Research Article
Reza Pishghadam; Elmira Farkhondefal
Abstract
1. IntroductionLearning occurs best in educational settings where learners are motivated. Previous research has indicated that motivation is one of the important factors that affects learner’s performance and success significantly (Dörnyei, 2105). Positive relationships between teachers and ...
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1. IntroductionLearning occurs best in educational settings where learners are motivated. Previous research has indicated that motivation is one of the important factors that affects learner’s performance and success significantly (Dörnyei, 2105). Positive relationships between teachers and learners provide them with the opportunity to enhance their motivation. Stroke is one of the important factors that contribute to the positive relationship between teachers and learners. Therefore, it is suggested that stroke can be directly related to motivation (Francis & Woodcock, 1996). Stroke is defined as every action to acknowledge other’s presence and values (Shirai, 2006). The current study was conducted to investigate the notion of stroke from different aspects and to suggest a new classification of this concept as well. In other words, we tried to explain and clarify the concepts of stroker and strokee and point out their implications in second language teaching. Hence, we explored the concept of stroke in psychology and second language teaching by proposing a new classification for different kinds of strokers and strokees. Furthermore, implications of this classification in educational contexts are presented in this study. 2. Theoretical Framework One of the main approaches to investigate interpersonal relationships is transactional analysis (TA) introduced by Eric Bern (1960). One of the most important components of TA is stroke which is defined as recognition of other’s presence and values (Shirai, 2006). Strokes are considered as noticeable interpersonal contacts that satisfy individual’s emotional needs of being acknowledged by others. Bern (1988) used the term “recognition hunger” to refer to this need. There are different types of strokes: positive or negative, conditional or unconditional, and verbal or non-verbal (Stewart & Joines, 1987). Strokes are exchanged between individuals unconsciously and constantly (Borrow, 2007). It has been stated that if individuals do not receive positive strokes, they look for negative ones to satisfy their need for being acknowledged by others. Thus, it can be concluded that giving negative strokes is better than no strokes (Stewart & Joines, 1987). Additionally, scholars have stated that strokes can be directly related to motivation achieved through positive and negative reinforces (Pishghadam & Khajavy, 2014). As we know, positive relationships between teachers and learners result in enhancing learners’ motivation. One of the most effective factors in a positive relationship between teachers and learners is teacher care (Foster, 2008), which is closely associated with the concept of stroke. In fact, stroke is an important component of teacher care. This indicates the significant role of stroke in educational settings. 3. Disccussion In this study we explored the notion of stroke in psychology and second language teaching. New classifications for different kinds of strokers and strokees are proposed in this section. Generally, a stroker is a person who gives strokes to others (giving feedback of any kind, smiling, frowning, nodding, shaking hands, and so forth.). A strokee is the one who receives strokes from others. In any interaction between individuals the position of strokers and strokees can be exchanged between them. Strokers and strokees can be classified into three groups: overstroker/overstrokee, optimal stroker/optimal strokee, and understroker/understrokee. An overstroker is a person who is willing to give a lot of strokes to other people. An optimal stroker is someone who is moderate in giving strokes to others, and an understroker is a person who is not willing to give strokes to people. In addition, similar to this classification for strokers, three kinds of strokees are expected respectively. 4. Conclution and SuggestionThe aim of the current study was to investigate and clarify the concepts of stroker and strokee and introduce a new classification for these concepts. Furthermore, implications of these notions in second language teaching are presented as well.As already mentioned, strokers and strokees are classified into three groups. However, it seems that in every interpersonal relationships, one should consider the culture and characteristic features of his/her audience so that strokes are in line with the addressee. Hence, in educational settings particularly second language classes that are stoke-rich environments in which verbal and non-verbal strokes are given and received, teachers should know about learners’ culture and characteristics, otherwise giving and receiving strokes may cause great discomfort to learners and demotivate them consequently. Therefore, teachers should increase their level of emotioncy (Pishghadam, Jajarmi, & Shayeste, 2016) toward the concept of stroke so that they give and receive strokes in educational contexts appropriately. On the whole, it seems that personality, culture, and other factors are of paramount importance in determining individual’s willingness to give and receive strokes. Therefore, future research can focus on these core components associated with the concept of stroke.
Research Article
Seyyed Mohammad Reza Hashemi; Fatemeh Heidari; Yalda Rezaee Danesh
Abstract
1. IntroductionThis article is an investigation to answer why some plays have been translated in Qajar era. The investigation of the themes and the translators' motivations in these plays links translation studies with sociology. To Chesterman (2009), sociologically investigating the translator's ...
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1. IntroductionThis article is an investigation to answer why some plays have been translated in Qajar era. The investigation of the themes and the translators' motivations in these plays links translation studies with sociology. To Chesterman (2009), sociologically investigating the translator's motivations can contribute to a better understanding of translators' opinions and personal drives; therefore one can find the reflection of these aspects in their choice of translated plays. From a sociological point of view, the socio-political conditions of the society have their impact on the translators' choice. The translator's habitus that is proposed by Bourdieu (as cited in Gouanvic, 2010) is deemed as the main factor in a social practice. Therefore, their motivations are probed in this article.To find the translators' illosio's of the selection of some plays for translation, written by well-known western authors, the socio-political condition of the country in Qajar era is probed to answer the three following questions:1. What was the cultural, social, and political atmosphere like in Qajar era?2. What were the translated plays in that era that were translated for criticizing the social conditions?3. What was the aim of selecting those plays?2. Theoretical Framework Translation has an interdisciplinary nature (Hatim & Munday, 2004) that has ties with many other majors like sociology. These links provide the chance to probe a translated text on various aspects. Sociology gives a good framework to translation studies. According to Gouanvich (2010) theory that is part of Bourdieu's theory, translation is a cultural good that involves many actors and actions;in other words, one can see political, social, and cultural dimensions in it as well.This article applies Bourdieu's (as cited in Gouanvich, 2010) theory as its framework to find the contributing factors in the selection of some plays for translation in Qajar era. His theory is one of the main patterns in sociology that puts a lot of emphasis on the translator's sociology. There are three concepts in his model: field, habitus, and illosio. To wolf (2007), field is the arena of competing forces, the forces which are trying to get to the highest state of a realm. Habitus refers to translators' habits; these habits form the environment and are formed by the environment. They are constructed by the norms of the society and at the same time they are constructing the society. Illosio is the internal ideas and motivations of the translators. The illosio may have its roots in translators' society and his social conditions too. 3. Method To address the research questions that are generally finding some plays with criticizing themes about the cultural, social, and political conditions of the society, the library sources were probed. A corpus of 20 plays which were translated in Qajar era were found and collected to be scrutinized for further details. 4. Results & DiscussionA look at the found details in the study clarifies that the social factors and the local conditions of the country contributed to the translators' choices for translation. Social, political, and cultural factors, among many others, had motivated the informed translators to respond well to the social conditions. They had actually decided to put an end to the bad conditions and improve the social status, the conditions in which law, welfare, health, and security were obviously neglected.People were not aware of their own rights; they were not allowed to have a clear line of thought, and they were not deprived of freedom. They needed a movement to free themselves. This movement started with the translation of and compiling valuable books that gave the thought values. Looking at translation from this point, one comes to see that translation has in fact an independent identity which is a function of time, circumstances, and the translator choices of texts. To Farahzad (2003, p. 33), "translator choices have their roots in his ideology, point of views, opinions, and prejudice which are all related to the social conditions in which he has lived or lives". 5. Conclusions & SuggestionConsidering all the found facts in this article, one can see the prominent status of translation in propagating a sense of critical thinking and increasing the socio-political awareness among people. Analytical investigations of the critical articles in Qajar era show that the authors of these writings had been translators or at least fluent in a foreign language. Further critical translations by other translators or even ordinary people had been affected by these works. These translations have been ways to inform people about the changes in the country, the reasons of not having any social growth, and advancements; and they led to a break from traditional customs and opinions.
Research Article
Abbas Emam
Abstract
1. Introduction Since the late 1990s, the world has been experiencing a gradual involvement into an emerging trend of translation-related activities; a transition from “translation” and “interpretation” towards “media translation”. This has been a period characterized ...
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1. Introduction Since the late 1990s, the world has been experiencing a gradual involvement into an emerging trend of translation-related activities; a transition from “translation” and “interpretation” towards “media translation”. This has been a period characterized by an ever-increasing momentum in dubbing, voice- over, subtitling, etc. with regard to a multitude number of movies, TV series, documentaries, multi-media factoids, and the like. These obviously require domestication/deforeignization of the materials. According to Venuti (1995, p. 20)“domestication” is defined as “an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target language cultural values, bringing the author back home”. Thus, domestication involves some sort of manipulation in a foreign text aimed at reproducing it to serve the recipient language and culture. Recent sources on the issue too appear to comply with this perspective(Ramieri,2006; Tymoczko,1995; Ulrych,2000).American directors were in fact among the first to elaborate on issues related to the linguistic barriers confronting movie productions, as well as the challenges involved in dubbing animated cartoons(Chiaro,2009), later to be followed by linguists and researchers into translation studies(Denton &Ciampi,2012). Helgren(2007),for one, did research on allusions used in the animated cartoon The Simpsons. Another researcher, Gall(2012) carried out a comparative study on the original English version of Chicken Runversus its Romanian and Hungarian versions. Bruzdziak(2009) too highlighted the conceptual changes taken place in translating verbal expressions in Shrek in its Polish dubbing. A number of animated cartoons were also analyzed by Burczynska(2012). The same research line was followed by Song(2012), and Nachkebia(2012). In Iran, however, to the best knowledge of the present researcher ,only a very few articles and still fewer theses have so far been devoted to such an emerging field of inquiry: the first, a study by Qumi (2009),the second, a thesis by Javadi(2010), and the third by Jamalimanesh, Fatholallahiand Rahkhoda(2010).2. MethodologyWith an eye on domestication literature in translation studies (e.g.,Ramieri,2006; Ulrych,2000; Venuti,1995), in this study we intend to show in what ways and to what extent domesticating techniques are used by Iranians involved in the dubbing industry. A classification of eight techniques is also offered. Two research questions are formulated: one, dealing with the identification of the overall domestication techniques being adopted, and the second ,with the identification of the most frequent ones. To this end, three Persian dubbed animated cartoons Barnyard, Panda Kung Fu, and Hoodwinked were selected. Their original English version scripts were obtained from the relevant online sources. Later on, each of the English vs. Persian version pairs was independently compared and contrasted to arrive at a list of the most frequent techniques employed in Iranian animated cartoons.3. DiscussionThe data revealed that Iranian translating/dubbing agents tend to adopt a technique from among the eight ones specified below to domesticate and/or deforeignize non-Iranian animated cartoons:1. Substituting original English foods and drinks with Iranian ones2. Substituting original English dialects with Iranian social/geographical ones 3. Substituting original English non-idiomatic expressions with idiomatic Persian expressions4. Substituting original English non-idiomatic expressions with Persian neologistic slang expressions5. Substituting original English idioms with Persian slang expressions6. Substituting original English songs/lyrics with Iranian folk songs or contemporary lyrics7. Adding linguistic elements with no counterparts in the original English script8. Omitting particular cultural and/or linguistic elements from the original English scriptThe results of the present study revealed that in Iran, by and large, translation and/or dubbing of the English animated cartoons are done in ways, giving the impression as if the original English scripts were written in Persian.4. ConclusionIt could be claimed that Iranian translators of English animated cartoons tend to manipulate western English original scripts in ways which facilitate maximal domestication / Iranization of the materials to make the plot more believable and native-like. That is typically crystallized by making use of as many instances of Persian idioms ,slang ,colloquial expressions, as well as proverbs ,as possible. The findings of this study are likely to comply with “skopos” as suggested by Vermeer(1984/2004). On the other hand, it might be argued that the translation and dubbing of the above movies are so carefully done that their Iranian Persian-speaking viewers could hardly sense the “presence” and /or “visibility” of the translators.
Research Article
Farzaneh Shadloo; Hesamoddin Shahriari Ahmadi; Behzad Ghonsooly
Abstract
1. IntroductionGaining competence in writing academic texts has been considered as a challenging and important task in the process of second and/or foreign language learning; and "this realization is not surprising, given the similar difficulties related to the development of first language (L1) writing ...
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1. IntroductionGaining competence in writing academic texts has been considered as a challenging and important task in the process of second and/or foreign language learning; and "this realization is not surprising, given the similar difficulties related to the development of first language (L1) writing competency" (Whalen & Ménard, 1995, p. 382). As a result, teaching and making language learners aware of common linguistic measures in different kinds of academic registers can be significant and useful. In this regard, Ortega (2003) has suggested that this construct—grammatical complexity—is of significance in "second language research because of the assumption that language development entails, among other processes, the growth of an L2 learner’s syntactic repertoire and her or his ability to use that repertoire appropriately in a variety of situations" (p. 492). Ortega (2003) has also noted that "measures of syntactic complexity are important research tools not only in the field of second language acquisition but in a variety of language-related disciplines" (p. 492). In this regard, some studies have demonstrated that clauses and clausal subordination are the best measures of grammatical complexity. Larsen-Freeman (1978), for example, has pointed out that the "percentage of error-free T-units and the average length of error-free T-units, proved to be the best discriminators among the five levels of ESL proficiency" (p. 439). However, Lu (2011) has noted that previous studies have only analyzed a limited number of measures and therefore there is not enough information available on the best measure(s) for analyzing syntactic complexity in academic prose. Lu (2011) has subsequently classified 14 syntactic complexity features in five categories. These include length of production, sentence complexity, subordination, coordination, and particular structures. As few studies have examined these 14 syntactic complexity measures proposed by Lu (2011), the aim of the present study is to analyze these features in a corpus of argumentative essays written by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). 2. MethodologyThe present study has made use of a corpus of argumentative essays by EFL learners from three levels of proficiency (upper-intermediate, intermediate, and pre-intermediate). Following this, for analyzing the measures of syntactic complexity, the online L2 syntactic complexity analyzer which is designed by Lu (2010) was employed. Considering its function, this analyzer "produces frequency counts of nine linguistic units in the text—word, sentence, clause, dependent clause, T-unit, complex T-unit, coordinate phrase, complex nominal, and verb phrase—and generates 14 indices of syntactic complexity for the text" (Yang, Lu, & Weigle, 2015, p. 58). In the next stage, the data was entered into the SPSS software and a one-way ANOVA was run. 3. DiscussionThe statistical results of the one-way ANOVA revealed that five features of grammatical complexity show significant differences (p < 0.05). The results also show that features that are related to phrasal complexity can be regarded as a better criterion for assessing grammatical complexity in essays compared to features of subordination, coordination, or sentence complexity. The results of the present study are in line with the findings of Biber and Gray (2013) and Biber, Gray, and Poonpon (2011) who underscored the importance of phrasal and noun phrasal complexity in academic prose. In analyzing three types of texts, namely argumentative, descriptive, and narrative texts, Lu (2010) also found that mean length of T-unit, mean length of clause, complex nominals per T-unit and complex nominals per clause show a statistically significant difference. Therefore, Lu (2011) has suggested that there is a need for more studies to analyze phrasal complexity.4. ConclusionThe results of the current study are of considerable significance for the evaluation of argumentative essays written by EFL learners. Therefore, becoming more familiar with grammatical complexity measures of academic writing may lead to more comprehensive and thorough assessment. Moreover, writing instructors can make their learners aware of the importance of noun phrasal complexity in their writing. It could also be of great benefit if material developers and language instructors were to highlight the differences among various registers of academic writing while teaching grammar lessons. In this regard, Biber, Conrad, and Reppen (1994) have mentioned that there is no "single register that can be identified as 'general English', and that advanced instruction based on our intuitions about 'general' or 'core' English is not likely to provide adequate exposure to the actual linguistic patterns found in the target registers" (p. 183). As a result of this suggestion, future studies are recommended to concentrate on features of grammatical complexity in different registers of academic writing.
Research Article
Manoochehr Jafarigohar; Afsar Rouhi; Majid Ghelichi
Abstract
1. IntroductionThe role of phrases especially in a universal grammar (UG) sense and the presentation of grammar based on the lexical-functional grammar (LFG) in the form of C-structure rules (Thomann, 2002) and the role of phrase-based instruction in learning seem to be under-researched. Of particular ...
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1. IntroductionThe role of phrases especially in a universal grammar (UG) sense and the presentation of grammar based on the lexical-functional grammar (LFG) in the form of C-structure rules (Thomann, 2002) and the role of phrase-based instruction in learning seem to be under-researched. Of particular relevance to this issue is the role of grammar instruction which has been very controversial in second language acquisition (SLA) literature (e.g., Ellis, 2008; Krashen, 1993; Pienemann, 1984). One famous view about the effectiveness of grammar teaching is the teachability hypothesis (TH) which proposes a hierarchy of six stages of syntactic acquisition which second language (L2) learners must pass through in the process of acquiring the grammar of a L2 (Pienemann, 1984). It states that instruction will be effective only if learners have developed the pre-requisite processing procedures for processing higher-level linguistic structures. Therefore, this study aims to answer the question of whether, despite the developmental constraints proposed by the TH, explicitly instructing L2 learners to recognize the concept, boundary, and structure of English phrases and the specific grammatical relationships and inter-relationships held by each phrase will enhance their grammatical accuracy in written and oral production and help them develop to the next, next + 1, and 2 stages.2. MethodologyA total number of 37 female learners of English in a language institute participated in this study. They went through a series of pretests of oral and written processability theory (PT) stages until 23 learners who turned out to be homogeneous in phrase knowledge, written grammatical accuracy, and current PT stages were left. Finally, the learners were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: a contrastive experimental group (CEG, n = 9), an L2-only experimental group (L2EG, n = 7), and a comparison group (CG, n = 7).The Nelson English Language Test was used to measure participants’ general English proficiency. Two Phrase Knowledge Tests were used to measure participants’ knowledge of English phrases and two Written Affirmative Sentences Tests to check their writing accuracy on the pretest and posttest. Two equivalent Picture Differences Tests (adopted from Spada & Lightbown, 1999) were used to specify learners’ current PT stages in oral production and, a Picture-Cued Written Scrambled Questions Test (adopted from Spada & Lightbown, 1999) was used to check their PT stages in writing. But an equivalent written scrambled test was developed for the posttest. After pretesting, the two experimental classes received the treatment as follows. The CEG was provided with contrastive L1-L2 meta-linguistic instruction about the concept, boundary, and structure of English NP, VP, and PP together with intra- and inter-phrasal parsing and phrase re-synthesis practice. The instruction lasted for 7 sessions (two hours each session) and focused on introducing the head and complement, structure, boundary, and configuration of English phrases together with the place and function of each phrase and inter-phrasal relationships in both affirmative and interrogative sentences. This treatment was replicated for the L2EG only in English language rather than being contrastive. The CG only received the focused task for meaning negotiation. After the treatment, participants were post-tested on English phrases, writing grammatical accuracy, and PT stages in oral and written production based on the exact assessment procedures on the pretest. Fisher’s Exact Test was used to compare the percentage of learners in each group who had gained structures at the next, next + 1, and next +2 stages in oral and written production.3. DiscussionWith reference to theoretical assumptions and empirical findings about the role of phrases in linguistic knowledge and production, this study hypothesized that contrastive teaching of phrase configuration and function together with phrase re-synthesis practice would facilitate gaining the TH next and next +1 or 2 stages, contrary to what the TH has proposed. In line with theoretical and empirical support for phrase-dependency of linguistic knowledge, this study showed that when learners develop the ability to recognize the structure and boundary of phrases, they will be able to learn different stages simultaneously because all of those stages share a common building block. The only condition which needed to be met was learning the interrogative word order which constituted the interrogative inter-phrasal parsing practice in this study. Overall, the results provided support for this hypothesis. The results agree with those in Carrie (2012) and Spada, Lightbown, and White (2006) who found counter-evidence against the TH prediction that beyond the next stage cannot be acquired through instruction. The finding in this study that contrastive teaching and input significantly facilitated acquisition corroborate the results of Kupferberg (1995) and Kupferberg and Olshtain (1996) who found that contrastive linguistic input and explicit contrastive instruction triggered noticing and contributed to achievement in both recognition and production tasks. The results in this study seem to be refuting the TH by indicating that developmental constraints are not insurmountable and instruction does not necessarily have to target the immediately next stage, as they have shown that instruction can facilitate advancing to higher-than-next stages. In other words, the results contradict Pienemann’s (2005) view that “…the Teachability Hypothesis defines CONSTRAINTS on Teachability. It does not predict sufficient conditions for teaching to be successful” (p. 73), because there seem to be conditions which are likely to modify the effects of the constraints themselves. The results also support those in Farley and McCollam (2004) and Spada and Lightbown (1999) who found that readiness failed as a predictor of acquisition as ready learners did not develop to higher stages more than unready learners. In other words, the present study, in accordance with these two studies, indicates that developmental readiness is not the only factor determining acquisition, but instructional intervention also makes a difference. Overall, both the contrastive and non-contrastive forms of instruction proved more effective than the treatment given to CG. However, taking the effects on phrase knowledge development, canonical word order and advancing to next + 1 and 2 TH stages in oral and written production, the contrastive form seemed to be the most effective form of treatment. However, one point of caution needs to be added, and it is the fact that small sample sizes and lack of a delayed posttest in this study may weaken our claims. But, it is likely that a longer treatment period might have contributed to even better results.4. Conclusion Contrary to the TH, the study encourages redefining the role of instruction as facilitating and the influence of developmental constraints as surmountable by using adequate means of instructional intervention. The results suggest that for L2 learners to succeed in acquiring the grammar of a second language they must develop an awareness of the structure of phrases. The ability to re-synthesize phrases from the flow of otherwise segmented words can contribute to their syntactic development. The study also reveals that provision of contrastive input and meta-linguistic instruction is more likely to help learners notice L2 particularities such as linguistic configuration of phrases by using the filter of their L1 knowledge.Therefore, the general conclusion out of this study would be that phrase re-synthesis instruction and practice especially in its contrastive/comparative form is a useful technique for helping language learners acquire not only the next stage in the TH sense but also advance to higher stages as well. That is, by utilizing the right technique for teaching the grammar of a second language one need not be concerned too much about the constraints proposed by the TH.
Research Article
Paria Shojaee; Fatemeh Khan Mohammadi
Abstract
1. IntroductionAmélie Nothomb, the Belgian writer, has nowadays taken notoriety in literary circles because of applying her specific point of view in her books. In many of her works, frequent references to her past life and childhood can be noticed, which has been excessively criticized by her ...
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1. IntroductionAmélie Nothomb, the Belgian writer, has nowadays taken notoriety in literary circles because of applying her specific point of view in her books. In many of her works, frequent references to her past life and childhood can be noticed, which has been excessively criticized by her critics. In this article, we intend to understand Nothomb’s autobiographical writing style and explain it through Doubrovsky and Lejeune’s beliefs. We will also respond to how autobiographical roman functions in consoling psychological traumas.2. MethodologyBased on Lacan, human infants pass through a stage in which an external image of the body (reflected in a mirror, or represented to the infant through the mother or primary caregiver) produces a psychic response that gives rise to the mental representation of an "I". The infant identifies with the image, which serves as a gestalt of the infant's emerging perceptions of selfhood, but since the image of a unified body does not correspond with the underdeveloped infant's physical vulnerability and weakness, this imago is established as an Ideal-I toward which the subject will perpetually strive throughout his or her life. This is a key to let us enter to the weird world of Nothomb. In this case, the specific type of writing which is in direct contact with symbolic order of Lacan’s theory would like to inform us why she wants stick to this imago.3. DiscussionThe definition of autobiography based on Lejeune’s point of view consists on all fictional texts in which the reader can find the similarity with the identity of its author and protagonist, while the author does his best to deny this identity, or at least not to approve it.In the past, autobiographical writing style was only a genre for women writers to release them from the ordeal and social requirements, but nowadays this type of writing is to cognize their identity, experience being themselves, and enjoy it. The identity subject is one of the feminine writing features which demonstrate their narcissistic personalities. Since Nothomb has experienced many displacements in her childhood, we probably could say her identity formation has faced too many problems. Therefore, exploring this issue could help her to find a proper image of herself.One of the methods to explore the identity is to return to childhood because it is the key period for mental and physical growth. Through writing, we realize how to discover the identity. We have no other choice except referring and returning to the past especially to the childhood. The use of “I” in the stories of her books has a therapeutic aspect for Nothomb, because through this action she could recover and rehabilitate her life again and that is one of the reasons this author writes almost three or four books per year. In fact, this means of writing has an important consoling role for Amélie Nothomb who faced in her childhood with many tribulation such as sexual assaults, perpetual displacement in different countries and as a result feeling always lonely. She would like to share her feeling, agony, and pain in hope of being able to alleviate all the miseries.Philippe Lejeune who has perfectly explained the theory of child growth, indicates that one of the important stages of the growth is knowing oneself in the mirror stage. This mirror could be considered as everything or everybody that could reflect the child action or show who he is. This is very crucial for a child to be able to have a good image of himself and in the future make him to adapt to society, otherwise he will have many complexes and hates in the unconscious. Unfortunately, Nothomb has not succeeded to gain a good image of herself and that is one of the reasons she couldn’t find a real friend. Clearly, in this situation, a writer has recourse to write under the format of autobiography to present more herself and make others sympathize with her.4. Conclusion In this paper, we not only considered autobiographical works of Nothomb such as Loving Sabotage, not Adam nor Eve and The Character of Rain as a report of the author's childhood and adolescence and true narrative of the events of her life, but also according to the content of her books which are apparently fictional, such as Hygiene and the Assassin, Péplum and sulfuric acid, as a record of author’s private and real life. As a matter of fact, in this article we tried to clarify the writer’s reasons for selecting autobiographical or autofictional style, and to understand why Nothomb makes frequent references to her childhood in her works. Finally, based on this study and the eventual domain of review on Nothomb’s artistic works, we recommend the future researchers to analyze her from a socio-psychological point of view.
