Mierzwa, Magdalena

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Z E S Z Y T Y  N A U K O W E   UNIWERSYTETU RZESZOWSKIEGO SERIA FILOLOGICZNA ZESZYT 60/2009          STUDIA ANGLICA RESOVIENSIA 6Magdalena MIERZWA THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF TEACHING ENGLISH AT THE COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY LEVEL (PAPERS FROM THE THIRD CHE M SYMPOSIUM HELD IN APRIL 2003)  GRZEGORZ A. KLEPARSKI (ED.) NKJO-CHE M PUBLISHERS, 2003, PP.93. ISBN 83-911683-5-2 The do’s and don’ts of teaching English at the college/university level (in higher education) edited by Grzegorz A. Kleparski is a compilation of 12 papers from the third Che m symposium held in April 2003. The publication presents works that could be thematically organized into three sections: cultural studies, literature, and linguistics/glottodidactics. What follows is a brief outline of the contents of the collection and an attempt to formulate some critical remarks. Should  the  reader  be  seeking  information  concerning  the  function  and perception of space and territory in forming both students’ communicative and cultural competences, this can be found in the first paper. Marta Czechowicz, the author, at the very beginning of her article incorporates Hall’s (1966) explanation of the notion ‘proxemics’ stating it is the study of the human use of space within the context of culture. The scholar pays special attention to the inconstancy of human awareness of distance and territory, which are determined predominantly by culture, nationality, personal conditions, to mention but a few factors. In the paper  particular  emphasis  is  placed  on  teaching  university  and  college  level foreign  language  students  an  awareness  of  social  differences  and misunderstandings that can occur when not obeying the norms of closeness or remoteness. Furthermore, some examples are demonstrated and characterized.  In  the  following  article  an  attempt  is  made  to  analyse  the  issue  of  the translatability of culture-specific phrases and expressions. Quoting two eminent researchers – Sapir and Steiner – Piotr Cymbalista stresses that there are no two identical semantic systems in which all lexemes have a corresponding counterpart, which is, according to the author, the chief obstacle for students to overcome. To be capable  of  translating  a  notion  from  one’s  mother  tongue  into  a target language or vice versa successfully, they not only have to comprehend the  99 very semantic concept of the lexical item, but the extra-linguistic knowledge too. Additionally, an overview of the strategies employed to conquer culture-embedded difficulties in conveying the precise meaning when translating is offered.  The third contribution aims at defining the role of using the mother tongue (translation)  in  reading  comprehension.  The  reading  process  is  viewed  here  as  an  activity  which  is  carried  out  in  order  to  obtain  a  message,  in  which  a background knowledge plays a fundamental role. Scholars Marcin Grygiel and Grzegorz  A.  Kleparski  give  evidence  as  to  why  it  is  so  crucial  to  train college/university  students,  probably  in  vast  majority  teachers-to-be,  that transference of information from the L1 to the L2 and vice versa, although not always  being  precise,  is  of  no  less  importance  than  providing  monolingual definitions.  Furthermore,  the  article  discusses  the  need  for  instructing undergraduates  with  Contrastive  Analysis  since  by  comparing  two  language systems and searching for counterparts of the lexemes one can anticipate, explain and later on eliminate potential errors (interference). The structure of the paper, which is subdivided into 6 parts, makes it easier to follow and comprehend. The  fourth  reviewed  work,  entitled  “Teaching  interpretation  necessitates teaching stylistic devices – as illustrated by the example of ‘The Thought-Fox’ by Ted Hughes” is a practical hint for a linguistic study of poetry illustrated by the example of the poem of Ted Hughes. The goal of this article is to familiarise the  audience  with  techniques  of  interpreting  poetry.  It  focuses  on  the  use  of figurative language (stylistic devices – both phonosemantic and phonostylistic) and  their  significance  for  understanding  the  poem.  Agnieszka  Kallaus  and Grzegorz  A.  Kleparski  claim  it  is  impossible  to  interpret  a  poem  without studying its form since it exerts a direct influence upon the meaning. Thus, some guidelines are given for college or university literature teachers to copy in order to help students analyse poetry efficiently. For  readers  eager  to  find  some  useful  ideas  on  the  role  of  teaching phonology at the higher education level the following article will unquestionably be appealing. The paper of Robert Kie tyka and Grzegorz A. Kleparski is divided into three passages. In section 1, two subjects – phonetics and phonology – are introduced, clarified and compared. Section 2 focuses on the significance of the abstractness matter that should be incorporated at a college or university level as a tool to develop students’ abstract thinking ability. Moreover, it gives useful examples  of  relatively  abstract  linguistic  phenomena  (e.g.  the  process  of conversion or the so called empty positions traceable in phonology, syntax and morphology). The purpose of section 3 is to display instances of Old English homorganic  lengthening  as  an  example  of  the  phonology  process,  which, according to the authors, ought to be taught at the academic level due to the fact that  it  helps  undergraduates  understand  such  things  as  historical  sound alternations and linguistic transformations. The paper is followed by a list of 16 entries recommended for further reading.   100 The next piece of work, in turn, deals with the concept of falsity in foreign language teaching. Grzegorz A. Kleparski skilfully gives explanations and plenty of remarkable examples of false scent in literature studies, false beginners in glottodidactics,  false  paronymy  in  lexicology,  false  splitting  in  historical linguistics and, finally, false friends in semantics. The question of false cognates, which are the main subject under discussion here, is perceived as a source of negative transfer when acquiring a foreign language. Hence, it is recommended that  they  be  dealt  with  in  a  consistent  fashion  at  the  level  of  university  and college teaching. Accenting the text in various ways by using italics, numbering, enlarged font size and so on makes the paper look clear and neat. Thus, it is comprehensible and pleasant to read.  The ensuing paper – by Bo!ena Kochman-Ha adyj – brings the readership closer to the beliefs, law, cultural heritage and customs of Native Americans. It stresses,  moreover,  that  there  is  a  need  to  discuss  the  history  of  America’s residents, as well as present the situation and living conditions in reservations at academic classes and lectures. “Historical perspective in teaching linguistics is a must” is the title of the following  article.  The  person  behind  this  title  – Andrzej  M.  "#cki  –  in  his outstanding piece of work successfully provides a number of arguments for the necessity of incorporating diachronic linguistics into foreign language teaching curricula at the post high school education stage. The article is rather lengthy, but tremendously  absorbing.  Lots  of appealing etymology explanations of lexical items are included. More importantly, "#cki proves that, unless a mastery of historical  linguistics  is  gained,  one  cannot  be  viewed  as  a  competent  and adequately-qualified language tutor. Dorota Osuchowska, in turn, introduces a key difficulty first-year English Philology  students  have,  namely,  an  inability  to  employ  glossaries,  not  to mention  their  lack  of  knowledge  concerning  dictionary  types.  She  draws conclusions from questionnaire research and her own professional experience. Besides, in the publication some practical solutions to overcome the problem and improve undergraduates’ performance are offered. A  study  on  Shakespearian  language,  with  double  speak  at  the  centre  of attention,  is  the  subject  of  the  next  paper,  by  Anna  M.  Pietrzykowska  and Grzegorz A. Kleparski. The penultimate work, “Teaching American government. The inquisitive or political decision making approach”, authored by Damian S. Pyrkosz, touches upon  the  problem  of American  culture  studies;  how  to  organize  classes  with university  and  college  students  and  what  exactly  should  be  taught.  What intrigues this scholar most is the question of American political system.  In the final piece of work Jolanta Sobiecka provides a brief outline of the difficult  and  uncertain  situation  of  state-funded Teacher Training  Colleges  in Poland.  101  102 Taking  the  compilation  as  a  single  entity,  there  are,  unfortunately,  some minor limitations concerning not so much the content but rather the technical side of the volume. There are a number of spelling mistakes, the use of Polish diacritical  marks, the absence  or overuse  of punctuation marks (especially in footnotes  and  references),  and  a  lack  of  consistency  in  a  way  of  writing compound lexemes (with or without a hyphen). In some parts, the text is not justified but right-aligned, some words are mistakenly printed in bold font, and occasionally too much space is left between words and lines. Another lapse one can fall upon is to be found in the very first paper: here the bibliographic entry of one book in the reference list is incomplete. In another example – a quotation is not supported by the author, so the reader has to take the trouble of comparing the publishing date (which is put in brackets) with the reference supporting the article.  One  also  gains  the  impression  that  the  work  is  deficient  in  its organization. It would be much simpler to comprehend if the articles were not arranged in an alphabetical but rather topical order. Reorganising papers into 3 sections – literary studies, culture and EFL methodology – would be advisable. Despite these minor failings, the merits of the collection are indisputable. It seems to be exceptionally useful for academic tutors as well as students who are preparing themselves to be good and effective language teachers. The addressees should  benefit  due  to  its  adequate  and  attractive  topic  selection.  The  people behind the twelve papers present information in an intelligible and logical way, which  allows  the  reader  to  follow  it  with  ease.  Besides  which,  they  all  use straightforward  syntactic  structures,  unsophisticated  lexis  and,  what  is  more, provide  matter-of-fact  and  rich  definitions  of  novel  terminology  which  is introduced. It is noteworthy that all papers, with the exception of the last one, are accompanied  by  footnotes  and/or  references,  which  offer  appropriate  and captivating details related to the issues under investigation.  The volume under examination is definitely worth reading. The recipients will undoubtedly appreciate it. The do’s and don’ts of teaching English at the college/university level may be highly recommended to those who are seeking a comprehensible, condensed and lucid publication on the subjects presented.  

The do's and don'ts of teaching English at the college/university level (Papers from the third Chełm symposium held in april 2003), ed by Grzegorz Kleparski, NKJO-Chełm publishers, 2003, pp. 93, ISBN 83-911683-5-2.

The do's and don'ts of teaching English at the college/university level (Papers from the third Chełm symposium held in april 2003), ed by Grzegorz Kleparski, NKJO-Chełm publishers, 2003, pp. 93, ISBN 83-911683-5-2.

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