Volume 13 No 4 2021 - Page 2

Exploring the Effects of Blended Learning using WhatsApp on Language Learners’ Lexical Competence

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394 views

Divya Jyot Kaur1, Dr. Niraja Saraswat2 & Dr. Irum Alvi3

1Research Scholar, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Jaipur, 302017, Rajasthan, India. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6358-9364. E-mail: divyajyotdjk@gmail.com

2Assistant Prof., Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Jaipur, 302017, Rajasthan, India. ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6998-6144. E-mail: niraja.hum@mnit.ac.in

3Assistant Prof., Department of Humanities, English and Applied Sciences (HEAS), Rajasthan Technical University, Kota, 324022, Rajasthan, India. ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9509-6225. E-mail: irumalvi@gmail.com

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.60 

Abstract

In the wake of COVID-19, online learning has achieved new dimensions and affected all fields of education. As such, one of the emerging fields of ELT is Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL). The proposed study adapts the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to identify factors influencing students’ behavioral intention towards WhatsApp for enhancing lexical competence. Three constructs, namely, performance expectancy, social influence, & hedonic motivation, are adopted from the original model, and two new constructs: perceived relevance and collaborative learning are added. A questionnaire was administered to 203 undergraduate students from select Institutes in Rajasthan. Smart-PLS (ver. 3.2.9) and IBM SPSS (ver. 26) are used for data analysis. Empirical testing confirms the significant relationship of social influence (?=.274, p=.002), hedonic motivation (?=0.639, p=.000), and perceived relevance (?=0.138, p=.035) with the behavioral intention to use WhatsApp for enhancing lexical competence; and performance expectancy and collaborative learning are proved as insignificant predictors of behavioral intention. The findings should aid decision-makers in developing ELT practices and teachers in opting for innovative approaches for the benefit of language learners. The originality of the study stems from the inclusion of external factors in the UTAUT model. The ramifications for MALL theory and practice have been examined in light of these findings.

Keywords: WhatsApp, Lexical competence, UTAUT, MALL, ELT, COVID-19.

Application of Video Based Learning and other digital materials for online classes in Japan

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299 views

Adam L. Miller

Aichi Shukutoku University, almiller@asu.aasa.ac.jp

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.59   

Abstract

The paper aims to examine the use of multimedia and Video Based Learning (VBL) in classes in Japanese universities, which may have moved from face-to-face to online platforms. It will also attempt to investigate if there are any tangible benefits to these materials/platforms being used, and if their continued use (after classes return to the classroom) may be advantageous to teachers or their students.

Keywords: online learning, VBL, 4IR, higher education, Japanese higher education.

English Speaking Skill and Indian Undergraduate ESL Learners: Interleaving or Block Practice?

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504 views

Sujata Kakoti1, Sarat Kumar Doley2

1PhD Scholar, Dept of English, Tezpur University,sujata7980@gmail.com

2Asst. Prof, Dept of English, Tezpur University, dolesar@tezu.ernet.in

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.57   

Abstract

Recent studies showed that compared to practicing language skills in A stepwise manner over a period known as block practice, mixing the units of learning, and making them less predictable by presenting them randomly to the language learners, known as interleaving, may prove to be a more effective approach to language teaching (Finkbeiner&Nicol, 2003; Schneider et al., 1998, 2002; Miles, 2014; Nakata, 2015). This paper is an attempt at reporting the findings of a 24-day long experimental study on the pedagogical effect of the interleaving and block practice approach to language learning (speaking skill in the present context) on undergraduate English as a second (ESL) learner. The teaching experimentation was done online on 36 undergraduate learner participants at the School of Sciences in Tezpur University during the Autumn Semester, 2020-21. The interleaving group showed slightly better language pedagogical results in speaking skills in English than the block practice group. It is, however, stated that the difference in performance was not found to be statistically significant. The performance of the two groups across the four micro-skills of speaking in English identified as interaction, pronunciation, fluency & coherence, and vocabulary & grammar remained static within the duration of the experimentation. Additionally, the groups did not demonstrate any significant difference in their L2 attitude and motivation over time.

Keywords: Interleaving; Block Practice; ESL; Speaking Skill; Attitude; Motivation; Language Pedagogy.

Master Students’ Perceptions of Blended Learning in the Process of Studying English during COVID 19 Pandemic in Ukraine

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496 views

Vita Bezliudna1, Iryna Shcherban2, Olena Kolomiyets3, Volodymyr Mykolaiko4, & Roman Bezliudnyi5

1Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. Email: v.bezludna@udpu.edu.ua.

ORCID 0000-0002-4333-9026.

2Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. Email: i.shcherban@udpu.edu.ua. ORCID 0000-0002-9918-7711.

3Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. Email: kolmiyets@udpu.edu.ua.

ORCID 0000-0003-4169-7089

4Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. Email: v.mykolaiko@udpu.edu.ua.

ORCID 0000-0002-0515-1241

5Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University, Ukraine. Email: r.o.bezliudnyi@udpu.edu.ua.

ORCID 0000-0002-5687-2794

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.54 

Abstract

The academic year 2020/2021 in higher education institutions in Ukraine began under the conditions of deteriorating epidemiological situation caused by the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. Students’ training was recommended to be carried out in the form of distance learning or blended learning. This research aims to analyse Master students’ perceptions of blended learning in the process of studying English in higher education institutions. The study presents the integrated course “Foreign Language for Specific Purposes (English)” developed for Master students of Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University. The experiment involves 84 respondents. The empirical basis of the study is the results obtained during three-months’ work with master students. Theoretical, empirical and statistical methods are used to conduct the study. The study investigates benefits and challenges of blended learning in studying English by Master students. The results of the questionnaire indicate the quality of teaching the course “Foreign Language for Specific Purposes (English)” as moderately positive and point out blended learning as an essential streamlined approach for creating effective learning experiences. The obtained results confirm the favourable Master students’ perceptions of blended learning in studying English during Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the findings of the study, which indicate benefits and challenges of blended learning in studying English, the authors give recommendations to improve the course “Foreign Language for Specific Purposes (English)”.

Keywords:  Master Students, Blended Learning, English, Higher Education Institution

Evolution of Concept “Black” in the US Media Discourse

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274 views

Tatiana Melnichuk1 & Natalia Saburova2

1North-Eastern Federal University, melnichuk.ta@gmail.com, ORCID 0000-0002-8126-0925

2North-Eastern Federal University, natalya_saburova@inbox.ru, ORCID 0000-0002-9743-4862

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.53 

Abstract

Media discourse is an effective tool for projecting and shaping the public perception of a certain idea or image. The article focuses on the linguistic and semantic representation of the concept “Black” in the American media discourse with a particular attention to how the concept representation has evolved from the 1990s to 2010s. The study employed corpus methodology (keyness, frequency, concordances) to analyze news articles from “The New York Times” and “The Los Angeles Times”, which were arranged into three corpora according to the publication date (1990s, 2000s, 2010s). The corpus analysis established a number of changes in the concept “Black” representation manifested primarily through the high relevance keywords and high frequency collocations. Dominant semantic components were identified in the concept representation in each corpus, as well as notable shifts in core and peripheral aspects within these semantic components. The analysis showed that although the semantic components ‘racial / ethnic inequality’ and ‘economic issues’ remain at the core of the concept in each corpus, they are expressed through connections with other semantic components which may vary throughout three decades, such as ‘culture’ in the 1990s, ‘education’ and ‘politics’ in the 2000s and ‘police brutality and profiling’ and ‘appearance’ in the 2010s.

Keywords: concept, black, representation, media discourse, keyness

The Paradigm of Transmediation: An analytical reading of the dynamics of comic strip translation with reference to select Nonte Fonte panels

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285 views

Dr. Archita Gupta

Post Graduate Teacher in English, Henry Derozio Academy, Directorate of Secondary Education,Government of Tripura.

ORCID ID:0000-0001-6030-141x. Email: architagupta82@gmail.com

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.52 

Abstract

The present study focuses on the translation of a pure Bengali vernacular strip Nonte Fonte in English and to colour and its reception across the Bengali reading and speaking populace especially of Tripura, a North Eastern state of which the researcher is a part.  At the same time this paper also highlights the way in which an apparently innocent comic strip such as Nonte Fonte showcases and disseminates, naturalizes and legitimizes stereotypes that represent negative codification of the cultural ‘Other’ (the inhabitant of Orissa relocated to Kolkata for work for instance) through its image /illustration medium and how the target reader internalizes it. Attempt has also been made to locate how market forces and the demand of English readership/target culture influence the translated product/text, thus pertaining to  Bassnet’s (2007) concept of  cultural capital which  can be loosely defined as that which is necessary for an individual to belong to the ‘right circle’ in the society (p.19). Translation helps a culture to come closer to the ‘cultural capital’ of the other. The concept of cultural capital is most pertinent to the power relation, concept of hierarchy and negotiation involved in translation in this context. Cultural capital here is not the Source Text (ST), but the Western canon of English language and English readership (global readership in English in this context that would generally define itself as a summation of the Bengali (with or without Bengali reading competence, but with English reading competence) and non- Bengali but English reading domains in India and the rest of the English reading world). However as has been pointed out later in this paper, the publisher tends to contain and restrict the consumption of his product- the text thus translated, within a supposed niche of target readership, the Bengali children. The paper also interrogates the impracticality of such a proposition.

Keywords: Image, translation, codification,  transmediation, reader-response.

Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By: The Ecolinguistics of Tholkappiyam

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467 views

V Shri Vaishali 1 & Dr. S. Rukmini 2

1Research Scholar, Department of English, School of Social Sciences and Languages, VIT, Vellore. venkatshrivaishali@gmail.com 9940805789 Orcid id: 0000-0001-7843-9521

2 Sr. Assistant Professor, Department of English, School of Social Sciences and Languages, VIT, Vellore. rukminikrishna123@gmail.com Orcid Id: 0000-0001-8414-3145.

Corresponding Author: Dr. S. Rukmini

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.51   

Abstract

The term “ecolinguistics” is relatively a recent discussion with Eliar Haugen (1972) bringing up the concept of “The ecology of Language”. Since then, various methods and approaches to the field have been suggested to study the language-ecology interaction, primarily from the west. As a result, ecolinguistics is conceived as a new-born western discipline. However, Ecolinguistics, as the term suggests is the specialized study of language-ecology interaction. The “feeling” of the existence of the necessary relationship between language and ecology even before makes us ask the question if the concept of ecolinguistics has not been discussed by linguists before 20th Century. The ancient Tamil linguistic treatise called Tholkappiyam (dated between 6th BCE to 8th CE) presents the fundamental nature of the relationship between ecology, language and culture through the theory called Tinai. The paper primarily draws attention to look into the linguistic philosophy of Tholkappiyam through an ecological perspective. From the ecolinguistic perspective, the paper analyses Tinai based on three criteria: Ecosophy, Aspects of Language-ecology-culture interaction and the theoretical framework of Tinai. Having analysed from the aforementioned criteria, the paper advocates that the framework of Tinai can contribute to the ecolinguistic studies parallel to the philosophies of Edward Sapir (1912) and Hagege (1985).

 Keywords: Ecolinguistics, Tinai theory, Ecosophy, Language Ecology, Critical Discourse Analysis, Tholkappiyam.

Examining the Shifting Paradigms of Bhakti and Sanskrit Literature through Devotional Poetry of Jayadeva and Dadu

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345 views

Dr. Aditi Swami1 & Dr. Manju Dhariwal2

1Postdoctoral Researcher (Sociolinguistics, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi). The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. ORCID id: 0000-0001-5950-6346. Email: aditirdswami@gmail.com

2Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, The LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

ORCID id: 0000-0002-1579-1218. Email: manju@lnmiit.ac.in

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.50   

Abstract

The wave of the Bhakti movement significantly affected India for over a period of twelve centuries. Considering that it left inerasable impressions on the history and culture of the land, this research paper argues that what only imbibed the feeling of pure devotion also became a tool in the hands of those who were desirous of radical religious, political and social changes. To prove this, the paper undertakes the translation of Dadu Dayal’s Sanskrit compositions. Additionally, the paper also questions the very model of Bhaktikal (the Age of Devotional Literature), propagated by the scholars of Hindi Literature, which divides it into two distinct theological categories, Sagun and Nirgun. By examining the devotional poetry of Jayadeva Goswami and Dadu Dayal, and their sectarian positions, it demonstrates that the proponents of the two diametrically opposite schools of Bhakti did not always honour such a distinction for bhakti’s spirit is above such schisms.

Keywords: Bhakti poets, Dadu Dayal, Jayadeva Goswami, Medieval Bhakti Literature, Nirgun Bhakti, Sagun Bhakti, Sanskrit Literature.

D. H. Lawrence’s Travel Writing: Concept of Nudity and Sexuality with a Difference

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493 views

Abhik Mukherjee

Assistant Professor of English, Vellore Institute of Technology Vellore. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8701-365. Email: abhik.mukherjee@vit.ac.in

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.49   

Abstract

In that he spent most of his life outside Britain, D. H. Lawrence often seems the least British of the British Modernists. His interest in and willingness to be influenced by Italy, Sicily, the American Southwest, Mexico and Australia can be easily explored in his travel books. Whereas his novels are too didactic in nature, his philosophies get naturally matured as he travels and they are expressed very succinctly in his travel writing. In various parts of his four travel books, namely Twilight in Italy (1916), Sea and Sardinia (1921), Morning in Mexico (1927), Sketches of Etruscan Places (1932) Lawrence depicts the difference between nudity and nakedness and how they influence him. The other contrast here is between art and life, with the nude standing for art and nakedness for life with the section on Florence and the art there. The essay focuses on how Lawrence views art differently when actually experiencing these works himself during his travels.  I show different phases in his response to nudity/nakedness as shown in his four travel books and what accounts for these changes. The thesis is the examination of Lawrence’s belief that the touch of amateurism and primitivism can inject new freshness into our lives and can salvage them from the clutches of habit, and the mechanized civilisation. Nudity and sexuality as part of primitive modes of life can balance and heal what Freud termed the discontents of civilisation. Situated on the thin line between nudity and sexuality, D.H. Lawrence’s travel writing recounts man’s true relationship with the cosmos. And finally, the paper shows some misunderstanding on the part of the second wave feminists on his representation of masculinity in nakedness.

Keywords: travel writing, nakedness, nudity, sexuality, feminism

 

Lost in Translation: Culture-bound Lexical Items in English Subtitles of the Rap Songs by Indian Rapper ‘Badshah’ in Bollywood Movies from 2016-2021

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340 views

Ritika Sinha

Assistant Professor of English, Goswami Ganesh Dutta Sanatan Dharma College, Sector 32, Chandigarh. E-mail: ritika.sinha@ggdsd.ac.in, ORCID: 0000-0003-1746-316X

Volume 13, Number 4, 2021 I Full-Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v13n4.48   

Abstract

Subtitling, a subfield of translation studies has witnessed a recent upsurge in India. The rise of subtitling services can be attributed to the fact that the number of viewers from outside the country is increasing phenomenally, thanks to the global streaming platforms. Subtitling is an art; it involves translation of the language of the video to another language with an objective to retain the temper of the original message for the target audience. The subtitler is faced with the daunting task of preserving the idiom of the source text (ST) and the target text (TT). Since, the meaning in both source and target language is profoundly affected by the cultural context, it is important to undertake the practice of translation while respecting and reflecting cultural ethos of each language. This research aims to investigate the English subtitles of selected famous rap sequences by Indian rapper ‘Badshah’ in Bollywood songs released from 2016 to 2021. With an aim to assess the quality of translation of the selected song sequences, an analysis is made of the sematic peculiarities that are lost in translation from Hindi/Punjabi to English. The loss can be mainly attributed to Hindi and Punjabi cultural references or culture-bound terms which do not have a suitable equivalent lexical item in English language.

Keywords: Translation, Subtitles, Translation studies, Bollywood subtitling, rap songs, English Subtitles

 

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