). Psycholinguists have suggested several taxonomies and classifications based on theoretical speculation. One of the initial taxonomies was based on a two-stage process of extracting basic linguistic information and utilizing the information for a communicative purpose. In a study, Rost (1990) identified a set of macro and micro comprehension features for listening comprehension. Rost (2002) proposed the subskills related to perception, interpretation, and information transfer, arguing that there are some overlapping or parallel orientations. However, apart from this parallel model, other psycholinguists preferred to conceptualize the hierarchical model. In such a model, the underlying processes are conceived at various levels that are built on each other either from top to bottom or from bottom to top (Clark & Clark, 1977). Yet, other researchers mention the interactive model in which various levels interact simultaneously where general knowledge, contextual expectations, and predictions play a focal role (Rost, 1990). 2. MethodologyA sample IELTS listening test was administered to 300 undergraduate and graduate English students to elicit the data needed for the study. The test consisted of 40 items in four different sections. Furthermore, the following taxonomy of listening comprehension was proposed: (1) using syntactic knowledge, (2) using semantic knowledge, (3) understanding details and explicit information, (4) understanding reduced forms, (5) keeping up with the pace of the speaker, and (6) making inferences (Goh & Aryadoust, 2014). That is, it was assumed that these subskills underlie listening comprehension. The test items were examined by four experts in the field to build the Q-matrix involving the cognitive operations at work for each item. The data were analyzed using linear logistic test model (Fischer, 1973). 3. DiscussionIn the present study, we aimed at finding the cognitive operations or subskills underlying listening comprehension in English as a foreign language. Findings showed that 'Keeping up with the pace of the speaker' was the hardest operation; that is, students found it very difficult to process the constant flow of words produced by the speaker when they were delivered with a fast pace. 'Understanding reduced forms' closely followed the 'keeping up with the pace’ operation. Due to the discrepancy between the spoken form of English and its written form, understanding what the complete form of the word is, seems to be a demanding task for foreign language learners of English. The third most challenging operation was ‘inference making’. Students are required, in some stages of listening, to relate some pieces of information to either the previously stated information or their background knowledge or information outside the text. In some cases, they make an inference by referring to a previously mentioned piece of information in the text or they might be expected to make a prediction based on the preceding elements of the text.The fourth place belongs to 'understanding details and explicit information'. It is the ability to find small pieces of information directly stated in the text, including names, numbers, etc. 'Using syntactic knowledge' stood in the fifth place. The easiest operation is using semantic knowledge. It seems that upper intermediate and advanced students of English do not seem to have major problems in dealing with the meaning of the words.4. ConclusionThe concept of subskills (a set of cognitive abilities or processes that learners need to master and activate to perform on language tasks and communicate successfully) play an important role in the assessment and teaching of foreign language skills. Accordingly, the focus of teaching methods and curricula have largely been on the development of these subskills as applied linguists started to propose lists and taxonomies of subskills to aid language teachers and material developers in fostering the subskills (Munby, 1983; Richards, 1983). However, the psychological reality of these subskills, their independent existence, and discriminability, which altogether boil down to their empirical verifiability has always been a question. Correlational research including regression analysis and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis have yielded contradictory results. Dearth of research regarding the underlying cognitive operations of listening was the driving force for conducting this study. The findings indicate that 72% of the variance in item difficulty can be explained by the six operations studied. Well-designed prospective studies may ultimately shed light on the other operations that explain the remaining 28% of variance in IELTS listening item difficulties. Apart from the operations, the test format is another influential factor. The next step would be to study the impact of test formats on the students’ performance.
Research Article
Mostafa Hosseini
Abstract
1. IntroductionUndoubtedly Omar Khayyam is the most famous Persian poet in the West. His fame, on the one hand, rests upon his aphoristic and epigrammatic poems involving universal and enduring themes and subjects which are written in concise and rhythmic forms. On the other hand, Edward FitzGerald’s ...
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1. IntroductionUndoubtedly Omar Khayyam is the most famous Persian poet in the West. His fame, on the one hand, rests upon his aphoristic and epigrammatic poems involving universal and enduring themes and subjects which are written in concise and rhythmic forms. On the other hand, Edward FitzGerald’s (1809- 1883), the Victorian English poet-translator, masterly and poetic rendering made them on every tongue. No doubt Omar Khayyam had the greatest impact on literature and society in English speaking countries. Omar’s poems, through FitzGerald’s adaptation, borrowing John Dryden term, gradually traversed the western literatures and societies. Perhaps Omar Khayyam, as an “other”, provided a mirror through which the West saw itself. According to Charles Eliot Norton (1869) the poem “reads like the latest and freshest expression of the perplexity and of the doubt of the generation to which we ourselves belong (567).”2. DiscussionThe present paper tries to analyze the Persian translation of one of Encyclopedia Iranica entries. To do so, the present author has tried to discuss it through the prism of fluency, fidelity, and exactness. This entry, which is written by Jos Biegstraaten, is entitled “Omar Khayyam: The Impact on Literature and Society in the West”. This entry has been translated by Mostafa Sedaghat- Rustami and has been published by a monthly magazine named Golestane (June, 2014, 131, 67-69). Jos Biegstraaten (2015) wrote this essay, on the request of Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor in cheif, for Encyclopedia Iranica. This papers deals with the impact of Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam on literature and society in the West, that is to say, in England, America, France, Germany, and Netherlands. According to Biegstraaten, his influence in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was vast and tremendous. Although, these days, its fame has declined slightly, it is still one of the most popular poems in the English language. Omar’s poem has inspired freethinkers, pictorial artists, composers, and poets all over the world.Jos Biegstraaten, one of the brilliant Omar-scholar in Netherlands and the head of The Dutch Omar Khayyám Society, has authored some scholarly and path breaking books and papers on Omar and FitzGerald poem. Some of his seminal papers are as follows: a) “Omar with a smile”, (Biegstraaten, 2005); b) “Omar Khayyam: Impact on Literature and Society in the West”, (Encyclopedia Iranica, 2008); c) “How Umar Khayyám Inspired Dutch Visual Artists”, (Seyyed-Ghorab, 2012). Entry-writing is a difficult and laborious task. It requires special training and can’t be done by everyone. Interesting to say, in some languages there is a separate word, encyclopedist, for someone who is an expert in it. In the same way, the translation of an encyclopedic entry entails some qualifications and is a hard nut to crack. First, one must have a good command of the source and target languages. Second, one must have a flair for writing. Third, one must be familiar with the area which is translating. Therefore, translating Iranological texts is not an exception, and cannot be done by someone who does not know the basics of this area.Unfortunately, this translation is full of errors and mistakes. I’ll mention some of the seminal ones. For example, many proper nouns are mispronounced and misspelled, some of the titles have been left untranslated, and some of the sentences are misunderstood and then mistranslated. The present author has tried to find and categorize them under seven separate titles: 1) mispronunciation and misspelling of French nouns (six items), 2) mispronunciation and misspelling of German nouns (nine items), 3) mispronunciation and misspelling of English nouns (seven items), 4) mispronunciation and misspelling of Dutch nouns (two items), 5) Untranslated titles (three items), 6) mistranslated titles (seven items), and 7) incorrect translation of some sentences (five items). Also, after each section some suggestions and explanations are added. It is worth noting that the last part (that is to say, part 7) does not encompass all the cases. To name only a few, just some of them are included. Also, in this part at first the English text then the Persian translation and finally the suggested translation are added. It must be born in mind that the suggested translation is not at all the final translation of the sentences.3. ConclusionIn short, translation is an important task, and mastering it needs time and effort. The practitioners of this laborious job must be patient and assiduous. Needless to say, cursory translations are misleading, mostly for the young readers, and can lead them astray.
