ExELL

Figurative language of segregation: the phenomenon of “two schools under one roof”

2025-02-04T12:50:27+00:00

Post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a society in which ethno-nationalist rhetoric and war memories permeate public discourse. This paper investigates the use of metaphors in media texts written in English and the Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian language on the topic of ‘two schools under one roof’. Writing about this peculiar construct within the country’s educational system tackles socio-political factors and their effects on the provision of primary and secondary education. We describe how metaphors as cognitive devices are used to portray educational developments in this post-conflict country and the effects of their use on recipients. The paper points out cases of deliberate metaphor use, which influences recipients’ perspectives on the topic at hand.

Is what we understand and imagine what we look for? The teachers’ conceptualisation of textual coherence and its implications for classroom writing assessment

2025-02-04T13:00:17+00:00

For over four decades, coherence has intrigued researchers in text linguistics and applied linguistics, particularly in texts written by non-native speakers. However, insights into teachers’ understanding of this concept remain underexplored. This study aimed to identify foreign language teachers’ metaphorical conceptualisations of textual coherence and explore the implications for classroom writing assessment, based on the evaluation of essays written in Croatian, English, German, French, and Hungarian as modern foreign languages at the upper secondary and higher education levels. The participants included 17 secondary school teachers and 26 university lecturers. A mixed-method approach was used in this study. The findings showed that teachers’ views on coherence were shaped by their professional knowledge, experience, and assessment practices. Metaphors and the writing assessment seemed to be mirroring each other, highlighting the importance of feedback on conceptualisations of coherence and raising awareness of types of coherence among teachers. The use of precisely predetermined and agreed descriptors could result in achieving greater objectivity during classroom assessment in the long run.

Figurative language in the olfactory domain across Chinese and English: Examples of chòu (臭) and foul/smelly /stinking

2025-02-04T13:08:14+00:00

Conventionally, smell has been regarded as a relatively ineffable percept and concept. However, the personal experience of using the olfactory Chinese word chòu (臭, 'smelly') makes me think that the word is not so ineffable in China as people often use it daily. To verify the hypothesis that the Chinese character chòu (臭) has distinctive figurative sense and collocation patterns compared with English terms like foul, smelly, or stinking, the study used corpus-linguistic data to identify the salience, frequency, and collocation of olfactory words in Chinese and English. The study shows that the psychological similarity between bad smell and negative mental states is very salient in both languages. Nevertheless, the construal of the subjective feelings conveyed through these olfactory words is subject to the specific context and the speaker's intention.

Learner engagment in L2 writing

2025-02-04T13:14:40+00:00

One of the most current themes in second language (L2) learning is learner engagement. This broad construct entails several elements including behavioural, emotional, and cognitive engagement. The aim of this study was to investigate learner engagement in a writing course among English L2 university students, and engagement with feedback. The quantitative data showed moderately high levels of learner engagement across all the engagement dimensions. Differences between dimensions of engagement and grades were not found. Qualitative analyses showed a dominance of positive emotions, including interest, curiosity, and optimism. Behavioural engagement was tied to intrinsic and extrinsic reasons, suggesting the importance of motivation for learner engagement. Feedback encouraged students to use meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies, helping them focus on specific language forms.

Teachers’ and students’ perceptions on the role of translanguaging in a multilingual classroom

2025-02-04T13:23:15+00:00

The use of mother tongue in teaching English is perceived as an important support tool that can help improve students’ literacy skills and engagement in the learning process. In a rich and culturally diverse setting, specific circumstances and students’ needs challenge the wellestablished practices in language pedagogy. Therefore, this qualitative study is aimed at investigating teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the role of translanguaging in a multilingual classroom. A total of twenty participants took part in this research. A snowball sampling method was used to select ten graduate and faculty-level students, along with ten teachers from primary and secondary schools in Sarajevo Canton. While some participants perceive the use of L1 as a distraction, others believe it promotes inclusion, positively affecting learning outcomes. However, overreliance on L1 can negatively impact the development of the target language. Despite this, the results show that the use of translanguaging may lead to effective communication. The findings highlight the need for a balanced approach, considering the needs, interests, and beliefs of both students and teachers. These findings can help raise awareness and adapt the policies and teacher training programs to better serve the needs of multilingual teachers and learners.

Verbal anglicisms with suffix endings -ova-, -a-, and -irain the Bosnian language – the frequency of use and the knowledge of their meaning

2025-02-04T13:28:47+00:00

Languages do not operate in isolation; rather, they evolve in continuous contact with other languages. This contact and resultant lexical borrowing can lead to minor or substantial changes in the vocabulary of the recipient language. This quantitative study aims to analyze how borrowing from the English language affects the formation of new verbs in the Bosnian language (verbal Anglicisms) and which suffixes in the Bosnian language (between -ova-, -a-, -ira-) are most often used to form new verbs. Additionally, the aim is to explore the frequency of use and the level of knowledge of the meaning of verbal Anglicisms. The study was conducted on 345 participants, i.e. both male and female high school students from Bosnia Herzegovina. The results indicate that verbal Anglicisms with the suffix -a- are the most often used group of verbal Anglicisms and that this preference is a result of the nature and origin of those Anglicisms (mostly IT-related) and is not related to the linguistic nature of the Bosnian language. Furthermore, it was shown that knowledge of the original form of verbal Anglicisms affects the level of their use, and that level of use of these Anglicisms is influenced by the EL GPA and medium of instruction of the respondents, while gender, grade level, and experience of traveling to English-speaking countries are not significant factors in the extent of usage of these Anglicisms. Further investigation is proposed to broaden the scope of the present research in different settings and among various study groups.

The position of authentic literature in primary ELT in Croatia

2025-02-04T14:00:24+00:00

This study explores Croatian primary teachers’ use of authentic literature in English language teaching (ELT). It examines teachers’ perceptions and practices, including differences based on teachers’ initial education and age. The findings reveal that teachers, regardless of initial education and age, use stories in their classes, typically once or twice a month. The main source of authentic literary texts for these teachers is the coursebook. There were no significant differences observed in terms of frequency and type of text used based on teachers’ age. Overall, teachers have positive attitudes towards using authentic literature, although they express concerns about the increased teacher engagement required for preparation and delivery, as well as the time constraints of English lessons.

Yemeni medicine students’ competence in medical English collocations

2025-02-04T14:14:25+00:00

This article focuses on Yemeni medicine students’ competence in medical English collocations and the potential challenges impeding their competence in medical English collocations. A mixed quantitative and qualitative approach was adopted by means of two tools: a collocational receptive-productive competence test and a closed-ended questionnaire. The results reveal Yemeni medicine students’ incompetence in medical English collocations, with an overall 30.38% of correct answers in the receptive test and 34.5% in the productive test. EMP teachers’ insufficient awareness of medical collocations, EMP syllabuses disregard of medical collocations, adoption of traditional methods in teaching EMP, and students’ unawareness of the importance of medical collocations are listed as the main challenges hindering students’ competence in medical English collocations.

A corpus-based analysis of the lexical bundles use in academic discourse

2025-02-07T08:50:00+00:00

This study aims to investigate the frequency of four-word lexical bundles (LBs) in research papers authored by faculty members from the English Department at King Khalid University. Additionally, it seeks to classify the functions of these bundles based on Biber’s (2004) taxonomy. The study’s corpus comprises 171 research papers published between 2016 and 2022. Lexical bundles were identified using three key criteria: frequency, range, and function. WordSmith 4.0 software was employed to extract and analyze the LBs from the corpus. The results reveal variation in the use of LBs, with referential bundles being the most common, followed by discourse organizers and stance bundles. These findings align with previous research in this area and offer valuable insights for studies on English for Academic Purposes (EAP). They may also benefit EAP instructors, curriculum developers, and policymakers.