English transported : essays on Australasian English

Australasian English - that used in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua-New Guinea - has never before been reported upon with the same clarity and depth as in this series of articles edited by Dr Ramson. Up-to-date findings in the study of vocabulary are supplemented by chapters on the interaction of English with other languages, on the speech of Australian Aborigines, migrants and Asian students, and on New Guinea Pidgin. This book will not only stimulate research activity in the subject and overcome the present paucity of teaching material - it will also appeal to the general reader wishing to know more about these distinctive variations of the English language

A critical analysis of French as taught to beginners in British schools.

In the main, the aims of the thesis consist in: outlining the development of the teaching of French whose methodology "is more extensive than that of almost all other subjects" examining the factors which contributes to the learning of French; demonstrating that the body of facts now available is sufficiently advanced to effect significant improvements with regard to both course design and methodology; drafting a rationale for the teaching of French by bringing the literature heretofore scattered is scholarly treatises into relevant contact with much of the important work which has appeared in article form in journals. There is a consensus of opinion that the rapid development of techniques and attitudes in Modern Language teaching demands a constant reappraisal. Professor Carroll has expressed the view that what is required "is a profound rethinking of current theories of foreign language teaching in the light of contemporary advances in psychological and psycholinguistic theory".2 The search for a much needed theoretical framework has brought out results which have accelerated the retreat from skinner's operant conditioning, whose "stimulus response reinforcement theory is woven into second language teaching everywhere". As a result the Plowden Committee made the plea that "any school embarking on French ought to scrutinize critically the course that it proposes to use". Besides, the aristocracy of theorists is now showing more concern with the learning process than with teaching techniques and teaching aids. Indeed, Professor Fries once decried that, "in spite of the fact that there has been more than a hundred years of vigorous linguistic investigation is accord with sound scientific methods, very little results of this investigation has actually got into the schools to affect the materials and methods of teaching". The study has entailed extensive reading of a multidisciplinary nature. The relevant literature is scattered in diverse professional journals, scholarly treatises, and official documents largely, but not exclusively, published in English. Part I consists of an overview of the sudio-lingual habit theory, which centres on the acquisition of mechanistic causal paradigms. We therefore probe the audio-visual method which, fundamentally, appears to be restricted to the teaching of form in language learning (chapter 1) and to impose a heavy burden onto the pupils in their attitudes towards their cognitive and emotional readjustments (chapter 2). In Part II, we undertake a searching investigation of both psychological theories and Applied Linguistics, with regard to their influence, or the lack of it, on the methodology of Modern Language teaching in general, and the contrasting teaching methods as practiced at the various stages of Modern language teaching is particular. Considering that, is Modern Language teaching, the problems are the most complex of all it is therefore appropriate to deal with several of the methodological issues which must be resolved. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Students’ preparation for IELTS: development of written and oral argumentative texts.

This study is an investigation into opportunities provided for experiencing literacy in an IELTS Academic Version preparation course in Tehran. The purpose of this research project is to identify class tasks that generate opportunities for experiencing literacy and to describe aspects of the literacies that develop in the preparation course. The focus is on literacy practices for developing argumentative texts (written and oral). Increasing numbers of students whose first language is not English seek to continue their education in English-medium universities, for example in Australia. They are required by different universities to sit for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) to evidence their language proficiency. Based on the IELTS organizers, “Over 1.2 million candidates take the test each year to start their journeys into international education and employment” (http://www.ielts.org, viewed 25/05/2009). However, despite meeting the required IELTS band scores, a growing number of them face difficulties and may fail academic requirements. To address this problem this study aims to investigate and analyse classroom tasks. In particular it examines the development of argumentative texts (written and oral). In this ethnographic case study I taught and recorded an IELTS academic preparation class over a period of five months. The investigation was conducted in normal classroom settings where the candidates experienced written and oral argumentative tasks to prepare for the IELTS Academic Version examination. Classroom discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics were used to support the analysis and interpretations. This study discusses the objectives of the preparation course and addresses the findings which indicated that participation in the IELTS academic course provided the candidates with opportunities to acquire to some extent the literacy for: (a) communicating appropriately with prompts and contentious topics in order to develop relevant written and oral argumentative texts, (b) observing argumentative genre conventions in organizing their texts, and (c) selecting appropriate linguistic resources, which made it possible to obtain their required band scores. But, based on the analyses the extent of these literacies does not show an appropriate level required for university study. There is no guarantee for or evidence of such candidates‟ adaptation and adoption of English-medium academic culture. Further research in different contexts is required to provide more insights.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 201

Environment, Creativity and Culture in the Poetry of Jon Silkin and Simon Armitage

This thesis approaches the poetries of Jon Silkin and Simon Armitage from the perspective of the ecological. By this I mean that the primary focus is on the poetic encounters with environments and the complex meshwork of ‘intra-actions’ (Karen Barad) between various material, organic, human and more-than-human ‘actants’ (Bruno Latour). The stylistic differences between these two post-War British poets do not suggest them as an obvious pairing, but this thesis develops a critical methodology that sustains difference within points of correspondence. Despite the contrasts, Silkin and Armitage are brought together in this thesis under two crucial parallels. The first is that both poets demonstrate an ethically-grounded environmental consciousness, yet neither is a ‘nature poet’. In quite individual ways, each poet grapples with the difficulties of approaching the more-than-human other without recourse to oppression or hierarchy. The second parallel is revealed by an exploration of each of the poets’ responses to catastrophes, in the past, present and future. Silkin’s experience as a Jew in twentieth-century Europe and as an observer of nuclear weapons deployment in Hiroshima and Nagasaki colour his understanding of history but also present the real possibility of such atrocities re-occurring. Armitage’s consciousness of climate change and a rapidly shifting, media-driven, consumer capitalist society produces poetry that responds to powerful environmental uncertainty. Silkin and Armitage each challenge rigid categories, such as animal/vegetable (Silkin) and life/non-life (Armitage). In both cases, the reader is engaged in the literary ecology and this presents the opportunity to develop new ethical frames and sustainable practices. The two poets’ works each reveal much about the nature of creativity and its complex, challenging relationship with environmental ethics. When brought into dialogue, the similarity and difference (which is the model of metaphor) between Silkin and Armitage is considerable

English personal letters and private diaries of 1640-1680. A study of the general mental attitude of the period as illustrated by individual types, together with a brief examination of the colloquial language of the time

The aim of this study is to re-create the mental attitude of men and women living in the period 1640-80. The record has been built up from close scrutiny of the personal writings of individuals representative, so far as the materials allow of different ranks of society and different schools of thought. The method has been to gather from the Letters and Diaries the general mental qualities of the age, to group these under three headings, Intellectual, Moral and Emotional, and to devote a chapter to a discussion of each group, with copious illustration from the sources. The attitude thus depicted is mainly that of ordinary people, not of specialists in religion, politics or science, and where evidence is drawn from the writings of the latter class, it is in what may be termed their human rather than their professional aspect. The discussion involves a consideration of the effect of seventeenth century civil troubles on the individual or national mind. In the Introduction an attempt is made to show that until the Great War England has suffered no strain equal in intensity to that of the seventeenth century and detailed consideration of the mental outlook of the period 1640-80 suggests a theory of a special psychological relationship between this period and the twentieth century. Each chapter concludes with an exploration of this theory and an examination of typical twentieth century features which illustrate the analogy. The fourth chapter deals briefly with linguistic details which attracted attention during the course of the study, including a comparison of the colloquial and literary language of the time, a summary of interesting features of phraseology and spelling and a few points supplementary to the data of the New English Dictionary. <p