APETAU 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
University
of Jordan
(Tuesday-Thursday 26-28 AUGUST 2003)
MAIN THEME:
FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE EDUCATION IN THE ARAB WORLD IN THE WAKE
OF GLOBALIZATION
SUB-THEMES
-
Arabic-English Contrastive Linguistic Studies (phonological, syntactic &
discoursal)
-
Arabic-English Comparative Studies (literary & cross-cultural)
-
Studies in Arabic-English & English-Arabic Translation
-
Studies in English Language & Literature
-
Bilingual Dictionaries: New Perspectives
-
Language Planning in the Arab World : Bilingualism, Language & Identity,
Language of Instruction in Higher Education, Foreign Language Education,
Acquiring Arabic as an L1 ( problems & treatment)
-
TEFL & Translation through Distance Education.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Lewis
Mukattash (Chairman)
Arab
Open University (Headquarters)
e-mail:
almukattash@yahoo.com
mob/tel : 962-6-5349959
Zahra
Mustafa
Jordan
University of Science & Technology
e-mail:
zahramustafa@hotmail.com
mob/tel: 962-6- 5539739
Jihad
Hamdan
University of Jordan
e-mail:
jihadan@hotmail.com
mob/tel: 962-6- 5065485
Rula
Quawas
University of Jordan
e-mail:
quawas@go.com.jo
mob/tel: 962- 79 - 5911 311
Suleiman
Abbas
Al-Isra
University
e-mail:
suleiman_85@yahoo.com
mob/tel: 962-79 - 5666 577
Jihad
Al-Shu'aibi
University of Jordan
e-mail:
shuaibi@ju.edu.jo
mob/tel: 962- 77 - 421382
Dana
Mahadeen
Al-Balqa’
Applied University
e-mail:
dannadeen@hotmail.com
mob/tel: 962- 79- 5774848
Taghrid
Kawar
Princess
Sumyya University of Technology
e-mail:
rajai85@hotmail.com
mob/tel: 962-79- 5065686
ABSTRACTS AND SYMPOSIA
-
Abstracts are arranged in alphabetical order of
presenter’s surnames.
-
Due to space limitation abstracts have been, in most
cases, shortened and edited. We regret causing any damage to the
original texts sent to the Organizing Committee.
ABBAS,
Insaf: Challenges of TEFL Through
Distance Learning
The
experience of TEFL through distance learning is one of the challenging
issues nowadays especially with the excessive need for learning English
and the growing tendency towards self-education. This study highlights
this increasingly growing trend and discusses means of increasing the
effectiveness of ‘ Distance Learning’ TEFL devices whether electronic,
printed or otherwise . Reference throughout will be made to the
experience of Al-Quds Open University with regard to this topic.
ABBAS,
Suleiman:
Using L1 as a Strategy in Teaching Foreign Languages
The use
of L1 as a pedagogic strategy in teaching foreign languages has always
been, and is still, one of the main debatable and controversial topics
among language teachers and educationists. There is no agreement on
whether or not L1 may be used as a classroom strategy in teaching
languages to non-native speakers. This paper is divided into two
sections.
The
first section presents an outline of the well-known approaches and
methods with regard to the place accorded to the use of the L1 in the
foreign language classroom. Section two provides further arguments in
support of the effective role of L1 in foreign language education.
ABDEL-FATTAH, Mahmoud:
On the
Translation of Modal Verbs from Arabic into English and Vice Versa: The
Case of Deontic Modality
This Paper examines the problems encountered when
translating modal verbs from Arabic into English and vice versa. The aim
of the study is threefold: first, to give a brief description of Deontic
Modality in Arabic and English; second, to describe the nature of
problems translators encounter; and third, to recommend strategies and
approaches to tackle the problems.
ABDEL-HAFIZ, Ahmed-Sokarno: The Representation of Islam, Arabs and
Muslims in Newsweek and Time during September 11 Events: A Case Study in
Critical Discourse Analysis
This
paper sets out to discuss the way Islam, Arabs, and Muslims are
represented in two US major magazines, Newsweek and Time,
especially in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Using Critical
Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a frame of reference, I argue the issues (of
these magazines) that have appeared since 11th September
demonstrate that terrorism, Islam, Arabs and Muslims are intertwined
into a single phenomenon through the use of certain strategies: naming
the alleged perpetrators, using collocation, etc. This conflation,
contrary to the claim of Dajani and Michelmor (1999), is shown to be
realized in certain contexts where the event and the attackers are
viewed as enemies. This viewpoint has been verified by examining the
language of media authentic texts from the two magazines in the
aftermath of 11th events and the Oklahoma City bombing. It is
seen that the latter event, which involved non-Arabs, is described by
the press in a neutral way.
ABDERRAHMAN, Wajih : Universal Roots Under the Linguistic Tree
The
paper argues that linguistic research has always concentrated on
“superficial aspects” of human language, i.e. language universals both
formal and substantive. As a solution this paper puts forward a theory
advocating the view that language universals should be extended to
subsume “ root universals”. There is ample evidence (from languages
assumed to be genetically unrelated) to support such view. Indeed, data
gathered from Arabic, English, Sanskrit, Latin, etc. indicate that there
might be a “universal monolingual lexicon”. The view and ideas
incorporated in this approach are expected to effect a radical change in
linguistic thinking, particularly on the level of morphology.
ABDULMAJEED, Muhammad Yousif: Aspects of Cultural Differences
This
paper aims to familiarize parties responsible for the teaching/promotion
of English in the Arab/Muslim part of the world with some of the more
common aspects of cultural differences between L1 and L2 . The issues
raised here aim at encouraging the adoption of at least three policies:
the preparation of oneself, the planning of activities, and the
adaptation of teaching materials/aids that are more suitable for the
target learners. It is essential that all those responsible for the
promotion of English in foreign cultures are well aware of possible
political, historical, religious, and cultural differences, some of
which may be hostile. Without the proper preparation, certain actions or
convictions (beliefs) may lead to cultural clashes and resentment, thus,
demotivating the learners towards learning/accepting the target
language.
ABOU EL-NAGA,
Shereen: Feminism in the Academia
For
sometime now, the English Department of Cairo University has been
developing a remarkable and distinguished feminist scholarship in
different areas: poetry, novel, drama, criticism and culture. In order
to decide whether this is a ‘phenomenon’ or a trend in the making, I
will attempt an answer to the following questions:
-
Is it
a trend of thought that is interrupted or consolidated through
accumulation?
-
Is it
backed up by the system or based on individual initiatives?
-
What
is the nature of the discourse adopted in this scholarship?
-
Is it
a trend that is assimilated or resisted? Does this scholarship have an
effect on the curriculum?
-
And
finally, is there a specific inherent incentive in the culture and
education in the English department that leads to and yields such a
scholarship spontaneously?
ABU
SHAKRA, Zena: Scaffolded Instruction as a Dialogic Pedagogical Tool
This
presentation is part of a larger research study which uses
socio-cultural theories of learning to investigate scaffolded
instruction as a dialogic pedagogical tool across instructional
activities and describe the type of student interaction it creates in
the particular context of an ESL classroom in need of ways for improving
interaction among students.
For the
purpose of this presentation, only one of the various elements of
scaffolded instruction namely ‘exploratory feedback’ will be discussed
in terms of how such feedback is realized in scaffolded instruction from
a linguistic point of view as well as the type of student interaction it
creates. By providing a linguistic understanding of this vital element
of scaffolded instruction, this presentation will present exploratory
feedback as a more concrete concept by demonstrating the type of student
interaction that ensues in the context of a particular ESL classroom.
ABU-BAKER,
Mohammed: The Representation of Islam and Muslims in Medieval Western
Narratives
The
representation of Islam and Muslims in medieval western narratives draws
heavily on the tradition established by the Christian polemicists which
sought to construct Islam as the negation of Christianity; the Prophet
as an impostor, an evil sensualist, and an antichrist; Muslims as
violent and barbaric. The whole Islamic world was seen as the fearful
enemy which had to be checked and ultimately destroyed.
It was
in this spirit of religious hostility that imaginative European
narratives cultivated this polemical tradition in constructing a
negative image of Islam and Muslims that was relevant to the purposes of
their representations. Two outstanding themes emerge from these
representations: namely that the Islamic East was the realm of
lascivious sensuality and inherent violence. Nevertheless, some authors
were able to transcend the limitations of such crude representations to
question their culture or to articulate their individual positions or
both.
ABU-SHAMAIS, Wafa : Identifying the Metacognitive Reading Strategies of
Arab University Students: A Case Study
This
paper reports on the metacognitive reading strategies employed by
Palestinian students while reading English texts. In identifying the
participants' thinking processes , the study utilized multiple research
methods . To collect data, the researcher used "think aloud" as an
instrument for tapping the participants' underlying metacognitive
thinking and in order to complement the "think-aloud" sessions, the
researcher used interviews, comprehension tests and a questionnaire.
The
results indicate that although "think-aloud" seemed to be a suitable
introspective method for measuring comprehension control and awareness,
retrospective methods such as interviews, tests and questionnaires were
also important. It was also found that although verbalising was
challenging, the participants were interested in thinking aloud and
involved in using a number of metacognitive strategies that aided their
awareness and text comprehension.
ABUNUWARA, Ahmed : The Prefix sa- and sawfa as Modal Forms in Arabic:
Evidence from Informant Testing
In many
grammar and reference books the two particles sa- and sawfa
are treated as markers of the future tense. For this reason they are
called ‘huruf al-estiqbal’: the particles of the future. The traditional
view of sa- and sawfa as markers of the future tense
states that sa- refers to the near future and sawfa to the
remote future.
In the
grammar of Arabic nothing has been written so far about the possibility
of using sa- and sawfa to express other modality concepts
such as ‘judgments’ or ‘attitudes’ towards a possible future event. This
study seeks to provide authentic examples which demonstrate that in
addition to making reference to future happenings, these two particles
express certain modality concepts.
AFIFI,
Elhami:
Foreign Language versus Native Language Education in the Wake of
Globalization
With the
advent of the third millennium, a ‘new’ world has already been developed
with three impactive features: the information revolution, the
technology revolution and globalization. This has urged third world
countries to give high priority to educational improvement, the
promotion of English language teaching, and the diffusion of educational
technology. The teaching of Arabic is not subject to promotion or
educational improvement as much as English is. This paper highlights the
status of teaching English and Arabic in Egypt, and investigates the
negative impact of this imbalance on our national identity in general,
and Arabicization and translation in particular.
AGHACY ,
Samira:
Domestic Spaces: Confinement or Liberation?
The aim
of this paper is to explore the nature of inner spaces in Lebanese war
fiction. For this purpose, works by male as well as female writers will
be selected to highlight the difference, if any, between men’s and a
women’s experiences. Indeed, many of these texts are replete with
analogies between house and psyche, house and social structures, as well
as house and the political, sectarian and military situation. One could
say that these works are preoccupied with inner spaces and confinement
to underline the characters’ spatialized experience. Other works
emphasize the sense of powerlessness and absurdity that overwhelms a
character in a room or prison cell and the feelings of persecution, poor
self-image and repressed anger that he or she suffers from. As a result,
these works tend to accentuate the cumulative effect of endless
repetition and circular rather than linear time.
AL-ABED AL-HAQ, Fawwaz & Amer HATAMLEH:
Linguistic Globalization: Homogenization or Hegemonization
The
study attempts to investigate the phenomenon of globalization from
language planning perspectives. The nature of linguistic globalization
will be examined in terms of the objectives, strategies and goals,
problems and solutions, consequences among many other factors. The
following major questions are raised:
- To
what extent does globalization entail linguistic dependency?
- To
what extent is English envisioned as an imperialist language?
- Does
English in the Arab world entail Westernization, Americanization,
Englisization?
- What
are the consequences on Arabicization?
AL-BANYAN, Ahmed:
Pragmatic
Awareness: The Case of Refusals by Saudi Male & Female Speakers of
English
This
paper tries to measure the pragmatic awareness of Saudi male & female
English college-level students by utilizing the Discourse Completion
Test (DCT). The experimental group will be compared to the control group
(American native speakers of English). Furthermore, the male group will
be compared to the female group. The data will be analyzed
quantitatively as well as qualitatively. It is hoped that this study
will contribute to cross-cultural pragmatics, at least for the case of
speech act refusals by Saudis.
AL-DA’MI,
Muhammed:
Islam and Globalization
This
paper begins with the hypothesis that Islam is historically a
globalizing religion. This is verified by discussing an array of
doctrinal elements and historical anecdotes that cater to the
incongruity between Islam and today’s globalization as a form of
“American indisputable hegemony”. The conclusion analyzes the points of
disagreement between the two “globalizing” visions with a specific
reference to the unbridgeable and widening gap between Islam and the
so-called “Pax Americana”.
AL-DABBAGH,
Abdullah:
Language, Consciousness, and Identity in the Global Age
Language, as the major vehicle of culture, identity, and consciousness,
is dualistic in nature. That aspect of it which is dominant or ascendant
determines its “essence” at any particular time. The subordinate aspect,
however, remains, and may re-emerge at another time. Since the early
days of mankind, this inner
contradiction of language has taken the form
of a true versus a false language, reflecting a true versus a false
consciousness. The Age of Globalism has ripened the conditions for the
rise of a global language and a global cultural identity. The
contradictory nature of human consciousness that set in with the
division of labour in human society acquires a new expression in the Age
of Globalism. At the same time, the prospect of the abolition of this
division brings with it the possibility of achieving true consciousness,
global identity, and a universal language.
AL-GHIZAWI,
Basim: Henry James's
Technical Innovation: A Study in the Excellence of Point of View
It is
almost a critical commonplace to speak of Henry James as a rebel against
Victorian fiction, an innovator who anticipated the twentieth-century
novel by his rejection of the traditional omniscient narrator and his
technical experimentation. Yet, such view ignores James's appreciation
of traditional novelists and obscures the basis of his interest in point
of view. The purpose of the paper is to highlight James's technical
innovation touching upon his technical experimentation in point of view
through a special reference to his masterpiece The Ambassador.
AL-HAMAD,
Mohammad:
The Effect of Formal Instruction on Acquiring Arabic as a Second
Language
The
paper looks at the effect of a grammar textbook titled the `Easy
Arabic Grammar` series on acquiring Arabic as a second language by
native speakers of Chinese and Russian at the Arabic Language Institute,
King Saud University. In particular, it compares the distribution of the
presentation of various grammatical features associated with nouns,
adjectives and verbs in the series, on the one hand, and the success of
the study subjects in acquiring these features, on the other,. The data
come from 400 minutes of recorded spontaneous conversations with 40
subjects.
The
results seem to suggest that although the subjects , were, in general,
highly successful in acquiring grammatical features, it seems that
formal instruction may enhance input, thereby speeding up the process of
development. Furthermore, it seems that there is a positive correlation
between the amount of emphasis a certain grammatical feature is given in
the textbook and the level of mastery the subject attains.
AL-HAZMI, Sultan: English and Arabization: Friends or Foes? The Saudi
Experience
The goal
of this paper is to take a closer look at the concept of “Arabization”
in its relationship with EFL teaching within the Saudi and Arab context.
In particular, it addresses this fundamental question: Is “Arabization”
a simple exercise in lexical creation, or does it have religious,
cultural identity and (why not), nationalistic undertones?
To
attempt to answer this question, the paper first investigates the
rational behind “Arabization”. Why “Arabize,” and in reality, who is
concerned, in Saudi Arabia and in the Arab World at large?
Since
“Arabization” is a language planning issue, this paper takes a cursory
look at similar experiments carried out elsewhere in Asia (Syria, Japan,
and Korea), Africa (Guin`ee and Tanzania) and in Europe (Germany),
before tackling the Saudi context and its parameters.
The
concluding thoughts will outline the incidence of “Arabization” on
curriculum design and selection, teaching methodologies and practices
and on student motivation, particularly in EFL classes.
AL-JARF,
Reema: Teaching Language and Culture Online
A “Language and Culture” course was taught to two groups of sophomore
students majoring in translation. The control group was taught using
traditional classroom instruction only, and the experimental group was
taught using traditional and online instruction. An online course was
especially designed for the latter group. Both groups were pre and
post-tested. Effect of online instruction on achievement was assessed by
computing the means differences of the pre and post-test scores for both
groups. Components of the online course, teaching and learning tasks
were described. Experimental students used the online course from home
as the internet was inaccessible from campus.
AL-KHAWALDA, Mohammad: The Deterioration of Mobile Messages: A
Linguistic Analysis of English
Messages
Sent by Native Speakers of Arabic
This
paper aims at analyzing 200 English mobile messages written by
university students to their friends, colleagues and teachers. The
students are Arabic native speakers. Analysis of the data shows that
numerous features characterize this widely spread means of
communication, such as:
- ample
use of short sentences having one topic or idea,
-
grammatical accuracy and conventional formalities don’t receive much
attention,
-
ellipsis and deletion of many grammatical words
- the
use of simple structures and simple tenses
- the
insertion of Arabic words into English texts, which leads to
incorporating certain Arabic structures such as word order
AL-KHULI, Mohammed: Factors Influencing Foreign-Language Learning
This
paper explicates factors that influence foreign language (FL) learning
such as learning environment, the learner’s role, using the concrete,
language models, feedback, readiness, frequency, exposure, and
motivation . The paper also deals with the differences between
FL-learning and first-language acquisition and how to improve
FL-learning in the classroom situation .
AL-MASRI, Nazmi: Using Technology (WebCT) for Teaching Advanced Writing
This
paper focuses on examining the pedagogical benefits of using the WebCT
(Web Course Tool) as an effective technological tool in teaching
advanced writing for university English language majors. The paper will
demonstrate how the WebCT can be used to enhance the students’ writing
skills that are necessary for writing research papers and how to manage
and deliver an advanced writing course that covers the multi-step
process required for writing a research paper on a literary or language
teaching topic. Finally, some serious technical and methodological
questions as well as a series of relevant challenges and suggestions
will be dealt with.
AL-QAHTANI,
Saad : Recent Trends in ESL Reading and Their Applicability to EFL
Contexts
In the
last two decades, many studies have investigated the teaching of reading
to non-native speakers of English from different perspectives. Some of
these studies deal with the teaching of reading from a theoretical
perspective, while others look at it from a practical/pedagogic
perspective.
In this
paper, a general review of these studies will be discussed with
reference to their theoretical backgrounds as well as their classroom
applications. Then, some suggestions about their applicability to
teaching reading in EFL contexts will be introduced.
AL-QURAN, Majid: Cross-Cultural Understanding: The Road toward a Better
Union in an Age of Diversity
The
present paper will address issues like fundamental patterns of cultural
difference, different communication styles and attitudes toward
conflict, some guidelines for multicultural collaboration, and how
higher education institutions can utilize these to have a significant
input into developing a universal culture of peace as a basis for
cross-cultural communication and understanding. Re-activating and
re-vitalizing the role of departments of English in this respect will be
the core of this proposed endeavor.
AL-RABAI, Ali: Skim English
This
paper is entitled “Skim English” for the fear of cultural obesity. It
tries to illustrate that although too much fat is unhealthy, very little
fat causes loss of vitality and decreases appetite. Therefore, this
paper claims, on theoretical grounds, that language should be taught
incorporated within its cultural heritage. Hence, the speaker will argue
for a real need for a good amount of openness to the cultural components
of a second/foreign language that don’t bear negative consequences on
the students’ own cultural appreciation. It concludes with a
recommendation for exerting genuine efforts in building text material
that focuses on the international common cultural concepts and the
proper manipulation of such concepts in the language classroom.
AL-SALMAN, Saleh: The Effectiveness of Machine Translation
This
paper maps out what machine translation can do and what it cannot do in
dealing with problems of contextuality, culture–bound expressions,
lexical and structural ambiguity, and idiomatic expressions The paper
concludes that while considering machine translation a step in the right
direction, it is premature to announce the birth of a full-fledged and
independent approach to translation which can replace human translators.
By capturing word expressions and building database of translation
phrases, computers cannot perform so well as human translators in most
types of translation, despite the computer’s ability to save time, cost,
and effort.
AL-SEGHAYAR,
Mohamed: Some Aspects of the Arabic Language Used in the Military
The
army, like any community within the society, utilizes its own variety of
language which enables it to run itself as an institution in the
society. This variety of language has its linguistic peculiarities as
well as its sociolinguistic characteristics. Like any other language
variety, this variety deserves to be studied in order to establish what
features , if any, make it distinct from the other varieties of the
language. This paper is an attempt to examine the Arabic language used
by the army: its phonology, syntax, and semantics. An attempt to
highlight some of the phonological properties, syntax and semantics of
this variety of Arabic is made, in addition to a short account of some
sociolinguistic issues regarding this variety of language.
AL-SHAREEF, Jamal: Language Change and Variation in Palestinian Arabic
This
paper presents details from auditory analysis of the variable (q) and
its four variants [q], [g], [k] and [?] in the speech of Palestinian
speakers from the Jabalia Refugee Camp.
The
study differs from previous studies in that it is the first linguistic
study to deal with the Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip and to
discuss the effect of age, sex and locality in the process of language
change. A total of 48 informants were interviewed.
The
study shows that the age factor is playing a main role with respect to
convergence towards the stereotype variant [g] in the Camp, and that the
second and the third generations are the ones leading the process of
language change. The sex factor does not reveal any major differences
among the speakers in general, but when the speakers were analysed
individually it emerged that it is the old females who usually retain
their traditional way of speech. The effect of locality is apparent
especially in the speech of the old speakers, who still prefer the
variants of their original localities. The study also shows the
influence of the mothers' preferred variants on the developing style of
the youngest category of speakers. The process of levelling that is
taking place in the Camp can be attributed to three main factors, which
are the political situation, the daily contact of the speakers, and
inter-marriage.
AL-SHU’AIBI, Jihad: The Expression of Future Time in Italian and Arabic:
A Contrastive Study
The
present paper is meant to move from language function to linguistic form
in order to contrast the linguistic elements that are usually employed
in Italian and Arabic for the expression of future time. In practice, we
investigate how a universal semantic concept is denoted in two
linguistic systems that belong to different families, taking in consideration a segment of the infinite “line of time”, conventionally divided into past, present and future. In this way,
the study tries to offer a contribution to the various linguistic
investigations on tense-time relationship.
The findings highlight the fact that both languages prove to have
similar abilities in expressing the same temporal-aspectual meanings. In
realising their own temporal-aspectual systems, Italian (a prevalently temporal language) and Arabic (prevalently
aspectual) manifest similarities and differences in denoting the various shades
of meaning regarding future time.
AL-TAHA, Fayez: Kinship Terms in Palestinian Arabic (PA)
Palestinian kinship terms can be classified from a structural,
functional, and situational point of view. Structurally, they are
divided into monolexic, dilexic, and trilexic, depending on the number
of lexemes each term has . All of them are defined as lexemes plus first
person pronominal suffix. Functionally, Palestinian kin terms are
divided into addressives and appellatives. The former are used as terms
of address, while the latter are used as terms of reference.
Situationally, Palestinian kin terms are grouped according to their
denotation and connotation. These terms have multiple meanings depending
on the linguistic and non-linguistic context. These meanings are
apparent even if we limit ourselves to the considerations of their
genealogical usage. However, we can’t discard the usage of kinship terms
as extended to interlocuters outside the family.
AL-WER,
Enam: New Dialect Formation: The story of -kum in Amman
The
study of dialectal change is relatively straightforward when it is
concerned with a continuity of change within a community, but there are
more complex cases where there is no native dialect to develop from, but
where new dialects are formed in the process of the formation of the
community itself. Amman is a case in point. It is a new city which has
had no native dialect simply because it did not have a native
population. In three generations, the speech of Amman has undergone a
considerable degree of focusing, to the extent that it is now possible
to speak of a distinctive Ammani dialect in its own right. This paper is
the fourth report on my research in Amman. I shall focus on the 2nd
plural clitic form -kum, which can attach to verbs, nouns and adjectives
in a variety of syntactic constructions. The form is unattested in the
input varieties of the Amman dialect, but is consistently used by the
3rd generation in the city's population.
The
paper entertains a range of possible explanations to account for the
success of -kum over any of the forms which were present in the original
varieties.
ALAWI, Nabil: Dehegemonizing Literary Syllabi: Towards a New Syllabus
for an American Literature Course in Arab Universities
The
political and socio-economic changes that globalization has brought
about and is impending to introduce has stirred some political
antagonism in Europe and some other parts of the world. That the Arabs
do not protest it is not a healthy phenomenon. Globalization has already
become synonymous with hegemony and the one-power supremacy in the
world. The most immediate outcome of globalization is the unjustified
use of power to back greed and ill will and to coerce weaker countries
into accepting the usurpation of their national pride, wealth and
market. In view of such realities, literature and the teaching of
American Literature have become estranged; there is a spontaneous,
sometimes unjustified, repulsion of anything American. This paper
attempts to introduce a course syllabus which doesn't necessarily adhere
to the established traditional canon of American literary works that
would appeal to the taste of students in a wronged culture sinned
against by the American political machine. Some examples will be
presented for demonstration.
AMAYREH, Mousa, Jihad HAMDAN & Yaser NATOUR: Jordanian Teachers’
Perceptions of Stuttering Students
This
study aims at investigating the perceptions of teachers in the basic
education stage in Jordan of students who stutter. This issue has been
extensively studied in connection with teachers and other professionals
belonging to cultures other than Arabic, particularly English.
Negative
perceptions have been reported. It is not yet known whether such
perceptions are culture-specific or show tendency towards universality,
an issue which the study reported here intends to explore. The data were
collected through a questionnaire from 50 teachers randomly selected
from schools in Greater Amman. The study concludes with some
implications and recommendations for teachers, speech and language
pathologists, educationists and other professionals interested in this
issue.
ASFOUR, Mohammed: Problems in Modern English-Arabic Lexicography
Dictionaries in the Arab world have traditionally been produced by
“harmless drudges” unaided by teams of researchers or the marvelous
resources of modern-day technology. Such heroic efforts are no longer
adequate. Modern knowledge is expanding at such rates that no single
author can hope to catch up with it. The most important English-Arabic
dictionaries now available are still the products of such enterprising
men. Four such dictionaries have been studied in this study. Although
they all suffer in varying degrees from problems such as coverage,
currency, or terminological acceptability, Munir Ba’albaki’s
al-Mawrid has been found to be the most daring and controversial in
its attempts to do what dictionaries by their very nature cannot do. The
paper attempts to identify the problems and to explain the reasons why
they have vitiated these otherwise indispensable works.
ATARI, Omar: Globalization, EFL, and Arabicization
The
complex processes of globalization (i.e. free market economies including
demolition of trade barriers, technological communication, mergers of
corporations, liberalization of capital flow movements) are creating a
new sociolinguistic situation. The communication needs within such a
newly-emerging sociolinguistic context planet-wide require new
linguistic and literacy competences.
The
question to be raised, thus, is this: are the EFL skills and their
accompanying literacy currently prevalent in the Arab World adequate
enough for this sort of global/international communication? It is the
speaker’s contention that the newly-emerging communicative tasks and
interaction generated by globalization are leading to a whole spectrum
of “registers” which a large population of Arab EFL learners may not
possess. What are the implications of this assumption? What are the
ramifications of all of this on the indigenous language, namely Arabic?
Is the newly-emerging international communication situation restricted
to the elites? What about the marginalized segments of society? Are they
going to be left out in the job market since they may not possess the
necessary linguistic and literacy skills?.
ATAWNEH, Ahmad: The Sociolinguistics of Family Names in Palestine
The
diversity of family names in Palestine reflect the kind of culture and
life such families had in old times. Names were classified into:
professions, personal characteristics, geography, plants, animals, and
physical characteristics. Stories of reasons for naming were collected
from the elderly. Some names are ridiculous or obscene; but there has
been no effort to change them as the case in France where they change
ridiculous names inherited from the past. Such names were given to
respondents to see how they are viewed in today’s world.
AZIZ, Yowell: Intertextuality: Its Implication for Language Teaching and
Translation
The speaker (writer) and the hearer (reader) uses his/her
knowledge of previous texts to produce and interpret the current text.
This phenomenon, known as intertextuality, involves two issues: first,
how the present text uses and develops a text type or genre; and
secondly, how it alludes to other texts (text allusion). Thus
intertextuality involves exploitation of other texts, a process which is
realized by means of mediation – how the speaker (writer) and the hearer
(reader) inserts his/her beliefs and objectives in the production and
interpretation of a text. Mediation may be little as in conversation or
allusion to well known texts; or considerable as in text type (genre)
exploitation and development.
Languages differ in how they employ intertextuality to realize these two
issues : text type and text allusion. This paper attempts to investigate
some of the main similarities and differences in the use of
intertextuality in the English and Arabic texts. The results will
hopefully have implications for several areas of language study
including teaching a foreign language and for translation.
BADAWI, Mohammad: Tajwid: Phonetics and
Phonology
Tajwid,
as known and practised by Quran reciters, is essentially a science that
depends on phonetics and phonology. The importance it gives to "places
of articulation" (makhârej al horûf) anticipated modern phonetics, and
the significance it attaches to "rules of recitation" (ahkâm al tilâwa)
is a painstakingly accurate picture of phonology as we have come to know
it nowadays.
This
paper proposes to deal with these two aspects of tajwid with a view to
show similarities and differences between the two systems: ancient
Arabic and modern linguistic. The paper hopes to help modern linguists
(Arabs and non-Arabs) have a new view of this science in Arabic culture
and help non-Arab speakers (with a linguistic background) have a better
view of the "correct" manner of Quran recitation. The paper deals
specifically with the rules of recitation from a phonological viewpoint
and tries to provide modern phonological equivalents to the processes of
tajwid.
BAKIR, Murtadha : Issues of Control in Arabic
This
paper discusses a wide range of issues in syntactic control in Arabic.
It discusses the different types of control, the contexts in which it
seems to take place, the various motivations for such a proposal and the
syntactic constraints for its application. In doing so the paper
entertains the different theoretical proposals in the literature and
examines their adequacy to account for such a phenomenon in search for
descriptive adequacy.
BALASUBRAMANIAN, TH.: General Arabic (Spoken) English: Pros and Cons
Millions
of Arabic speakers studying English the world over doubtless belong to
the world of EFL. In teaching them spoken English, the need for a model
arises and the model followed for decades has been a native variety.
Hasn't the time come to evolve a model of English which may be termed
"General Arabic English" to be added to the array of varieties of spoken
English already available?
The
Paper discusses this issue candidly and critically with contrastive
features of the segmental features of English and Arabic. The point the
paper will emphasize is that in an EFL situation intelligibility should
be the most important criterion and the evolving of a pan-Arabian model
will not result in unintelligibility.
EL NAGGAR, Zeinab: National Standards for
Teachers of English: The Egyptian Experience
Developing national standards in education is a real challenge. This
paper highlights on-going efforts exerted in Egypt to set standards for
English teachers both at the pre-service and in-service levels, which
have paved the way for national standards for all areas of education.
The
speaker will share with the audience:
Earlier
attempts at setting standards and why they failed.
The two
EFL projects
The
national project
Implications of standards in the Egyptian context.
FAREH, Shehdeh & A. SAEED: Rate of
Information Packaging in Arabic and English Discourse
This
study aims at comparing and contrasting the informational status of
discourse entities in Arabic and English texts. Two fairly similar
narrative texts will be selected for this purpose, one from Arabic and
another one from English. Prince’s (1981, 1992) model of Assumed
Familiarity, which avoids the binary classification of information into
‘Given vs. New’, will be adopted in the analysis. Prince divides
discourse entities into three levels: New, Inferable and Evoked. The
frequency of each category in both languages will be calculated and
compared in order to establish the similarities and differences between
Arabic and English.
FARGHAL, Mohammed: Schemata in Translation: The Role of Lexical
Competence
The
present paper establishes empirical evidence for a schematic model of
translation in which markedness plays a pivotal role in lexically
induced schemata. An ambiguous text was deliberately given two working
titles that schematically called for different translations. The
majority of the subjects, regardless of their lexical competence, opted
for the unmarked schema in the body of the text in spite of the fact
that their translations were incongruent with the marked schema in the
title. This proves that schematic markedness is a more robust factor
than lexical competence in translation activity.
FEKRY, Ahmed: A Contrastive Study of Arabic-English Argumentative
Writing
This
paper is a contrastive study of Arabic-English rhetorical differences in
argumentative writing. These differences include:
-
Through argumentation is preferred over counter argumentation in
Arabic.
-
In
writing the oral mode is preferred over the visual in Arabic.
-
Arabic is paratactic, while English is heavily hypotactic.
-
First and second person pronouns are more common in Arabic than they
are in English.
GIABER, Jamal: Reflections on the only MA
Program in Translation in Libya
Despite
the fact that translation has been taught to undergraduate students at
language departments in Libyan universities for a long time, the first
postgraduate programme in translation was started during the academic
year 2000-2001. The programme was initiated at the Academy of Graduate
Studies in Tripoli and includes theoretical and practical courses in
Arabic-English-Arabic translation and interpreting. During the three
years of its lifetime, the programme has proved to be very popular. Some
minor changes have already been made to the programme with the aim of
improving its quality and suitability. However, feedback from teachers
and students indicate that there are still some problems, which seem to
have a negative effect on the programme output. The aim of this paper is
to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the programme, identify the
problems affecting its output, and suggest solutions to those problems.
HAMDAN, Jihad: Interacting with Conjoined
Lexical Pairs: Evidence from Jordanian EFL Learners
This
paper reports on the findings of a large-scale case study exploring how
two different proficiency level groups of Jordanian EFL learners at
university level interact with a set of conjoined lexical pairs (CLPs)
that are frequently used in everyday language and appear recurrently in
their ELT materials.
The data
are elicited through a written task that consists of 30 items, each
presenting one CLP (The items are selected from a preliminary list of 90
CLPs compiled by the researcher from the ELT materials which the
subjects use in their coursework.
The
study concludes with some implications and recommendations in the fields
of language acquisition, curriculum design, lexicography and
translation.
HAMDAN, Mohammad: Arab American Children’s Patterns of Spelling
Developmental Inventory Stages
The
paper reports the findings of a study that sought to investigate the
developmental nature of Arab American children’s (second, fourth and
sixth graders) acquisition of spelling knowledge. The study addressed
the question whether bilingual Arab American children’s patterns of
spelling development are identifiable as measured by the Schlagal’s
Qualitative Spelling Inventory. Further, the study examined whether Arab
American bilingual children's spelling performance changed based on
their grade level and word-level complexity.
Seventy five students participated in the study (25 second graders, 25
fourth graders and 25 sixth graders). Shlagal’s inventory of six
spelling lists was administered on two different school days during one
week. Two spelling lists were administered at each grade level. One list
was given at the level immediately below the class, and another at the
grade level. The results of data analysis showed a variance of scores on
spelling features presented in the six lists given to second, fourth and
sixth graders.
HAMDI, Tahrir : Literature Education and Identity
Emphasis
on the Western text taught in the classical British and American
traditions does not promise to be a fruitful endeavour at Arab
universities in the wake of globalization. The text cannot be extricated
from its context since it is more than a “verbal icon.” The bias in
favor of British and American texts as the core of literature programs
at Arab universities is both misguided and detrimental to any effort
aimed at forging a true understanding of Arab identity and culture in
our “global” world. In the light of these challenges, Arab universities
need to rethink their literature education programs.
HAYNES, Lilith: English as a Second Language for the Global Community
Academic
purchase on English is urgently needed by those unable to lend their
voices to the chorus of participants in global civil society.
Familiarity with several components of the score of human endeavor and
experience would, furthermore, ensure that this chorus represent the
harmony of diverse perspectives rather than the drone of unison.
Delineating the rationale, functioning, and outcomes of curriculum and
instruction in IEL, this paper underscores the value to teachers and
students of engagement with contemporary literary media and
interconstitutive methodologies, and discusses their applicability to
language and literature education in the Arab World in this globalized
era.
HOMEIDAN, Abdallah : The Impact of Instructors’ Misunderstanding of SL
Concepts on the Teaching of Translation
(Paper to be read in Arabic)
HUSSAIN, Marwa: The Role of Prior Knowledge and Repetition in Listening
Comprehension
This
paper presents the results of a study that took place in the 2002 spring
semester at the American University in Cairo. The study attempted to
investigate the role of prior knowledge and repetition on the listening
comprehension of Egyptian EFL learners of two proficiency levels:
intermediate and advanced. Three research questions were formulated to
investigate the role of each variable alone, and both repetition and
prior knowledge together on EFL listening comprehension. The findings
indicated that for intermediate EFL learners, repeating the listening
passage most probably helped with their listening comprehension,
provided that the passages were on a familiar topic.
IMSSALEM, Nuwara: Teaching Grammar
Pedagogically and Communicatively
Generally speaking descriptive grammar aims at describing the forms
which exist in a particular language while pedagogical grammar deals
with the ways of presenting these forms to learners. The issue, however,
is not as clear cut as this. Pedagogical grammars have been a reflection
of descriptive grammars. In other words , pedagogical descriptions have
been mirror images of linguistic ones. This situation has led to
different degrees of emphasis placed on grammar in language teaching
.The position of grammar in language teaching has swung from grammar
driven audio-lingual methods to communicative approaches which consider
grammar as something peripheral.
The purpose of this paper is to outline briefly the historical
development which has led to this situation and suggest a framework for
teaching grammar pedagogically and communicatively.
IONESCU, Violeta: The Paradoxical Globe of Global English: Utilization
the Profit of English Language to Support Arabic Development
To learn
another language does not necessary imply to forget or threat one’s own.
The paper illustrates that teaching English as a second language
following proper didactic methods can be used to improve human
creativity and national identity implemented in Arabic language and
culture. Global English and cross-cultural communication could be
channeled and viewed through a positive perspective and it could serve
the purposes of all the world’s citizens equally well.
ISMAIL, Hanadi: Analysis of the Pronominal Suffixes (h) and /ha, hon/ in
Damascus Arabic
The
research conducted in two neighbourhoods (traditional vs. modern) in
Damascus shows significant variation in the behaviour of (h) among
speakers of different ages and social backgrounds. Two variants are
looked at; the presence and absence of (h), as in (tzakkartha) 'I
remembered it' and (jisma3lon) 'listen to them'. In the latter case, a
process of resyllabification is taking place, with a glide inserted in
the related syllable in certain phonological environments. This paper
aims at investigating the linguistic variation of (h), whether it is
inherent in the dialect and therefore undergoing deletion, or whether
the process taking place is in fact /h/ insertion. Moreover, the paper
draws on the historical development of /r/ in English in an attempt to
understand the linguistic variation of (h) in the dialect.
JABR, Abdul-Fattah: Effects of Syntactic
Complexity on Translating from/into English/Arabic
This
paper attempts to throw some light on the nature of syntactic complexity
in English and Arabic and empirically display its effect on translating
from/into these two languages. To this effect, a small-scale experiment
was conducted on some translation students at Ajman University. In
addition, the author suggests sentence analysis as a translation
strategy that may help would-be (and even professional) translators to
circumvent the problem of deciphering the meaning of a ST.
JADALLAH, Muffid: Translating English Adverbials into Arabic
Formed
in different ways, occupying various positions in sentences and having a
variety of functions, English adverbs may not be easily rendered into
Arabic. Therefore, it is assumed in this paper that the better we
realize such facts about adverbs and their use, the easier it will be
for us to find the appropriate equivalence for them in the target
language ( i.e Arabic). Moreover, our knowledge of Arabic in general and
Arabic adverbials in particular will certainly be helpful in this
regard. Thus, the paper will attempt to deal with the difficulties and
complexities related to this issue.
JUM’A, Khader: TEFL in Distance Education: The Case of al-Quds Open
University
This
study reports on the experience of Al Quds Open University in the field
of distance education, particularly in TEFL . It specifically seeks to
asses its educational objectives since its establishment and to argue
that there is a need for future development especially in the field of
teaching English as a foreign language. The paper concludes with some
suggestions which are meant to boost TEFL through distance learning.
KAILANI, Taiser : Web-Based Tutorials in
TEFL
In this
presentation I want to demonstrate the effective use of technology in
delivering web-based tutorials as a method of distance education. The
aim of this paper is two fold: one is to provide an example of the
technology which is actually being used, rather than simply discussing
the technology in abstract, while the second is to introduce academics
to ways in which technology can enhance traditional teaching methods.
This technique i.e. web-based Tutorials can be, more or less,
appropriate for teaching any aspect of EFL.
KARMOUTY, Eman: Global Images of Human Experience
In the
wake of globalization, humanity is faced with one world.
"Readers
of world literature need to encounter an image of human experience that
corresponds to global reality. Any narrower view will only hinder their
understanding of their own and others' cultures, ... " ( Report on
World Literature , 1). Thus Tewfik El Hakim's “Song of Death “ shows
affinity to J. M. Synge's “ Riders to the Sea” , as "… timelessness, its
primitive atmosphere, its force of elemental passion and its depiction
of the utter powerlessness of the individual in relation to a deeply
entrenched age-old way of life…" (Modern Arabic Drama, 53) .
The
speaker will reflect on some of the views that have been put forward to
argue for the ‘globalisation’ of human experience.
KHANJI, Rajai: SYMPOSIUM: New Roles of Departments of English and
Translation in the Wake of Globalization
KHARBUTLI, Mahmoud: Nature or Nurture in The Secret Agent
I am
working on Conrad's novel The Secret Agent. The paper
would be entitled ‘Nature or Nurture in The Secret Agent’. The
abstract at this point would be something like this: The woman question
was an important topic in the Victorian Age. Writers and thinkers were
divided on this issue, some saying that it is a question of nature and
others responding by saying it is a question of nurture. Conrad
addresses this issue with regard to both sexes in his novel and seems to
take a position in between.
MAALOUF, May: SYMPOSIUM: New Roles of
Departments of English and Translation in the Wake of Globalization
MARASHDEH, Wasef: SYMPOSIUM: New Roles of Departments of English and
Translation in the Wake of Globalization
MATTAR, Hameed: The Effect of Semantic Transparency on Idiom Recognition
and Comprehension
This
study deals with the effect of semantic transparency on adult Arab
learners’ recognition and comprehension of English idioms. The subjects
of the study were 75 third and fourth year English majors at the
University of Bahrain. They were given an idiom recognition and
comprehension task comprising twenty-four paragraphs, each containing an
idiom. The subjects were instructed to underline the idiom and then
attempt to explain it in their own words.
The
results showed that (i) The subjects’ ability in idiom recognition was
significantly higher than their ability in idiom comprehension, and (ii)
Idioms with higher semantic transparency were found to be significantly
easier to recognize and comprehend than the less semantically
transparent idioms.
MCDONALD, John : Psychic Occupation: Western Narrative Style in Beer in
the Snooker Club and Season of Migration to the North
This
paper compares how two Arab Novels, Waguih Ghali’s Beer in the
Snooker Club (1964) written in English, and Tayeb Salih’s Season
of Migration to the North (1969) written in Arabic (trans. by Denys
Johnson-Davies), depict Colonialism’s influence on Arab cultural
identity through narrators who are Anglophiles. While the Arabic
narrative and Western voice interact cohesively, the protagonists of
Salih’s and Ghali’s novels experience inter-cultural and internal
conflicts which result in self-hatred, physical and identity
displacement, political dissidence, and acts of questionable morality.
Because both identify with an occupying culture they cannot find
stability, satisfaction or redemption in the excesses and “freedoms” of
the West, or in their “static” countries of origin.
MOUSA, Nedal: A Study of Arab Female Bildungsromane in the Light of
Comparative Literature
The
purpose of this paper is to examine patterns of self-definition in two
Arab female Bildungsromane (Emily Nasrallah's September Birds
(1962) and Somaya Radmadan's Leaves of Narcissus (2001) in the
light of comparative literature. Special attention will be given to
convergences between Arab female Bildungsromane and American novels
belonging to the same genre such as Ellen Clasgow's Barren Ground (1925) and Gloria Anzadua's Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New
Mestiza (1987).
Inspired by their common feminist orientation, the above-mentioned
Arab and American women writers, I would argue, set out to adapt the old
genre of the Bildungsroman to serve as a bearer of their feminist
ideology which cherishes women's rights for self-definition beyond the
dictates and norms of patriarchal societies.
MUKATTASH, Lewis: SYMPOSIUM: New Roles of Departments of English and
Translation in the Wake of Globalization
MUSTAFA, Zahra: Awareness of Translation Relationship Between L1 and L2
Sentences
This
study is an attempt to find out whether foreign language learners at the
intermediate level are aware of the translation relationship between L1
and L2 sentences if such a relationship is not indicated. It also tries
to investigate the differences in processing the information provided by
reading comprehension in L1 and L2.
The
participants in this study are Jordanian university students majoring in
computer science with Arabic as L1 and English as L2. The students were
given a questionnaire in Arabic to elicit their attitude towards
technology, and after they had responded to it, they were given the same
questionnaire in English.
The
results show that the responses of most students to the items on L1
questionnaire were different from those on L2 questionnaire, although
very few of them indicated that they faced difficulty in understanding
some English words . This means that they were not aware of the
translation relationship between the sentences in the two languages.
These results indicate several differences in processing the information
provided by reading comprehension in L1 and L2 .
NASR, Najwa: Tables Re-turned
Wordsworth had 'turned the tables' years ago encouraging his friend to
'quit [his] books' and 'let Nature be [his] teacher'. Now, as books get
less appealing to readers attracted more to their 'notebooks', is
Wordsworth's call still valid? Yet, with a deformed, polluted, even
dangerous nature around, how good a teacher it could be? Faced with such
polarizing issues, can we make the teaching of poetry interesting,
attractive, and appealing? Can we hope to encourage our students to get
involved in a text whose very message encourages them to quit it? This
paper is an attempt at answering these questions.
NOOR, Hashim: Translation vs. Direct Composition: The Role of L1 in L2
Writing
The
study aims at investigating the effect of the Arab EFL learners' L1
system or knowledge on the quality of their L2 essays or compositions in
terms of content, organization, and style. The study , based on the
analysis of 46 English compositions written by EFL Arab university
students, will examine: (1) differences between the texts resulting from
two writing processes ( one writing first in Arabic and then translating
into English , and the other composing directly in English, and (2) the
relationship between these two writing processes and students' language
proficiency.
NOUNOU, Refka: Globalization and the Teaching of Professional Writing
Skills
Teaching
the skill of communicating effectively in writing is a forgotten art
which most teachers of English avoid mostly because they are unaware of
the important factors and issues involved in the teaching of writing
skills for effective communication. In this presentation, the factors
and issues at play in this challenging task will be discussed along with
some specific and successful strategies used. An instructional model
used to help teachers overcome the fear of and master the art of
teaching professional writing skills in the foreign language classroom
will be presented.
OBAID, Hala: Email Writing Style
The aim
of this study is to clarify what exactly email language is. Is it a
spoken variety of language, is it a written variety of language, or is
it a totally different language variety that has its own
linguistic/textual characteristics?
In order
to clarify the above-mentioned research questions, samples of current,
authentic email messages were collected and analyzed. These samples were
taken from one of the biggest industrial companies in the Kingdom of
Bahrain. The paper reports the findings of this piece of research.
OBEIDAT, Marwan & Ibrahim MUMAYIZ: Levantine & Arabian Travels: European
and American Experiences in 20th Century
European
and American travel experiences in the Levant and Arabia serve, in the
last analysis, as a treatise on the psychology of human quest rather
than mere records of individual itineraries. The early twentieth century
saw the rise of a new type of travel-writer; that of the archaeologist /
political officer, whose activities, for the first time since the Middle
Ages, were part and parcel of British imperial interests. Arabian
travel, in the traditional sense, came to an end in the 1950's, with the
completion of the exploration of the Empty Quarter. European and
American travel experiences in the Levant and Arabia, as surveyed in
this paper, being a prototype of a treatise on quest psychology, serve,
hopefully, to invite yet further research on the psychology of quest.
OLADOSU, Afis: “al-Sud" in African Fiction: Re-Thinking Ayi Kwei Armah
and Ihsan Abdul Quddus
Recent
studies have shown that the works of some North and West African writers
exhibit uncanny semblances in their themes and subject matter. The Motif
of the black, "al-Sud" in "Two Thousand Seasons" written by Ayi
Kwei Armah and "Blemishes in the Black Robe ("Thuqub fi al-Thawb
al-Aswad) however represents a tour de force in the annals of
post-colonial African narrative discourse and in the efforts of the
scholars in Africa towards a proper rendering of the pre-modern and
modern histories of North and West African contacts.
This
paper, in exploring the foregoing, re-examines the nuances and
semblances in Najib Mahfouz and Wole Soyinka's aesthetics (the earliest
Arab/Black African Writers as far as we know to tread this path) as a
premise for its inquiry into the motif of the Black "al-Sud" first in
English/Arabic literary annals in Africa and second as in Armah and
Abdul Quddus’ fiction. The paper goes on to do an analysis of the
surface and sub-surface structure of the two works using the
problematics which are evident in the anti-Arab-pro-Black reviews of
Armah and Abdul Quddus's works such as that of Kole Omotoso as an
incentive. We thereafter proceed to do an analysis of the recollections
which Armah and Quddus' works commemorate under three strategies:
Dialogization, Historical Engagement and Matriarchal Influence.
OUEIJAN, Naji: SYMPOSIUM: New Roles of Departments of English and
Translation in the Wake of Globalization
RA’AD, Basem: Language and Identity in
Palestine
The
paper analyzes potential conflicts between English language and
literature and identity issues in our context. It draws on comparisons
with colonial and postcolonial situations to illustrate the specificity
of the Palestinian condition, its multiple layers of colonization and
self-colonization. While others worldwide engage in new models or
negotiate “identity politics,” we often rely on antiquated approaches –
and so must take seriously efforts to develop new strategies. Examples
are cited of how to avoid falling into the traps of what we read and
teach, to raise consciousness, rather than unwittingly internalize
language biases and so teach “what we are not”? What means do we adopt
to (1) deconstruct and supplement rather than absorb self-biasing
concepts and narratives and (2) advance our scholarship to enhance
cultural identity and enable a constructive writing of our history, thus
providing material that nourishes critical skills, proficiency and
diversity.
RISHMAWI, George: Teaching Literature or Teaching Culture: The Role of
the Arab Teacher of English Literature
I would
like to suggest that the teaching of English literature to Arab students
can be seen as a bridge between Arab and Western cultures. Moreover, I
believe that the learning of such literature, will enrich the student's
awareness of his national or mother culture. I would like to suggest
ways of teaching works of literature which contain ideas that may be
contradictory, or strange to Arab students. I shall illustrate by giving
examples from my experience of teaching English literature in Palestine
and Oman.
SAEED, Aziz & Shehdeh FAREH: Some Problems
in Translating Arabic ‘fa’ into English
The
purpose of this study is double fold. It aims at identifying the salient
functions that the connective ‘fa’ has in Arabic discourse. It also
attempts to determine the problems that translators may encounter in
translating Arabic sentences containing this discourse marker into
English. Several types of texts were surveyed in order to identify the
major functions of Arabic ‘fa’ in discourse. Five major functions were
identified: Explanatory, Consequential, Causal, Sequential, and
Adversative. A translation task was designed to find out how Arabic ‘fa’
translates into English. The subjects were 50 English major students
studying at the University of Sharjah. The difficulties that Arab
learners encounter in translating Arabic ‘fa’ into English were
identified and rank ordered in terms of difficulty.
SALAMEH, Fahd: Cross-Cultural Frontiers in Novel Translation: A Case
Study (Alive in the
Dead Sea)
In
attempting to translate Arabic novels into English certain cultural
elements elude translation and pose a serious problem for the
translator. One example is al-Razzaz’s novel Alive in The Dead Sea
where the reader is confronted by a host of cultural references ranging
from the ancient Arabic and Islamic thought, modern and contemporary
social, political and ideological patterns, to the Western artistic and
literary trends. This cultural heterogeneity of cultural elements
presents a twofold dilemma for translators and recipients of the text.
The novel itself presents in its form a direct imitation
of Western works, notably those of Faulkner, Woolf and Joyce; and to the
Arab reader whose taste has been shaped by novels that follow the
conventional form, this type of novel presents a real challenge. The
work in translation seems at first glance possible, due to the narrative
techniques adopted and the many Western ideas employed. However, when
proceeding with the work, the literary, political, cultural and social
allusions that permeate the work present an incomprehensible textual
body that requires the reader to engage with an examination of
mysterious propositions that veil meaning and render the work unyielding
in the absence of explication.
SALLO, Ibrahim: A Sociolinguistic Study of Language Choice among Kurds
in Mosul
This
study attempts to find out some extralinguistic variables constraining
the use of Arabic (Ar) or Kurdish (K) or a specific blend of them in
terms of the so-called "code-switching" (CS) by the Kurds in Mosul. The
study is based on data collected from 100 Kurdish informants born in
Mosul who use Bahdinani Kurdish dialect spoken in the North-West of
Iraq. In collecting the data a variety of techniques were employed:
personal observation, interviews, questionnaires and recording natural
conversations could. The informants were also asked to present weekly
language diaries. Questionnaires involved the description of some
situations, for which the respondents were asked to mention what
language they would use. The results are reported under some headings
which identify the linguistic and extralinguistic constraints associated
with the informants' language selection.
SAMARRAI, Ghanim: Transcending Eliot? Hymn of the Rain vs. The Waste
Land
Many
critics often attribute the revolutionary change brought into Arabic
poetry partially to Eliot’s most celebrated poem The Waste Land.
Likewise, Sayyab’s poem, Unshudat al-Matar (Hymn of the Rain)
has always been viewed as a landmark in the history of modern Arabic
poetry. The poem has received a great deal of criticism, focused mainly
on its new style, themes and images.
However, a considerable number of Arab critics enthusiastically
contend that many of Sayyab’s techniques and themes were acquired mainly
from Eliot. This claim was usually followed by a reference to The
Waste Land and to its influence on Sayyab’s masterpiece Hymn of
the Rain. In this paper, I do not deny the influence of Eliot, but -
to do justice to these critics - I realize that critical studies should
adopt more systematic approaches to scrutinize their theses.
SAMRA, Sami : TEFL: An Identity Crisis
As
globalization becomes an established reality, English-learning turns
into a necessity for millions of people. To curriculum planners,
textbook authors, and teachers, a key issue arising from this situation
is: Which English?
The lack
of a clear identity of the target language and the conflicting attitudes
towards its native speakers and globalization in general have hindered
the focused development of a unified approach and have created an
identity crisis rendering TEFL a much more bewildering, complicated
process. This paper surveys the variety of “Englishes” currently adopted
and poses questions about the future of TEFL, especially in the Arab
World.
SARHAN, Houreya: The Concept of Ideology in Cultural Materialism
The
paper attempts an analysis of ideology as a central concept in cultural
materialism in the works of:
-
Raymond Williams: Marxism and Literature (1977),
-
Johathan Dollimore & Alan Sinfield: Political Shakespeare: New Essays
in Cultural Materialism (1985) , and
-
Alan Sinfield : Literature, Politics and Culture in Postwar Britain
(1989)
Other
cultural materialists which this paper will make reference to are Liza
Jardine, Catherine Belsey and Francis Barker.
SETECKA, Agnieszka: The Ghosts of the Past: Alfred Tennyson's Life Story
in A.S. Byatt’s Angels and Insects
This paper seeks to concentrate on the second novella in Angels and
Insect by A.S. Byatt, “The Conjugial Angel”. This is not a
biography: although it might be seen as an attempt to recapture some
events from Tennyson’s life, Byatt does not represent the life of any
character from birth to death. Moreover, following the postmodern
practices of giving voice to the marginal, Tennyson does not occupy the
dominant position in the novella. His sister Emily, once Hallam’s
fiancée, and her story seems equally significant. Both their lives seem
to be haunted and determined by the memory of Hallam, and they both try
to define their relationship with him: Alfred through poetry, Emily
through occult practices.
The aim of this paper is to show much an attempt to recapture the past
might remind of occult practices or poetry. A historian (or a
biographer) might be compared to the reader of poetry, who gets only
scraps of data sometimes deliberately misrepresented by the poet, or to
a medium, who is offered only vague and unclear information. The message
can only become understandable and clear when it is put into a coherent
narrative. Thus, it is always necessary to “invent the truth” about the
past
SHABAN, Fuad: Bob Hope Travels Again: America’s Quest to Save the World
We read
in American history of the notion held by many Americans that they have
a sacred mission to labor on behalf of humanity. Presidents, politicians
and prominent American intellectuals have frequently expressed the view
that they present the world with a model of democracy and civilized
society.
American men of letters have also drawn a picture of the country as a
‘city on a hill’ entrusted with spreading beams of freedom and education
in all directions. Missionary quarters resounded with the order to go
out to the world to spread the light and save humanity. A striking
example of this notion is the early African-American poetic expressions
of finding freedom in American slavery from the captivity of ‘Egyptian
darkness’. American military campaigns have also been described as wars
waged to defend freedom and rid the world of evil.
Commenting on the Mexican-American War, Mark Twain said: “There must be
two America’s, one that wages wars to set the captive free, and the
other occupies the captive’s land in the name of freedom.”
And the
paradoxes persist!
SHAHEEN, Abdul Rahman: SYMPOSIUM: New Roles of Departments of English
and Translation in the Wake of Globalization
SHEHADEH, Adnan and DWAIK, Raghad: Early Start English Programs: A
Language Planning Perspective
This
study provides a comprehensive overview of research findings on
age-related learning differences. More importantly, it utilizes a
questionnaire to investigate the Palestinian English teachers' awareness
of these differences and to probe their attitude toward the theoretical
and practical issues involved in an early start.
SHEHADEH, Ali: Modified Output in Learners’ Dyadic Interaction and Group
Interaction
This
paper reports on a study that investigated opportunities for learners’
production of modified output (MO) in dyadic interaction and group
interaction. The population of the study consisted of 27 adult learners
of English representing 13 L1 backgrounds. Data were collected through
the same procedure for both interaction patterns using a decision-making
task. Dyadic interactions were audio-taped and group interactions were
both audio- and video-taped. The results showed that of the four
variables examined in the study, group interaction provided learners
with a significantly higher proportion of multiple self-initiated
attempts toward MO than dyadic interaction. As regards the other three
variables, the association between other-initiation and MO, between
self-initiation and MO, and the proportion of extended negotiation
routines toward MO, only minimal differences between both interaction
patterns were observed. These results were interpreted in the light of
the current view of Swain’s (1995, 2000) Comprehensible Output
hypothesis and the usefulness of pair/group interaction for L2 learning.
SHIHADA, Isam: Virginia Woolf’s Feminist Vision in her Selected Novels:
Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse
The aim
of this study is to examine Virginia Woolf’s contribution to the
feminist question in her selected novels: Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
and To the Lighthouse (1927). The study shows how Mrs. Woolf
employed her novels to show women the way to obtain meaning in life and
realize their identities. Virginia Woolf established herself as a
distinguished feminist woman writer in her treatment of women’s helpless
situation. She unveiled the whys and therefore of women’s oppression,
and provided us with a comprehensive answer for women’s question. She
was the pioneer woman writer who could express her feminist ideas away
from male publishers’ control since she and her husband had a publishing
house and published their writings at their expense.
SHUNNAQ, Abdallah: Training Translation Students at Yarmouk University:
Problems and Solutions
The
paper examines the problems that the researcher confronts while teaching
and training M.A. Translation students , Department of English, Yarmouk
University. The students’ lack of specialist knowledge ; poor writing in
the target language; reluctance to participate in the translation
process ; unawareness of translation theories and choice of answer. The
article also attempts to provide certain solutions for these problems.
It is hoped that the findings of the article will be of some help for
the teachers and trainers of translation and practicing student
translators alike.
TAMIMI, Yaser: H-Variation and Phonological
Theory: Evidence from two Accents of English
This
study investigates h-variation in the casual and read speech of some
speakers of Southern British Standard (SBS) and East London English
(ELE), and attempts to provide a phonological explanation for it. This
variation is examined across a number of linguistic conditions,
including (a) different lexical functions, (b) different stress
conditions, (c) different positions in the utterance/word, (d) different
phonetic environments, and (e) different speech rates. The study
provides quantitative data about this variation, and finds it mainly
unpredictable under these conditions, suggesting unconditioned or at
best weakly conditioned variability. In addition, it introduces a
Multiple-Trace-based Proposal to account for linguistically
unconditioned variability, after revealing explanatory inadequacy in a
number of available phonological theories, including Co-existent
Phonemic Systems, Standard Generative Phonology, Labov's Variable Rules,
Bailey's Polylectal Grammar, Lexical Diffusion, Articulatory Phonology
and Optimality Theory.
TENNET, Graeme: Globalisation and the Mask of Liberalisation
This
paper argues that globalisation carries a threat to the independence of
English language and literature teaching in Arab universities. Rather
than the promised diversity and mutuality, a new dead hand of conformity
is afoot under the banner of affiliation , accreditation and
standardisation masking a new post-colonial dependency culture. This
manifests itself in areas such as language and evaluation as well as in
the role of consultant. If globalisation of English language and
literature means anything, it is that it should enable and empower our
students to make their voices and experiences heard in the world, not
that they surrender the discourse.
TWEISSI, Adel: SYMPOSIUM: New Roles of Departments of English and
Translation in the Wake of Globalization
WITKOS , Jacek: SYMPOSIUM: New Roles of
Departments of English and Translation in the Wake of Globalization
YAGI, Sane & Shehdeh FAREH: Investigation of
Poor EFL Performance: A Case Study
This investigation aims to answer the question why EFL programs are
unable to deliver as expected. It studies the records of all students at
one English department and assesses their initial preparedness through
their high school grades, major orientation, and type of school. It,
then, investigates the effect of these factors on students’ TOEFL
university entrance score, and the effect of that on their academic
performance at university over a number of semesters. Then it examines
the program offered by the English department focusing on its overall
structure, goals and practices, teacher role, and teaching methodology.
Recommendations for improvement are made at the end.
YOUSEF, Tawfiq: Translation Programmes at Jordanian Universities:
Relevance to Job Opportunities
This
piece of research is based on theoretical and practical explorations of
the current situation of translation programmes in Jordan, with special
reference to job opportunities. Drawing upon recent translation theory
and making use of a few questionnaires, statistical data, interviews and
field work, the research investigates translation programmes at
Jordanian universities in terms of student admission, study plans,
translator training and translation pedagogy. It also discusses job
prospects for translation graduates, professionalism, and the main areas
of translation activity in Jordan, Finally, the study uses a
comparative/contrastive approach to highlight the translation scene and
the translators current situation in Jordan with a view to suggesting
new translation approaches and relevant measures that can be conducive
to updating and improving translator training and translation work.