Abstract
JALDA has been officially recognized as a Scientific Grade B Journal by Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology recently. A main interest of the Journal lies in the contextualized sense of science; the studies should take place in real world contexts and they should be intended to help ...
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JALDA has been officially recognized as a Scientific Grade B Journal by Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology recently. A main interest of the Journal lies in the contextualized sense of science; the studies should take place in real world contexts and they should be intended to help solve everyday problems. The fields of applied linguistics and applied literature create the scope of the Journal for the purpose of coming into close encounter with the problems researchers may experience in their everyday lives both within and without school; they are encouraged to use their expertise, even in an interdisciplinary mode, to tackle issues that hinder their subjects and people on their way to success and improvement. From such a perspective, the decontextuzlized selection and reading of a literary text, for instance, may not be regarded as fruitful. There are stories by both teachers and researchers about how the “literary taste” of students at rural areas of our country differ radically from the taste of those from urbanized areas. Should the students be introduced to the same material in their English language and literature courses? JALDA prefers to consider the diversity in the world and it intends to publish the findings that help show how new ways are sought for improvements in the fields. This results from a sense of protecting the world and its diversity we experience in our everyday lives while, thanks to access to the technology, complicated (conspiracy) theories spread faster than any biological virus could to keep us far from one another and from the real world.
Bahram Behin
Abstract
A new vocabulary item has been added to English dictionaries: Covid-19. For linguists, the addition of a meaningful linguistic element to any language should change the whole language as, for T. S. Eliot, a new poem changes the whole literature of a nation. But let us see how seriously the addition of ...
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A new vocabulary item has been added to English dictionaries: Covid-19. For linguists, the addition of a meaningful linguistic element to any language should change the whole language as, for T. S. Eliot, a new poem changes the whole literature of a nation. But let us see how seriously the addition of the vocabulary item Covid-19 might change the English language. According to Cambridge online dictionary, Covid-19 is “an infectious disease caused by a coronavirus (= a type of virus), that usually causes fever, tiredness, and a cough, and can also cause breathing problems. I do not think that the change brought about by the item is a radical one especially when the definition claims that most often the disease caused by the virus is not serious! (I wonder whether there is a Newspeak type conspiracy going on!) But when one turns to the “real world,” the situation turns out to be extremely serious: Not only has Covid-19 brought the whole world almost to a total stop, but it has also been the cause of many deaths all over the world. People have died, families have lost their breadwinners, doctors and nurses have been affected and died while on duty and we are still on the verge of being affected by the virus everyday if the necessary safety measures are not taken. Millions have lost their jobs and economies are on the verge of collapse. Governments are keen to see their state enemies crush under the heavy burdens by Covid-19 upon their economies and medical systems! Schools are shut down and much more other factual events can be added to these, all of which lead many to claim that in the post-Covid-19 era peoples’ behaviours should change.
Luise von Flotow; Reza Yalsharzeh
Abstract
Luise von Flotow is a Professor of Translation Studies at the School of Translation and Interpretation, University of Ottawa, Canada. She got her BA in German and French from the University of London (1974) and her MA in French from the University of Windsor (1985) and her Ph.D. in French from the University ...
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Luise von Flotow is a Professor of Translation Studies at the School of Translation and Interpretation, University of Ottawa, Canada. She got her BA in German and French from the University of London (1974) and her MA in French from the University of Windsor (1985) and her Ph.D. in French from the University of Michigan (1991). Professor von Flotow was the director of the School of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Ottawa in 2006-2016. Her areas of academic interest include political and ideological influences on translation, specifically translation and gender; audiovisual translation, dubbing and subtitling, and literary translation as public diplomacy. Besides numerous journal articles, professor von Flotow has published the following books: Translation and Gender: Translation in the Era of Feminism (1997), The Politics of Translation in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (2001), Translating Women (2011). She has also co-edited with professor Farzaneh Farahzad Translating Women: Different Voices and New Horizons. Dr. Reza Yalsharzeh, assistant professor of Translation Studies at Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University and a former student of professor von Flotow has arranged this interview with her.
1. Applied Linguistics (Language Teaching and Learning)
Mona Hosseini
Abstract
The book ‘Developing expertise through experience’consists of twenty chapters written by language educators. Alan Maley has edited the book. The writers of the chapters have written their stories and experiences about learning English and being an Educator with regard to the notion of ‘sense ...
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The book ‘Developing expertise through experience’consists of twenty chapters written by language educators. Alan Maley has edited the book. The writers of the chapters have written their stories and experiences about learning English and being an Educator with regard to the notion of ‘sense of plausibility’ defined by Prabhu. Prabhu explains that plausibility in pedagogy is teachers’ intuition about learning arising from her own experience of teaching. The book is a major effort to share experiences between professionals working in different parts of the world. Therefore, the purpose is not to reach an agreement between many individuals but rather an enlarging, sharpening or enriching of every individual’s personal perception.In the first chapter of the book, Robert Bellarmine elaborates on the understanding of the ‘teacher’s sense of plausibility’. He explains that it is a personal theory of learning and teaching and its elements are not only beliefs and values but also concepts, principles, rules of thumb, truths and metaphors.
Bahram Behin
Abstract
JALDA, therefore, would like to show inclination towards the view that the reality of the world is not a fixed entity standing out there to be measured by our pre-fabricated ‘scientific’ instruments. In line with Haghshenas’ argumentation, not only can theories and instruments shrink ...
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JALDA, therefore, would like to show inclination towards the view that the reality of the world is not a fixed entity standing out there to be measured by our pre-fabricated ‘scientific’ instruments. In line with Haghshenas’ argumentation, not only can theories and instruments shrink to ornamental entities but also they can turn into what Karl Popper calls pseudo-science, knowledge of an ‘ideological’ rather than of a ‘scientific’ nature (see Fuller, 1996). The knowledge based on positivism is prone to shrink to pseudo-science, for instance, because it is knowledge based solely on natural phenomena and their properties and relations that are accounted for according to man-made networks of laws. Any biased insistence upon such knowledge and hostility towards what lies outside the network, the darkness of the world, an experience of the recent politico-scientific history of the world, should push what was expected to be ‘scientific’ towards ‘pseudo-science.’ JALDA’s policy is to see its pages colourfully arrayed with findings and views from even the darkest corners of the world, where things are seen in ways quite different from the ways we are used to seeing them.
Bahram Behin
Abstract
The decision by the Ministry of Higher Education in Iran to revise and update the subjects for the MA and PhD courses in TESOL should pave the way towards a more comprehensive understanding of teaching English to speakers of other languages. The Ministry’s revisions can be seen in line with the ...
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The decision by the Ministry of Higher Education in Iran to revise and update the subjects for the MA and PhD courses in TESOL should pave the way towards a more comprehensive understanding of teaching English to speakers of other languages. The Ministry’s revisions can be seen in line with the English language teacher’s awareness. Awareness of context in social sciences and humanities should have significant consequences for us in TESOL. One of the consequences, for instance, is our need for tracing the history of TESOL in Iran (or any area and country), and the building of an archive, without which TESOL in Iran maybe being trapped in the vicious circle of doing experiments that do not relate to our situation in a useful way. The Ministry’s new subjects should provide us with an invaluable opportunity to experience new horizons in researching TESOL. Scientific attitude we all have been brought up with has led to an epistemology that does not seem adequate in today’s world anymore. It is not adequate because it is reductionist in nature; it sees the social phenomena relating to one another solely on the basis of cause and effect relationship; it treats human beings as objects and it does not leave room for competing epistemologies. The new materials should be regarded as a platform to throw us into the unknown world of social world whose existence for us is a matter of interpretation rather than description. Science and critique in the sense we have learned and used them so far have turned into fixed standard curricula preventing us from experiencing an authentic life. All over the world, Englishes are learned by people wishing to communicate with one another for different reasons, and English teachers should see what they can do to help them in this regard.
Bahram Behin
Abstract
Adrian Holliday is Professor of Applied Linguistics & Intercultural Education at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK where he directs PhD programs in Education and Applied Linguistics and has been the Head of The Graduate School between 2002 and 2017. Professor Holliday got his bachelors’ ...
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Adrian Holliday is Professor of Applied Linguistics & Intercultural Education at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK where he directs PhD programs in Education and Applied Linguistics and has been the Head of The Graduate School between 2002 and 2017. Professor Holliday got his bachelors’ degree in Sociology from London University. He began his career in English Language Education in Iran in the early 1970’s at the British Council Centre in Tehran, and then managed a small British Council curriculum unit in Ahwaz. After completing his master’s degree in Applied Linguistics at Lancaster University, he set up educational projects in Syria and Egypt between 1980 and 1990, which provided the experience of the global politics of English and the ethnographic material that informed his PhD thesis at Lancaster University in 1991. Professor Holliday supervises PhD students in critical qualitative studies in the sociology and cultural politics of English language education and intercultural communication, where he has published widely including Understanding Intercultural Communication: Negotiating a Grammar of Culture (2nd Ed., 2018), Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book for Students (3rd Ed., 2016), Doing and Writing Qualitative Research (3rd Ed., 2016), (En)countering Native Speakerism: Global Perspectives (2015), Intercultural Communication and Ideology (2011) and The Struggle to Teach English as an International Language (2005). JALDA has hosted Professor Holliday in a scholarly conversation with Dr. Bahram Behin, who himself is a fanatic upholder of Holliday’s thoughts in conducting courses in the socio-culture of English language teaching.
Bahram Behin
Abstract
The editor’s notes in our Journal have been so far a site for the clarification of the Journal’s policy and the task still continues. With an inclination towards solving our real world problems in language teaching (and literary studies, which I will discuss in the next issue of the Journal), ...
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The editor’s notes in our Journal have been so far a site for the clarification of the Journal’s policy and the task still continues. With an inclination towards solving our real world problems in language teaching (and literary studies, which I will discuss in the next issue of the Journal), we would like to take that the introduction of the concept of “life-world” to Social Sciences can be a ground-breaking movement to open up new horizons for researchers. I will further illustrate JALDA's position and policy here. The current issue of JALDA features an interview, seven research papers of national and international scope and a book review. The interview is with Professor Glenn Fulcher, the distinguished British applied linguist working in the field of language testing and assessment. The first paper by Behrooz Azabdaftari is a tribute to Professor Henry Widdowson on his visit to Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University in 2018. Cosmas Rai Amenorvi draws on the theory of cohesion to show how both linguistic and aesthetic effects are achieved in Malcolm X’s ‘The Ballot or the Bullet’. The paper by Sarvandy and Ekstam focuses on English as Lingua Franca with attention to Iranian context. The paper by Karimnia and Sabbaghi is a study of Ta’ziyeh and its discourse with an emphasis on how language varieties help frame a culturee’s perception of religion. Ameri's contibution is an example of applied literature. She applies New Jungian findings to the reading of Sweetness in the Belly. The paper by Abbasi and Khosrowshahi explores the role of experience in EFL teachers’ satisfaction of the in-service teacher education programs in Iran, and Ashrafi and Ajideh explore culture-related content in the advanced series of Iran Language Institute. And, finally, Jane Ekstam has reviewed Loving Literature: A Cultural History, by Deirde Shauna Lynch for us.
Bahram Behin
Abstract
Peter Mühlhäusler is the Foundation Professor of Linguistics at the University of Adelaide, and Supernumerary Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. He has taught at the Technical University of Berlin and in the University of Oxford. He is an active researcher in several areas of linguistics, including ...
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Peter Mühlhäusler is the Foundation Professor of Linguistics at the University of Adelaide, and Supernumerary Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. He has taught at the Technical University of Berlin and in the University of Oxford. He is an active researcher in several areas of linguistics, including ecolinguistics, language planning, and language policy and language contact in the Australian-Pacific area. His current research focuses on the Pitkern-Norf'k language of Norfolk Island and Aboriginal languages of the West Coast of South Australia. His recent book publications are Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, Language of Environment-Environment of Language, Early Forms of Aboriginal English in South Australia (with Foster and Monaghan), and Herrmann Koeler's Adelaide-Observations on Language and Culture of South Australia. He continues to publish on theoretical and applied ecolinguistics. JALDA's Editor in Chief, Dr. Bahram Behin has sat, in an online chat, with professor Mühlhäusler on the issue of ecolinguistics and its relevence to the studies of language and language teaching.
Bahram Behin
Abstract
Applied Literature, however, does not have literature at its centre. Literature in this domain is a tool to solve problems and achieve goals. Using literature to teach and learn languages, the application of literature to language education, is a very handy example. Health Humanities (by Crawford, et ...
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Applied Literature, however, does not have literature at its centre. Literature in this domain is a tool to solve problems and achieve goals. Using literature to teach and learn languages, the application of literature to language education, is a very handy example. Health Humanities (by Crawford, et al. and reviewed by A. Ramazani in our Journal's previous issue) comprises chapters on how literature can be used for health purposes. Medical Humanities is introduced as “the engagement of medicine with the humanities and arts, social sciences, health policy, medical education, patient experience and the public at large.” A shift is observable here from pure objective scientific endeavour based on the segregation of seemingly unrelated fields to the integration of them for more practical purposes.The role attributed to the public at large in these equations demands careful consideration. In traditional literary studies, as stated above, the textuality of literature is central. But in Applied Literature the text is no longer our precious object. Some reader-oriented literary theories have shifted our attentionradically from the text to the reader. In these theories, the literary critic is no longer the sole source of justification and interpretation of literature.Determining the literariness of the text and its interpretation lies with the reader. This might eventually lead to the well-beingness of the reader, which, once achieved, fulfils the applied literature critic’s wish! Thus, those with inclination towards the reader in literary studies may have an affinitywith applied literature critics that move towards the public at large.
