Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics
Volume:1 Issue: 1, Spring 2010

In this paper, it is argued that Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) should be extended to also include what may be called Critical Context Studies (CCS). After a summary of the new theory of context, defined in terms of special mental models in episodic memory, subjectively representing the ‘definition of the communicative situation’ by the participants, it is argued how a critical analysis of text-context relationships is fundamental for CDS. The focus of CDS on power and domination presupposes the relevance of the ways social contexts are defined by the participants, and how such social context may influence text and talk. This theoretical paper is illustrated by a detailed analysis of fragments from a debate of 2004 held in the British House of Commons on the Hutton Report, which deals with the aftermath of the media coverage of the war in Iraq.

This paper examines the theoretical rationales and practical aspects of task-based language teaching (TBLT) with particular reference to research findings in EFL/ESL contexts. The definitional scope of the term ‘task’, polarizations in terms of task vs. non-task, and its relation to different language teaching approaches have engendered conceptual and methodological ambiguities. Moreover, factors related to task difficulty and task procedures have been rarely examined empirically. The adoption of the approach has faced serious resistance due to the incompatibility of some of its underpinnings with the nonwestern cultures of learning, the long-held psychometric traditions of testing, and its claims about communication and task accomplishment as conducive to language acquisition. The unpredictability of the learners’ reactions during communication, disregard for the teachers’ sense of plausibility and learners’ level have created tension amongst teachers, learners, and authorities as to the suitability of this approach. It is argued that the ideological stance of the approach needs to be tampered with greater realism thorough accountability reports and evidential research.

Language and emotion are two related systems in use, in that one system (emotions) impacts the performance of the other (language). Both of them share their functionality in communication. Since the nature of foreign language classrooms is ideally interactional, emotional intelligence (EI) gains importance. The aim of this study was to find out whether one''s total emotional quotient and its components influence one''s preference for a certain type of directive speech act in a given speech event. Two questionnaires, namely, the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory and Directive Speech Acts (DSA) were completed by 120 undergraduate students, at three universities in Iran, and the data were analyzed through chi square. The results revealed that there was statistically significant relationship between interpersonal intelligence and DSA preference for order and request. There was, however, no significant relationship between directive speech act preferences and other components of emotional intelligence.

This study sought the relationship between short-term in-service development programs for EFL teachers and their teaching practice in high schools. The objectives were to determine the relationship between: 1) the components of the programs for EFL teachers and their practice in class, and 2) EFL teachers’ perception of the programs and their practice in class. Data were collected through questionnaires and an observation checklist, using a quantitative research method with a descriptive design and cross-sectional approach. Participants included 312 EFL teachers from Esfahan high schools, and 46 English teachers were observed. Findings on the participants’ gender, academic qualification, age, and teaching experience indicated there was no significant difference in the content of the programs between male/female teachers, whereas there was a significant difference between BA and MA holders among the 3 age groups and the 3 experienced groups. Findings in general show that there is no significant relationship between: 1) the components of the programs and the approaches utilized in class, and 2) EFL teachers’ perception of the programs and the approaches utilized in class.

The main objective of the present study is to elaborate the contrasts between males and females in their use of different strategies of request in English and Persian and ascertain the degree to which independent variables like gender and language affect the application of these strategies during informal communication. Furthermore, it offers comparable corpora which provide a good basis for cross-linguistic comparison of distribution of this functional strategy within the context of Persian and English movies. The focus of this study is on the implementation of different strategies of ''request'' by English and Persian males and females in accordance with Blum-Kulka''s framework of requestive strategies (1989). This research targets at figuring out differences between English and Persian males and females in relation to the application of the previously-mentioned strategies. In addition, in order to gather the most authentic data, four English and four Persian films, dealing with family and social theme, are analyzed. Concerning gender dyads, both in Persian and English, some significant differences are detected.

Sam Shepard is one of the foremost living American Playwrights. He has always been concerned with the problem of identity, specifically the fragmented identity of man living in the postmodern era. Such characterization is evident in his plays: True West, Fool for Love, and A Lie of the Mind. Thus, the present article is to demonstrate the fragmented identity of Lee and Austin, Eddie and May, and Jake and Beth, in the three plays respectively. Fredric Jameson asserts that the reason for the fragmented identity is lack of any coherent relationship with the past. The mentioned characters are depicted as being lost in the perpetual images, with no clear bond to past.

John Gardner’s Grendel is a celebrated example of the ontological postmodernist fiction. Along with a discovery of self with which Grendel the narrator of the novel is concerned, grand narratives such as philosophy are questioned. Grendel denies the external objective reality and generously allows the legitimacy of fantastic and non-realistic methods by using “life-affirming fabulous art” as its major technique. Art becomes the central issue related to the question of ontology; it is both presented as the only mediator giving meaning to the futility of life or yet another grand illusion. Philosophical questions are elaborated in the novel through the seminal technique of the amalgamation of a medieval setting with modern concerns (the rewriting of an old English epic). The paper is an attempt to shed some light on the philosophical turn of John Gardner’s novel which, it is argued, is its central postmodern aspect.