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Abstract: As the climate crisis escalates, educators find themselves frequently having to engage with this issue in a classroom context. A significant contribution that educators, especially language teachers, can make is connected to communicating about environmental questions and helping learners develop the critical skills and competences to engage with such questions fully. In this contribution, we present a series of tasks drawing upon the medium of stories – both fiction and non-fiction, for younger and older learners – which are designed to develop a number of key competences: enhance vocabulary in English relating to climate issues; develop awareness of the key themes regarding these issues; increase learners' critical thinking (regarding the use of language specifically) concerning information available on climate change and related issues.
Keywords: climate fiction, communicating climate crisis, stories in the classroom, didactics, language teaching
Published in DKUM: 26.08.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 16
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Abstract: The deepening of the environmental crisis brings an increased need for clear and targeted communication about environmental issues, leading to greater environmental awareness and encouraging the necessary changes in people’s behaviour. The way the media frames reports on environmental issues, such as climate change, plays a crucial role in the efficient communication of these issues. This paper examines how sea level rise was reported in the digital editions of The Guardian and The New York Times in 2022, utilizing framing theory – a theory that is used in textual linguistics to study texts on socially important topics in public discourse. The study identifies the predominant generic frames in the headlines and subheads of these articles, which are the key framing locations. A comparative analysis also reveals differences in the framing of sea level rise in the two newspapers.
Keywords: climate changes, framing, generic frames, news headlines, sea level rise
Published in DKUM: 26.08.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 13
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Abstract: Studies show that our ideas of gender and sexuality are closely linked with the language that is used to define and describe these two notions. It has been further proven that there is a very close relationship between issues related to sexuality and concepts such as gender, (political) power, exploitation, supremacy and mobbing, to name but a few. Social, cultural, political, historical and other discussions regarding questions such as what sexuality is and what is permissible, acceptable and even “normal”, are inevitably part of linguistic discourse. In this MA thesis I thus research and analyze the complexity and multifacetedness of the relationship between language, discourse, gender and sexuality in the translations of English texts. I focus on the translations of texts which could be considered ambiguous in regards to expressing gender. This refers to the co-dependence between the source text, male or female translator and culture, as well as the broader circumstances that influence the translation or target text. In the first part of the thesis I focus on the theoretical background and critical insights into the relationships between language, gender and sexuality. The next stage comprises a comparison of English texts from various media sources (classical and electronic) on both linguistic and discursive levels, with the translations of these texts into Slovene, Croatian and German provided by future translators. The second part of the thesis, the research, comprises two parts: first, I am interested in how these texts and their translations are dealt with by the students – future translators – from four faculties in Maribor, Graz, Zagreb and Split. I am further interested in the level of the respondents’ awareness regarding the appropriate use of politically correct expressions, which I assume they are able to use accordingly in their translations. The second part of the research presents data collected based on the questionnaire, which was answered by future translators immediately after completion of the survey. Since the students come from different backgrounds, I am mostly interested in the reasons and possible factors that have influenced their translation choices (of individual words, expressions (terms), phrases, etc.). There are two general assumptions based on the literature review and the analysis of the translations and answers to the questionnaires provided by the future translators. The first one refers to the target text – translation – which, in most cases, depends on the current culture, social environment and time period. The emphasis is placed on the co-dependence between the source text, translator (male or female) as well as culture and other broader background circumstances which influence the translation or the target text. This assumption emphasizes the importance of translators possessing a high level of knowledge and intercultural awareness. The latter was noticable in the translations under research, yet we are still, as regards politically correct expressions, in the process of introducing norms and guidelines on a higher, state level, which might be later generally applied. The second general assumption refers to cultural, social, political, historical and ideological paradigms which annul the ideal of a translation as embodying or reflecting neutral, impartial linguistic and discursive text fidelity. From the translations into three languages, I was able to establish that there are no ideal translations. Furthermore, it was extremely difficult to find gender neutral translations, because of the differences between the three languages analyzed in the study, which would fulfill expectations in the three culturally and politically different cultures according to their individual ideological guidelines. We also have to be aware of the rapid degree of globalization, progress and change which create differences and shape new rules, rendering the old ones obsolete.
Keywords: gender, sexuality, language, discourse, translation, political correctness
Published in DKUM: 11.08.2016; Views: 1934; Downloads: 181
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Abstract: Research suggests that many ESL teachers either modify or supplement the set textbooks they use in class, or develop their own materials for classroom use. Indeed, in recent years, the internet in particular has opened up a rich and at times perhaps baffling array of resources for those ESL practitioners who wish to incorporate authentic materials into their teaching. While the benefits of authentic materials are well-documented, their use is, however, not entirely unproblematic, and as research into the field of material (authentic or otherwise) development grows, this raises a number of issues as to the form these materials should take and how they can best be employed. This article presents a set of vocabulary building activities for future nursing staff; these activities are in use at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Maribor. The article explains the rationale behind them in light of the theoretical framework of language acquisition that underpins them.
Keywords: ESL teachers, vocabulary acquisition, authentic materials, trainee nurses, theoretical framework
Published in DKUM: 10.07.2015; Views: 1257; Downloads: 107
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Keywords: študijski programi, dodiplomski študij, Maribor, angleščina
Published in DKUM: 10.07.2015; Views: 1760; Downloads: 63
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