Bilingual
Second Language Learning Strategies in Eritrea with Reference
to Reading, Writing and Vocabulary
-- Tecle Ghebremuse
In almost all the research studies on language learning strategies,
researchers based their studies on some combinations of Strategy
Inventories for Language Learning developed by Prokop (1985),
Oxford (1990), and Chamot et al. (1999), and modifications
of these strategy inventories. Moreover, these strategy inventories
for language learning deal with language learning in general
and also simultaneously address several issues such as memory,
cognitive, compensatory, meta-cognitive, affective and social
strategies. They do not specifically address the strategies
that deal with mental operations and strategies that deal
with physical operations. Hence, this research develops specific
language strategies that deal with mental operations, as much
as possible, and on specific language skills such as listening
and speaking. This exploratory approach investigates the effects
of the students' frequency of use of language learning strategies
in listening and speaking. Moreover, Bivariate correlations
between each strategy and the students' scores in sophomore
English, and correlations among the strategies on reading,
speaking and vocabulary are computed in order to investigate
their relationships. It is hoped that the findings of this
study provide valuable information on knowledge and use of
language learning strategies to learners, teachers and instructional
materials developers and serve as the basis for further research
on correlation studies between language proficiency and language
learning strategies.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
The
Theme of Marital Discord in Nayantara Sahgal's Storm in
Chandigarh and Doris Lessing's The Grass is Singing
-- Neena Arora
Nayantara Sahgal, one of the prominent Indian English writers,
is deeply concerned with women's status in Indian society.
Her counterpart British writer Doris Lessing is a strong supporter
of women's cause in the West. Despite belonging to different
countries, having different sociocultural backgrounds, both
look at the women's question from the same perspective. They
both advocated feminism long before the advent of feminist
movement in the 1960s in the West. The paper studies the theme
of marital discord from the feminist perspective in Nayantara
Sahgal's Storm in Chandigarh (1969) and Doris Lessing's
The Grass in Singing (1950). They both look at feminism
afresh and from a different angle. Their characters after
passing through various vicissitudes in their journey of life
realize how militant approach can be disastrous for their
own self as well as for their family and the society at large.
They ultimately strive for a soothing solution in harmonious
and fulfilling relationship to save the world from splitting.
Both the writers envision a world based on equality, mutual
respect, communication, understanding, sharing and cherish
harmony between the two sexes. The world, they feel otherwise,
is heading towards anarchy and chaos which must be saved at
any cost.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Women
in Gendered Enclosure: Canadian and Indian Experience in the
Poems of Claire Harris and Eunice de Souza
--
Pradip Kumar Patra
This paper attempts a comparative study of the two woman poets
from different cultural contexts . It shows how patriarchy
dominates the whole social systems and camouflages the evils
from which the women suffer. The significance of the paper
lies in examining the protest of the women. The voice of the
protest takes artistic shape in the poems of the said poets.
Both Claire Harris, a Canadian poet and Eunice de Souza, an
Indian poet writing in English try to write the difference
implicit in their sex into the literary text. What are these
subjective realities? How and why do they differ? In part,
at least, they are rooted in biological difference. A woman's
sexual experience is at a physical level different from a
man's and her experience as a bearer of children sets her
totally apart from him. How she perceives the difference between
what she knows them to be and the manner in which society
represents them: these are among the factors that constitute
her subjective reality. However, if Harris shows the intensity
of the social malpractices concerning women in Canadian society,
Eunice shows the gender-based prejudices deeply rooted in
Indian psychology. If Harris takes up narrative mode and chooses
two particular events, Eunice looks at the Indian situation
from close quarters. If Harris has a tone of protest, Eunice
is ironical in her tone. Both the poets, however, are true
voices of the anguish of women.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Colonial
Administration, Language Politics and Regional Formations:
John Beames and the Making of Modern Orissa
-- Sachidananda Mohanty
The official arrival of the British in the Eastern Orissa
in 1803 brought in its wake negative changes such as Zamindari
system; the printing and circulation of the New and Old Testaments;
the opening of the Missionary schools; and evangelization.
There were also positive changes such as secular education
and the shaping of new genres and canon in the Oriya Language
and literature; the emergence of the new literati that espoused
the various reformatory movements. Based on archival material
recently acquired from the Bengal Asiatic Society and other
important sources, it is suggested in this essay, citing the
example of the British scholar administrator John Beames,
that the trope `English' operated in a complex and many-sided
manner in British Indiaespecially, in Orissa. Postcolonial
scholars have often held scholarship by Englishmen in the
field of comparative philology and linguistics, beginning
with Sir William Jones and others, as suspect. Much of the
study of the colonial discourse, in the recent past has, with
credible evidence, unmasked the nexus between knowledge and
power. It seems, however, that the time has come to take a
more considered and balanced view of the matter that eschews
politically correct Good/Evil Manichean binaries. In this
sense, the archives become a crucial corrective to opinionated
judgment. John Beames in this sense becomes a test case of
my contention.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Dwelling
in Place: An Eco-Critical Reading of Sangam Poetry
--
K Srilata
In this paper, an attempt has been made to read classical
Sangam poetry (translated into English by A K Ramanujan) as
an ecological text with a distinct sense of place. Using the
fundamental insights of deep ecology"dwelling in
place", "reinhabitation" and "bioregionalism",
it is argued that Sangam poetry is first and foremost a literature
of place and that "place" here is defined as something
that goes beyond the politico-cartographic concepts of `territory',
`nation' and `map'. Place in Sangam poetry revolves around
the notion of tinai or eco-zones and this paper focuses
on the poetics of tinai and what this implies for ecology
as a whole. Literatures of place add an entirely new dimension
to English Studies, expanding its scope of intellectual inquiry.
Regional literary texts such as Sangam poetry, available to
us now in English translation, broaden the possible ways in
which this inquiry can be conducted.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Grounding
of Transcultural Imagination in
Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet
-- G
A Ghanashyam and Devashree Chakravarthy
Multiculturalism and Transculturalism, a by-product of post-colonialism
and globalization, is a concept that finds prominence in the
new literatures of the world today. In contemporary life when
distances have been reduced and barriers have come down between
the different corners of the world, it is quite natural that
cultures of the world will come into contact with one another.
These cultural encounters form a society that acquires a multicultural
or transcultural character. Writers of this new world order
reflect this new trend in their works. Multiculturalism and
its effects such as hybridization, fragmentation, alienation,
loss of roots, and consequent problems of adjustment and assimilation
are dealt with extensively by them. Salman Rushdie, one of
the foremost writers belonging to this genre, has highlighted
this complex issue in all his works. His novel The Ground
Beneath her Feet is an excellent work based completely
on transcultural experience and imagination. Regarded by many
as being too western in its approach, the novel has an undercurrent
of eastern influence as well hidden beneath an outer cosmopolitan
appearance. This paper deals with this cultural variation
present throughout the novel that gives new shades to the
characters, their lives, and the decisions they take in life.
Ormus, Vina and Rai are all Indians who choose to cross over
to the West to fulfill their destinies and embrace the other
culture in totality. Both the worlds (East and West) are actually
juxtaposed in the psyche of the characters, both exerting
their influences at various points of their lives. Based on
the variedness of cultures, the novel presents a classical
story, which is entirely modern and relevant to our times
in its approach and presentation.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Globalizing
and Localizing the Language of Ads: A Study of Advertising
in Tamil Media
-- K Kanthimathi
Every individual is a consumer at some point in his life.
It is not a surprise that in a competitive market, advertising
techniques are often fundamental to the success of a product.
Advertising makes the most effective use of language to persuade
the consumer. This paper explores the language of commercial
consumer advertising in the written and visual media. The
main focus is on the language of advertisements and representation
within the discourse of advertising. It also assesses the
effectiveness of using different language styles in a given
advertisement or commercial, and looks at the deployment of
rhetorical devices to reinforce the advertising messageparticularly,
in the Tamil media.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Poignant
Vignettes of Cultural Matrix: Short Stories of Viswanatha
Satyanarayana
-- S S Prabhakar
Rao
Though mostly known as a celebrated novelist of highly scholarly
novels, Viswanatha Satyanarayana, the colossus in Telugu literature,
also penned some memorable short stories, collected in the
anthology, Chinna Kathalu (1996). After using grandhika
style in his early stories, he moved on to sarala vyavaharika,
but what mark his stories are the keenness of observation
and abundant skill in narration. The human touch he endows
his characters with as in the characterization of Chandrasekhara
Rao, and the attachment of a couple to the only son of their
neighbors, the satire in a story like Parisodhakalu,
the supra-sensual attachment to a dancing girl, etc. make
the stories poignant vignettes of the cultural matrix of Andhra
of the early 20th century and entitle the Jnan
Peeth awardee to an exalted niche in the pantheon of short
story writers of the world.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
BOOK
REVIEW
The
Golden Bouquet
-- Author:
S S Prabhakar Rao
Reviewed
by P G Nirmala
Five
decades of consistent and dedicated engagement with literature
(teaching, critical studies, transcreations and problems of
ELT) has resulted in a complex compendium that has something
to offer to the specialist in literature and ELT professional
as well as general enthusiasts. The work mirrors the manifold
aspects of literature and brings into focus, issues of perennial
significance to the academic community from a predominantly
literary perspective. A casual glance at the index suffices
to convince the reader of the range and profundity of the
author's scholarship.
©
2007 S S Prabhakar Rao. All Rights Reserved. IUP holds the copyright for the review.
|