11. The importance of visual reading for the interpretation of a literary textJanja Batič, Dragica Haramija, 2015, original scientific article Abstract: In this paper, the two authors showcase the results of a research survey on the role of illustrations in the interpretation of literary texts. The survey sample included students of primary education and preschool education, who were given the poem Učenjak (Scholar) by Niko Grafenauer and asked to answer questions regarding the character’s personality and appearance, the literary space, and other factors. The first group of interviewees was given the poem illustrated by Lidija Osterc and the other the same poem illustrated by Marjan Manček. The results showed that the illustration had a significant impact on the message conveyed by the poem, particularly when the illustrator added the context by representing the character’s environment (which was not explicitly given in the text). Furthermore, the results showed the need for the comprehensive reading of an illustrated text, given that it is the interaction between the verbal and the visual that provides vital information necessary for the reader to understand the message of the dedicated literary work.
Keywords: picture books, illustrations, comprehensive reading, interpretation, Grafenauer, Manček, Osterc, Pedenjped
Published in DKUM: 13.07.2017; Views: 1355; Downloads: 178
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12. Comics as a literary-didactic method and their use for reducing gender differences in reading literacy at the primary level of educationMaja Kerneža, Katja Košir, 2016, original scientific article Abstract: The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of the systematic use of comics as a literary-didactic method to reduce gender differences in reading literacy and reading motivation at the primary level of education. It was assumed that the use of comics would have a positive effect on pupils’ reading literacy and reading motivation, while also reducing the aforementioned differences between boys and girls. The dimensions of reading literacy and reading motivation were examined in experimental and control groups, before and aſter the intervention, by means of questionnaires and tests for pupils. The sample consisted of 143 pupils from second to fifth grade from two Slovenian primary schools in a rural environment, of which 73 pupils participated in the experimental group and 70 pupils represented the control group. Effects of the use of comics as a literary-didactic method were not found: using comics as a literary-didactic method did not have a statistically significant effect on pupils’ reading literacy and reading motivation. However, when the four-way structure of the research (taking into account the age and gender of the pupils) was considered, some subgroups showed a statistically significant increase in reading interest and attitude towards reading. No reduction of gender differences in reading literacy and reading motivation was found. Based on the results, guidelines for further research are established and suggestions are offered for teachers’ work.
Keywords: comics, gender differences, primary level pupils, reading literacy, reading motivation
Published in DKUM: 13.07.2017; Views: 1354; Downloads: 197
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13. Disorientation and disillusionment in Post-9/11 poetry : a thematic readingKristina Kočan, 2016, original scientific article Abstract: The paper examines the immediate responses that emerged in American poetry after the terrorist attacks on 11 September, 2001. The aim of the paper is not to summarize the tragic events of 9/11, but to show how poets reacted to the terrorist attacks. In response to 9/11, a great deal of poetry emerged that expresses the poetic and completely personal, intimate side of the crisis, and many printed publications appeared in which poets addressed 9/11. Although one can find a range of features in American poetry after the attacks, there are notable similarities among the poetry being produced. The post-9/11 poetry can be divided into thematic clusters. This paper is, however, limited to responses that deal only with feelings of disorientation, loss and despair after 9/11. Furthermore, the paper presents poetic reactions that involve a sense of disillusionment and the idea that everything changed after the attacks. Each thematic cluster offers examples of 9/11 poetry that are interpreted with the help of close reading.
Keywords: American literature, contemporary American poetry, events of 9/1, responses, close reading, trauma, thematic criticism
Published in DKUM: 16.05.2017; Views: 1255; Downloads: 168
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14. Comparison of the Methods Used for Expanding Vocabulary in ELT TextbooksSandra Ažman, 2016, master's thesis Abstract: The aim of this master’s thesis was to research the emphasis that is given on assimilating new vocabulary in the chosen textbooks, which were approved by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and are currently being used to teach/learn English as a foreign language in the ninth grade of primary schools.
In the theoretical part the focus has been given on different methods for learning or teaching new vocabulary, the appropriate amount of new vocabulary regarding the level of students’ language competences, the effect of methodology on vocabulary learning and communication, the role of repeating and refreshing of new vocabulary and the role of a textbook in foreign language learning.
The empirical part of the thesis includes two separate analyses of the questionnaire conducted among ninth grade students and teachers of English as a foreign language in the ninth grade of primary school. 48 students and 73 teachers participated in the research. With the help of these analyses we tried to establish whether the texts in the chosen textbooks are authentic enough to enhance automatic learning of vocabulary, whether the method for expanding vocabulary, which was named as the most successful in the theory, is also used in the textbooks that were analyzed and whether the textbooks include sufficient exercises to assimilate and refresh new vocabulary.
The research showed that the texts in the coursebooks are at least nearly authentic pieces of language according to students and teachers of English as a foreign language. However, slight adaptations of the texts are possible and also approved by the researches. One of the most successful methods for expanding vocabulary is, according to literature, reading. The analysis has also proven it in practice, since teachers named it as the most successful one. The results of the analysis showed that the textbooks include sufficient exercises to assimilate and refresh new vocabulary.
Keywords: expanding vocabulary, methodology, reading, repeating, ELT textbooks, primary school, ninth grade
Published in DKUM: 06.02.2017; Views: 1926; Downloads: 95
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15. Post-9/11 America: Poetic and Cultural ResponsesKristina Kočan Šalamon, 2016, doctoral dissertation Abstract: The doctoral dissertation with the title “Post-9/11 America: Poetic and Cultural Responses” examines the immediate responses that emerged in American media and poetry after the terrorist attacks on 11 September, 2001 in New York City and Washington, D.C. The research proceeds from the analysis of responses to 9/11 in several American printed media, to the reading of poetic works by contemporary American poets. Using the resources of the editorials in four major daily American newspapers (USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times) and two leading weekly American magazines (The New Yorker and The Weekly Standard), the research employs the theoretical approach of content analysis to examine the rhetoric used. This method enables textual data analysis in selected editorials associated with the language of 9/11 to confirm the first variable of the thesis; i.e. that the media reproduced the manner of the rhetoric of the then current government administration. Seeking to explain the rhetoric of the politicians and the media after 9/11, the analysis explores several parameters. This kind of rhetoric addressed the issues connected to 9/11, and employed a great deal of patriotism-related words as well as a language that could help instigate fear and paranoia in Americans and their culture. After the first hypothesis of the thesis has been established, the study turns towards the primary argument of the thesis. The main crux of the study is to show that the majority of the poets deviated from the prevalent rhetoric of the time, and did not resort to the language of fear and intense patriotism. This in-depth study of contemporary American poetry that came into existence as a response to the events of 9/11 focuses on poems published in several anthologies (Poetry after 9/11: An Anthology of New York Poets; September 11, 2001 American Writers Respond; An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind; September 11: West Coast Writers Approach Ground Zero; 110 Stories), prominent American journals (such as The New Yorker and Michigan Quarterly Review), and poetry collections. Focusing on portraying the manifold poetic responses to 9/11, this study leans on thematic criticism as a comparative approach for creating a collectivity of poems that differ in metrics, style, tropes and figures of speech. Thematic criticism provides a foundation for organizing the poems into thematic clusters, not by determining unique thematic features of a specific poem, but by establishing attributes that unite several poems into a thematic cluster. The thesis divides the 9/11 poems into eight thematic clusters, which are then analyzed in detail. Additionally, the study uses another method to analyze individual poetic responses to 9/11, which is the formalist theoretical approach, New Criticism. This interpretive method of close reading enables an interpretation of a poem by analyzing its formal elements based on internal evidence. With the combination of the interpretive and comparative approach, the thesis has confirmed the main postulate and has established that most post-9/11 American poetry eschewed the prevalent patriotic rhetoric of the then current U.S. media. The study has shown that post-9/11 poetry is a marginal genre in comparison to the 9/11 novel when it comes to the critical examination of the post-9/11 literary responses. Hence, this study is novel in providing a substantial scholarly examination of post-9/11 poetry written by American poets. Chapter 2 investigates fear, patriotism and language issues in politics and the media after 9/11.Chapter 3 establishes the prevailing rhetoric in the immediate post 9/11 response of U.S. media with the help of the theoretical framework of content analysis. The pre-existing scholarly work on literary responses to 9/11 and the problems with representation of 9/11 in American culture occupy Chapter 4, while Chapter 5 sets out the selected methodology (Thematic Criticism and New Criticism) for studying post-9/11 American poetry. Chapter 6 deals extensively with thematic representations in post-9/11 American poetry.
Keywords: events of 9/11, contemporary American poetry, responses, media, politics, culture, trauma, crisis, content analysis, New Criticism, close reading, thematic criticism
Published in DKUM: 05.10.2016; Views: 2411; Downloads: 169
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16. TEACHING READING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: THE READING BADGE AS A LITERACY TOOLSimona Marolt, 2012, undergraduate thesis Abstract: Reading is a part of communication. Reading is important and the aim of reading is to understand the information given in the text. There is much information that we have to read in our everyday lives. We have to read timetables, newspapers, e-mails, text messages and information on the web; children read when they do exercises or learn. We read because we are interested in something, for fun, or to relax.
Reading is a part of the learning process, as well. Reading develops knowledge of and interest in a foreign language. The Reading Badge is a movement that has successfully promoted reading quality literature in Slovenia for over 50 years; The English Reading Badge is an activity that promotes reading a foreign language. Books that are carefully chosen by the teacher provide a rich environment for both language and culture. Apart from choosing materials, the role of the teacher is to train students to use methods and techniques that contribute to better comprehension. The practical examples in the thesis are ideas that I apply with my own students. By reading various books and doing activities in connection with them, we can see how their motivation to read grows and reading improves. Wallace’s statement “We want to give learner-readers a reason for turning the page” (Wallace 151) is more than appropriate here, since it encourages good work on the area of reading.
Keywords: Reading, reading comprehension, reading motivation, reading in a foreign language, The Reading Badge.
Published in DKUM: 25.07.2012; Views: 2886; Downloads: 198
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17. THE RAILWAY CHILDREN - READING THE NOVEL AND VOCABULARY IN ITŠpela Žibert, 2012, undergraduate thesis Abstract: In my diploma paper I write about reading the novel in a foreign language, that is English in this case, and acquiring vocabulary from it. The novel is The Railway Children written by Edith Nesbit.
The paper is about reading as a process, reading as a skill, reading strategies and styles, reading techniques, problems and difficulties that learners have to deal with when reading.
I also studied learning vocabulary and learning vocabulary from the novel. I mentioned anticipated problems and experience from my teaching practice.
I chose this subject because I teach in a primary school where the learners in the ninth grade attend the English competition every year and this is the literary work they have to read for it.
They have to deal with formal language, spoken language and direct speech which is written phonetically. There are also old-fashioned expressions and phrases that had to be interpreted.
Keywords: reading, vocabulary, second language learners, learning, foreign language.
Published in DKUM: 12.06.2012; Views: 2862; Downloads: 96
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18. Market leader : upper intermediate business EnglishDavid Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Kent, 2001, higher education textbook Keywords: linguistics, English, business language, reading, skills, communication, international marketing, interpersonal relations, business successfulness, success of business operation, career success, job satisfaction, work, satisfaction, risk, electronic commerce, team work, financial business operation, consumer, customer, services, risk management, takeovers, mergers, business, future, textbooks, cases, case study, vocabularies
Published in DKUM: 01.06.2012; Views: 2684; Downloads: 77
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19. Market leader : intermediate business EnglishDavid Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Kent, 2001, higher education textbook Keywords: linguistics, English, business language, reading, skills, communication, international marketing, interpersonal relations, business successfulness, success of business operation, career success, job satisfaction, work, satisfaction, risk, electronic commerce, team work, financial business operation, consumer, customer, services, risk management, takeovers, mergers, business, future, textbooks, cases, case study, vocabularies
Published in DKUM: 01.06.2012; Views: 2698; Downloads: 59
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