3 LITERATURE LANGUAGE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE TEACHING LITERATURE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE TEACHING LANGUAGE M. Nour Abu Guba, B. Mashaqba, A. Huneety, O. AlHajEid Attitudes Toward Jordanian Arabic-Accented English ... Abderrazzak Oumoussa Translating Difference: The Ambiguous Representation of the ‘Exotic’ ... Lara Burazer, Janez Skela The Effectiveness of In-Person Versus Online Instruction ... 4 nglish anguage verseas erspectives and nquiries Vol. 18, No. 2 (2021) Journal Editors: Smiljana KOMAR and Mojca KREVEL Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani Ljubljana, 2021 ISSN 1581-8918 nglish anguage verseas erspectives and nquiries Vol. 18, No. 2 (2021) Journal Editors: Smiljana KOMAR and Mojca KREVEL Ljubljana University Press, Faculty of Arts Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani Ljubljana, 2021 Contents PART I: LANGUAGE Mohammed Nour Abu Guba, Bassil Mashaqba, Anas Huneety, Omer AlHajEid9 Attitudes toward Jordanian Arabic-Accented English among Native and Non-native Speakers Odnos do anglešcine z jordansko-arabskim naglasom pri maternih in tujih govorcih anglešcine Olga Boginskaya31 A Contrastive Study of Deontic Modality in Parallel Texts Protistavna študija deonticne modalnosti v vzporednih besedilih Dragana Vukovic Vojnovic51 Key Noun + Noun Collocations in the Language of Tourism: A Corpus-Based Study of English and Serbian Kljucne dvosamostalniške kolokacije v jeziku turizma – korpusna študija angleškega in srbskega jezika PART II: LITERATURE Omid Amani, Hossein Pirnajmuddin, Ghiasuddin Alizadeh71 Unnatural Temporalities and Projected Places in Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 Nenaravne casovnosti in projecirani prostori v drami Cowboys #2 Sama Shepparda Mojca Krevel85 The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein Pošastni kozmos romana Frankissstein Jeannette Winterson Abderrazzak Oumoussa101 Translating Difference: The Ambiguous Representation of the ‘Exotic’ in Wyndham Lewis’s Journey into Barbary: Travels across Morocco Prevajanje razlicnosti: dvoumno upodabljanje »eksoticnega« v Journey into Barbary: Travels across Morocco Wyndhama Lewisa PART III: ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE TEACHING Lara Burazer, Janez Skela117 The Effectiveness of In-Person versus Online Instruction in the Pre-service Teacher Preparation Programme Primerjalna študija ucinkovitosti spletne in »v živo« izvedbe zacetnega izobraževanja uciteljev anglešcine Marina Jajic Novogradec139 Positive and Negative Lexical Transfer in English Vocabulary Acquisition Pozitivni in negativni leksikalni transfer pri usvajanju angleškega besedišca Bojana Komaromi, Jelena Jerkovic167 Variation in the Translation Patterns of English ‘Noun + Noun’ Compounds in ESP: The Case of Engineering Students Razlike v prevodnih vzorcih angleških dvosamostalniških zloženk pri anglešcini za posebne namene: primer študentov tehniških ved Leonarda Lovrovic, Cathy-Theresa Kolega185 Teaching Culture through Reading Literature in English Language Teaching Poucevanje kulture z branjem književnosti pri pouku angleškega jezika Simona Podobnik Uršic, Karmen Pižorn205 Identifying the Executive Function Strategies in Learning Tenses and in the Verb Gap-Fill Task Performance of an EFL Student with Dyslexia Strategije izvršilnega funkcioniranja pri ucenju angleških casov in izkazovanju znanja v nalogah tipa vstavljanje ustreznega glagolskega casa pri dijakinji z disleksijo LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS227 Part I Language Mohammed Nour Abu Guba University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Bassil Mashaqba Hashemite University, Jordan Anas Huneety Hashemite University, Jordan Omer AlHajEid UNRWA Education Institute, Jordan 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 9-29(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.9-29 UDC: 811.111'243'342.2:811.411.21 Attitudes toward Jordanian Arabic-Accented English among Native and Non-native Speakers ABSTRACT This paper explores attitudes toward Jordanian Arabic-accented English among native and non-native speakers of English. Three groups of listeners (native English speakers, Jordanian Arab specialists and non-specialists in English) were asked to rate three groups of speakers (a group of native English speakers and two groups of Jordanian Arabic bilinguals) reading a short story in English on the degree of foreign accentedness, friendliness, pleasantness and clarity. The results showed that the Jordanian Arabic speakers, especially those with a lower level of English, were perceived less favourably than the native speakers. Furthermore, the English native listeners generally had more favourable perceptions than the non-native listeners with regard to the non-native speakers. The degree of foreign-accentedness was highly correlated with attitudes toward non-native speakers, especially among the non-native speakers themselves. The results confirm that a native English accent is preferred over non-native accents. Keywords: foreign accent, Jordanian Arabic, attitudes, friendliness, pleasantness, clarity Odnos do anglešcine z jordansko-arabskim naglasom pri maternih in tujih govorcih anglešcine IZVLECEK Namen prispevka je raziskati odnos do anglešcine z jordansko-arabskim naglasom pri maternih in tujih govorcih anglešcine. Tri skupine poslušalcev (materni govorci anglešcine, strokovnjaki za jordansko-arabski jezik in nestrokovnjaki za anglešcino) so morale oceniti tri skupine govorcev (skupino maternih govorcev anglešcine in dve skupini dvojezicnih govorcev jordanske arabšcine), ki so morali prebrati kratko zgodbo v anglešcini. Poslušalci so ocenjevali stopnjo tujega naglasa, prijaznost, prijetnost in jasnost. Rezultati so pokazali, da so bili govorci jordanske arabšcine, zlasti tisti z nižjo stopnjo znanja anglešcine, zaznani manj ugodno kot materni govorci anglešcine. Poleg tega so bili angleški materni poslušalci na splošno bolj naklonjeni tujim govorcem kot tuji poslušalci. Stopnja tujega naglasa je bila mocno povezana z odnosom do tujih govorcev, še posebej med samimi tujimi govorci. Rezultati potrjujejo, da je materni angleški naglas bolj zaželen kot tuj naglas. Kljucne besede: tuj naglas, jordanska arabšcina, odnosi, prijaznost, prijetnost, jasnost 1 Introduction Although some linguists argue that a foreign accent (FA) is natural and unavoidable, and does not cause problems as long as it does not compromise intelligibility (e.g., Seidlhofer 2001; Jenkins 2007), many others report that not only does an FA interfere with intelligibility and comprehensibility (e.g., Ryan 1983; Giles et al. 1987; Anderson-Hsieh and Koehler 1988; Munro and Derwing 1995; Cargile and Giles 1998; Nguyen and Ingram 2016), but also with perceptions of speakers in terms of social status and competence (e.g., Bresnahan et al. 2002; Deterding and Kirkpatrick 2006). Munro and Derwing (1995), for example, found that foreign-accented speech affected intelligibility and comprehensibility as it required more time and effort to process. Additionally, many studies have demonstrated that foreign-accented speech was perceived less favourably than standardized accents, leading to the formation of stereotypes among listeners with a considerable effect on a speaker’s status, competence and even work opportunities (e.g., Carlson and McHenry 2006; Deprez-Sims and Morris 2010). Investigating reactions to FAs sheds light on the stereotypes people tend to attribute to speakers with them. Such evaluations represent people’s attitudes, which have a great impact on how they deal with and see others with respect to status and competence (McKenzie 2008, see Section 2 below). Studying such reactions to foreign-accented speech is of crucial importance to both native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs). These reactions would benefit L2 learners by making them aware of the stereotypes associated with the presence of FAs. Moreover, studying the attitudes of NNSs toward their accents is very important inasmuch as it raises learners’ awareness of their own stereotypes, prejudices, as well as expectations (Friedrich 2000). Similarly, NSs would become better aware of the prejudices and misconceptions against foreign-accented speech. For example, teachers, administrators and all stakeholders would be aware that FAs should not interfere with their perceptions of other traits. People tend to judge L2 speakers negatively on traits that are independent of accentedness, such as friendliness and intelligence, only because they speak with a strong FA (Carlson and McHenry 2006; Deprez-Sims and Morris 2010). Studies dealing with attitudes toward Arabic-accented English are rare. No previous study, as far as we know, has dealt with reactions to Jordanian Arabic (JA)-accented English. This study attempts to fill the gap in the literature by exploring the reactions of English NSs and JA specialist and non-specialist bilinguals (see Section 3) toward JA-accented English. More specifically, the present study will address the following research questions: RQ1. How do English NSs, specialist and non-specialist JA bilinguals perceive JA-accented English in terms of the degree of accentedness, friendliness, pleasantness and clarity? This will be measured on a scale from 1 to 9, with 1 being the best and 9 the worst (see Appendix). Using a nine-point scale follows the most common approach in accentedness research (e.g., Riney, Takada, and Ota 2000; Yeni-Komshian, Flege, and Liu 2000; Munro and Derwing 2001). RQ2. Do English NSs, specialist and non-specialist JA bilinguals perceive JA bilinguals similarly? RQ3. To what extent does the degree of accentedness influence the perception of the other attributes? RQ4. To what extent are the other attributes correlated? To answer research questions 3 and 4, we will use Pearson correlation tests to find out how much they are correlated. Drawing on earlier studies (cf. Section 2), we adopt the following definitions of terms in this paper. Accentedness refers to how strong a speaker’s FA is perceived to be. Friendliness refers to how the accent is felt to be in terms of kindness and agreeableness, as opposed to hostility or aggressiveness. Pleasantness relates to how charming, musical/melodious the accent is felt. Clarity refers to how clear and easy to understand an accent is felt to be. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we review earlier research on FAs and their role in the perception of speakers in terms of other traits. In Section 3, we lay out the methods used to collect the data and in Section 4 we present the results. Section 5 discusses the results and concludes with some implications to foreign language pronunciation. 2 Previous Research In this section, we review studies that dealt with reactions to non-standardized accents (both regional and foreign) and show that there is a dearth of studies on attitudes toward Arabic-accented (especially JA) English. Previous research has shown that a speaker’s accent plays a major role in listeners’ judgements; listeners usually prefer standardized accents to non-standardized ones, which are usually stigmatized and perceived to indicate lower status, lower intelligence, lower competence and lower loyalty (e.g., Lambert, Frankel, and Tucker 1966; Brennan and Brennan 1981; Fuertes, Potere, and Ramirez 2002; Gluszek and Dovidio 2010). In particular, foreign language speakers were usually perceived less positively than NSs based on the accentedness of their speech, leading to the association of certain stereotypes with them (e.g., Bresnahan et al. 2002; Frumkin 2007). Moreover, the heavier their FAs, the more negatively their personalities were perceived (Lindemann 2005; McKenzie 2008; among others). Other studies found that people’s accents also influenced their interpersonal evaluations and employment opportunities (e.g., Carlson and McHenry 2006; Frumkin 2007; Cargile et al. 2010). A standardized accent was found to be associated with higher social status and attractiveness, better employment opportunities, higher intelligence, and more trustworthiness (Coupland and Bishop 2007; Fuertes, Potere, and Ramirez 2002). Likewise, accentedness was reported to affect perceptions of teachers (Giles et al. 1987; Rounds 1987; Rubin and Smith 1990; Gill 1994; Hendriks, van Meurs, and Reimer 2018). For example, Gill (1994) analysed American students’ attitudes toward their teachers with native and non-native accents and found that teachers with standardized North American accents received more positive reactions than teachers with non-native accents, and accentedness intervened with comprehension whereby students found it more difficult to remember Malaysian or even British-accented teachers than North American-accented ones. Other researchers showed that these attitudes existed in other fields, such as health and law, whereby people with FAs were perceived as less competent, less educated and less trustworthy than people with native accents (Lippi Green 1997; Garrett 2010; Gluszek and Dovidio 2010; Lev-Ari and Keysar 2010). In the rest of this section, we focus on studies dealing with (foreign) accented-English and divide them into three categories: 1. studies that addressed English NSs’ reactions to FAs, 2. studies that dealt with NNSs’ reactions, and 3. studies that dealt with both NSs’ and NNSs’ reactions. Many studies have investigated English NSs’ reactions to foreign-accented speech. Eisenhower (2002) analysed American NSs’ attitudes toward ethnic and foreign accents. She found that her college American participants favoured standardized American English accents while they downgraded accented speech. Watanabe (2008) analysed New Zealanders’ attitudes and found that a New Zealand accent was generally more preferable than FAs and even other English native accents in terms of solidarity, competence and status traits. However, some FAs (e.g., French-accented English) received favourable reactions that were comparable to native accents of English with respect to status traits, a finding that contradicts most other research on FAs. Cargile et al. (2010) investigated how American NSs perceived 14 male NNSs with Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin, Hindi, and Vietnamese backgrounds. They found that Americans generally perceived the Latin American and Asian speakers to be more foreign-accented than the Western European speakers, except for the Italian one. Moreover, the participants perceived the American NSs to have the highest status, followed by the German speakers, Hindi and Mandarin and Italian speakers, respectively, and the Vietnamese and Spanish speakers to have the lowest status. In terms of friendliness and kindness, all speakers were perceived similarly with no significant differences, which is in line with most research on non-native evaluations in the USA. In a very recent study, Dragojevic and Goatley-Soan (2020) examined American NSs’ attitudes toward standardized American English and nine NNSs, including one Arabic speaker. They found that non-native accents were rated less positively than the American accent with respect to status and solidarity with some differences in the degrees of rating the non-native accents; the Western European-accented speech was judged to be more favourable than the Arabic-, Farsi-, and Vietnamese-accented speech. They attributed the differences in the ratings to the social power of English and Western European countries, and the degree of ease with regard to understanding a speaker’s speech – the easier it was to understand the speakers, the more positively they were rated. Studies investigating NNSs’ reactions toward foreign-accented speech reached similar conclusions. Chiba, Matsuura and Yamamoto (1995) analysed Japanese students’ judgments of the personalities of English NSs and Japanese learners of English. They found that the Japanese students perceived people with non-native accents to have lower social status, lower intelligence, and lower educational levels than people with native accents. Similarly, Dalton-Puffer, Kaltenboeck, and Smit (1997), comparing students’ attitudes to English native accents and Austrian-accented English, reported that non-native accents were accorded less status than native English accents, with the British RP accent receiving the highest status as a consequence of the students’ familiarity with it. McKenzie (2008) analysed reactions to Japanese-accented English and found a strong correlation between Japanese-accented English and perceived lower competence, such that the more Japanese-accented a speaker was, the lower competence they were judged to have. In contrast, Japanese-accented speakers were perceived more favourably than with speaking native accents in terms of solidarity traits, most probably as an in-group marker. Ahmed, Abdullah and Heng (2014) analysed Malaysian university students’ attitudes toward six lecturers in Malaysian universities, two with American and British accents and four with non-native accents, namely, Arabic, Chinese, Malay, and Indian. Contrary to most previous research, they found a preference for non-native accents, a finding that was attributed to in-group preferences. The non-native accents were perceived to be better with respect to eight traits such as clarity, solidarity, confidence, intelligence and familiarity. Their results were in line with Tajfel and Turner’s (1986) Social Identity Theory, which argues that people tend to show preferences towards their social group members. More recently, Hendriks, van Meurs and Reimer (2018) analysed how Dutch and German students perceived Dutch- and German-accented English of lecturers in universities. They concluded that the more accented the speech was, the less positive it was judged to be, such that lecturers with moderate Dutch and German accents were rated less favourably than slight non-native accented speakers who were perceived as being almost as competent, likeable and intelligible as native English lecturers. Lin, Choo, Kasuma and Ganapathy (2018) surveyed Malaysian BA students’ attitudes toward their Malaysian-accented English. They reported that the Malaysian students perceived their accents positively, although they acknowledged that their Malaysian-accented English was a substandard accent that was not very suitable for international communications. Fewer studies have compared both NSs’ and NNSs’ attitudes toward foreign-accented English, and hence more studies are needed to shed more light on these perceptions (Said 2006; Hendriks, van Meurs and Reimer 2018). A study by Brennan and Brennan (1981) compared Anglo-American and Mexican American evaluations of Mexican American-accented speech. Using a seven-point rating scale with bipolar adjectives (e.g., trustworthy-untrustworthy) placed on each side of the scale, Brennan and Brennan found that the more accented the speech was, the more negatively it was perceived by both groups with respect to status (education, wealth, success, and intelligence) but not with respect to solidarity (trustworthiness. friendliness, goodness, and kindness) where Mexican Americans perceived the Mexican-accented speech more positively. Likewise, Said (2006) investigated native American and non-native East and South-East Asian speakers’ attitudes toward eight speakers with foreign-accented English (including two Arabs). He found that lower degrees of accented speech were correlated with higher status, while higher degrees of accentedness correlated with lower status, particularly regarding the speakers’ possible occupation. However, no correlation between accented speech and solidarity judgments was found for either group. He also reported that native and non-native evaluations differed significantly, and the raters’ gender also played a role, though to a lesser degree, in the evaluations of accented speech, with females being more tolerant of accentedness than males. Moreover, he found that NNSs were more tolerant of accented speech, a tendency that reflects the speakers’ awareness of the many challenges that NNSs face acquiring a native-like accent. Although the male Arab speaker received fewer positive evaluations than the other NNSs, no definite conclusions can be drawn from this observation as it is based on the evaluations of one speaker only, which could be an idiosyncratic one. To summarize, earlier research pointed out that foreign-accented speech was usually perceived less positively with respect to status and competence but not with respect to solidarity traits. The results were accounted for in terms of in-group behavior and the Social Identity Theory, which postulates that people attribute certain stereotypes to certain social groups (Brennan and Brennan 1981; Bresnahan et al. 2002; McKenzie 2008; Ahmed, Abdullah and Heng 2014). Others attributed their results to the Accent Prestige Theory, which maintains that people speaking with a standardized accent are awarded higher status than those with a non-standardized accent (Giles 1970; Fuertes, Potere, and Ramirez 2002). People speaking with the standardized accent were perceived to have higher status (e.g., intelligence and education) and were often perceived positively with respect to solidarity traits (e.g., friendliness, trustworthiness, and kindness). Speakers of standardized and non-standardized accents would perceive people speaking the standardized accent to have higher status, while only people speaking non-standardized accents would perceive non-standardized accents more favourably in terms of solidarity traits (Feurtes et al. 2002). In the same vein, others attributed the negative perceptions of accented speech to the power associated with English-speaking countries (Dragojevic and Goatley-Soan 2020). Familiarity Hypothesis also played a role here (Dalton-Puffer, Kaltenboeck, and Smit 1997), where NNS’ judges tended to prefer accents with which they were most familiar. Other researchers (e.g., Hendriks, van Meurs, and Reimer 2018) have attributed this to the difficulties associated with processing FAs, rather than to stereotypes and prejudice against foreigners. 3 Methodology In this section, we first give information on speakers and the tool used to elicit data from them, and then we describe the listener groups who rated the speakers. 3.1 Speaker Groups Three groups of speakers took part in this study: two groups of JA bilinguals1 (speaking Arabic and English) with two levels in English and one control group of six male and female NSs (three Americans (two females and one male) and three British (two females and one male); mean age=41.2). The control group was included to provide evaluation criteria for the raters, and more importantly to exclude any unreliable raters who showed discrepancies in their judgments. The first group of bilinguals comprised six JA learners of English (three males and three females; mean age=20.2). They were all English language major students in 1 A bilingual in this study refers to any person who speaks two languages regardless of the language level.their second year, and their English level can be classified as upper-intermediate: they had been exposed to the language for 12 years in schools (equivalent to intermediate level), and two years at university. Also, their performance in the first two years ranged from good to very good (they were matched for their grade point averages (3–3.5/4). The second group of JA bilinguals was composed of six advanced bilinguals who were teachers of English at schools and tertiary levels with a minimum exposure of 20 years to the language (three males and three females; mean age=36.3). All participants in both groups studied in Arabic-medium schools and none had lived in an English-speaking country. It should be noted that two more participants were recorded for practicing purposes (see below). 3.2 Materials The participants in the three groups were recorded reading Aesop’s story ‘The North Wind and the Sun’ individually at a normal pace in a quiet room by the first researcher. Choosing a story rather than sentences is motivated on the grounds that it is more natural. The story took 40 seconds on average to read, which is more than enough to make a reasonably accurate decision on the accentedness of speech. Flege (1984) found that even 30 milliseconds can be sufficient to judge whether the speech is said by an NS or NNS. The recordings were given numbers from 1 to 18, randomized and saved on a laptop. 3.3 Listener Groups/Raters Three groups of raters listened to and rated the speech of each reader on four traits: foreign accentedness, clarity and two solidarity traits, namely pleasantness of accent, and friendliness. The raters listened to the speakers one by one individually and were requested to rate the speakers on the 9-point scale (1=the best, and 9=the worst (see Appendix)). The stimulus was presented to the raters on a laptop in a quiet room and the raters could repeat the recording, if they wanted to. The first group of listeners (n=30; 16 males and 14 females; mean age=40) represented non-specialist JA bilinguals (non-specialists). All of them held a BA or an MA degree in a major other than English and none of them was a teacher. They used English on a daily basis at their work. The second group (n=30; 18 males and 12 females; mean age=41) represented specialist Jordanian teachers of English (specialists). All of them were teaching English to Arab learners with a minimum of 10 years of experience. All the raters in both groups had been living in the UAE for a minimum of ten years at the time of data collection. It is worth mentioning that the raters in these two groups grew up in Jordan and moved to the UAE as adults. The third group (n=30; 17 males and 13 females; mean age=42) represented experienced American and British English NSs. All of them were teachers of English to Arab learners with a minimum of 10 years of experience teaching in the UAE or Saudi Arabia. Before the beginning of the actual rating session, each rater had the chance to listen to two JA speakers (one advanced and one upper-intermediate) to practice the rating process. These two ratings were not included in the analysis. Upon completing all the ratings, all the results were fed into an Excel file for further comparisons. A one-way ANOVA test was conducted to see if there were statistically significant differences among the three groups of rates. It should be noted that one-way rather than factorial ANOVA was conducted as we were interested in the differences between the three groups of raters only, regardless of gender, educational level, or age. Some comparisons did not meet Levene’s Test of Equality of Error, so Games-Howell post-hoc tests were used for all of them. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient tests were also conducted to find out whether there were statistically significant and meaningful correlations among the four constructs. 4 Results Overall, the results showed that the upper-intermediate participants received a less favourable2 evaluation on the four traits than the advanced participants, who in turn received a less positive evaluation than the NSs. The results suggest that the more foreign-accented the speech was, the less favourably it was perceived by all listeners. Furthermore, the higher the English level and more experienced listeners were, the more positive their reactions to the speakers tended to be. It should be noted that we assume that the NS listeners had the highest level in English. In this section, we present the mean ratings of all speakers by the three groups. We then compare the ratings of the three groups and calculate the correlations among the four traits. 4.1 Listeners’ Perceptions of the Three Groups of Speakers In this subsection, we summarize how each group of listeners perceived the members of each group of speakers (the upper-intermediate, advanced and English native groups) with respect to FA, friendliness, pleasantness and clarity. It is worth mentioning that the advanced group of JA speakers read the story without mistakes at the segmental and word stress levels, but their performance in terms of sentence stress, rhythm, intonation and tempo was different from that of NSs’. The upper-intermediate JA speakers’ performance was less native-like with a few mistakes at the segmental and word stress levels, besides mistakes at the suprasegmental level. Therefore, it is not unexpected that both groups of NNSs, particularly the upper-intermediate group, will have less favourable ratings in terms of FA, especially because suprasegmental aspects play a major role in perceptions of foreign accentedness (Munro and Derwing 1995). 4.1.1 Perceptions of FA In general, JA-accented speech, especially that of the upper-intermediate group, was perceived less favourably than that of the NSs in terms of accentedness while the NSs, as expected, were perceived to speak with no FA. NS judges viewed that both the upper-intermediate and advanced speakers spoke with a relatively strong FA (M=7.6 and 6.1, respectively) while they perceived English NSs to speak with no FA (M=1.1). Specialists also perceived JA-accented speech unfavourably. They felt that the upper-intermediate speakers spoke with a very strong FA (M=7.2) and the advanced speakers with a moderate FA (M=5.3). However, they, like the NS listeners, perceived NSs to speak with no FA 2 We use the word ‘favourable’ in two ways here: the first is an objective way to make comparisons between groups while the second is rather subjective, whereby a rating below 3 is favourable whereas a rating above 6 is unfavourable.(M=1.2). Similarly, non-specialists rated the upper-intermediate participants with a strong FA (M=6.8) and the advanced participants with a moderate FA (M=5.3). They also perceived the NS group as speaking with almost no FA (M=1.7). Table 1. FA perceptions. Group Speaker NSs’ means Specialists’ Means Non-Specialists’ Means Upper-Intermediate 1 7.3 6.6 6.5 2 7 6.9 6.4 3 8.3 7.7 6.9 4 7.6 7.9 7.7 5 7 6.4 6.1 6 8 7.6 7.4 Average 7.6 7.2 6.8 Overall Average 7.2 Advanced 7 7 6.1 6.6 8 5 3.6 4.1 9 5.3 6 5.8 10 5.7 5.3 5.4 11 6.3 5.8 6 12 7 5.2 4 Average 6.1 5.3 5.3 Overall Average 5.6 All NNSs 6.4 NSs 13 1 1.1 1.6 14 1 1.7 2.3 15 1 1.1 1.3 16 1 1 1.7 17 1 1 1.3 18 1.3 1 1.7 Average 1.1 1.2 1.7 Overall Average 1.3 Overall, English NSs were perceived to speak with no FA by the three groups of raters, while both groups of JA bilinguals were perceived to speak with a moderate to strong FA by all groups. 4.1.2 Perceptions of Friendliness Unlike the perceptions of FA, the NSs’ group reacted more favourably toward the three groups in terms of friendliness. NSs perceived upper-intermediate and advanced speakers to be quite friendly (M=3 and 2.2, respectively) and the native speaker group slightly more friendly (M=1.9). Specialists and non-specialists had similar trends. They reacted less favourably than the NS judges perceiving the upper-intermediate and the advanced groups to be moderately friendly (means around 5). However, both perceived NSs to be more friendly than JA-accented speakers, with a mean around 2. Details are given in Table 2. Table 2. Perceptions of friendliness. Group Speaker NSs’ Means Specialists’ Means Non-Specialists’ Means Upper-Intermediate 1 3.3 4.7 4.9 2 3.7 5.3 5.2 3 2 5.6 5 4 4 6.2 6.4 5 3 4.8 4.5 6 1.7 5.2 5.3 Average 3.0 5.3 5.2 Overall Average 4.6 Advanced 7 2 5.5 5.9 8 2 3.4 4 9 2 3.9 4.1 10 2.3 4.3 3.9 11 2.7 4.4 4.9 12 2.3 3.9 4.1 Average 2.2 4.2 4.5 Overall Average 3.6 All NNSs 4.1 NSs 13 3 2.7 2 14 1.7 2.6 2.7 15 2 1.6 1.7 16 1.3 1.3 2.1 17 1.3 1.4 2 18 2 1.8 2.5 Average 1.9 1.9 2.2 Overall Average 2.0 Overall, the lower the level in English, the less friendly a speaker was perceived, especially among the NNS raters. NNSs reacted less favourably than the NSs toward the upper-intermediate and advanced participants. 4.1.3 Perceptions of Pleasantness The results for pleasantness, which is again a very subjective trait, were like those for friendliness, as shown in Table 3 below. JA-accented speech was perceived to be moderately pleasant (M=4.3) while the NSs were perceived to be more pleasant (M=2). NSs perceived JA-accented speech to be more pleasant than did the two groups of JA judges. However, NSs perceived the upper-intermediates to be less pleasant (M=3.2) than the advanced group (M=2.4). They perceived the NS group to be the most pleasant (M=2.2), a mean that is very close to that of the advanced participants. Specialists were less tolerant than the NSs toward JA-accented speech, especially toward the upper-intermediates (M=6). They perceived the NSs more positively than the NSs perceived other NSs (M=1.7). Non-specialists followed the same pattern. They were less favourably inclined toward the upper-intermediate (M=5.3) and advanced (M=4.5) speakers, while they perceived the NSs to be very pleasant (M=2.2). Table 3. Perceptions of pleasantness. Group Speaker NSs’ Means Specialists’ Means Non-Specialists’ Means Upper Intermediate 1 3 5.3 4.7 2 4 5.9 5 3 2.7 6 5.3 4 4 6.8 6.6 5 2.7 5.4 4.6 6 2.7 6.6 5.3 Average 3.2 6.0 5.3 Overall Average 4.8 Advanced 7 1.7 5.2 5.9 8 2 3.2 3.9 9 2 4.1 4.1 10 3 4.6 4 11 2.3 4 4.5 12 3.3 4.7 4.4 Average 2.4 4.3 4.5 Overall Average 3.7 All NNSs 4.3 NSs 13 2.3 2 2.5 14 2 2.6 2.3 15 2.3 1.4 1.6 16 2.3 1.4 2 17 1.3 1.1 2 18 3 1.6 2.7 Average 2.2 1.7 2.2 Overall Average 2.0 4.1.4 Perceptions of Clarity As is clear from Table 4, the upper-intermediates were perceived to be less clear (M=5.2) than the advanced speakers (M=3.5), who were perceived to be less clear than the NSs (M=1.4). The NSs had more favourable perceptions of the upper-intermediates (M=4.3) and the advanced speakers (M=2.7), and reacted in a similar fashion to specialists toward other NSs (M=1.1). Specialists felt the upper-intermediate participants to be less clear than the advanced speakers (M=3.5), but perceived the NSs to be the clearest (M=1.1). Non-specialists behaved similarly to specialists but were less favourably inclined in general toward the other groups. They perceived the upper-intermediates to be less clear than the advanced and NS groups (M=5.8, 4.3 and 2, respectively). Table 4. Perceptions of clarity. Group Speaker NSs’ Means Specialists’ Means Non-Specialists’ Means Upper-Intermediate 1 3.7 4.3 5.5 2 4.3 4.9 4.9 3 5.7 5.8 6.4 4 4.3 5.6 6.7 5 3.3 4.8 4.5 6 4.7 6.4 6.9 Average 4.3 5.3 5.8 Overall Average 5.2 Advanced 7 2.7 3.7 5.1 8 2 2.2 3.9 9 3 3.9 4.6 10 2.7 3.8 3.7 11 3.3 4 4.9 12 2.7 3.4 3.7 Average 2.7 3.5 4.3 Overall Average 3.5 All NNSs 4.3 NSs 13 1 1 1.9 14 1 1.3 2 15 1 1.2 1.7 16 1.3 1.1 1.8 17 1 1 2 18 1 1 2.5 Average 1.1 1.1 2.0 Overall Average 1.4 Again, perceptions of clarity seem to be correlated with the level of English – the higher the level, the clearer the participant is felt to be. To summarize this section, the upper-intermediates were perceived to be more foreign-accented, less friendly, less pleasant and less clear than the advanced participants who in turn were perceived less favourably on the four constructs than the NSs, an indication that the higher their level in English, the more favourably a speaker tends to be perceived. NSs’ judgments of all attributes except for FA were generally more favourable than those of specialists, whose ratings were more favourable than those of non-specialists. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to see whether there were any statistically significant differences among the three groups. 4.2 Differences among the Groups of Listeners We conducted ANOVA tests of the judges’ ratings of each group (upper-intermediate, advanced and NS, each on its own) and then performed an ANOVA tests of all of them. This is necessary to see if there were statistically significant differences between the evaluations of the smaller groups, as taking all the ratings of all groups will make the data set very large and may not give a clear picture of actual differences. The results of the ANOVA tests revealed that there were generally clear differences between the NS judges on the one hand and the two NNS groups on the other, with negligible differences between the two NNS groups. The differences in FA ratings of the upper-intermediate group were statistically significant (F(2,537)=17.787, p=.001, eta-squared=.062). Post-hoc Games-Howell tests revealed statistical differences between the three groups at a .05 alpha level. However, the effect size was very low, meaning that these differences were not meaningful or practical. Concerning the advanced group’s ratings of FA, the results showed that there were statistically significant differences between the NSs and both specialists and non-specialists, but no differences between non-specialists and specialists. Games-Howell post-hoc results were .997 for specialists vs. non-specialists, and .001 for the other groups. Effect size was also very small (eta-squared=.039). Regarding the evaluations of the NS group, there were statistically significant differences between all groups although to a lower degree between specialists vs. NSs (p=.026). The effect size was higher but again relatively small (eta-squared=.14). Taking all ratings of FA made by the three groups together, we found statistically significant differences only between non-specialists and NSs (p=.009). With respect to friendliness, pleasantness and clarity, differences with larger size effects were found among the three groups. In general, there were clear differences between the native raters on the one hand and the other two groups of NNSs on the other. This is evident from the mean ratings of each group, with the NNS groups having more similar means. This means that the NS judges (with a mean lower than 2.8 for the three traits compared with a mean around 4 for the other groups) had significantly more positive attitudes than the NNSs. To summarize this section, the upper-intermediate speakers were perceived unfavourably with respect to FA. The three groups of raters, especially the NSs, perceived them to speak with a very strong accent (M=7.2). With respect to the other traits, the upper-intermediates were perceived to be moderately friendly, pleasant and clear (4.6–5.2). In contrast, the advanced speakers were perceived to have a less strong FA than the upper-intermediate bilinguals; however, they were still perceived to speak with a relatively strong FA (M=5.6). For the other traits, they were more positively perceived, especially by the NS group. These ratings suggest that a stronger FA plays a clear role in the way the speakers are perceived with respect to the other traits (see details below). In sharp contrast to the JA bilinguals, the NSs were perceived favourably by the three groups of listeners. As expected, they were perceived to speak without an FA, and this seems to affect the way they were perceived in terms of friendliness, pleasantness and clarity (M=1.3 to 2). Concerning the perceptions of the three groups of raters, clear differences were found between the NS raters on the one hand and the two groups of the JA bilinguals on the other, with fewer differences with respect to FA. Both specialist and non-specialist JA judges perceived their compatriots less favourably (except for FA) than the NS raters did. The upper-intermediate and advanced bilinguals were perceived by the JA listeners to be less friendly, less pleasant and less clear. As for the NS group, they were perceived in a similar fashion by the English NS raters and JA raters. These results seem to suggest that JA specialist and non-specialist raters link the degree of foreign accentedness and the other traits. To find out whether this is the case, we conducted Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient tests among the four traits. A strong positive correlation was found among the four traits with the JA raters; however, a strong positive correlation was found only between the three traits (friendliness, pleasantness and clarity) but not FA with the NS raters. The table below presents the correlations among all traits. As is clear from Table 5, all correlations among the four attributes for the non-specialist and the specialist raters were very strong. However, correlations between FA and other attributes (except FA and clarity) among the NS raters were weak. NSs had stronger correlations between the other three traits, but these correlations were still weaker than those found among the NNS raters. 5 Discussion and Conclusion The primary aim of the present study was to explore the reactions of English NSs and JA bilinguals toward JA-accented English. We found that JA-accented speech, unlike English native speech, was perceived less favourably, especially by JA bilinguals. JA-accented speech was perceived to have a relatively strong FA by all groups of raters. JA-accented speech was also perceived to be less friendly, less pleasant and less clear than that of native speakers, with the upper-intermediate group having less positive reactions than the advanced group. This suggests that listeners are able to differentiate degrees of accentedness, as the upper-intermediate group was less native-like than the advanced group. Statistically significant differences were found between the ratings made by the NS judges and the two groups of NNS judges with respect to all attributes. Small differences were established between the non-specialist and specialist judges, with the non-specialists being less tolerant than the specialists. This shows that the level and knowledge of the English language seem to affect the judges’ perceptions. The higher the level is, the more tolerant the judge is. One possible explanation for this is that the non-specialists do not seem to have the knowledge and expertise required to understand the complicated process of acquiring foreign language pronunciation. In contrast, the more positive attitudes of NSs toward JA-accented speech may be attributed to the fact that all the NSs were teachers of English in the UAE or Saudi Arabia, and their experience with NNSs could have made them more tolerant of foreign accentedness. These findings are in agreement with many earlier studies which found that stronger FAs were perceived more negatively than slight FAs (e.g., Dalton-Puffer, Kaltenboeck, and Smit 1997 for Austrian speakers; Cargile and Giles 1998 for Japanese speakers; Nejjari et al. 2012 for Dutch speakers; Dragojevic et al. 2017 for Mandarin and Punjabi speakers; Hendriks, van Meurs and Reimer 2018 for Dutch and German speakers). On the other hand, the most counter-intuitive finding in the present study is the fact that the JA bilinguals were less favourable in their ratings of JA-accented speech than were the NSs with respect to solidarity attributes. These findings contradict other studies such as Ahmed, Abdullah and Heng (2014) and Lin et al. (2018), which found that EFL students did not show preferences toward native English accents. These findings go against the Familiarity Hypothesis, whereby being used to the accented speech induces positive reactions among the same group participants as a type of in-group marker. These findings also contradict Perceived Similarity Theory (Tims and Miller 1986), which claims that perceived similarity among participants positively affects attitudes toward members belonging to the same group. Although the JA judges were expected to be familiar and used to the JA-accented speech of their compatriots, they still perceived it less favourably. These results are also contrary to other studies such as Brennan and Brennan (1981), Said (2006) and McKenzie (2008), which reported that NNSs perceived non-native accents more favourably than did NSs, especially with respect to solidarity. In the current work the JA judges rated their compatriots less favourably than the English NSs on friendliness and pleasantness. One possible reason for these less favourable reactions is that JA judges regard native English accents as the norm, and expect NNSs of English to speak without a foreign accent. This suggests that an English native accent is admired and attitudes toward native English accents are positive. These findings are in harmony with the Accent Prestige Theory, whereby standardized accents are perceived more favourably than non-standardized ones (Fuertes, Potere, and Ramirez 2002). The substantial correlations between the four attributes with a correlation coefficient magnitude of no less than .65 among the NNS raters suggest that the raters overgeneralize their judgments. They tend to equate FA with other attributes such that the more accented the speech is, the less friendly, less pleasant and less clear a speaker is perceived to be. This shows that there seems to be a close association between English proficiency and raters’ evaluations, such that the higher the level in English, the more positive the reactions are, with the NS group receiving the most favourable evaluations followed by the advanced and the upper-intermediate groups. These results are not unexpected for FA and clarity on the one hand, and pleasantness and friendliness on the other, as these attributes are highly interrelated and could be seen to measure the same general attribute, while they are unpredicted for the other attributes as there is no logical relationship between them. The results of this study suggest that reactions to foreign-accented speech are not only based on linguistic qualities (as evident from the ratings of the advanced JA speakers compared to the upper-intermediate speakers, whose level of English is lower than that of the advanced speakers), but they seem to be based on inherent preferences that play a major role in shaping stereotypes with considerable (sometimes negative) consequences. Bias against NNSs is clear from the advanced speakers’ ratings, which were significantly lower than those of NSs, although the advanced speakers did not make mistakes at the segmental and word levels. Despite the highly multilingual and ethnically diverse environment where all the raters live, the degree of FA was found to strongly affect the perceptions of the other attributes, especially among the NNS judges. It was expected that in such environments people would be less bothered by foreign accentedness, especially that of their own compatriots (Kraut and Wulff 2013). This seems to suggest that reactions to FA take shape quite early in people’s lives, as all the raters in the two NNS groups grew up in Jordan, whose community is less diverse ethnically and linguistically than that of the UAE (Abu Guba 2016). 5.1 Implications Although achieving a native-like accent is admirable, the degree of FA should not affect the judgments of speakers’ competence and solidarity attributes, especially because it is almost impossible for late learners of a foreign language to achieve a native-like accent, regardless of their abilities (cf. Celce-Murcia, Brinton and Goodwin 2010). Prejudices against FAs should be eliminated and people, especially L2 learners, should be aware of the existence of such negative reactions to foreign-accented speech. An intelligible accent should be the norm, without insisting on a native-like accent (cf. Lindemann, Litzenberg and Subtirelu 2014,189), and non-native accents should be viewed as a natural by-product of learning a foreign language. These findings should help L1 and especially L2 speakers reconsider their attitudes toward foreign-accented speech, as a greater awareness might help in reducing prejudices against such speech (Carlson and McHenry 2006; Roessel et al. 2019). In this regard, Roessel et al. (2019) demonstrated that raising awareness of such prejudices helps in reducing negative reactions toward non-native accents. Said (2006) showed that raters judged foreign-accented speech more favourably when they were given more chance to reflect upon their decisions. Therefore, it can be expected that more exposure to accents and raising awareness of the natural diversity of accents would lead to more positive attitudes toward FAs. Nevertheless, L2 speakers need to be aware of the existence of such prejudices against their foreign-accented speech. The finding that the two NNS groups of listeners were aware of and sensitive to the presence of an FA, especially among the advanced participants, necessitates that NNS should try to eliminate foreign linguistic features that affect their speech negatively, especially suprasegmental features, which play a major role in FAs (Munro and Derwing 1995). This does not mean they must achieve a native-like accent, but instead they should try to eliminate a strong FA as much as possible due to the negative prejudices against FAs. This is especially required from advanced speakers of English, in particular those who intend to teach the language. 5.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research The number of listeners and speakers in the three groups in this study were relatively small, and it was not possible to match all the speakers for age. This might have affected the results negatively, and therefore a future study with a larger number of speakers belonging to the same age group would lend support to the findings of our exploratory study. Moreover, this paper focused on the perception of foreign-accented speech with respect to solidarity traits. As such, it remains to be discovered whether listeners link FA with other traits that are more independent of FA than those we explored in this study. Future studies that measure the correlation between accentedness and perceptions of competence traits such as intelligence and confidence would be highly recommended. Moreover, future studies that recruit both experienced and non-linguistically trained English NS listeners rating Arabic and other non-native-accented English might reveal interesting results that enable us to better understand reactions to Arabic-accented English. 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Austin, 7–24. Chicago: Nelson-Hall. Tims, Albert R., and M. Mark Miller. 1986. “Determinants of Attitudes toward Foreign Countries.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 10: 471–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(86)90046.-5. Watanabe, Yutai. 2008. “New Zealand Attitudes towards Foreign-Accented English.” Reo Te 51: 99–127. Yeni-Komshian, Grace H., James E. Flege, and Serena Liu. 2000. “Pronunciation Proficiency in the First and Second Languages of Korean-English Bilinguals.” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3 (2): 131–49. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728900000225. Appendix: The Rating Form Directions to raters Accentedness refers to how strong a speaker’s foreign accent is perceived to be. Please listen to each speaker and rate the speaker for degree of foreign accent, by writing a number from 1 to 9. 1=No foreign accent (native-like) and 9=Very strong foreign accent. More specifically, ‘1’ means the speaker sounds like a native speaker of English and ‘9’ sounds like a non-native speaker with a very strong foreign accent. It would be helpful if you think of a category where a speaker fits and then within each category select the best descriptor. Good accent: 1, 2, 3 (1=native-like, 2=near-native, and, 3=very mild foreign accent) Moderate foreign accent: 4, 5, 6 (4=mild foreign accent, 5=slightly moderate foreign accent, 6=moderate foreign accent) Strong foreign accent: 7, 8, 9 (7=a slightly strong foreign accent, 8=a strong foreign accent, and 9=a very strong foreign accent) The same applies to the other traits. Friendliness refers to how the accent is felt to be in terms of kindness and agreeableness, as opposed to hostility or aggressiveness. Pleasantness here relates to how charming and musical/melodious the accent is felt to be. Clarity refers to how clear and easy to understand an accent is felt to be. Speaker Foreign accent rating (1–9) Friendliness rating (1–9) Pleasantness rating (1–9) Clarity rating (1–9) Comments 1 … 18 M. Nour Abu Guba, B. Mashaqba, A. Huneety, O. AlHajEid Attitudes Toward Jordanian Arabic-Accented English ... Table 5. Correlations among the three groups of judges. FA Friendliness Pleasantness Clarity Non-Specialist Judges FA .73** .70** .80** Friendliness .90** .76** Pleasantness .78** Specialist Judges FA .65** .75** .76** Friendliness .90** .86** Pleasantness .85** NS Judges FA .29** .33** .74** Friendliness .66** .48** Pleasantness .53** (at .001 level) Olga Boginskaya Irkutsk National Research Technical University, Russian Federation 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 31-49(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.31-49 UDC: 81’362:[81’25:34] A Contrastive Study of Deontic Modality in Parallel Texts ABSTRACT This article is a contrastive study of deontic modal markers in three parallel texts. It analyses the modality system in the English, Russian and French texts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights accounting for the ambiguity of some English modal verbs in legal texts and the difficulty in rendering them into a different language. The research reveals modal markers used to express deontic permission, deontic obligation and deontic prohibition in the three parallel texts; semantic similarities and discrepancies between these modal markers; and translation strategies employed to render the English modal markers into Russian and French. The article responds to the need for a systematic analysis of deontic modal markers in English, Russian and French due to the semantic and syntactic differences among the German, Romance and Slavic languages. The article concludes that French and Russian have more in common than French and English or Russian and English in terms of the deontic modality. Keywords: deontic modality, legal text, modal marker, legal translation Protistavna študija deonticne modalnosti v vzporednih besedilih IZVLECEK V clanku se osredinjamo na protistavno študijo deonticnih modalnih oznacevalcev v treh vzporednih besedilih. Analiziramo sistem modalnosti v angleških, ruskih in francoskih besedilih Splošne deklaracije o clovekovih pravicah, pri cemer upoštevamo dvoumnost nekaterih angleških modalnih glagolov v pravnih besedilih in težave pri njihovem prevajanju v drug jezik. V raziskavi razkrivamo modalne oznacevalce, ki se uporabljajo za izražanje dovoljenja, obveznosti in prepovedi v treh vzporednih besedilih; semanticne podobnosti in neskladja med temi modalnimi oznacevalci; in prevajalske strategije, uporabljene za prevajanje angleških modalnih oznacevalcev v rušcino in francošcino. Sistematicna analiza deonticnih modalnih oznacevalcev v anglešcini, rušcini in francošcini je zaradi pomenskih in skladenjskih razlik med nemškim, romanskim in slovanskim jezikom nujno potrebna. V clanku ugotavljamo, da imata francošcina in rušcina vec skupnega kot francošcina in anglešcina ali rušcina in anglešcina glede deonticne modalnosti. Kljucne besede: deonticna modalnost, pravno besedilo, modalni oznacevalec, pravni prevod 1 Introduction The translation of international legal documents as a complex process involving different semiotic systems is one of the components of international relations. Legal texts which are regulative by nature have to inform about the law and prescribe some behaviours. These functions “must be rendered unambiguously in translating through the relevant linguistic realization patterns (performatives, modal verbs, lexical verbs)” (Trosborg 1997, 157). The legal language involves a large number of prescriptive sentences which convey directives, standards, rights, obligations, and prohibitions. The frequent use of modal markers is the feature that differs legal discourse from other types of discourses (Boginskaya 2020; Krapivkina 2017; Trosborg 1997). A comparison of languages by their lexical and grammatical structures, in terms of configuration and intersection of application areas, is important for their study. Assessment of the degree of reliability of events is one of the main qualities of human existence and knowledge of the world. Modality is a linguistic feature of any text, being a source of considerable difficulty for interpreters due to the subtle and complex nature of the meanings modals convey (Tiersma 1999; Bhatia and Bhatia 2011; Foley 2001; Garner 1995; Mellinkoff 1963; Mattila 2013). However, semantic discrepancies between the modal markers in English, French and Russian have been barely treated from the contrastive perspective. Thus, the main objective of this article is to carry out a contrastive analysis of modal markers as tools employed to express deontic modality in the three parallel legal texts in order to identify similarities and discrepancies between the English, French and Russian versions of this international document from the perspective of deontic modality expression. To achieve this objective, the research seeks answers to the following questions: RQ1: What modal markers are used to express deontic permission, deontic obligation and deontic prohibition in the three parallel texts? RQ2: Are there any similarities and discrepancies between the modal markers in the three parallel texts? RQ3: What translation strategies are used to render the English modal markers into Russian and French? A contrastive analysis of the English, French and Russian versions of the international legal document will provide evidence of difficulties in mediating among three languages. The next part of the article sets the theoretical framework for the study. In Part 3, the methods employed to analyse the data are shown and the materials are described. Part 4 is devoted to the findings of the current study, including some examples of each function of the modal marker. The key findings are discussed in Part 5, while the final part provides a brief overview of the conclusions of the study. 2 Theoretical Framework 2.1 Deontic Modality In Systemic Functional Linguistics, language is considered to be a semantic system performing three functions: ideational, interpersonal and textual. The interpersonal function deals with the use of language to establish and maintain relationships with other people, to influence their behaviour, or to express one’s own viewpoints. It is implemented through the mood and modality systems. The modality system, which is the focus of the present study, expresses the speaker’s attitudes and judgments and reflects their assessments of the validity of propositions. The category of modality is built on the communicative-evaluative aspect whose linguistic development has a well-established tradition. Along with changes in scientific paradigms, the aspects of studies of modality have changed as well. However, most authors agree that modality belongs to the main language categories (e.g., Quirk et al. 1989). It expresses different types of relations between the utterance and reality, as well as different types of subjective qualifications of what is communicated, and “may be defined as the manner in which the meaning of a clause is qualified so as to reflect the speaker´s judgment of the likelihood of the proposition it expresses being true” (Quirk et al. 1989, 219). In the linguistics literature (Halliday 1978; Lyons 1977; Bybee, Perkins, and Pagliuca 1994), three types of modality are distinguished: epistemic (modes of knowing), deontic (modes of obligation), and alethic (modes of truth). Alethic modality expresses the necessary truth of a proposition (Lyons 1977), epistemic modality expresses knowledge of an entity or an event, and deontic modality expresses permission or obligation (Lyons 1977; Palmer 2001, 2013). The term deontic modality comes from the Greek word d..., de..t.. (‘duty’). Deontic modality means that the speaker “intervene[s] in the speech event by laying obligations or giving permission” (Downing and Locke 1992, 382); it conveys the idea that it is necessary for someone to do something (Depraetere and Langford 2020, 273; Panocová and Lukacín 2019). Lyons (1977, 823) claims that “[w]hen we impose upon someone the obligation to perform or to refrain from performing a particular act,” we are describing “the state-of-affairs that will obtain if the act in question is performed” rather than his performance of that act. The key exponents of modality are a set of modal markers that create a modal system (Palmer 2003, 2). In German, Slavic and Romance languages, the principal members of this system are modal verbs. Such verbs are typically used with other main verbs “to make an assessment, judgment or interpretation of what we are speaking or writing about, or express our attitude to this” (Parrott 2000, 152). Alongside the modal verbs are other markers (lexical modals) capable of conveying modal meanings. 2.2 Legal Discourse and Modality According to Tiersma (1999), “legal language” is a sublanguage rather than a language distinct from General English, and is varied in response to different cultural contexts. Studies show that besides the commonly recognized features of legal texts, such as legal terminology, Latinisms and archaic words, there are other lexical and syntactic features that are characteristic of legal language: complex prepositions (hereinafter, hereof); modal verbs (e.g., shall); proper nouns denoting names for institutions, state bodies, titles; nominalizations; doublets (null and void, will and testament, any and all); passive structures, etc. Lawyers use language to demarcate their membership in the legal community, to create an aura of mystery, and to require a certain degree of education and thus block easy entry by outsiders. “The law is a profession of words” (Mellinkoff 1963, 6). In legal texts language is “the vehicle of the law” (Orts 2015, 486) carrying the legal concepts, and it is difficult for laypeople or outsiders in the legal community to understand. One stylistic feature inherent in legal documents is its prescriptive nature. Prescriptive legal texts and deontic modality are closely connected (Williams 2007, 83). The former “are regulatory instruments containing rules of conduct or norms. Accordingly, they prescribe a specific course of action that an individual ought to conform to” (Sarcevic 1997, 11). The prescription is a variant of instruction, when any authority, social institution or legislative body becomes a source of motivation. Such prescriptions are aimed at regulating the norms of behaviour of individuals belonging to any social area. Therefore, prescriptive legal texts fall within the realm of deontic modality, which is bound up with imposing obligations, regulating and prescribing the recipient’s behaviour (Gibova 2011, 7). Modality may vary from one language to another one based on its lexical and syntactic features. This variation can create discrepancies which make the translation process challenging. For example, in their study on deontic modal language in the Polish and English versions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Jaskot and Wiltos (2017) revealed irregularities at both the semantic and syntactic levels: a clear tendency to construct sentences with directly expressed modality in English, and a tendency to construct pseudo-descriptive sentences (whose modality is the result of conventionalization) in Polish. As Jaskot and Wiltos (2017, 11, 13) put it, “the lack of a clear modal functor in Polish sentences leaves ample room for possible interpretations”. In her study on modality in English and Arabic, Baker (1992) revealed that English modals are grammatical, while the Arabic ones are a mixture of grammatical and lexical resources. The Arabic language possesses a richer system of lexical and grammatical means to express various nuances of modality. According to Lian and Jiang (2014, 499), in Chinese legal discourse, the great majority of modal operators are high value modal verbs […], while in English translation translators tend to use median and low value modal verbs, such as shall, may and should, attempting to standardize people’s behavior in a relatively gentle tone rather than in an enforced way, and to avoid “the excessive abstractions and impersonality of the laws”. Russian and French also have specific systems of modality which create obstacles when translating English legal texts into these languages. The similarities and discrepancies among the English, French and Russian deontic modals used in legal discourse are studied in the present article. 2.3 Deontic Modal Markers in English Legal Discourse To carry out a contrastive analysis intended to find semantic similarities and discrepancies among the English, French and Russian modal markers, Part 2.3 deals with the semantic functions of modal verbs shall, should and may and lexical modals have the right to and be entitled to found in the English version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Other modal markers have not been considered simply because there are no occurrences of such forms in the English-language text. 2.3.1 Shall As Williams (2007, 115) puts it, shall, that accounts for almost 23% of all finite verbal constructions, and is almost twice as common as its nearest modal rival, may, and continues to constitute one of the most characteristic features of legalese, whereas its use outside legal discourse is on the decline in favour of will. In the same vein, Cooper (2011, 6) who has reviewed the linguistic function of shall in contemporary English and its deontic function in Legal English, argues that the verb “has effectively faded into non-use in the general language and, as such, has become an archaism; however, its use in both private legal and legislative texts is identified as being frequent”. Due to its frequent use in English legal discourse, shall is considered to be the most misused word, seen as “none other than an archaism which causes interpretation problems for legal specialists, translators, and lay readers” (Krapivkina 2017, 305), and “the biggest troublemaker” for legal experts and courts due to the lack of precision in using it in legislative texts (Wydick 1998). Triebel (2009) argues that shall is used both to express obligation and imply futurity, thus creating ambiguity. Williams (2011, 140) provides examples of ritualistic uses of the verb shall to express a “legalistic flavor.” Bhatia (1993, 101–2) holds that “adherence to tokens of legalese such as shall not only sustains the myth of precision in legal language but also perpetuates a style and language that differentiates the genre from that of other professions”. However, stylistic uses of shall pose “a risk to transparency in that the reader may construe them as imposing obligation where none is intended” (Foley 2002, 366). Summarizing the results of previous research on the modal verb shall in English legal discourse (Bhatia 1993; Cooper 2011; Foley 2002; Krapivkina 2017; Williams 2007), the following core semantic functions of this deontic modal marker can be distinguished: imposing an obligation, expressing a prohibition, granting permission, and adding some flavour of the law. 2.3.2 Should In contemporary English, should is the marker of “weak” necessity whose basic distinction of the markers of “strong” necessity (e.g., must, have to) is that for the latter the consequences are more severe if the obligation is not fulfilled (Smith 2003, 242). Unlike must, it implies that the speaker feels some doubt about the actualization of the situation (Declerck 1991, 378), and hence allows for non-actualization. As Huddleston and Pullum (2002, 186) put it, the deontic modal verb should “is usually subjective, indicating what the speaker considers ‘right’ – whether morally or as a matter of expediency”. Not surprisingly, then, “the frequency of occurrence of this modal verb in prescriptive legal texts is rather low. It is uncommon in statute law, and found only in declarations, codes and regulations to express a warning not to do something or a recommendation to commit certain actions (Williams 2007). 2.3.3 May The second most commonly used modal marker in legal English is may (Williams 2007). Together with the modal verb shall, may is the only other modal verb in which usage in legal English is greater than in General English (Foley 2001, 193). In legal discourse, may conveys two deontic meanings: permission in positive contexts and prohibition in a negative environment (Aitken and Butt 2004; Williams 2007). In Legal English, both shall and may authorize the recipient to do something. The difference lies in the fact that may implies discretion, while shall (or must) obligation (see International Labour Office 2007). The modal shall is used for the imperative, while may is a permissive verb. 2.3.4 Be Entitled to and Have the Right to In English, modality is primarily associated with the central modal auxiliaries (Williams 2006, 82) or primary (will, would, shall, may, can, must) and secondary (should, might, could, would, and ought to) modals (Perkins 1983). However, modality can be also expressed by a large number of grammatically and syntactically diverse forms. These lexical modals include adjectives such as liable, obligatory or permissible, adverbs such as perhaps or surely, verbs such as allow or require, nouns such as permission or right (Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 173), participles such as bound, entitled or authorized (Perkins 1983). Unlike other lexical modals, the expressions be entitled to and have the right to are regularly employed in legal texts. Interesting here is the distinction between be entitled to and the modal verb may drawn by the Indiana Drafting Manual (1999): the deontic past participle expression be entitled to should be used to create a right, while may should be used to create discretionary authority. This distinction seems to eliminate the ambiguity of deontic modal expressions. However, in legal texts they are often used as synonyms (Jaskot and Wiltos 2017). The same is true for the lexical modal have the right to which is employed to confer rights in the contexts where the modal verbs may and shall are used. Taking prior research altogether, it seems possible to build up a taxonomy of core deontic modal functions found in legal texts (see Figure 1). Figure 1. Core deontic modal functions in legal texts. 3 The Current Study 3.1 Materials The linguistic data chosen in this article comes from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world. The Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 as a common standard for all peoples and all nations, and it has been translated into over 500 languages, with the original language being English. The reason for choosing this document is that it contains a large amount of modal markers in the English, French and Russian versions, which can provide rich materials for this research to conduct a contrastive study. The data consists of 134 deontic modal markers which have been examined to study how the English, French and Russian resources are employed in legal discourse and reveal what translation procedures are used to express the nuances of modality. For the analysis of deontic modality, English was chosen as a standard, and the data of the Russian and French languages were used as a contrasting background. 3.2 Methodology Modal verbs occur frequently in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so it is not suitable for researchers to do the data collection and data analysis directly in the texts. Therefore, a small parallel corpus of English, French and Russian was constructed for data processing and analysis. The specific steps were as follows. The texts were transformed into the TXT format and Super Align software was used to align the English, French and Russia corpora. The article used the contrastive method to approach modals’ translation. Through the contrastive study among the English, French and Russian modal systems, an attempt was made to build up an analytical framework and find similarities and discrepancies between the semantic functions of modal markers in the three parallel texts. All deontic statements found in the English, French and Russian texts were divided into three groups by the type of semantic function they perform (see Figure 1): granting rights and permissions, imposing obligations and conferring prohibitions (Foley 2001; Williams 2007). Examples of each semantic function are presented in sub-sections 4.1–4.3. 4 Results 4.1 Granting Rights and Permissions (1) Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people ........ .. ........, ... ............. . ......... . ...... ........ ....... . .......... ....., ....... ......... ....... ............, . ... ........ ...... ...., . ....... .... ..... ..... ....... ..... . ......... . ..... ........ .. ...... . ....., ............. ... ....... .......... ...... Considérant que la méconnaissance et le mépris des droits de l’homme ont conduit ŕ des actes de barbarie qui révoltent la conscience de l’humanité et que l’avčnement d’un monde oů les ętres humains seront libres de parler et de croire, libérés de la terreur et de la misčre, a été proclamé comme la plus haute aspiration de l’homme, The deontic modality exhibited by the modal shall is omitted in the Russian and French renditions. Instead of shall, the translator uses the future form of the lexical verb ..... in the Russian text and the future form of the verb ętre in the French text. The Russian and French sentences do not contain an explicit obligation, but convey an imperative meaning of shall demonstrated by the drafter’s choice. (2) Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. ...... ....... ...... ........ ..... ....... . ..... ........., ................ ......... ..........., ... ...... .. .. .. .... ........, ...-.. . ......... ...., ..... ...., ...., ....., ......., ............ ... .... ........., ............. ... ........... ............., .............., .......... ... ..... .......... Chacun peut se prévaloir de tous les droits et de toutes les libertés proclamés dans la présente Déclaration, sans distinction aucune, notamment de race, de couleur, de sexe, de langue, de religion, d’opinion politique ou de toute autre opinion, d’origine nationale ou sociale, de fortune, de naissance ou de toute autre situation. The English modal marker be entitled to used to grant a permission is rendered with the Russian modal verb ...... that conveys the imperative rather than permissive meaning. In the French text, the morphological form of the verb pouvoir conveys the permissive meaning. (3) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. ...... ....... ..... ..... ...... ....... .. ............. . ...... ....... . ............ .... ......... Devant la persécution, toute personne a le droit de chercher asile et de bénéficier de l’asile en d’autres pays. The modal marker have/has the right, that serves to grant a right, is translated into Russian with the modal marker ..... ..... and into French with the lexical modal avoir le droit which convey the similar permissive meaning as the English form. (4) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. .... ..... .... ........ ...... ... ......... . ...... ........ ..... .......... . .... ....... Le mariage ne peut ętre conclu qu’avec le libre et plein consentement des futurs époux. Permission extends to the right to contract marriage. In this example, shall is translated with the Russian modal verb ..... whose positive form always conveys the permissive meaning in the legal context. In the French version, the negative form of the verb pouvoir conveys the prohibitive meaning. (5) Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality. ...... ......., ... .... ........, ..... ..... .. .......... ........... . .. ............. ........... ... ........... ... ........... . ... .......... ........ ... ........ .... . ............., .......... . .......... ........ ..... .......... ............ ...... . .............. .............. . . ............ .. .......... . ......... ....... ............ Toute personne, en tant que membre de la société, a droit ŕ la sécurité sociale; elle est fondée ŕ obtenir la satisfaction des droits économiques, sociaux et culturels indispensables ŕ sa dignité et au libre développement de sa personnalité, grâce ŕ l’effort national et ŕ la coopération internationale, compte tenu de l’organisation et des ressources de chaque pays. Have the right to and be entitled to are translated with the Russian modal marker – ..... ..... that conveys the permissive meaning. The same strategy is used in the French version. The English modal marker is entitled to has been omitted. The meaning conveyed by this marker is rendered with the infinitive preceded by the preposition ŕ. 4.2 Imposition of Obligations (6) Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law … ........ .. ........, ... .........., ..... ..... ........ .......... ....... ...... . ..... ........... ...., ..... ....... .. ... ........ ........., . ........ .......... ........, . ......... ...... ....... . .........; Considérant qu’il est essentiel que les droits de l’homme soient protégés par un régime de droit pour que l’homme ne soit pas contraint, en supręme recours, ŕ la révolte contre la tyrannie et l’oppression, In this example, should is translated into Russian with the modal adverb .......... which conveys the stronger imperative meaning than the English modal verb should. In the French version, should is rendered with the subjunctive soient which conveys the meaning of necessity. It is interesting to note that it is especially in international legal documents that lay down general principles rather than specific obligations that should is employed more often. (7) They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. ... ........ ....... . ........ . ...... ......... . ......... .... ..... . .... ......... Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité. In the English version, there is no explicit obligation to “act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”, merely the assertion that that action would be a great idea. In the Russian version, the deontic modal verb ......, which conveys the stronger imperative meaning than the English modal should, is used. In the French text, the modal doivent conveys the meaning of stronger obligation than should. (8) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. .... ...... ...... .... ....... ...... .............; ... .... ...... ........ .... ......... . ............. . .................... ......., ....... ...... ........... ... ........ . ...... ............. ..... ..... ....... ........... ... .. ........... ...... ............ ...., .............. ....... ............ La volonté du peuple est le fondement de l’autorité des pouvoirs publics; cette volonté doit s’exprimer par des élections honnętes qui doivent avoir lieu périodiquement, au suffrage universel égal et au vote secret ou suivant une procédure équivalente assurant la liberté du vote. Shall, used to express an order and state the obligations of the government, is translated with the Russian deontic modal verb ....../. which conveys the similar imperative meaning. In the French version, no modal marker is used. Instead, the linking verb est is employed. (9) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. ........ ..... ..... .......... . ...... .... ........... ... ..... .......... ...... Les parents ont, par priorité, le droit de choisir le genre d’éducation ŕ donner ŕ leurs enfants. The English modal shall, that is used to impose an obligation on national governments to give education to children, has been lost in the Russian rendering. The shift from the modal to non-modal form has distorted the nuance of meaning in the utterance. In the French text, instead of the modal marker, the infinitive preceded by the preposition ŕ is employed to express obligation. 4.3 Conferring Prohibitions (10) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. ... ..... .. ..... .... ............ . ...... ............., . ................ ........... .. .......... ............... ............, ... ......, ............... ..... . ......... ........... ............ ...... Ce droit ne peut ętre invoqué dans le cas de poursuites réellement fondées sur un crime de droit commun ou sur des agissements contraires aux buts et aux principes des Nations Unies. The negative form of the modal verb may is translated with the Russian negative form of the modal verb ..... and the French negative form of the modal pouvoir, which also convey the prohibitive meaning. What is interesting here is that in the French utterance only the negator ne is used. As Schapansky (2002, 793) puts it, contrary negation, in which ne does not form a negative association with another element (e.g., pas, personne), “is not used to deny a proposition but rather used to weaken an assertion”. (11) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. ..... .. ...... .... ........... ..... ...... .......... Nul ne peut ętre arbitrairement privé de sa nationalité, ni du droit de changer de nationalité Prohibition is indicated by shall preceded by the negative indefinite pronoun in all the statements under study. (12) No one may be compelled to belong to an association. ..... .. ..... .... .......... ........ . .....-.... ........... Nul ne peut ętre obligé de faire partie d’une association. The prohibition expressed with the modal may preceded by the negative indefinite pronoun no one is translated into Russian with the negative form of the modal verb ..... preceded by the negative indefinite pronoun ...... In the French version, it is expressed with the negative form of the verb pouvoir preceded by the negative pronoun nul. (13) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. ............. .... .... . ...... .. . .... ...... .. ...... ............. ..... . ......... ........... ............ ...... Ces droits et libertés ne pourront, en aucun cas, s’exercer contrairement aux buts et aux principes des Nations Unies. The prohibition expressed with the modal verb may followed by the adverb in no case is translated with the Russian negative form of the modal verb ...... preceded by the adverb .. . .... ....... In the French text, the negative form of the future tense verb pouvoir followed by the adverb en aucun cas is used which indicates the omission of the modal meaning. The distributions of deontic modal markers in the English, Russian and French texts are depicted in Tables 1, 2 and 3. Table 1. The distribution of deontic modal markers in the English version. shall Should may be entitled to have the right to Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % 27 41 2 3 4 6 9 14 24 36 Table 2. The distribution of deontic modal markers in the Russian version. ...... ..... ..... .... .......... Number % Number % Number % Number % 21 26 28 35 30 36.8 2 0.2 Table 3. The distribution of deontic modal markers in the French version. pouvoir devoir avoir le droit ŕ + infinitive Number % Number % Number % Number % 9 30 8 26.6 11 36.7 3 10 The distributions of positive and negative forms of deontic modals in the English, Russian and French texts are presented in Tables 4, 5 and 6. Table 4. The distribution of positive and negative deontic modal markers in the English text. Shall Should May Positive form 17 2 0 Negative form 10 0 4 Table 5. The distribution of positive and negative deontic modal markers in the Russian text. ....../...... ...../..... Positive form 4 2 Negative form 5 8 Table 6. The distribution of positive and negative deontic modal markers in the French text. Pouvoir Devoir Positive form 0 8 Negative form 9 0 The distribution of the modal verbs in active and passive sentences is presented in Table 7. Table 7. The distribution of the modal verbs shall, should and may and their Russian and French equivalents in active and passive sentences. Active Passive English modals 9 24 Russian modal equivalents 16 14 French modal equivalents 21 17 Table 8 presents the results of a contrastive analysis of the deontic modal markers in the parallel texts at the semantic level (see Table 8). Table 8. English, Russian and French modal markers: results of the contrastive analysis. English Russian French shall ..... pouvoir ...... ętre in present simple omitted omitted future tense ętre in future simple devoir should ...... ętre in present subjunctive .......... (adverb) devoir may (not) may (in no case) (..) ..... (ne) pouvoir in present simple (.. . .... ....... ..) ...... (ne) pouvoir in present subjunctive have the right to ..... ..... avoir le droit be entitled to ...... pouvoir ..... ..... avoir le droit 5 Discussion As Tables 1, 2 and 3 show, there is a marked variation in the distribution of deontic modal markers in the English, Russian and French texts. The tables show the predominance of the modals shall and have the right to in the English text, ..... and ..... ..... in the Russian one, and pouvoir and avoir le droit in the French version. It should be noted that Russian and French have fewer modal verbs than English. For example, French has only two modal verbs that convey the deontic meanings, pouvoir and devoir. In Russian, these are ...... and ..... In this regard, the deontic meanings are often conveyed by lexical modal markers, the most common of which are avoir le droi in the French version (36.7% of all occurrences of modal markers in the French text) and ..... ..... in the Russian one (35% of all occurrences of modal markers in the Russian text). As for English, the observed greater frequency of shall, comprising 41%, is consistent with the previous results (Bázlik and Ambrus 2009; Cooper 2011; Krapivkina 2017; Tiersma 1999). Even when taking into account the small size of the corpus, it seems possible to say that the modal verb shall is the most commonly used modal in Legal English, with the second ranked have the right to, comprising 36% of all occurrences. The non-frequent occurrence of should (3%) is quite understandable, because it conveys weak obligation. It may come as a surprise, however, that must is not in the text. This might be due to the increased use of shall to express strong obligation, and the negative form of may to express prohibition. Table 4 shows the predominance of positive forms of shall and should and the predominance of negative forms of may in the English text. In the Russian text, as can be seen in Table 5, the modal verbs ...... and ..... in the negative environment are predominant. Table 6 shows that in the French version, the modal verb pouvoir is used only in its negative form, whereas the verb devoir in its positive form. In the English text, negation is mainly expressed with the negative pronoun no one followed by the positive form of the modal verb. The following examples illustrate the case: (14) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property. No one may be compelled to belong to an association. The Russian equivalent is the indefinite pronoun ..... followed by the negative particle .. and the modal verb: (15) ..... .. ...... .... ........... ..... ...... .......... ..... .. ..... .... .......... ........ . .....-.... ........... The French equivalent of the English pronoun no one is nul followed by the negative particle ne. (16) Nul ne peut ętre arbitrairement privé de sa nationalité, ni du droit de changer de nationalité. Unlike the English drafter, the Russian and French ones intend the negative concord interpretation, on which the Russian word ..... and the French word nul do not exert independent negative force (Thornton et al. 2016). Table 7 shows that the voice of sentences containing modal verbs does not always coincide in the three parallel texts. The analysis has identified five cases of discrepancy in the English, Russian and French texts. This observation is consistent with the features of English, Russian and French legal languages in general, as the passive voice is used to a lesser extent in legal French and Russian (Kozhevnikov 2016; Krapivkina 2018). The following are examples from the parallel texts. (17) this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections … ... .... ...... ........ .... ......... . ............. . .................... ....... … cette volonté doit s’exprimer par des élections honnętes ... In the English sentence, the modal verb is used in its passive form, whereas in the French and Russian versions the modal verbs are in their active forms followed by the reflexive verbs. A greater diversity of modal verbs was revealed in the English text. One and the same English modal marker has two or more versions in the Russian and French texts. The carrier of modal meaning in Russian and French sentences is a verb in both the active and passive voices. The analysis identified that the frequency of using “modal verb + expansion form” in the passive form is much higher in the English text. In the Russian and French texts, a tendency to use the active voice of reflexive verbs after the modal markers was observed. There are certain shifts within the modal verbs observed in the parallel texts. In order to express prohibition, the negative forms of the modal verbs ...... and ..... are used in the Russian text, while in the English text negated forms of the verbs shall and may are used. In the French text, the negative form of the modal verb pouvoir is used. There is no strict correspondence between these forms. English negated forms can be expressed both with the Russian verbs .. ...... and .. ...... In the French version, the negative forms of the verbs ętre in future simple and pouvoir in present simple are used. In these cases, the Russian and French languages do not differentiate these meanings. Both modal markers are valid due to the general regulatory nature of declarations that eliminates differences in the meanings of modal verbs. This is an example of how extralinguistic factors influence the rethinking of grammatical forms and lexical units. The English modal verbs shall and should are rendered into Russian with the verb ......, thus being considered synonyms. The same is observed in the French version: shall and should are rendered with the verb devoir. However, the modal verb should is not comparable to shall in its deontic strength. It is rarely observed as an illocutionary force indicator of directives, which might be due to the weakness with which obligation is expressed. The analysis has revealed one occurrence of the adverb .......... for rendering the English should in the Russian text. This rendering changed the simple syntactic structure of the English sentence into the complex one in the Russian text. Shall has proved to be semantically equivalent to the Russian verbs ..... and ....... It is translated into Russian with ...... and ....., and conveys the directive or permissive meaning when its purpose is to regulate human behaviour. Additionally, the Russian simple future and the English modal shall have proved to be technically equivalent in conveying the meaning of shall. In this case, the Russian sentence does not contain explicit obligation, but conveys the imperative meaning of shall. The zero equivalent strategy, which is employed in one instance for shall, is inadequate since the nuances of modality are lost. In the French version, five variants of rendition of the verb shall were found: the present and future tense of the verb ętre, the modal verbs pouvoir and devoir, and omission of modal markers. The modal marker be entitled to has two meanings in the Russian text: permission and obligation. The same is observed in the French text. It is rendered with two modal markers: avoir le droit and pouvoir. Only the modal marker have the right to has one correspondence in the Russian and French texts. Thus, two types of translation strategies were identified in the Russian and French texts: formal and semantic equivalence; and formal mismatch but semantic equivalence. Below are examples of the use of these strategies. (18) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. ....... . ......., ......... ..............., ..... ..... ... ...... ........... .. ........ ...., .............. ... ....... ........ . .... . .......... .... ...... A partir de l’âge nubile, l’homme et la femme, sans aucune restriction quant ŕ la race, la nationalité ou la religion, ont le droit de se marier et de fonder une famille. The translation corresponds to the source text both formally and semantically. (19) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. ............. .... .... . ...... .. . .... ...... .. ...... ............. ..... . ......... ........... ............ ...... Ces droits et libertés ne pourront, en aucun cas, s’exercer contrairement aux buts et aux principes des Nations Unies. The negative form of the modal may means it is prohibited. In the Russian text, the translator uses the negative form of the verb ...... which also means it is prohibited. It corresponds to the original text semantically, but not formally. In the French text, the negative form of the English modal verb may be rendered with the negative subjunctive pouvoir, which conveys the same prohibitive meaning. 6 Concluding Remarks This study has attempted to offer an account of deontic modal markers across the English, Russian and French versions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The main objective of this article has been to detect key modality features and linguistic means that convey deontic modal meanings by examining the three parallel texts from the perspective of a contrastive analysis. The need to study deontic modality has arisen due to semantic discrepancies between modal expressions in linguistic variants of the same text. The negotiation of such semantic difficulties is a challenge for legal translators. In the English, Russian and French legal texts, deontic modality performs a variety of functions, including granting rights and permissions, imposing obligations, and conferring prohibitions. A variety of modal markers are employed to perform these functions. Despite the fact that Russian and French modality systems are not as grammaticalized as the English one, Russian and French prove to possess a number of deontic modal markers which enhance the stylistic variation. In Russian, the modal markers found in the text under study are the modal verbs ...... and ...., the modal adverb .......... and the modal construction ..... ...... In French, these are the modal verbs devoir and pouvoir and the lexical modal expressions avoir le droit and infinitive + ŕ. The analysis aimed to identify convergences and discrepancies in the use of deontic linguistic means has revealed that French and Russian have more in common than French and English or Russian and English. Translators should properly understand the modal systems of source and target languages and distinctions that each modal displays due to the ambiguity manifested by modal verbs, which can be polysemous and get a precise meaning only in context. The present study has offered only a glimpse into this problem by looking at some instances of semantic discrepancies between the three languages. Further studies of authentic data derived from various text types are needed. 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Dragana Vukovic Vojnovic University of Novi Sad, Serbia 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 51-68(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.51-68 UDC: [81’373.72:338.48]:81’322 Key Noun + Noun Collocations in the Language of Tourism: A Corpus-Based Study of English and Serbian ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigate the main characteristics underlying noun + noun collocations in the English and Serbian language of tourism. Their morpho-syntactic, semantic and communicative features are contrasted and compared in the two languages. Firstly, we compiled two comparable corpora in English and Serbian from the tourism websites of Great Britain and Serbia. Based on their normalized frequencies per 10,000 words, key noun + noun collocations were extracted, using TermoStat Web 3.0 and AntConc. The results showed certain similarities in terms of the prevailing topics in the two corpora, based on the analysis of key noun + noun collocations. However, we found major differences in the two languages in terms of their morpho-syntactic features, communicative focus and the relationship of the collocates. The results of the study have implications for English for Tourism education, tourism discourse studies, language typology and lexicography. Keywords: noun + noun collocations, contrastive corpus analysis, custom-made corpora, corpus analysis tools, language of tourism Kljucne dvosamostalniške kolokacije v jeziku turizma – korpusna študija angleškega in srbskega jezika IZVLECEK V prispevku raziskujemo glavne znacilnosti dvosamostalniških kolokaciji v angleškem in srbskem jeziku turizma. Primerjamo njihove oblikovno-skladenjske, pomenske in komunikacijske znacilnosti v obeh jezikih. Najprej smo sestavili dva primerljiva korpusa v angleškem in srbskem jeziku, za katera smo crpali podatke s turisticnih spletnih strani Velike Britanije in Srbije. Na podlagi njihovih normaliziranih frekvenc na 10.000 besed so bile z uporabo TermoStat Web 3.0 in AntConc izlocene kljucne kolokacije, sestavljene iz dveh samostalnikov. Rezultati njihove analize so pokazali dolocene podobnosti glede prevladujocih tem v obeh korpusih. Vendar smo v obeh jezikih ugotovili velike razlike glede na obliko-skladenjske znacilnosti, komunikacijsko osredotocenost in odnos med kolokati. Rezultati študije lahko koristijo pri pouku anglešcine za potrebe turizma, študijah turisticnega diskurza, jezikovni tipologiji in leksikografiji. Kljucne besede: dvosamostalniške kolokacije, protistavna korpusna analiza, po meri ustvarjeni korpusi, orodja za korpusno analizo, jezik turizma 1 Introduction In this paper, we present and analyse some of the main features of noun + noun collocations in the language of tourism in English and Serbian, based on the contrastive analysis of two comparable custom-made corpora of texts compiled from the promotional tourism websites of Great Britain and Serbia. The initial motives for this study were the preparation of prospective course content for compulsory English for Tourism courses at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, as well as a long-term experience of the author in translating scientific papers in the field of tourism and related fields.1 Firstly, referring to the genre and discourse analysis of Swales and Bhatia (Swales 1990; Bhatia 1993; 2002), it has been observed that the language of tourism can be considered as a special discourse with its specific language structures and functions, specific written and spoken forms, and what is the most pertinent to this study, with specific vocabulary rich in collocations and idiomatic expressions. Secondly, the language of tourism has a high communicative value for the professionals in this field who understand the nuances of its terminology and aim to communicate successfully with their colleagues. However, it is also a powerful tool for communication with non-professionals, i.e., clients, passengers, guests, and tourists, and its main purpose in this sense is to create a desire to travel and persuade potential clients to depart on a journey (Dann 1996; Thurlow and Jaworski 2010; Jaworski and Pritchard 2005). In addition to being objective and informative, the language of tourism as the language of promotion provides an embellished view of reality, hence its communicative practices can be considered as using the language of power in a very subtle way by providing potential clients with the offer they wished for. Moreover, new ways of communicating with clients through the web have created a sort of hybrid tourism discourse which is opening more doors for language specialization and use, keeping in mind responsible policies and strategies of the tourism industry (Maci 2010). Finally, to refer back to the main purpose of the paper, in English for Tourism classes it is of the utmost importance to teach and learn new vocabulary and acquire the right terminology of the particular field. It has been observed that noun + noun collocations coupled with adjective + noun collocations are used quite often when describing a particular tourist destination, accommodation, facilities, food, aspects of culture and entertainment, etc. (Lam 2007; Kang and Yu 2011; Vukovic Vojnovic 2011). Acquiring adequate collocations in a foreign language can be problematic in particular because of the L1 transfer and different morpho-syntactic characteristics of L1 and L2, which is the case with English and Serbian noun + noun collocations. This is why it is important to choose the most adequate and effective collocations in the target language and contrast them with L1 collocations in a way that would assist students and/or tourism professionals to communicate more successfully in the target language (e.g., English) with their prospective clients through electronic media and websites, which are, today, the first step in every journey. 2 Theoretical Background This study is grounded in the findings from two main theoretical frameworks – corpus-based studies of collocations and contrastive studies of collocations, relying also on tourism 1 The results and findings presented here are part of a larger study that was conducted for a doctoral thesis.discourse studies. In this section, we will present a brief overview of the theoretical views and relevant literature. 2.1 Tourism Discourse Tourism English is recognized as a special register of the English language which serves a special purpose and is different from General English (Lam 2007, 72). Gotti (2008, 22–24) reflects on specialized discourse as a form of general discourse with some additional criteria, including mono-referential and denotative meaning of terminology, which is also true for the tourism domain (e.g., tour operator, package holiday, buffet breakfast). However, the specialist language of tourism is not always neutral in register but has a connotative function as well, because objective information is quite often embellished to emphasize the positive features of a destination, or a service offered to tourists. After comparing a large custom-made Tourism English Corpus with the Freiburg-LOB Corpus of British English (F-LOB)2, Kang and Yu (2011) came to the conclusion that Tourism English is descriptive, positive, and aimed at creating enthusiasm and appreciation of aesthetic values among potential tourists. Tourism discourse creates a specific vision of reality, social identities and appreciation of self and the other (Jaworski and Pritchard 2005, 6–7). In tourism discourse, physical features, for example land, become visual objects of tourist desire, for example landscape, because the actual space and time are reshaped and conceptualized by the language of tourism (Jaworski and Pritchard 2005; Urry 1995). This sort of intervening approach towards reality in the language of tourism is called the tourist gaze, a term introduced by Urry (Jaworski and Pritchard 2005, 9). 2.2 Corpus-Based Studies The study of authentic language based on a corpus has the following characteristics: “its usage-based corpus methodology, the central role of the notion of collocation, and the technological background of the approach” (Geeraerts 2010, 169). Custom-made corpora in ESP education can be incredibly useful for exploring and analysing authentic specialist materials that would lead to the identification of key specialist terminology and concepts in a specific field or profession (e.g., tourism discourse). Over the past seventy years, there have been a lot of corpus-based studies that dealt with ESP and EAP issues (West 1953; Xue and Nation 1984; Sinclair 1991; Howarth 1998; Coxhead 2000; Gavioli 2005; Nesselhauf 2005; Lam 2007; McClaren 2007; Granger and Meunier 2008; Schmitt 2008; Geeraerts 2010; McEnery and Xiao 2010; Cobb and Boulton 2015; Liu and Han 2015; Hyland and Jiang 2017, etc.). These led to a deeper understanding of lexical features and terminology in specialized languages, using both statistical and qualitative data obtained from large electronic or custom-made corpora, exploring the relationship between the vocabulary and the domain/context, making use of empirical, authentic examples of professional communication, as well as exploring the relationship between L1 and L2 that affects the target language acquisition and production, and creating word lists and collocation lists for Academic English or for specialist fields. In contrastive corpus studies, researchers can focus on comparing language features in two or more languages using large electronic corpora, such as the Brigham Young University 2 See https://varieng.helsinki.fi/CoRD/corpora/FLOB/.Corpus integrated with the British National Corpus3 – BNC or the Corpus of Contemporary American English – COCA, which is a huge dynamic corpus with more than 560 million words4. In addition to word frequency studies, corpus-based research can provide qualitative data on collocational information such as a broader context of language use with authentic examples of specific language features related to particular topics (McCarten 2007). When analysing collocations in the corpus, researchers usually produce concordances which show the words in their immediate context, usually according to a Key Word in Context index (Geeraerts 2010, 170). The context shown in concordance lists helps us distinguish frequent co-occurrences of words that are not collocations (e.g., of the). In studies related to language pedagogy, corpora are usually purpose-built from texts in a specialist field. In particular, Gavioli (2005) explored the application of corpora in ESP language teaching, creating special, custom-made corpora that would meet the needs of her language classroom and help students acquire specific vocabulary for their specialist field. Most of the corpora were made up of specialized texts downloaded from the web, keeping in mind certain criteria when choosing the texts for the corpora – avoiding multiple texts written by the same author or from the same journal or source, and ensuring that most of the texts were written by native speakers, with 20% written by non-native speakers (Gavioli 2005, 8). Another way of using corpora for data-driven learning is to create so-called learner corpora, compiled from texts produced by non-native speakers of a language, i.e., students, researchers, and professionals, which are then compared with the native-speaker corpora. In the foreign language learning contexts, if learner corpora are to be adequate and systematic then they need to be collected in such a way that there is little control by the teacher/researcher, such as with a collection of student essays which only have a preset title or through open-ended interviews (Nesselhauf 2005, 40). As Geeraerts (2010, 181) observes, corpus-based collocational lexical description led to the development of corpus analysis tools which can be easily used even for a large-scale quantitative analysis of the corpus. The tools used for the investigation of custom-made corpora are mostly available online and are constantly being developed and improved (e.g., LancsBox5, Sketch Engine6, Range7, etc.) For the purpose of this study, we have used TermoStat Web 3.0 for the English corpus and AntConc for the Serbian corpus, which will be explained in the section on research methodology. 2.3 Contrastive Approach to Collocations The contrastive approach to the investigation of collocations and prefabricated language items is the key to providing a more systematic insight into the complexities of acquiring foreign language vocabulary. It has an array of applications in foreign language education, corpus studies, translation studies, and the development of electronic corpora and glossaries. In this subsection, we will present a few examples of relevant contrastive research and also 3 See https://corpus.byu.edu/bnc. 4 See https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/. 5 See http://corpora.lancs.ac.uk/lancsbox/. 6 See https://www.sketchengine.eu/. 7 See https://www.range-software.com/.establish the definition of collocations and criteria applied in this paper. We will first look into some conclusions derived from empirical research. However, it is interesting to note that there have not yet been any relevant studies comparing N+N collocations in English and Serbian, in particular in an ESP context. One of the major projects regarding the contrastive analysis of English and Serbian was The Yugoslav Serbo-Croatian English Contrastive Project in the 1970s, whose main editor was Rudolf Filipovic, and the main institutions participating in the project were the University of Zagreb, the Institute of Linguistics and the Centre for Applied Linguistics from Washington, DC. Some of the findings from this project definitely shaped the understanding of contrastive analysis in this region, and shed light on various linguistic features of the two languages in contrast. The research results published within the project will not be discussed here, however, because they go beyond the research aims and the scope of the paper. Đordevic (1989) gives one of the most comprehensive contrastive insights into the features of nominals including the classification of noun collocations in English and Serbian with numerous examples in the two languages. Special attention is given to the study of attributive and classifying functions of adjectives and nouns in Adj+N and N+N collocations. Nation (2007, 328) explains that it is important to investigate collocations for successful vocabulary learning in a foreign language. Firstly, we should decide if the collocations are frequent and/or predictable, and what their common patterns are. If they are frequent and predictable, they will be more easily acquired by the students because they will have multiple chances to come across such collocations in a broader written and spoken context. High-frequency collocations are also often included in dictionaries, so students can look them up easily. In a specialized context, the collocations that are less frequent and less predictable should be collected as glossaries which were found to be useful in teaching ESP at tertiary level (Gajšt 2006; Paradiž 2021). Collocation lists can also facilitate the choice of collocations to be taught through direct teaching methods. Otherwise, the foreign language students will have difficulty in acquiring such collocations, because the criteria for them are not as easily transparent and available as is the case with native speakers. In his vocabulary development strategy, Nation (2007) explains that explicit teaching of carefully chosen vocabulary is especially important in the early stages of academic foreign language learning and languages for specific purposes, and that vocabulary lists can boost the incidental vocabulary learning that happens during reading and listening activities. Granger (1998) defines her methodology as Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis, first contrasting and comparing language use among native and non-native speakers, and also comparing the target language among non-native speakers with different native languages. After investigating collocations, Granger concluded that non-native speakers most often produce unusual combinations for the target language, which resemble collocations in their native language, and are not the same as collocations made by native speakers of the target language (Granger 1998, 152–53). Howarth (1998) investigates verb + noun collocations (e.g., reach a conclusion, produce findings) in academic writing in English among students who are not native speakers of English, and his main motivation for the study was to provide a descriptive framework for teachers who need to assess student written assignments and find an easier way to give valuable, data-based feedback to students. Collocations are in the middle of a continuum (Cowie 1981; Howarth 1998) ranging from free combinations to fixed idiomatic expressions, where interchangeability of their constituents is not possible. Collocations also comprise a spectrum of typical word combinations where the secondary collocate can easily be replaced by a synonym, to more restricted collocations made up of a more fixed set of units. Ackermann and Chen (2013, 236) argue that even so-called free collocations or free combinations imply certain syntactic and semantic restrictions regarding the words that co-occur in them. For example, write an essay can be regarded as a free combination, but, syntactically, the verb write is followed by an object, and, semantically, that object can only be something that is a written product, e.g., an essay or a song. Furthermore, collocations cause additional problems for L2 learners regardless of their proficiency level in L2 because of the element of “grammatical or lexical unpredictability or inflexibility” (Nation 2001, 324 in Ackermann and Chen 2013, 236). Native speakers do not experience such difficulty and can easily recognize collocations (Ackermann and Chen 2013, 236). In the context of foreign language learning, it is important to acknowledge the open-choice principle for making collocations which is used by non-native speakers, as defined by Sinclair (1987, 319). Conversely, native speakers choose combinations which are well-established in the language and even prefabricated, based on the principles that are not transparent or available to non-native speakers, as we have already mentioned. Since the majority of collocational errors in L2 come from L1 interference, contrastive analysis of collocations helps the teacher to eliminate the collocations that are equivalent in L1 and L2, and to choose language-specific collocations to be explored further (Bahns 1993, 56–57). Although Palmer (1933) was one of the first to deal with collocations in English more deeply in his Second Interim Report on English Collocations, it was Firth’s insightful statement8 that prepared the ground for a new approach to understanding meaning, moving away from individual words and drawing attention to context (Firth 1957, 11). His approach was upgraded by Halliday (1966) who singled out lexical collocations and drew attention to the lexical level of language, which should be separate from the grammatical level, but he also emphasized their interconnectedness. It was Sinclair (1966; 1987; 1991) who developed Halliday’s model even further focussing on the collocability of words and the influence of context, which led to his development of corpus studies. In more recent times, within the scope of lexical and cognitive semantics, there is also an emphasis on the context, i.e., the domain, which is seen as important for understanding the meaning of a lexeme (Croft and Cruse 2004, 18). The theory and definition of collocations has revolved around the understanding of lexical, syntactic and semantic principles, producing different approaches across different linguistic disciplines, such as structural linguistics, functional linguistics, generative semantics, lexical semantics, cognitive semantics, etc. Cruse (1986) defines lexical collocations as a series of lexical units that make a standard combination and for which each lexical constituent is 8 “You shall know a word by the company it keeps.”also semantic, so that the meaning is transparent (e.g., fine weather, torrential rain). When considering the study of collocations in the Serbian language, Dražic (2014, 73) provides a rather complex definition of collocations, defining them as “a syntagmatic lexical combination of two or more auto-semantic lexemes, organized according to the morphosyntactic rules of a given language, with a greater or lesser degree of permanence and interconnectedness of elements, conditioned by linguistic and non-linguistic, cultural-historical and social data.” For the purposes of this study, relying on the findings of Van Roey (1990) and Granger (1998), lexical collocations will be defined as combinations of two or more lexemes that form a connection so that one collocate pairs up with a particular lexeme from a pool of synonyms, regardless of their syntactic restrictions. 3 Research Methodology 3.1 Research Aims The ultimate goal of this research is to single out and analyse noun + noun collocations that are specific to the language of tourism in English and Serbian and can be characterized as terminological. More specific objectives of the investigation include determining the morphosyntactic and semantic features of these collocations, classifying collocations around specific topics, and discussing the similarities and differences between the collocations in the two languages. This sort of analysis and its findings provide a platform for a more systematic approach to collocations in terms of their lexical-semantic features and use, and their adoption in the language of the profession, primarily in terms of developing communicative competencies in English among non-native speakers for whom tourism is a broader area of ..their future or current profession. Hence, one of the goals in the future would be to create a list of key terminological collocations in the field of tourism in English and Serbian. 3.2 Corpus Firstly, two comparable corpora were collected from electronic texts in English and Serbian that were excerpted from the websites of official national tourism organizations of Great Britain (www.visitbritain.com) and Serbia (www.serbia.travel), and from the websites of two leading travel agencies in the respective countries (www.tui.co.uk and www.kontiki.rs). The English Tourism Corpus (ETC) consists of 98,567 words and the Serbian Tourism Corpus (STC) contains 87,489 words. These particular websites were chosen because they represented the best possible sources at the time of compilation and would cover a wide range of promotional tourism texts. On the one hand, the websites of national tourism organizations present what that country has to offer to domestic and international tourists, i.e., their main business interest lies both in domestic and inbound tourism9. On the other hand, the travel agencies mainly deal with outbound tourism,10 i.e., they take domestic tourists outside their place of residence. This major difference between the two sub-corpora has an effect on the nature of the texts and the choice of amenities, services and attractions to be presented to the potential 9 See https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Tourism. 10 See https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Tourism.clients. The main idea was to compile a collection of texts that would be more neutral and objective in character, and not affected by an individual style of writing, so personal blogs that were part of the websites were not included in the corpora. All the names of hotels, cities, amenities, such as restaurants, museums, hyperlinks, graphs, tables, etc. were excluded from the corpora. The recurring themes in the corpora were the result of a specific season when the corpora were compiled, which was the summer season of 2019. 3.3 Research Procedure The first step was a quantitative analysis of morphosyntactic realizations of collocations in the two corpora, as well as an investigation into the nature of the relationship between the primary and secondary collocates in the analysed collocations. The primary collocate is the main constituent of a collocation that carries its meaning (Prcic 2008, 151), whereas the secondary collocate modifies the meaning of the primary collocate or clarifies it. In the corpus-based studies, the primary and the secondary collocates are referred to as node and collocate respectively (Sinclair 1966, 415). At this stage, collocations that appeared four or more times in the corpora were extracted to create the corpus and considered as key terminological collocations for the field of tourism promotion on the web. This criterion was taken from the software tool TermoStat Web 3.0,11 used for extracting collocations from the English corpus. Since the two corpora are not the same in size, a normalized frequency of distribution per 10,000 words was calculated for the collocations. The collocations whose normalized frequency (nf) was 1 or greater than 1 were considered to be the most frequent key collocations in the corpora. For ETC, this meant that the absolute frequency distribution (f) for noun + noun collocations in this corpus was at least 10 or more, and for STC this meant that the collocations appeared at least nine times or more. This was followed by the qualitative analysis of the key collocations in terms of their lexical-semantic features and their functional and communicative role in the corpora. Hence, specific topic areas emerged in the corpus based on the most frequent key collocations, depicting cultural aspects of the analysed texts that were compiled for the corpora. Finally, similarities and differences between the English and Serbian corpora were juxtaposed. 3.3.1 Corpus Analysis Tools The corpus analysis tool TermoStat Web 3.0 developed by Patrick Drouin from the University of Montreal was used to extract the collocations in the English corpus. This tool was chosen because it lists noun + noun and adjective + noun collocations in the so-called technical corpus12 after its automatic comparison with the non-technical corpus. Furthermore, typical combinations of adjectives and nouns with prepositions can also be sought for. All collocations that appear four or more times in the technical corpus are considered as terminological units and part of the specialized corpus (Drouin 2003). Figure 1 shows how the results are presented in the tool, showing the absolute frequency, log likelihood score, and type of collocation. Both singular and plural forms are calculated together. 11 See http://termostat.ling.umontreal.ca/. 12 Technical corpus is a term used by Drouin (2003) for the specialized corpus that was uploaded for the analysis. Figure 1. Partial view of the results of key collocations obtained by TermoStat Web 3.0. Since TermoStat Web 3.0 is not available for Serbian, another software tool was used for the analysis of the Serbian Tourism Corpus called AntConc (Anthony 2017). There is a huge difference between these tools in terms of their technical characteristics, which, however, do not influence the obtained results. In our analysis we explored all nouns in the Wordlist for the Serbian Tourism Corpus, which also meant going through all paradigmatic forms of these words. The procedure of extracting collocations with AntConc is much slower because the researcher needs first to choose the Wordlist option, then deliberately search for particular key words and finally to look for secondary collocates and list concordances for them. The concordance option is formatted by the principle “key word in context” (KWIC) and it is very helpful for eliminating inadequate examples because it shows the actual context where the collocation appears in the text. Firstly, word combinations that contained foreign words in their original form were eliminated from the analysis, such as a la carte restoran, deluxe soba, fitness centar, dress code, etc. Another group comprised word combinations where a foreign word in the attributive function was adapted into Serbian but actually became a so-called prefixoid and formed a compound or a semi-compound noun (Klajn 1978, 188), for example, aperitiv-bar, avio-karta, avio-prevoz, etno-selo, etno-park, snek-bar, etc. 4 Results In the next few paragraphs, we will look into the final results of the corpus analysis after the inadequate examples were filtered out. These were eliminated because they did not meet the proposed definition of collocations, or the word class was not the right one for this study. For instance, host royal honeymoon was extracted as noun + [adjective + noun] collocation by the software tool, but the context clearly showed that the word host was a verb in this example. Another combination that was excluded from the analysis was sun bed, which is actually written as one word and is clearly a compound.13 Although software 13 See https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/sunbed.tools were used in extracting collocations, in a few instances, final decisions were made after consulting the Online Oxford Collocation Dictionary14 or Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English (2002), as well as monolingual online dictionaries, such as the Macmillan Dictionary15and Oxford Learner’s Dictionary16. The treatment of collocations in the paper is based on phraseological and corpus studies approaches as mentioned before (cf. Cowie 1981; Sinclair 1991; Van Roey 1990; Granger 1998; Howarth 1998; Geeraerts 2010, etc.) and the treatment of collocations in the Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English (OALD). OALD applies a pragmatic approach to collocations based on the most typical use of language (2002, viii) and includes collocations ranging from the rather weak ones to the most restricted ones, which were extracted from the 100-million-word British National Corpus. Finally, the software tools used in the paper for extracting collocation were considered as reliable, especially TermoStat Web 3.0, which automatically extracted collocations based on corpora comparison, log-likelihood score and mutual information score (Drouin 2003), so the results obtained from this software tool were considered as reliable with some minor exceptions. 4.1 Noun + Noun Collocations in English Tourism Corpus (ETC) As it is illustrated in Table 1, a total of 102 different key terminological collocations were found in the English Tourism Corpus (ETC). To refer back to the research design, key terminological collocations are those that appeared four or more times in the corpus. Table 1. Total number of different key terminological noun + noun collocations in ETC. Collocation Subtype F nf N + N 93 9.43 [N + N] + N 1 0.1 N + [N+N] 1 0.1 N+ preposition ‘of’ +N 7 0.71 Total 102 10.35 The most frequent subtype is [N + N], i.e., the binary structure of collocations. Ninety three different collocations of this subtype were found in the corpus, with a normalized frequency of 9.34. Structurally, in English [N + N] collocations, the secondary collocate has attributive meaning and is positioned before the noun which is the primary collocate or the node. The secondary collocate has a modifying function similar to adjectives in adjective + noun collocations. In the group of key [N+N] collocations with binary structure, a total of 23 most frequent key collocations were found, which therefore occurred 10 or more times in the corpus, i.e., whose normalized frequency per 10,000 is one or more. In this group, we will mention the first 10 most frequent collocations extracted by the TermoStat Web 3.0: buffet restaurant (nf 4.16), water sports (nf 3.75), sea view (nf 3.04), afternoon tea (nf 2.74), golf courses (nf 2 , 54) 14 See http://www.freecollocation.com/search?word=room. 15 See https://www.macmillandictionary.com/. 16 See https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/next-door_2.pool bar (nf 2.13), dress code (nf 1.93), sun terrace (nf 1.93), boat trips (nf 1.83) and street food (nf 1.62). As mentioned before, although the collocations were automatically extracted by TermoStat Web 3.0, some of the results were also checked in the Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English (Dignen, Crowther, and Lea 2002). For example, afternoon tea might be considered as a free combination, but it is actually a meal which has a significant impact on the British way of life, and it has its own entry in the above-mentioned dictionary of collocations (Dignen, Crowther, and Lea 2002, 15). Moreover, it can also be found as a separate entry in online dictionaries17. The collocation dress code can be found as a separate entry in dictionaries18, so it might be analysed as a compound noun, but it is also found in the dictionary of collocations (Dignen, Crowther, and Lea 2002, 240). In addition to binary collocations, only two extended collocations were found in the group of key collocations, hence appearing four or more times in the corpus. The first type is [N+N]+N, where we have a collocation [N+N] which is a modifier to the noun that follows (e.g., UK airport lounge access for Premium Club guests). The second type found in the corpus has a different structure with [N+N] collocation being a node preceded by another noun that modifies it (e.g., daytime activity program). The most frequent type of extended collocations is [N+prep. “of”+ N] with seven different ones having been found in the corpus. Here are two examples: (1) A beautiful stretch of coastline offering varied attractions including stunning beaches like... (2) You get more than a mile of sand at Maleme Beach. Finally, TermoStat Web 3.0 did not identify the most frequent binomials such as hot and cold buffet, night and day, pool and beach bar, pool and beach games, loungers and parasols, which appeared in the corpus, so they were not included in this analysis. 4.2 Noun + Noun Collocations in Serbian Tourism Corpus (STC) Unlike English noun + noun collocations, this collocational type in Serbian is different in morphosyntactic terms. The primary collocate in this type is the noun that is in the first position in the collocation, and the noun that follows is the secondary collocate, in the function of an incongruent attribute.19 Establishing a hierarchical connection between the constituents in this type of collocations in the Serbian language represents a certain hindrance, which will be discussed later. As can be observed from Table 2, the total number of key noun + noun collocations excerpted from the corpus is 73, which is much less than in the English corpus, which is congruent with the particularities of the Serbian language. As expected, the most frequent collocations in this group have a binary structure, with a total of 55 different [N+N] collocations excerpted from the corpus. The criterion was the 17 See https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/afternoon-tea. and https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/afternoon-tea. 18 See https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/dress-code?q=dress+code. 19 In the context of N+N collocations in Serbian, the incongruent attribute is the post-modifying noun that has a different case than the noun it is modifying.same as for English collocations – that they appeared four or more times in the corpus. Nineteen most frequent key [N+N] collocations (with normalized frequency one or more per 10,000) were extracted from the corpus, hence their absolute frequency was nine or more in the corpus. The first 10 most frequent [N+N] collocations in STC are as follows: cena aranžmana (nf 8.34), program putovanja (nf 7.42), organizator putovanja (nf 6.62), vrste ptica (nf 2.63), kupac aranžmana (nf 2.06), recepcija hotela (nf 1.71), vreme leta (nf 1.48) rezervacija aranžmana (nf 1.37), rezervat prirode (nf 1.37), spomenik prirode (nf 1.26). There are three different subtypes of extended collocations which were included in the analysis. In the first subtype, there are six collocations in which the primary collocates (e.g., izvor, predeo and organizator) are postmodified with the [Adj.+N] collocation (e.g., Vranjska Banja ima više izvora mineralnih voda; Organizator fakultativnih izleta je lokalni partner turisticke agencije). The next subtype contains three extended collocations with primary collocates potvrda, mogucnost and troškovi being postmodified with [N+N] collocations (e.g., Rok za potvrdu rezervacije aranžmana je...; troškovi organizacije putovanja). The third subtype of extended collocations includes nine collocations with the primary collocate being postmodified with a preposition followed by a noun, which is actually the prepositional case construction (e.g., nocenje sa doruckom; fotelja na rasklapanje; soba sa pogledom na more). 5 Discussion The basic communicative function of binary collocations of the noun + noun type is informative, since they present the facts about a destination, i.e., primarily the offer within the accommodation complex and in its surroundings. In a broader context, they are further modified by adjectives that express attitude, emotion, or opinion, which is beyond the scope of this study. In the English Tourism Corpus (ETC), binary collocations of the [N+N] subtype show a rather stable connection between collocates and are often mono-referential, i.e., they express a term that has a unique meaning. The replacement of the secondary collocate would lead to the loss of that specialized meaning, as in bell tower, coral reef, craft beer, golf courses, home game, mountain range, nature reserve, patron saint, resort centre, sun lounger, steam room, souvenir shop, etc. We can also find more flexible connections, with a greater possibility of replacing the secondary collocate and maintaining the meaning slightly modified (e.g., pool bar, cocktail bar, snack bar, rooftop bar, lounge bar). Another example of an even more flexible connection is when the secondary collocate modifies a noun of a more general meaning (e.g., pool area, play area, lounge area, lobby area). Even though in the general language, there would be a much wider range of such word combinations, in the specialized language they form a set of collocations that refer to key areas in hotels, and thus can be considered as key collocations for this particular context. In the Serbian Tourism Corpus (STC), unlike in English, the most predominant connection between the constituents in [N+N] collocations is that the first noun is the primary collocate which is postmodified by the secondary collocate functioning as an incongruent attribute, most often in genitive case without a preposition, or in another case with a preposition. The primary collocate in these collocations is often a noun with an incomplete, general or broad meaning. For instance, a collocation whose primary collocate is a noun with an incomplete meaning can refer to part-whole relationship (e.g., parce hleba, grupa navijaca) (Dražic 2014, 144). In such cases, the communicative focus is most often on the secondary collocate, so these collocations should be observed in the interaction of meanings of their constituents. This interpretation is supported by the literature and more thoroughly explained by Dražic (2014, 74), who states that “the idea of ..the ranking of its constituents, i.e., the existence and definition of the so-called main (key) word, largely neglects the unique collocation meaning” (translated into English by the author), which becomes very obvious when analysing noun + noun collocations in Serbian. In some cases, the meaning and the communicative focus are clearly conveyed by the primary collocate (e.g., kupac aranžmana, predstavnik agencije, rezervacija aranžmana, recepcija hotela, organizator putovanja) because of the situational and communicative context. These types of collocations in Serbian can often have a unique denotative meaning in the specialized context, and smaller collocability (e.g., podnožje planine, padina planine, dolina reke). Furthermore, in STC, the primary collocate in [N+N] collocations can often be a noun that has an abstract or incomplete meaning, such as vrsta, vreme, izbor, cena, pozicija so the secondary collocate is needed for the concretization of meaning. Such nouns have a very broad and general meaning which is completed by the postmodifying noun adding a more concrete meaning (cf. Dražic 2014, 99). In addition, the communicative focus is on the secondary collocate and such collocations need to be observed as units and not to be analysed by the meaning of their individual constituents. This interaction of constituent meaning, and its concretization, is best observed in the examples from STC: vrsta smeštaja, vrsta biljaka, vreme obroka, vreme vecere, izbor (više) jela, (veliki) izbor hotela, pozicija sobe, cena aranžmana, cena izleta. An incomplete meaning is also reflected as fragmentary, so the primary collocate is postmodified with particularizing genitive (e.g., ostaci utvrdenja, ostaci crkve). In STC, it has been observed that there is an overlapping of collocations with similar meanings, such as lokacija sobe or pozicija sobe, even though there is a Serbian equivalent položaj sobe, which is not represented in the corpus. Such examples are the result of globalization of the language of tourism, which is under the strong influence of the English language. There are other examples of noun + noun collocations with similar meanings throughout the STC, such as izbor hotela and hotel po izboru, pogled more and pogled na more. Considering N+N collocations in the two corpora, significant differences have been observed, starting from the total number of extracted binary collocations, i.e., 93 in ETC compared to 55 in STC. As we can see from the data, the total number of N+N collocations in the Serbian corpus is much smaller, which shows that such collocations are not as frequent as in English. The two corpora also differ in terms of the morpho-syntactic, semantic and lexical characteristics of the collocations which have been discussed in the previous paragraphs. In English, it is common for nouns to be used in pre-modifying, attributive functions as secondary collocates, which is not the case in Serbian, where the first collocate is always the primary collocate or the node in N+N collocations. Moreover, some of the most frequent noun + noun collocations from ETC have adjective + noun collocations as translation equivalents in STC (e.g., summer months – letnji meseci, city life – gradski život). Another difficulty is when the translation option is a word or a phrase without a transparent meaning, e.g., buffet translates into Serbian as švedski sto, so the collocation buffet breakfast would be translated into Serbian as dorucak na bazi švedskog stola. Such instances could be challenging for the English language learners whose native language is Serbian and would have to be addressed in teaching. 5.1 Predominant Topics in the Corpora If we observe the collocations in both corpora, we can easily conclude that texts describe a tourist offer for the summer season which can be corroborated with some examples from the ETC: large outdoor swimming pool, sun terrace with sun loungers and umbrellas, children’s pool, water sports, boat trip. The corpus also provides an insight into the cultural aspects of living in the described destination, as evident in examples 3–6 below: (3) Daily afternoon tea and biscuits from 4–5.30pm. (4) Enjoy one of the most beautiful train journeys in Britain, Glasgow. (5) Being a fishing town, Cala Bona really delivers on the seafood front. (6) Tuck into innovative fare on the city’s trendy street food scene or treat yourself to something really special. What can be observed from the examples are some of the essential elements of the British way of life – enjoying afternoon tea as a special meal during the day, travelling by train, fishing and enjoying seafood. In the ETC, there are four predominant topics in the analysed texts, such as additional amenities and facilities (e.g., beach bar, pool area, boat trip, golf course), local cultural elements (e.g., city centre, evening entertainment, street food), then collocations describing food and beverage arrangements in the hotel (e.g., buffet breakfast, afternoon tea, cocktail bar, snack bar), and the last group refers to some specific hotel accommodation features (e.g., lounge area). If we look at the predominant topics in the STC, it is easy to see that there is a slight shift from the English corpus. In addition to some similar topics, a large part of STC is made of collocations pertaining to the general organization of the trip (e.g., (opšti) uslovi putovanja, program putovanja, potvrda rezervacije aranžmana), then travel arrangements (e.g., vreme leta, sastanak putnika, dolazak u hotel), and payment arrangements (e.g., kupac aranžmana, cena aranžmana, uplata akontacije). Furthermore, another predominant group is concerned with the description of natural-geographical characteristics (e.g., vrste ptica, podnožje planine, rezervat prirode, spomenik prirode). In total, there were seven different topics covered in the Serbian corpus, whereas only four in the English corpus. The topics that were the same covered accommodation descriptions and hotel amenities which, in ETC, included a sub-topic for food and beverages, as well as segments that described amenities outside the hotel or in the vicinity of the tourist resort. On the one hand, STC was more informative in character and also more focused on some practical aspects of travelling, which included descriptions of the legal details related to the organization and realization of the travel package and payment methods. This was found in the sub-corpora extracted from the travel agency website that deals with outbound tourism. On the other hand, the part of STC that dealt with inbound tourism was dominated by those topics related to the natural and geographical characteristics of the region, as well as cultural and historic elements. As such, tourism professionals in Serbia used the tourism organization website to promote the country in the most comprehensive way they could, since Serbia is still an emerging destination on the tourism market. However, Great Britain is already a well-established travel destination, so the promotional texts were more focused on the amenities and activities. 6 Conclusion Linguistic contrastive analysis of lexical collocations in the language of a specific profession, especially in the context of custom-made corpus analysis, provides new insights and deepens the knowledge of morphosyntactic and lexical-semantic characteristics of the compared languages, creating an opportunity for observing some universal features as well as the differences between them. In this way, the lexicon of one language is systematized and a more detailed insight into the semantic relations between the lexical units of the same language is provided. This makes it easier to compare the same systems and subsystems of different languages. Considering the results and discussion presented above, it is evident that there are some significant differences in noun + noun collocations in English and Serbian in terms of their morpho-syntactic characteristics as well as some communicative features, which have been discussed in the previous chapter. The methodology of corpus analysis and collocational analysis presented here can contribute to more efficient language teaching and learning, because in this way both key collocations and key vocabulary can be selected and included in data-driven direct teaching methods. This is important in adult or academic foreign language courses that are often shorter and have fewer teaching hours per semester. In this way students’ attention will be drawn to the similarities and differences in the two languages, and the emphasis would be on the ways how to assimilate adequate and appropriate collocations in L2. In the context of ESP and EAP, custom-made corpora provide an insight into the domain specific texts, so the teachers and learners can gain a deeper understanding of lexical features and terminology related to a specific field of study, such as tourism studies. Since ESP classes at the tertiary level are often limited by the number of teaching hours, teachers can focus on specific language issues by creating custom-made corpora and using corpus analysis tools, or in this case choose key terminological collocations related to the destination promotion to be taught through direct teaching methods. Students’ attention will be drawn to specific language issues and the specific context-related jargon. Furthermore, the relationship between cultural and professional communication can be discussed in class by exploring the underlying topics in the promotional texts. They could discuss the impact of the specific language use on tourism promotion and focus on diverse cultural values promoted by tourism texts. Finally, as a step further, teachers can instruct students how to use custom-made corpora and corpus analysis tools to explore specialist texts, which can be accompanied by student interviews to see the effects of such assignments (Vukovic Vojnovic 2020). Although it should be noted that this approach has limitations regarding the number of teaching hours per course and the actual language proficiency of the students. Further developments of this study should be focused on the creation of glossaries (cf. Gajšt 2011; Paradiž 2021) and lists of key terminological collocations in the field of tourism in English and Serbian, and other relevant languages. 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Discourse, Communication and Tourism. Clevedon: Channel View Publications. Kang, Ning, and Qiaofeng Yu. 2011. “Corpus-Based Stylistic Analysis of Tourism English.” Journal of Language Teaching and Research 2 (1): 129–36. https://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.2.1.129-136. Klajn, Ivan. 1978. “O prefiksoidima u srpskohrvatskom jeziku.” Naš jezik XXIII (15): 187–98. Beograd: Institut za srpskohrvatski jezik. Lam, Peter Y. W. 2007. “A Corpus-Driven Lexico-Grammatical Analysis of English Tourism Industry Texts and the Study of its Pedagogic Implications in English for Specific Purposes.” In Corpora in the Foreign Language Classroom, edited by Encarnacion Hidalgo, Luis Quereda, and Juan Santana, 71–90. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401203906_006. Liu, Jia, and Lina Han. 2015. “A Corpus-Based Environmental Academic Word List Building and its Validity Test.” English for Specific Purposes 39: 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2015.03.001. Maci, Stefania Maria. 2010. The Language of Tourism. Bergamo: CELSB. McCarten, Jeanne. 2007. Teaching Vocabulary: Lessons from the Corpus, Lessons for the Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McEnery, Tony, and Richard Xiao. 2010. “What Corpora Can Offer in Language Teaching and Learning?” In Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning 2, edited by Eli Hinkel, 364–80. London: Routledge. Nation, I. S. Paul. 2007. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nesselhauf, Nadja. 2005. Collocations in a Learner Corpus. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Palmer, E. Harold. 1933. Second Interim Report on English Collocations. Tokyo: Kaitakusha. Paradiž, Martina. 2021. “CoLecter KIN: Mobile Application for Collaborative Bilingual Glossary Compilation in the ESP Classroom.” ELOPE 18 (1): 91–106. https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.1.91-106. Prcic, Tvrtko. 2008. Semantika i pragmatika reci. Novi Sad: Zmaj. Schmitt, Norbert. 2008. Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sinclair, McHardy John. 1966. “Beginning the Study of Lexis.” In In Memory of J. R. Firth, edited by Charles E. Bazell, John Cunnison Catford, M. A. K. Halliday and Robert Henry Robbins, 410–30. London: Longman. —. 1987. “Collocation: A Progress Report.” In Language Topics: Essays in Honour of Michael Halliday II, edited by Ross Steele and Terry Threadgold, 319–32. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. —. 1991. Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Swales, John M. 1990. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Thurlow, Crispin, and Adam Jaworski. 2010. Tourism Discourse – Language and Global Mobility. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Urry, John. 1995. Consuming Places. London: Routledge. Van Roey, Jacques. 1990. French-English Contrastive Lexicology. An Introduction. Louvain-la-Neuve: Peeters. Vukovic Vojnovic, Dragana. 2011. “‘Low Budget’ and ‘High Season’-Delve into the ‘Vast Ocean’ of Collocations Related to the Language of Tourism.” Primenjena lingvistika danas – izmedu teorije i prakse – Zbornik radova sa Treceg kongresa, 397–406. Beograd: Društvo za primenjenu lingvistiku Srbije, Filozofski fakultet u Novom Sadu, Filološki fakultet u Beogradu. —. 2020. “Enhancing ESP Vocabulary Practice with Online Corpus Analysis Tools.” In Contemporary Research in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, edited by Dana di Pardo Leon Henri and Bhawana Jain, 163–83. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. West, Michael. 1953. A General Service List of English Words. London: Longman. Xue, Guoyi, and I.S.P. Nation. 1984. “A University Word List.” Language Learning and Communication 3 (2): 215–29. Corpus – Electronic Sources Kontiki Travel Agent: https://www.kontiki.rs. Thomson-Tui Travel Agency: https://www.tui.co.uk. Tourism Organisation of Great Britain: https://www.visitbritain.com. Tourism Organisation of Serbia: https://www.serbia.travel. Electronic Tools for Corpora Analysis Anthony, L. 2017. AntConc (Version 3.5.0). Tokyo: Waseda University. https://www.laurenceanthony.net./software. TermoStat Web 3.0. http://termostat.ling.umontreal.ca/index.php?lang=en_CA. Key Noun + Noun Collocations in the Language of Tourism: A Corpus-Based Study ... Table 2. Total number of different key terminological noun + noun collocations in STC. Collocation Subtype f nf N + N 55 6.28 N+ [Adj. + N] 6 0.68 N + [N+ N] 3 0.34 N+preposition+N 9 1.03 Total 73 8.34 Part II Literature Omid Amani Malayer University, Iran Hossein Pirnajmuddin University of Isfahan, Iran Ghiasuddin Alizadeh Malayer University, Iran 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 71-84(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.71-84 UDC: 821.111(73).09-2Sheppard S. Unnatural Temporalities and Projected Places in Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 ABSTRACT Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 (1967) belongs to his first period of play writing. In this phase, his works exhibit experimental, remote, impossible narrative/fictional worlds that are overwhelmingly abstract, exhibiting “abrupt shifts of focus and tone” (Wetzsteon 1984, 4). Shepard’s unusual theatrical literary cartography is commensurate with his depiction of unnatural temporalities, in that, although the stage is bare, with almost no props, the postmodernist/metatheatrical conflated timelines and projected (impossible) places in the characters’ imagination mutually reflect and inflect each other. Employing Jan Alber’s reading strategies in his theorization of unnatural narratology and Barbara Piatti’s concept of projected places, this essay proposes a synthetic approach so as to naturalize the unnatural narratives and storyworlds in Shepard’s play. Keywords: Sam Shepard’s Cowboy #2, unnatural narratology, impossible worlds, projected places, postmodernism Nenaravne casovnosti in projecirani prostori v drami Cowboys #2 Sama Shepparda IZVLECEK Drama Sama Shepparda Cowboys #2 (1967) spada v prvo obdobje njegovega dramskega ustvarjanja. Drame iz tega obdobja prikazujejo eksperimentalne, oddaljene, nemogoce pripovedne svetove, ki so izrazito abstraktni, zaznamujejo pa jih “nenadne spremembe gledišca in tona” (Wetzsteon 1984, 4). Shepardova nenavadna gledališko-literarna kartografija je v skladu z njegovim prikazom nenaravnih casovnosti. Na tako rekoc praznem odru se namrec postmodernisticno/metagledališko prepletene casovnice in projecirani (nemogoci) prostori v zavesti dramskih likov medsebojno zrcalijo in preoblikujejo. Z naslonom na bralne strategije, ki jih v svoji teoriji nenaravne naratologije predstavi Jan Alber, in s pomocjo koncepta projecirane prostornosti Barbare Platt bomo v prispevku s sinteticnim pristopom naturalizirali nenaravne pripovedi in pripovedne svetove v obravnavanem Shepardovem delu. Kljucne besede: Sam Shepard Cowboys #2, nenaravna naratologija, nemogoci svetovi, projecirani prostori, postmodernizem 1 Introduction: Unnatural Narratology The study of unnatural narratives, specifically postmodern narratives, stands as one of the branches of postclassical narratology that “move beyond real-world understandings of identity, time, and space by representing scenarios and events that would be impossible in the actual world” (Alber and Fludernik 2011, 14). Alber and Heinze offer three basic definitions of unnatural narrative, of which (1) is generally accepted, whereas (2) and (3) are narrow ones: (1) narratives that have a defamiliarizing effect because they are experimental, extreme, transgressive, unconventional, nonconformist, or out of the ordinary; (2) antimimetic texts that move beyond the conventions of natural narratives; (3) physically impossible scenarios and events, that are impossible by the known laws governing the physical world, as well as logically impossible ones, that is, impossible by accepted principles of logic (2011, 2–5). In their recent book, Alber and Richardson attempt to respond to some of the questions and challenges whereby some scholars critiqued unnatural narratology’s relationship to mimesis and the mimetic. Alber and Richardson (2020, 7) juxtapose Plato’s and Aristotle’s theories of mimesis; in Plato’s Republic, Socrates identifies mimesis with ‘the art of imitation’ […that] merely reproduces empirical reality as we know it and is illusory because it does not take us to the transcendental World of Ideas, where we can grasp the essence of all entities[, whereas for Aristotle mimesis is] the process of representation, projection, or simulation. Thus, the unnatural is antimimetic only on the basis of Plato’s theorization, since it contravenes the typical and conventional representations of characters and events from the actual world (the realist practice) (Richardson 2011, 31). Pursuant to that, Alber, as one of the proponents of unnatural narratology, believes that particularly postmodern fictional narratives have featured a plethora of “physically, logically, or humanly impossible scenarios and events that challenge our real-world knowledge” and that transgress the boundaries between the real world and the fictional world (2016, 3). According to Alber, unnatural narratives can portray impossibilities in character, time and space. To exemplify, Julian Barnes’ “The Stowaway” (1989) or Philip Roth’s The Breast (2016) portray speaking animals and objects; Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife (2003) draws on coexisting of two or more time zones or time travel, and Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves (2000) as well as Guy Davenport’s “The Haile Selassie Funeral Train” (1979) feature unnatural spaces (or containers) and geographies. Alber’s main theoretical issues are concerned with the reading strategies in terms of which the readers would be able to make sense of unnatural narratives by ‘naturalizing’ them. Alber mentions that the readers “can in fact productively engage with the impossible; even though the unnatural urges us to deal with impossibilities, it does not paralyze our interpretive faculties” (2016, 9). The first strategy is blending of frames in the formulation of which Alber follows the cognitive approach of Turner in which the readers are taken to “blend preexisting frames or schemata […] to adequately reconstruct the unnatural elements of the storyworld” (2016, 48). Alber also brings up Doležel’s similar argument, citing the following passage (1998, 181; emphases added): In order to reconstruct and interpret a fictional world, the reader has to reorient his cognitive stance to agree with the world’s encyclopedia. In other words, knowledge of the fictional encyclopedia is absolutely necessary for the reader to comprehend a fictional world. The actual-world encyclopedia might be useful, but it is by no means universally sufficient; for many fictional worlds it is misleading, it provides not comprehension but misreading. Generification, as the second reading strategy, operates when we “can simply account for the unnatural element by identifying it as belonging to a particular literary genre, that is, a suitable discourse context within which the anomaly can be embedded” (Alber 2016, 50). Subjectification, thirdly, is the reading of impossible elements in the character’s interiority such as dreams, fantasies, visions, or hallucinations. Alber believes that this reading strategy is “the only one that actually naturalizes the unnatural insofar as it reveals the ostensibly impossible to be something entirely natural, namely nothing but an element of somebody’s interiority” (Alber 2016, 50). Foregrounding the thematic, fourthly, transpires when we delve into the impossible narratives from the thematic approach “rather than mimetically motivated occurrences” (Alber 2016, 51). For instance, in Martin Amis’ Time’s Arrow (1991), a Holocaust novel, time moves backward at the story level so that, thematically speaking, the protagonist would be able to “undo the moral chaos of his life, including his participation in the Holocaust” (Alber 2016, 51). Reading allegorically acknowledges those types of impossible elements within fictional worlds that can be conveyed on top of everything to “a certain idea rather than [be] represent[ed] as a coherent storyworld” (Alber 2016, 52). Alber cites Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” (1915) as an “allegory on the human condition that illustrates that we all occasionally feel like, or treat one another as, vermin” (2011, 56). Moreover, satirization and parody, another reading strategy, contend with the impossible narratives to satirize, mock, or ridicule certain “[p]sychological predispositions or states of affairs” (Alber 2016, 52). Robert Olen Butler’s “Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot” (1996) is an example in that the parrot narrator serves the purpose of ridiculing the husband’s behaviour (Alber 2016, 64). Furthermore, in “positing a transcendental realm,” Alber claims, “[R]eaders can explain some projected impossibilities by assuming that they are part of a transcendental setting (such as heaven, purgatory, or hell)” (2016, 53). This appears to be particularly pertinent in Beckett’s Endgame or Waiting for Godot due to the fact that the characters are caught or trapped in an “endless temporal loop,” that shows “a kind of purgatory without purification” (Alber 2016, 53). Lastly, to illuminate “do it yourself”, Alber alludes to Ryan to indicate that in order to makes sense of the logically impossible stories “the contradictory passages in the text are offered to the readers as material for creating their own stories”. (Ryan 2006, 671). To put it differently, the story teems with various concurrent impossibilities and it is the reader’s cognitive task to naturalize the unnatural by constructing their own storyworld. Alber illustrates this through Robert Coover’s short story “The Babysitter”, which holds three such impossible storylines for which the reader can opt. 2 Time and Narrative Alber refers to five axioms regarding the real-world assumption about time (2016, 149). His first axiom is a reference to Ryan’s argument that “time flows, and it does so in a fixed direction”: forward (rather than backward)”. The second axiom is that of the “linearity” of time wherein “we conceptualize events in terms of chains or sequences”. The third one is that we live in the present time and cannot travel to the past or the future. The next axiom signifies the principle of non-contradiction; we assume that “an event cannot happen and not happen at the same point in time”. And the last one is that we cannot “speed up, slow down, or interrupt the flow of time” (2016, 149). Many theoreticians have addressed the association between temporality and narrative. One of the most significant perspectives, in a structuralist sense, is the focus on developing narratological tools for the objective pinpointing of narrative temporalities. In 1948 Gunther Muller made a distinction between narrating time, text time or discourse time, and, on the other hand, narrated time or story time. “Discourse time is measured in words or pages of text or in the hours of reading time, whereas story time epitomizes the temporal duration and chronology of the underlying plot” (Fludernik 2005, 608). In fact, stories are fixed and as Abbott observes, a story “can be told in different ways”, but the story itself “always proceeds forward in time”: “All stories move only in one direction, forward through time. (2007, 39–41). Conversely, in unnatural narratives, as Alber holds, “the story is no longer the sacrosanct chronological sequence of events that can then be represented in different ways at the level of the narrative discourse” (2016, 149). In other words, the story itself can also be unnatural, that is, physically or logically impossible. Against this background, Willemsen and Kiss distinguish between nonlinear storytelling and nonlinear storyworlds. In nonlinear storytelling, the narrative is presented in a non-chronological and deviant order whereby “the expected sequential order is disrupted” and also “causal connections between events are lacking” as in flashbacks or flashwords. However, nonlinear storyworlds “form a feature of the diegetic fictional world that is narrated” and appear in the genres of science fiction, time-travel, and temporal loops (2020, 174). In this regard, the reader, by immersing into the text, forms a mental model and “accommodates a world in which nonlinear time organization is somehow the natural state of affairs” (2020, 176). Hence, as mentioned earlier, some fictional narratives deconstruct our knowledge of the real world by playing with time: through time moving backwards on the level of story; through counter-linearity of some circular stories that trap the reader in eternal temporal loops; or by way of fictional narratives that fuse distinct periods, frustrating our knowledge that “the borders between the past, the present, and the future are fixed and impenetrable” (Alber 2016, 165). 3 Projected Places Many literary works, in Tally’s words, are “complemented with maps, whether actually included in the text or merely projected and held in the mind of the reader, which are intended to help guide the reader through the storyworld or geography of the text” (2017, 1). The reader may confront the setting as a “real” place such as Dublin in James Joyce’s Dubliners (1914), the mythic zone of Dante’s afterlife in Divine Comedy, or a totally fictional setting (i.e., Thomas Hardy’s Wessex or William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha). Likewise, in the postmodern era, geographers and urbanists such as David Harvey, Edward W. Soja, Derek Gregory, and Nigel Thrift have elaborated on how the postmodern condition has given rise to a “reassertion of space” in critical theory (Soja 1989). A highly influential postulation in this regard is Fredric Jameson’s notion of a mutation in built space that has discombobulated our global of “cognitive map”, which Jameson mentions as one of the five symptoms indicating the turn toward the postmodern (Buchanan 2010, 379). As Tally (2013, 68) elucidates, cognitive mapping refers to an individual subject’s attempt to locate his or her position within a complex social organization or spatial milieu, as in the case with a single person who is walking around in an unfamiliar city, attempting to gain a concrete sense of place in relation to various other places on a mental map. Hence, in postmodern literary cartography, the critics scrutinize “the relations between space and writing”, borders or boundaries that are transgressed, erased, or redrawn (Tally 2017, 2). With respect to novels and short stories, the writer provides a storyworld with a somewhat meticulous description of the setting; the narrator plays a crucial role to help the reader access their projected places through flashbacks and so on. A moot question here is how to address the role of space in a postmodern, experimental drama where the stage is bare, with almost no props. The stage itself, physically speaking, is in a sense part of the real world but it is also the space on/onto which an imaginary world is supposed to be projected. That is, the distinction between diegesis and mimesis seems to be less tenable in theatre. However, the stage does not serve per se to conjure up an imaginary world for the audience. As such, the concept of “projected places” appears immensely rewarding to cognitively approach such plays. Barbara Piatti claims that projected places “have qualities that differ from settings and zones of action (where the actual plot takes place), since they are created and called up via the imagination of the main characters” (2017, 179). “Without being physically present,” Piatti adds, “heroes and heroines are dreaming of, longing for, or remembering certain places, both existing and imaginary ones” (2017, 179). She (2017, 180, 185) contends that projected places “follow a specific function and add extra layers of meaning to the geography of a narrated world”; they are transient fictional locations [that] could be seen as a kind of second-degree fiction since they are made up entirely in the minds of fictional characters…mostly via a triggering element such as another place, a picture, a scent, an object, a word or sentence etc. Piatti also holds that although projected places do not act as setting, they are tightly intertwined with the plot as thinking nostalgically or critically about past actions or imagining a desirable plan to be worked out in the future. Moreover, during the course of the plot a setting may cease to serve its function and turn into a projected place, and vice versa (2017, 185). The bare stage as the real setting, in our case study, is substituted by the characters’ imaginations, hallucinations and dreams and the projected places in this particular context, pace Piatti’s conception of them as acting a “second-degree construction”, turn out to be the only stage-as-diegesis provided for the reader to make sense of the play. In what follows, we will examine Sam Shepard’s play Cowboys #2 in the light of the synthetic approach of unnatural narratology and projected places so as shed light on the particular figurations of time and space in the play. 4 Cowboys Mouth #2: A Spatiotemporally Unnatural Storyworld Shepard’s theatrical career coincides with the development of the American avant-garde in the 1960s – Off-Off Broadway – which is closely connected with the political and social sensibilities and major upheavals of the era: In the 1960s, the festering dark underside of the American century – racial inequality, poverty in the midst of plenty, the threat of nuclear holocaust, and ultimately political assassinations and the disastrous involvement in Vietnam – bubbled to the surface as the nation faced civil rights demonstrations, race riots, anti-war marches, acts of antiestablishment violence, and the emergence of a so-called “counterculture.” (Aronson 2000, 75) The Off-Off Broadway “movement” incorporated small communities in four theatres: Caffe Cino, Judson Poets’ Theatre, La Mama, and Theatre Genesis. Bottoms maintains that there existed a “very clear sense of shared community, and a shared resistance to the economic imperatives of mainstream American culture” (2009, 3). The inauguration of the New York’s Off-Off Broadway paved the way for Shepard’s “countercultural and improvisatory artistic environments” to be nurtured (Krasner 2016, 228). He launched his career with two one-act plays opened at Theatre Genesis, The Rock Garden and Cowboys (1964). By the same token Cowboys #2 (1967), another one-act play, is a second, revised edition of Cowboys, with a few changes, written three years later. Technically, in this play Shepard’s style and structure are overwhelmingly abstract, unlike what we see in the plays published in the late 1970s and 1980s. In the words of poet Michael McClure, Shepard’s 1960s and early 1970s works were “vibrations” as they were “abstract collages, elusive but intensely concentrated sketches, fragmentary but resonantly linked anecdotes, characterized by lyrical monologues abrupt shifts of focus and tone, and stunningly visualized climaxes” (Wetzsteon 1984, 4). These plays share with one another an emphasis on the fragment, in word or image. By and large, in early plays such as Cowboys (1964), Red Cross (1964), Icarus’s Mother (1965), and Cowboys #2 (1967), Shepard draws on the theatre of the absurd to experiment with character, language, and action. In writing Cowboys #2, Shepard admitted that he was strongly influenced by Beckett’s Waiting for Godot: “the time-filling antics and word games of Shepard’s young men were highly reminiscent of those of Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon” (Bottoms 1998, 28). In such plays – in which the playwright’s debt to Samuel Beckett’s psychological state of the characters and the minimalistic empty setting imbued with “existential bleakness” (Bottoms 2002, 50) in Waiting for Godot is clear – the characters pass their time in pointless banter about meaningless or insignificant events that never seem to happen. Beckett’s bare stage, representing “crisis-in-the-moment”, intimates a kind of “postapocalyptic wasteland” (Bottoms 1998, 116) and “the stark austerity of a sensibility on the edge of self-erasure and silence” whereby the characters, paralyzed by an immediate sense of fear or emotion, are spatiotemporally imprisoned and “trapped in more or less claustrophobic” stage spaces with no way out. In line with that, though with some nuances, Shepard portrays characters who long for a freedom and “wild self-release” which remain unattainable; likewise, the stage space – America – creates a sense of entrapment which fails to fulfil the promises of liberty and self-actualization (Bottoms 1998, 5). Shepard constructs a postmodern man (a character) who makes notes on events happening onstage in real time, in the TAW1 in Ryan’s terminology, signalling an erosion of the notions of time and history altogether (1992, 24).2 The setting of the play is situated somewhere in the southwest of America wherein the place of action is a bare stage, faintly lit. The sounds heard on the stage are those of a saw and a hammer –the sound source is physically present, not illusory. There are two pairs of characters: Stu and Chet (Mel and Clem, when they turn into old men), and Man Number One and Man Number Two, who are heard mostly offstage. According to the Sam Shepard Web Site (2005), Stu and Chet “play what seems to be a game of cowboys and Indians, re-enacting key episodes from western mythology – episodes which lead to decay, stasis, and the apparent death of one of the characters”. The play begins with a dialogue about rain. Both Stu and Chet check the dark sky regularly, since, as American cowboys, they celebrate rain as a symbol of hope and happiness, and also need the rainwater to wash their clothes and take a bath. Stu changes his voice to an old man’s, asking Chet “How long’s it been since ya’ seen ‘em dark as that?” and Chet answers: “could be two or three years since I seen ‘em all dark like that” (Shepard 2012, 262). Considering the mythic cowboy as a busy person whose heroic actions such as riding and fighting for justice are so well known, the passage accords with the reading strategy of satirization and parody; the two cowboys here are trying to construct a history, or project places, out of nothing for themselves by mentioning the length of time they have been waiting for the rain. Rain for them is like Godot for Vladimir and Estragon. It finally rains and Chet, triggered, as an old man, likens it to “the great flood of 1683” as if he has been alive at that time, which is impossible (Shepard 2012, 267). In fact, the reader/audience has to come to terms with his cognitive mapping in that the seventeenth century, he says, is a time of the celebration of the American frontier and heroic cowboys, when the Europeans, he imagines, came to America in search of fortune, rode from the east to the west in search of gold and killed so many Native Americans to capture their land. After a while, and with another trigger, Chet in an old man’s voice projects another place and says “Clem, I thought we was in the Red Valley”, and Stu in the same mode responds: “Red Valley? […] this here’s the Red Valley area” (Shepard 2012, 269). They imagine being in “Red Valley,” recalling of the old western frontier; they also pretend to be hearing the sound of horses getting louder each moment followed by the sound of the Indians screaming from far away. When they are certain that the Indians are approaching, they prepare to fight them with their imaginary rifles (i.e., as if the rifles are real and the Indians are physically present): STU: Fire! CHET: Fire! 1 Marie Laure Ryan refers to “three distinct actual worlds” that one perpetually encounters in a fictional universe: the AW or the actual world is the one we, the readers, live in; in the textual universe there exists a center which is the TAW or textual actual world; and finally, the TAW is proposed “as an accurate representation of an entity external to itself, the textual reference world” or TRW (1992, 24; emphasis added). 2 On the cognitive approach to narrative and drama, see Pirnajmuddin and Amani (2019). STU: Damn! Look like Apaches! CHET: Some of ‘em’s Comanches. Clem! […] STU: Your left, Clem! Got him! Tore him up! CHET: Good boy. Got him in the head that time. Right in the head. Watch it! […] STU: You lousy red-skinned punks! Think you can injure my body? Lousy red assholes! Come back and fight! (Shepard 2012, 271) First, if we read this scene – which metonymically stands for the whole play – in terms of Ryan’s model of possible worlds (1992), one interpretation is that the imaginary rifles and fighting are supposed to mean real ones that exist in the TAW, but the stage image does not show them. After all, in novels, too, not everything that exists in the TAW is represented, and it is the reader who must complete the picture or fill in the gap cognitively. The other construal is that Chet and Stu are deluded, that is, they are transported to F-Universes.3 They think they hold rifles and start to fight but the rifles and the battleground do not exist, hence, their K-world misrepresents the TAW. Operating here would be the subjectification strategy; that is, we attribute the spatio-temporal inconsistencies to the private world of these two characters. Yet another way of construing this is that the characters might be playing a game of make-believe, so that they imagine themselves in a world where they hold rifles and fight, but this world is not the one shown on stage. The repetition of the word “imaginary” [“imaginary mud,” “imaginary rifles,” “imaginary arrow” (Shepard 2012, 270–71)] provides more evidence for this reading. At work here again is subjectification but also reading allegorically (the scene allegorizing the impotence of the myth of the West but also the existential, angst-ridden waiting for meaning/salvation). One last way of reading the scene, and by extension the whole play, is to consider the characters as acting in a play. The ending of the play in which Man Number One and Man Number Two enter the stage holding the script of the play and reading it cues us to such a construal. What is involved here is a kind of metatheatricality, a stage embedded in another stage. The readers/viewers would naturalize the inconsistences by drawing on the conventions of drama, especially modern drama (the absurdist, Beckettian influence is clear) as well as those of the genre of the western (the strategy of generifiction). Arguably, the strategy of foregrounding the thematic would be operant in approaching the play too, as the theme of the persistence of myths (of the West, of masculinity, the American Dream) in American (popular) culture dominates the play. 3 Marie-Laure Ryan proposes some alternative possible worlds (APWs) that constitute the narrative universe. She restricts them “to the private worlds in the minds of characters rather than by treating them as operatives of world-construction” (1992, 9). The private worlds or virtual worlds are as follows: (1)Textual Actual World (TAW): what is presented as true and real in the story; (2) Knowledge World (K-World): what the characters know or believe to be the case with the T/AW; (3) Prospective Extension of K-World: what characters expect or hold to be future developments in TAW; (4) Obligation World (O-World): the commitments and prohibitions constituted by the social rules and moral principles which the characters are subject to; (5) Wish World (W-World): the wishes and desires of the characters; (6) Intention World (I-World): the plans and goals of the characters; (7) Fantasy Universes (F-Universes): the dreams and fantasies of the characters and the fictions they construct (1992, 113–23). It appears that Ryan’s theorization does not fully account for the impossibilities projected here. However, as we saw, in terms of Alber’s formulation the scene triggers almost all the naturalizing strategies, indicating the cognitive complexity of the play despite its seemingly modest form. The reader encounters a fusing of distinct temporal realms; in other words, we have an instance of “chronomontage” (Yacobi, qtd. in Alber 2016, 165), that is, “elements belonging to different […] periods combine within the fictive world at a single point in time to form an action, a scene, a context of utterance” (qtd. in Alber 2016, 165). As long as the fusion transpires, spatio-temporally speaking, the borders between the past, present, and future are blurred and penetrable, since the play fuses two historical periods and places: the Old West in Red Valley in the past and the New West in the present. Now, the question is: what is the significance of this unnatural narrative projected in this manner? In their quixotic fighting with the imaginary Indians, Chet and Stu consider themselves as the heroes and the Native Americans as villainous barbarians whom they have to fight. In other words, the cowboys hanker after restoring a sense of their lost identities and heroism; they aspire to go back to their roots. This Shepard scathingly criticizes as a pernicious assumption in American pop culture. Hence, the real mythic cowboy (having disappeared or shattered), to use Pavel’s theoretical parlance, is narrated as a ‘non-actual possible world,’ a fictional or made-up world, indeed (1986, 57). The other inconsistency contributing to the above-mentioned unnaturalness is describing Stu and Chet as dressed like cowboys (black pants, black shirts, vests and hats), whereas Man Number One and Man Number Two are described as dressed in suits. This contradiction in the appearance of the characters indicates two different stages of time and projected places. It becomes further acknowledged when these characters precipitously shift to the contemporary urban America that lacks rural features: STU: …Used to be lots of orange orchards around here, you know. CHET: Really? STU: Yep. Lots. All over. You could smell them… they were all over. Then they cut them all down, one at a time. One at a time. Every one. Built schools for kids and homes for old flabby ladies and halls for heroes and streets for cars and houses for people… Peacocks. Peacocks for mansions. For gardens. …tail feathers that people put in vases and set on top of fireplaces and dust collects on them. They dust them off… you can’t eat peacocks. They’re too tough…then the turtles die and the water gets all green and slimy and smells…the chickens walk all over it… their feet rot after a while…their skin gets all blue and pus starts coming out their noses… (Shepard 2012, 10–11) Stu’s account pictures modern times. The feeling for the lost natural beauty of rural America when it was discovered is wistfully nostalgic. The orange trees have been cut down and the peacocks, symbolizing the nation’s pride, glory, awakening and immortality, have been killed and their feathers used as home decoration. In like manner, by the time “car horns are heard offstage” (Shepard, 2012, 273), capitalism has fully taken over. Thus, the amalgamation of rural values and modern technology on the same stage could be accounted for by the reading strategy of foregrounding the thematic. As Chet and Stu talk about the realities of the modern life, the real sounds become louder on the stage: car horns and the conversation between Man Number One and Man Number Two placed in contrast to the sounds of the Old West (the Indians’ horses). The merging of sounds indicates the removal of the boundary between the past and the present. Chet carries on talking but his dialogue with Stu turns into a monologue as Stu stays silent. Chet describes his breakfast for Stu while at the same time the two men talk about the rent as well. Stu seems to have gone unconscious. In Robinson’s view, the play ends when Stu is “shot” by the “Indians.” (2002, 92). If this is the case, one approaches another logical impossibility in the narrative, violating the principle of non-contradiction (that is, Stu is killed by what he imagined in his own world). In terms of reading allegorically, the death of Stu stands for the decline of American masculinity and the mythic cowboy. This applies to Chet as well who, though still alive, is metaphorically in a state of life-in-death. Generally, they “become trapped in, and victims of, their fantasy” (Weales 1992, 12). Another instance of unnaturalness is the insertion of the following in the text of the play (Shepard 2012, 275–76): CHET: And eggs. Poached eggs. on toast, with hot milk and butter, and when you break the yolks the yellow part drips down into the hot milk and mixes with the toast. Salt and pepper and coffee and hot chocolate. Then just something plain on the side a little sour cream maybe, on the eggs. Then some sau- sage. Bacon. Or eggs sunny MAN NUMBER ONE: the rent’s down to a dollar a month now. MAN NUMBER TWO: Oh yeah? How did you mange that? MAN NUMBER ONE: Something about the City Health Depart- ment or Rent Commission. MAN NUMBER TWO: Well, that’s good. MAN NUMBER ONE: I guess so. MAN NUMBER TWO: We got enough food to last for a while. Here the unnaturalness lies in the typographical experiment or the “worlds on paper”, in McHale’s term (2003, 180). Normally, in a dramaturgical sense, a play is written to be performed on stage where the director is in charge of the actors and the actors play their roles. In this setting, the boundary between the stage and the spectators is rather clearly marked. What Shepard does in this play, as a postmodern playwright, is to intricately make the reader cognitively engaged in the “play script” as a participant in the action to identify the projected worlds. McHale describes such a condition as follows: “the text is split into two or even three parallel texts, forcing the reader to decide on some arbitrary order of reading, since simultaneous reading of two or more texts at once is, strictly speaking, impossible” (2003, 180; emphasis in original). Moreover, such typography is not accessible to the audience, but to the reader, since this stretches the possibilities of stage representation where the dialogues of both columns (which are parallel and on a single page) would have to be spoken simultaneously. The peculiar typography appears to be an attempt to represent two different spaces of the storyworld, not only on the paper, but also on the stage. The stage as a whole, then, would stand for the storyworld of the play, not for individual locations. “The material book,” Roman Ingarden proposes, “although in a sense it does not belong to the text’s ontological structure, nevertheless constitutes a kind of ontological subbasement or foundation, without which the structure could not stand” (qtd. in McHale 2003, 180). Hence, if we follow the strategy of foregrounding the thematic, the voices of Chet and Stu are blended with those of Man Number One and Man Number Two while the Old West is no longer heard in the hotchpotch of the city life. Yet in another sense, as Brienza observes, Cowboys #2 would stand as a rehearsal of a play; she insists on “Shepard’s dismissal of the illusion”, or his anti-illusionist technique (1990, 376). She believes that Man Number One’s and Man Number Two’s appearance on the stage dressed in suits, and not in western costume like the cowboys, while reading from the scripts in their hands, signifies Shepard’s “dramatizing an early ‘read through’ of a play” that highlights “the actor as performer, and the drama as in-process” (1990, 376). This adds more to the unnaturalness of the play when the metalepsis takes place: the actors are from the AW, transposed on the stage in the TAW of the play as Man Number One and Man Number Two. According to Robinson (2002, 92–93), the main inconsistency or tension of the play is that between a nostalgic desire for a mythic past and the brute reality of modern times: A play that, at its opening, seemed designed to celebrate imaginative kinship and showcase the range of its inventions, ends by confirming each player’s alienation – from an imagined world, whose falseness grows undeniable as the lights brighten and the real-world noise of car horns fills the barren stage, and finally from each other. The unnatural spatiotemporal inconsistencies incorporated into the play highlight and complicate this central tension, rendering this dramatic piece cognitively complex and compelling. 5 Conclusion Our discussion of these projected impossibilities through the reading strategies proposed by Alber – supplemented by Piatti’s discussion of projected places – is one of the ways of exploring the implications of the incorporation of the “unnatural” in Shepard’s drama. The present research was an attempt to shed light on the rather abstract, intricate and fragmented fictional world of Shepard’s experimental play Cowboys #2. Although the setting in the play is scarcely furnished, Shepard filters the events of the storyworld through the imagination of the characters where they, as the subjects, virtually become time travellers and provide a genuine geography of the American West as projected places over the course of distinct historical periods. In other words, the sense of unnaturalness is obtained through the collation of several temporal domains in one specific moment within the projected places imagined by the characters which are in Alber’s conception “measured against the foil of ‘natural’ (real-world) cognitive frames and scripts that have to do with natural laws, logical principles, and standard human limitations of knowledge and ability” (2016, 3). By virtue of Alber’s reading strategies, we, cognitively speaking, aimed to concretize/naturalize the unnatural and the oddities projected onstage so as to reconstruct the storyworld of the play, or as Doležel aptly put it, make “a discovery of new ways of meaning production” (1998, 160). The engagement with the unnatural in Shepard’s drama, especially in his early plays, is in line with the stretching of the realistic in American drama in the 1960s and 1970s. “[N]otable for radical shifts of character, tone, and even dramatic medium – shifting suddenly from, say, expressionism to realism to allegory – for jazz-like rhythms of action and speeches that resemble jazz riffs”, the early plays of Shepard well exemplified the anti-realistic tendencies of the American theatres (Gray 2012, 691).4 However, compared with the works of contemporary playwrights such as John Guare, Jack Gelber and Arthur Kopit, Shepard’s work seems more resistant to the constraint of realism.5 Ultimately such figurations of unnatural temporalities and projected places are to be considered in the larger context of the “spatial turn”, what Murphet calls “the reemergence of spatial consciousness” in postmodernism, a central feature of which is the collage-like juxtaposition of disparate spaces (2004, 118–19).6 References Abbott, H. Porter. 2007. “Story, Plot, and Narration.” In The Cambridge Companion to Narrative, edited by David Herman, 39–51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Alber, Jan. 2016. Unnatural Narrative: Impossible Worlds in Fiction and Drama. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. —. 2011. “The Diachronic Development of Unnaturalness: A New View on Genre.” In Unnatural Narratives – Unnatural Narratology, edited by Jan Alber and Rüdiger Heinze, 41–67. Berlin: De Gruyter. Alber, Jan, and Rüdiger Heinze. 2011. “Introduction.” In Unnatural Narratives – Unnatural Narratology, edited by Jan Alber and Rüdiger Heinze, 1–19. Berlin: De Gruyter. Alber, Jan, and Monika Fludernik. 2011. Postclassical Narratology: Approaches and Analyses. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. Alber, Jan, and Brian Richardson. 2020 “Introduction.” In Unnatural Narratology: Extensions, Revisions, and Challenges, edited by Jan Alber and Brian Richardson, 1–12. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. 4 The prime examples whereby the interface of Alber and Piatti’s theoretical frameworks can also be approached are Blue and Willie’s interaction in The Unseen Hand (1969), and Yahoodi and Kosmo’s tour around different places and temporalities in Mad Dog Blues (1971); replete with such inconsistencies, these plays represent “a chaotic, subjective world” (Shepard 1986, xi). 5 For instance, the experimentation in Kopit’s absurdist Indians (1968), also exploring American mythmaking, tends to be less radical than in Shepard’s Cowboys #2. 6 In this context Murphet quotes Foucault who insisted that “the anxiety of our era has to do fundamentally with space, no doubt a great deal more than with time. Time probably appears to us only as one of the various distributive operations that are possible for the elements that are spread out in space” (2004, 118). Arguably, space is dominant in Shepard’s drama generally (cf. a more recent play such as A Lie of the Mind (1985)) and time is mostly presented in a series of memories or wishes (projections) investing space with emotions/passions and, above all, mythic overtones. Amis, Martin. 1992. Time’s Arrow or The Nature of the Offence. Penguin Books. Aronson, Arnold. 2000. American Avant-Garde Theatre: A History. New York: Routledge. Barnes, Julian. 1989. “The Stowaway.” In A History of the World in 10˝ Chapters, by Julian Barnes, 1–30. London: Jonathan Cape. Brienza, Susan. 1990. “Sam Shepard, Anti-Illusion, and Metadrama: Plays on Writing, Acting, and Character.” In Aesthetic Illusion: Theoretical and Historical Approaches, edited by Frederick Burwick and Walter Pape, 376–92. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Bottoms, Stephen J. 1998. The Theatre of Sam Shepard; States of Crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. —. 2002. “Shepard and Off-Off-Broadway: The Unseen Hand of Theatre Genesis.” In The Cambridge Companion to Sam Shepard, edited by Matthew Roudané, 34–63. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. —. 2009. Playing Underground: A Critical History of the 1960s Off-Off-Broadway Movement. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. Buchanan, Ian. 2010. Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Coover, Robert. 2004. “The Babysitter.” In Pricksongs and Descants: Fictions, by Robert Coover, 206–30. New York: Plume. Danielewski, Mark Z. 2000. House of Leaves. New York: Pantheon Books. Davenport, Guy. 1979. “The Haile Selassie Funeral Train.” In Da Vinci’s Bicycle: Ten Stories, by Guy Davenport, 108–13. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Doležel, Lubomír. 1998. Heterocosmica: Fiction and Possible Worlds. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Fludernik, Monika. 2005. “Time in Narrative.” In The Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory, edited by David Herman, Manfred Jahn and Marie-Laure Ryan, 608–12. London: Routledge. Gray, Richard. 2012. A History of American Literature. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Krasner, David. 2016. A History of Modern Drama (Volume II: 1960–2000). Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell. McHale, Brian. 2003. Postmodernist Fiction. New York: Routledge. Murphet, Julian. 2004. “Postmodernism and Space.” In The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism, edited by Steven Connor, 116–35. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Niffenegger, Audrey. 2003. The Time Traveler’s Wife. Scribner. Pavel, Thomas. G. 1986. Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Piatti, Barbara. 2017. “Dreas, Memories, Longings: The Dimension of Projected Places in Fiction.” In The Routledge Handbook of Literature and Space, edited by Robert T. Tally Jr., 179–86. New York: Routledge. Pirnajmuddin, Hossein, and Omid Amani. 2019. “Unnatural Narratives in Sam Shepard’s Mad Dog Blues.” Neohelicon 46 (2): 739–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-019-00479-0. Richardson, Brian. 2011. “What is Unnatural Narrative Theory?” In Unnatural Narratives, Unnatural Narratology, edited by Jan Alber and Rüdiger Heinze, 23–40. Berlin: De Gruyter. Robinson, Marc. 2002. “Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard in Collaboration.” In The Cambridge Companion to Sam Shepard, edited by Matthew Roudané, 83–110. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Roth, Philip. 2016. The Breast. New York: Vintage Books. Ryan, Marie-Laure. 1992. Possible Worlds, Artificial Intelligence, and Narrative Theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. —. 2006. “From Parallel Universes to Possible Worlds: Ontological Pluralism in Physics, Narratology, and Narrative.” Poetics Today 27 (4): 633–74. https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-2006-006 Sam Shepard Website. 2005. “Cowboys #2. Synopsis.” http://www.sam-shepard.com/cowboys2.html. Shepard, Sam. 2006. Fool for Love and Other Plays. New York: Dial Press. —. 2012. Fifteen One-Act Plays. New York: Vintage Books. Soja, Edward W. 1989. Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory. London: Verso. Tally, Robert T. 2013. Spatiality. London: Routledge. —. 2017. “Introduction.” In The Routledge Handbook of Literature and Space, edited by Robert T. Tally Jr., 1–6. New York: Routledge. Weales, Gerald. 1992. “Artifacts: The Early Plays Reconsidered.” In Rereading Shepard: Contemporary Critical Essays on the Plays of Sam Shepard, edited by Leonard Wilcox, 8–21. London: Palgrave. Wetzsteon, Ross. 1984. “Introduction.” In Fool for Love and Other Plays by Sam Shepard, 1–17. New York: Bantam. Willemsen, Steven, and Miklós Kiss. 2020. “Keeping Track of Time: The Role of Spatial and Embodied Cognition in the Comprehension of Nonlinear Storyworlds.” Style 54 (2): 172–98. https://doi.org/10.5325/style.54.2.0172. O. Amani, H. Pirna­jmuddin, G. Aliza­deh: O. Amani, H. Pirnajmuddin, G. Alizadeh: Unnatural Temporalities and Projected Places in Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 O. Amani, H. Pirnajmuddin, G. Alizadeh: Unnatural Temporalities and Projected Places in Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 O. Amani, H. Pirnajmuddin, G. Alizadeh: Unnatural Temporalities and Projected Places in Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 O. Amani, H. Pirnajmuddin, G. Alizadeh: Unnatural Temporalities and Projected Places in Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 O. Amani, H. Pirnajmuddin, G. Alizadeh: Unnatural Temporalities and Projected Places in Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 O. Amani, H. Pirnajmuddin, G. Alizadeh: Unnatural Temporalities and Projected Places in Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 O. Amani, H. Pirnajmuddin, G. Alizadeh: Unnatural Temporalities and Projected Places in Sam Shepard’s Cowboys #2 Mojca Krevel University of Ljubljana, Slovenia 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 85-100(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.85-100 UDC: 821.111.09-31Winterson J. The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein ABSTRACT In her 2019 novel Frankissstein: A Love Story, Jeanette Winterson weaves an intricate trans-temporal and trans-spatial multiplicity, the coding of which is governed by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). Through the double first-person narrative of Mary Shelley and her 21st-century reincarnation, Ry Shelley, Winterson approaches the literary phenomenon of Frankenstein in its entirety, seamlessly traversing and fusing the levels of the novel’s production, thematic and formal structuring, and reception. This paper argues that by employing the patchwork nature of Shelley’s monster as the principal metaphor for the creation of her own textual hybrid, Winterson upgrades the essentially Cartesian device of metafictional referencing into a bona fide world-building device that functions according to the governing principles of the post-Cartesian, i.e., postmodern, ontological order. Keywords: Frankenstein, hybridity, metafiction, Postmodernity, Jeanette Winterson Pošastni kozmos romana Frankissstein Jeannette Winterson IZVLECEK V letu 2019 izdanem romanu Frankissstein: A Love Story Jeannette Winterson stke umetelno transtemporalno in transspacialno mnoštvo, cigar skupni imenovalec je roman Frankenstein (1818) Mary Shelley. Skozi preplet prvoosebnih pripovedi Mary Shelley in njene sodobne inkarnacije Ryja Shelleyja, Jeannette Winterson tematizira literarni fenomen Frankensteina v njegovi totalnosti, saj gladko preci in spaja segmente s produkcijske, formalno-vsebinske in recepcijske ravni klasike Mary Shelley. V clanku pokažem, da z uporabo principa »patch­work« Frankensteinove Pošasti kot podlage za stvaritev lastnega besedilnega hibrida Jean­nette Winterson pretvori v osnovi kartezijansko metafikcijsko nanašalnost v legitimno orodje za gradnjo literarnih svetov, ki deluje po nacelih postkartezijanskega, i.e. postmodernega ontološkega reda. Kljucne besede: Frankenstein, hibridnost, metafikcija, postmoderna, Jeanette Winterson 1 Introduction What is your substance, whereof are you made, That millions of strange shadows on you tend? (Winterson 2019, 5) Connoisseurs of Shakespeare might flinch at the content of the parenthesis above. It was indeed after much careful consideration that I wrote “Winterson” after what those who know their Shakespeare surely recognize as the opening lines of “Sonnet 53”. But the two lines are so frequently repeated throughout Jeanette Winterson’s 2019 novel Frankissstein: A Love Story that they function as the novel’s leitmotif. Their unreferenced1 recurrence in various contexts seamlessly merges their message with the novel’s themes and engages the lines as the node that connects all the different contexts in which they appear into a whole. As the structuring of the novel is the focus of the present paper, the lines also neatly encompass the issues I pursue on these pages. A reference equally pertinent to the novel’s thematic and formal structuring – as well as to this essay – is the one suggested by its title. Frankissstein: A Love Story is a holistic tribute to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). Through the double first-person narrative of Mary Shelley and her 21st-century reincarnation Ry Shelley, Winterson weaves an intricate trans-temporal and trans-spatial multiplicity, the coding of which is governed by Shelley’s masterpiece, and particularly by the topos at its core: Frankenstein’s Monster. On the literal level, Winterson recreates the motif of a humanoid composite brought to life by scientific intervention through the lens of contemporary scientific possibilities and the prevailing discourses on the nature of identity and humanness (most notably, queer theory, transhumanism and posthumanism). One of the main protagonists, Ry Shelley, is a transgender physician who identifies as “not one thing. Not one gender. I live with doubleness” (Winterson 2019, 89). His lover Victor Stein, an artificial intelligence savant, is instrumental in an even more literal evocation of Shelley’s central motif. He conducts experiments with body parts Ry supplies from his hospital. Another prominently featured twist on the Monster topos are the AI-run sexbots that one of the characters develops and sells. These tangible actualizations of the Monster motif have been duly addressed in existing theoretical treatments of the novel. For example, Ry’s transgender identity was succinctly analysed from the perspective of trans ecology by Maria Ramnehill (2020), combining posthumanist views on identities and bodies as bio-technological constructs with queer theory’s fundamental postulate of the performativity of gender. Likewise, María Estrella’s (2021) analysis of the novel’s representation of the fragmented body relies on current debates on gender identity and transhumanist biotechnological discourse. The tensions between posthumanist and transhumanist representations of hybridity in the novel, be they of the body, gender or sexuality, are featured in Julia Braga Neves’s (2020) study of Winterson’s modernization of Shelley’s themes and motifs. Similarly, Robin Lohmann (2020) briefly 1 Shakespeare is never mentioned with regard to the lines, but merely hinted at once. After the lines appear in the novel for the second time, they are followed by a short exchange between the protagonists: “Sonnet 54, said Shelley. Sonnet 53, I said” (Winterson 2019, 15). charts the doll–human relationship by evaluating the role of the sexbots in the novel, as well as the function of Victor Stein, from the perspective of the relation between humans and technology. Post- and transhumanism, AI, cryogenics and gender are the contexts that the novel is principally associated with. In this regard it is referenced in various studies of contemporary fiction (Holland 2020, 256; Ferreira 2019, 66, 69; O’Callaghan 2020, 78; Onega 2021, 405), and considered in most reviews of the novel. Though my consideration of Frankenstein is also concerned with hybridity, I examine the seemingly less tangible aspects of the Monster metaphor. The lines from Shakespeare quoted at the beginning of this essay (“What is your substance…”) are only one instance of a plethora of appropriations swarming Winterson’s narrative. These miscellaneous fragments in fact contribute to the narrative so prominently that they function as an integral part of the novel, regardless of whether one is familiar with them or not. What is this novel’s substance, then? whereof is it made? In my pursuit of the answer to this question, I focus primarily on the relevance of the transtextual2 and metafictional3 dimensions of the Monster’s patchwork metaphor to the novel’s organization. I argue that by employing these dimensions as the organizing principle of her own textual hybrid, Winterson constructs literary realities and subjects that conceptually comply with the governing principles of the post-Cartesian ontological order, most succinctly with the non-dualist categories proposed by Jean Baudrillard. Implicit in such structuring of the novel’s literary worlds and protagonists is a significant redefinition of the impact of transtextual and especially metafictional referencing. My intention is therefore also to establish that in Frankissstein Winterson employs metafiction as a world-building device that functions according to the governing principles of the present day socio-historical context (i.e., the times of Trump, Brexit, #MeToo, etc.), and not as a traditional tool for contesting the reality principle (cf. Holland 2020, 52–53; McCaffery 1976, 22; McHale 180, 1992; Waugh 1984, 2). The novel thus provides an insight into the characteristics of the form and function of literature within the ontology of the current, early stage of the epoch succeeding the Modern Age, henceforth referred to as Postmodernity,4 and reveals the likely directions of the development of literature within the non-dualist paradigm(s). 2 The Novel and Its Socio-Historical Context In an interview following the release of Frankissstein: A Love Story, Winterson explained that the novel grew out of the realization that “everything is relational, everything is about our interaction with something else” (Allardice 2019). Relationality is indeed the central organizing principle in Winterson’s most recent novel, as it is instrumental in the development of the plot, 2 “Transtextuality” is used here in Gérard Genette’s sense of “all that sets the text in relationship, whether obvious or concealed, with other texts” (1997, 1). 3 My usage of the term “metafictional” relies on Currie’s definition of metafiction as “dramatis[ation of] the boundary between fiction and criticism, either as illusion-breaking authorial intervention or as integrated dramatization of the external communication between author and reader” (2013, 4). 4 I am using “Postmodernity” cautiously, fully aware of its polysemy in the academic sphere. However, for reasons of practicality, I use it to refer to the initial stage of the socio-historical paradigm change which corresponds to the onset of the post-industrial stage of capitalism after the Second World War (cf. Kos 1995, 7–35). It is the stage that Jameson refers to either as Postmodernism or Postmodernity (2001, 3–6), with implications that Rodriguez Magda associates with Transmodernity (2011, 6–9).characterisation and narrative perspective. The story begins in 1816 at Lake Geneva where Mary Shelley is vacationing with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, her step-sister Claire Clairmont, Claire’s lover Lord Byron, and his physician Polidori. The focus of Mary’s story are the events surrounding the genesis of Frankenstein and its aftermath, which are inextricably connected to her love for and relationship with Percy. As Mary’s narrative unwinds, her story merges with that of her novel, as well as with the life and work of her mother Mary Wollstonecraft. The sections of Mary Shelley’s narrative alternate with those of Ry Shelley’s story, which is set in 2019. Ry, who used to be Mary before undergoing a partial female-to-male sex reassignment surgery and likes “to see at least two people I recognise” in the mirror (Winterson 2019, 89), begins his account with the visit of an expo on robotics in Memphis, Tennessee. There he meets the hostess Claire, Vanity Fair journalist Polly D., and the man he came to interview, Ron Lord, who runs a state-of-the-art sex-doll business – as Ron enthusiastically explains, he supplies his customers with “all the pleasure and none of the problems” (2019, 38). In the next section of his narrative, Ry attends a lecture on AI that his lover Victor Stein gives at the Royal Society in London. At the reception afterwards, Ry is reunited with Polly D., Ron Lord, and Claire, Ron’s sexbot. The remainder of Ry’s narrative revolves around Victor: their love and their relationship, as well as Victor’s experimental work which culminates in his attempt to revive the cryogenically preserved brain of his mentor I.J. Good and upload its contents to a robotic homunculus, “a cross between a puppet and a robot” (2019, 265). The similarity of the names of the protagonists in both narratives (e.g., Lord Byron and Ron Lord, Polly D. and Polidori, Frankenstein and Stein), as well as of the central themes of love and (artistic) creation, suggests that Ry’s story is a contemporary variant of Mary’s. Moreover, the restructuring of the names and of the contexts in which love and creation are thematically developed signal that the protagonists of the second story are the composites of those in the first. The patchwork metaphor is therefore actualized on the metafictional level of referencing, and on the structural level of character and reality creation: the protagonists of Ry’s narrative are not only assembled from those in Mary’s narrative through metafictional invocation (such as the “reconstructed” names), their identities are in themselves hybrid. Ry is not only a man who used to be a woman, his body is a composite of both male and female attributes. Victor does not identify as gay although he is in a passionate sexual relationship with Ry: “I’m not gay” (Winterson 2019, 119), he says to Ry, “you don’t feel like a man to me when we make love” (2019, 155). Towards the end of the novel, it is suggested that Victor may have been an illusion or even a hallucination, as after his disappearance there are no records of his existence. The “massive outage” that his experiment caused in Manchester, “was simultaneous with a city-wide IT meltdown. Millions of gigabytes of data wiped. Including, says Polly, Victor’s records. His phone is dead” (2019, 338). Claire’s identity is also liminal: she appears as a human and as a sexbot. When she becomes Ron’s lover, she may be either or both: “My first sexbot, really, I suppose, the love of my life, was called Claire. That is, I called her Claire. She’s retired now. But, well, to me, sitting here now, it’s like you have come back to me in human form” (2019, 239). The patchwork metaphor is further endorsed on the level of transtextuality, which intersperses the two principal narrative planes. Quotations from Shakespeare, Milton, and other poets, excerpts from biographies, passages from Frankenstein and scientific treatises, pamphlets, lyrics from pop songs, and references to contemporary and near-contemporary celebrities such as Benedict Cumberbatch, BB King, and Johnny Cash, are seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of Mary’s and Ry’s narratives. As they are mostly unreferenced and unmarked by inverted commas, but often italicized, they are inseparable from the passages which are italicized and which stylistically resemble the bona fide quotations; however, if we look for the origins of these passages, no other referent than Winterson can be found.5 These transtextual elements not only broaden the context of each narrative horizontally, they are also used to connect the two stories diachronically, binding them into a common context.6 In order to assess the function and relevance of the novel’s indiscriminating fragmentarity and all-encompassing hybridity within the socio-historical context of its conception, circulation and impact, let us briefly outline the fundamental metaphysical tenets of Postmodernity, and their implications for the established notions of the literary subject and literary worlds. The interconnected, multi-dimensional narrative plateaus of Frankissstein automatically suggest consideration from the perspective of Deleuze and Guattari’s postmodern rhizomatous assemblages and their inherent hybridity (2004, 381–82).7 However, since the main focus of this study is the novel’s structuring, which necessarily involves an enquiry into the nature of its fragmentarity, my analysis relies instead on the conceptual framework developed by Jean Baudrillard. While his key categories of hyperreality and fractal subject conceptually correspond to Deleuzeian heterogeneous multiplicities of postmodern realities and subjects,8 the correspondence is established precisely by their structuring. The hyperreal and the fractal infer the indiscriminate assembling of fragments whose value depends on their context (Baudrillard 1981, 66). An obvious example of translating the Deleuzeian fungal networks into the Baudrilliardian digital cosmoi are the parallel worlds of the social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, where the same piece of information produces a plethora of different interpretations and realities. Both hyperreality and the fractal subject are precipitated by the processes inherent in the functioning of the post-industrial phase of capitalism, most notably globalization and digitalization. The rapid development and expansion of the electronic media and their gradual digitalization facilitated the implosion of all media into a single communication channel, and hence obliteration of the very concept of a medium (Kittler 1987, 102). Within such a framework, the reality of our sense perceptions and the comprehension of our surroundings are conditioned by systems of digitally coded information which refer to nothing substantial but merely carry the potentiality of a message. Baudrillard’s hyperreality refers precisely to the composites of such “miniaturized cells, matrices, and memory banks, models of control” 5 Such is, for instance, the italicized third-person account of the Shelleys’ and Byron’s stay at Lake Geneva (Winterson 2019, 5), which resembles a passage from a biography or an encyclopaedia entry. 6 The obvious examples are the oft-repeated lines from “Sonnet 53”, or quotations from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which Ry refers to as “our [his and Victor’s] book” (Winterson 2019, 215). In this case, the transtextuality is metafictional. 7 On Deleuze and Guattari, see Vogrinc Javoršek (2018, 103). 8 And, indeed, to the theoretical assessments of the latest paradigm shift regardless of their disciplinary provenance. Not only the two categories encompass the main tenets of the poststructuralist thought (cf. Krevel 2017, 123–24), they are also conceptually compatible with, for instance, Hayles’ definition of the posthuman subject (1999, 3), Butler’s notion of the performative nature of (gender) identity (1988, 519), and the fundamental premises of quantum physics (Krevel 2019, 92–93).which, depending on their environment, may (re)produce countless versions of the real (1994, 2). In the hyperreal paradigm, the real is thus a potential constellation of (digitally encoded) data, which means that all realities exist at the same time as a potentiality. Their stability relies on the amount and compatibility of information involved: incoming data are verified with regard to their compatibility with the systems of information already assimilated into the constellation that we perceive as the reality of our quotidian existence. An example that succinctly embodies and reflects this principle is, for instance, the phenomenon of fake news, which can sometimes have very concrete consequences.9 Due to the incessant inflow of new information from the environment, hyperreal realities are in constant flux; they are permeable, interconnectable and interchangeable: they are, namely, realities without the outside. Similarly, Baudrillard’s fractal subject is a “subject without other” (2011, 64), its status instigated by the shift of production relations indicating the beginning of the post-industrial phase of capitalism. Due to the unprecedented expansion of advertising after the Second World War, which, assisted by the fast-tracked development of media and information technologies, became the chief instrument of globalization, the representational function of the objects of consumption had steadily eclipsed their functional value to the point where they assumed the status of signs. Through the act of consumption, these “sign-objects” (Baudrillard 1981, 66) – these iPhones, Versace jeans and Billie Eilish LPs – are combined into dynamic networks of postmodern identities. Due to their equal coding and hence universality, the sign-objects constitute an all-embracing subject that is “fractal […], both subdivisible to infinity and indivisible, closed on [it]self and doomed to endless identity” (Baudrillard 2011, 64). The postmodern subject is therefore a multiplicity of all the potential constellations of available sign-objects. Within the postmodern ontological framework, what we perceive as I, as our self, is the variant of our identity at the moment of perception. Moreover, since the totality of sign-objects is universally shared, meaning that individual sign-objects simultaneously participate in multiple systems of identity (of all those who purchased a certain product, like a Rolex watch, for instance), at each given moment, our identity is part of other identities, other selves. 3 Patchworks of Frankissstein’s Realities To move from theory back to Winterson’s novel, let us first establish whether the seeming compliance of Frankissstein’s narrative worlds with the fundamental metaphysical tenets of Postmodernity is not merely correlative but, in fact, ontological. I proceed on the assumption that the latter is the case if the structuring and functioning of the literary worlds in the novel correspond to the principles of the structuring and functioning of postmodern realities. Such a perspective entails that the stability – and hence realisticness – of the data constellations that make up Frankissstein’s literary cosmos depends on their connectivity with existing (“experienced”) hyperreal systems, as well as the hyperreal systems created by the (media in the) novel. Since the novel as a genre is also a postmodern medium, generating information that can potentially interfere with existing hyperreal constellations, there is no ontological difference between the literary or non-literary hyperreal systems.10 Each new compatible piece 9 Among the more notorious instances of fake news is Pope Francis’ endorsement of Donald Trump for US president, which saw some 960,000 Facebook engagements (“Fake News” 2021). 10 Consequently, the established categories of the real and the fictional conflate into the hyperreal and are thus – as a of information in or from the book interferes with the existing hyperreal systems. Hence, the main features of such literary worlds are the permeability, connectivity and exchangeability of all the involved hyperreal constellations. One of the more obvious features of the realities in the novel is their reliance on the media artefacts that have already become part of our collective memory and experience, and thus constitute a stable foundation for the verification of new information and creation of alternative hyperreal constellations. These comprise existing topographic and historical locations, as well as a comprehensive array of (pop)cultural and literary artefacts. Ry’s story coincides with the late 2010s “meteoric” ascent of the transgender agendas and transgender visibility (Billard 2019, 165; Taylor, Haider-Markel, and Lewis 2018, 3–4). Victor and Ry meet while visiting the Alcor cryogenic facility headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, where they are guests of Max More.11 Ron Lord ponders the opportunities Brexit offers for the expansion of his bot business, and worries that Claire is “a #MeToo type” (Winterson 2019, 230). The narrative’s socio-political context is rendered, for instance, through jabs at President Donald Trump (“Is Donald Trump getting his brain frozen? asks Ron. Max explains that the brain has to be fully functioning at clinical death”) and criticism of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro: “[W]here do you draw the line? Murdering bastards, child molesters, thugs, nutters, that bloke in Brazil – Bolsonaro” (2019, 227). The stability of the worlds in Mary’s part of the narrative relies primarily on the cultural, and especially literary, artefacts, that is, information on the life and times of Mary Shelley, and her novel Frankenstein: the text itself, its genesis, and its historical and cultural impact. The more one is acquainted with Frankenstein and its paratextual dimensions, the more one considers the worlds of Mary’s narrative as a solid hyperreal basis for further development and consolidation of the Mary Shelley-related notions. The hyperreal constellation of the topographic and historical location of Lake Geneva in 1816 is enhanced and stabilized by manifold biographical, epistolary, encyclopaedic and academic accounts on the circumstances of the conception of Frankenstein. Similarly, the Bedlam asylum, where in Winterson’s novel Victor is brought and where Mary eventually meets him, consolidates the credibility of Mary’s account of the events. The topographic and historical system of data conditioning the prevailing notion of the infamous Bethlem Royal Hospital12 is on the one hand upgraded by Winterson’s verbatim quotation of the 1725 pamphlet advertising tours of the asylum premises (2019, 174).13 On the other hand, the veracity of the Bedlam-related events in the novel is also enhanced by the compatible information from Frankenstein (Victor Frankenstein’s being committed to an insane asylum). Additional research of the relevance of the institution to Winterson’s – and Mary Shelley’s – story further reinforces Mary’s reality constellation, fundamental literary dialectic – rendered obsolete. Consider, for instance, the world-wide controversy following the publication of Dan Brown’s bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code (2003). The Vatican even appointed Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as the official The Da Vinci Code debunker (Pauli 2005). 11 Max More is a renowned futurist and transhumanist philosopher, who was the president and CEO of Alcor Life Extension Foundation between 2011–2020. 12 Bedlam is the nickname for the oldest English hospital for mentally ill individuals. 13 Since the citation is not marked as such, establishing that the text is, in fact, a verbatim quotation, requires further verification of this piece of information with regard to other constellations of data (i.e., an internet search). If one chooses to do so, the reliability of both Winterson’s and Mary’s account is additionally reinforced. as one soon learns that Shelley’s mother visited Bedlam when preparing her novel Maria; or, The Wrongs of Woman (1798). Seeking additional information on Mr. Wakefield, the psychologist who treats Victor Frankenstein in Winterson’s novel, also enhances the veracity of the Bedlam-related events.14 Bedlam is thus a stable topographic hyperreal system that can verify large amounts of potentially compatible data. It is so stable, in fact, that when it is mentioned again in Ry’s story after Victor’s disappearance (2019, 340), the reference – this time both topographic as well as metafictional (i.e., referring to Mary’s narrative) – connects the two narrative planes and establishes the potentiality of Victor disappearing from Ry’s to Mary’s world. This, in turn, further enhances the stability and veracity of Mary’s world. Other cultural artefacts, be they literary or otherwise, function in a similar way. Their presence in the collective memory provides them with a high level of stability, while their circulation in the mediasphere assigns them the status of data that participate in the formation of alternative constellations. Quotations from Frankenstein, lines by Shakespeare, Percy Bysshe Shelley and others, the almost verbatim transcription of the Wikipedia entry on I.J. Good as well as of several paragraphs from Sebag-Montefiore’s Enigma: The Battle for the Code,15 etc., all unreferenced (but italicized), contribute significantly to the stability of the worlds in the novel. For instance, recognizing what Mary is reading to her husband Percy as actual paragraphs from Frankenstein increases the veracity of her literary reality. The metafictional impact of the quotation is perfectly compatible with both the reference to an 1803 book on galvanism16 that appears a few pages earlier, and with the recurring opening lines of Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 53” – together they form a stable foundation for the constellation of the literary worlds of Mary’s narrative. When the lines of “Sonnet 53” reappear in Ry’s narrative, they connect the two narrative planes and enhance their compatibility. The novel’s narratives also prominently feature topographic, historical and cultural loci that have no hyperreal referents and are therefore mediated by the novel. These novel-generated spaces are highly compatible with the systems of data that have already become part of our experiential “realities”, which ensures their stability and veracity. For instance, Victor describes the location of his secret lab in Manchester as “[t]he tunnels and bunkers […] built in the 1950s with money from NATO. […] Down below there are generators, fuel tanks, food supplies, dormitories, even a local pub” (164). According to the available information there is indeed an underground network of tunnels under Manchester, which was last used by the military during the Second World War and only recently opened to the public. This corroborates the information on Victor’s secret lab, and the veracity of the 1950s-looking pub next to the lab, where Ry’s party waits for Victor to finish his experiment. 14 Edward Wakefield significantly contributed to the improvement of the inmate care in British mental institutions after 1815 by publishing reports on the dreadful conditions he observed in the Bethlem hospital during his 1814 and 1815 visits (Wikipedia 2021). 15 Sebag-Montefiore’s book is about the breaking of the German Enigma code (2004). The mathematician I.J. Good was a member of the team, led by Alan Turing, that deciphered the code. 16 Galvani’s An Account of the late improvements in Galvanism with a series of curious and interesting experiments performed before the Commissioners of the French National Institute, and Repeated Lately in the Anatomical Theatres of London. To which is added an appendix, containing the author’s experiments conducted on the body of a malefactor executed at Newgate (Winterson 2019, 14). Likewise, the potentiality of Mary’s conversation with Byron’s daughter Ada Lovelace at a party thrown by Charles Babbage is increased significantly by the compatibility of the event with the constellations that are already part of our hyperreality. Ada Lovelace was a mathematician who worked with Babbage on the development of a protocomputer called the Analytical Engine. She is also credited with writing the first computer algorithm. Thus, her discussion on an artificial mind with Mary, the author of Frankenstein and one of her father’s friends, at Babbages’ party may not have been verified (yet), but it is certainly not an impossibility. Similarly, the italicized accounts of the Shelleys’ vacation at Lake Geneva in 1816 and of the events on the night of the famous ghost-story contest, the description of Shelley’s burial, biographical data on Mary Wollstonecraft, etc. – although they have no exact hyperreal referents – function like the bona fide citations because they are coded in the same way. They are information generated by the medium of the novel, and their veracity depends on their connectivity with existing hyperreal constellations. If anything, these “fake quotations” somewhat cheekily celebrate the implosion of the real/fictional binary, and endorse the fundamental postmodern premise, namely, that hyperreality is a totality of equally coded data without an outside. The obvious consequences of equal coding are permeability, connectivity and interchangeability of all the potential realities. The entanglement of Mary’s, Ry’s and the reader’s worlds, as well as of the worlds on the transtextual plane, is therefore the necessary consequence of the same coding of those worlds, which allows them to connect at the points of their compatibility. The more such nodes, the denser is the entanglement of the realities involved, and the greater their stability. The paradigmatic instance of such connectivity and permeability of the worlds in the novel is Victor’s seamless circulation in and among them. He first appears as a vision at the beginning of Mary’s narrative, as “the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together” (Winterson 2019, 21). Winterson’s description of the vision is a verbatim quotation from Shelley’s preface to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein (1996, 172), and it is precisely the metafictional impact of the description that establishes Victor as the node that connects Shelley’s and Winterson’s (literary) worlds. Moreover, the name Victor binds the character with Percy Bysshe Shelley, who used it as a pseudonym in his early work (Bieri 2005, 39). Victor reappears in both roles – that of a scientist and that of the narrator’s lover – in Ry’s narrative, ensuring further entanglement of the worlds involved and hence their greater stability.17 We encounter Victor next in Bedlam, where he is brought after following his Monster to the North Pole, and where Mary eventually meets him. The ubiquitous presence of Victor in the novel’s worlds, the nature of his work in both Mary’s and Ry’s narratives and the dense network of (metafictional) references surrounding him at this point already combine to the degree where the stability of the system produces the effect of veracity for the reader. The source of Victor-related information – Mary’s or Ry’s accounts, the (pseudo) metafictional references, the dreams, the visions, internet searches, etc. – is trivial to this effect since all data are coded in the same way (language), mediated through the same channel, and thus qualitatively equal. They incorporate themselves into the hyperreal constellations of our postmodern quotidian according to the principles of permeability, connectivity and interchangeability, and produce the effect of realisticness. 17 The connection between Mary’s and Ry’s worlds is made explicit upon Ry’s and Victor’s first encounter: “Have we met? And the strange, split-second other-world answer is yes. No, I say” (Winterson 2019, 107). 4 Patchworks of Frankissstein’s Subject By analogy with Baudrillard’s concept of the postmodern subject, the postmodern literary subject is a dynamic multiplicity of potential constellations of sign-objects. Since equal coding is inherent in their status, any act of individuation (i.e., the integration of sign-objects into an identity) relies on a commonly-shared reservoir of these “personal characteristics”. Consequently, there is no ontological difference between literary or any other identity – all potential identities in the fractal paradigm are comprised from qualitatively equal components and coded in the same way. Literary character creation is therefore paradigmatic of the formation of any self, which abolishes the divide between those who are real (non-literary), and those who are (literary) fiction, and creates the option of being both at the same time (like, for instance, our Facebook self and our non-virtual self). The cast of Frankissstein is teeming with historical personalities and contemporary public figures, and one of the two main plots is even narrated by a prominent historical personage, Mary Shelley. In the course of her narrative we are privy to her dreams, visions, fears, regrets, opinions and moments of intimacy with her husband. With her, we endure the misogyny of Byron and the ruthless technicism of Polidori, puzzle over the quirkiness of Claire Clairmont, cherish the brilliance of Ada Lovelace, and are in equal measure fascinated and appalled by the genius and the egotism of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Similarly, we are guided through the Bedlam subplot by the first-person account of Dr Wakefield. Since all the protagonists in Mary Shelley’s narrative are well-known historical personages, we automatically assign the slightly less known Edward Wakefield the status of a real-life personality, or we established his existence or veracity through additional research. In his part of the narrative, we are introduced to Mary Shelley from his perspective, and, more importantly, to Victor Frankenstein, at which point the three protagonists – two historical personages and a famous literary character – inhabit the same ontological plane. Due to their status of cultural artefacts in contemporary societies, the three circulate the mediasphere as systems of data, each stable, but all highly interconnectable because of the same coding and the presence in common (Frankenstein-related) hyperreal systems. Explicitly identified as a variant of Mary (Winterson 2019, 83), the narrator of the other plot, Ry, is simultaneously a literary and non-literary figure, in the sense that he is a character in Winterson’s novel, and a facet of a historical “real” figure. The compatibility of his identity system with that of Mary’s enhances his (non-literary) veracity, while his metafictional status imbues this veracity with literariness. When meeting Max More, he also shares the ontological plane with a real-life celebrity. As their meeting constructively contributes to the development of the story, Max More’s identity, too, is simultaneously literary and non-literary. Perhaps the most telling example of the qualitative equivalency of the protagonists – historical, literary and otherwise – are the two “Author’s note[s].” The one in Mary’s narrative states that “THIS IS THE MOST PROFOUND THING CLAIRE HAS SAID IN HER LIFE” (2019, 133), and the one in Ry’s claims “THIS IS THE MOST PROFOUND THING RON HAS EVER SAID” (2019, 226). Both comments enhance the validity of Claire’s and Ron’s statements, although there is no indication who the Author commenting on the statements may be: it could be Winterson, Mary, or Ry. Since in the fractal paradigm they are all identity variants of the same subject, the Author may also comprise all of them. Winterson’s constant relativization of the narrative roles and perspectives in the novel indeed seems to suggest just that: “I was my own disguise” (2019, 17), Mary asserts at the beginning of her narrative, referring to her childhood immersions into the characters and worlds of her own invention. The essentially composite nature of the authorial I is also proposed by her husband’s comment “[W]hat if we are the story we invent?” (2019, 55), by Ry’s wondering “Is [Victor] the teller? Am I the tale?” (2019, 189), and Victor’s musing in Bedlam a few pages later “I do not know if I am the teller or the tale” (2019, 196). Not only do these statements relativize the literary and non-literary status of the novel’s protagonists, hence blurring the line between the traditional notions of real and fictional, they also imply the effects that the shift to the fractal paradigm has on the established categories of narrative agency. Because their structuring in the fractal paradigm relies on the common fund of signs for individuation, the traditional participants in the literary act (the author, narrator, character, reader) conflate into a dynamic and thoroughly permeable multiplicity of the literary subject. Within this multiplicity, the literary character is an identity variant of the narrator who is an identity variant of the author as inferred by and assimilated into the identity variant of the reader. In other words, within the framework of fractal literary subjectivity, each narrative agent is involved in the manifold identities that constitute that subject. In Frankissstein, the merging of narrative agents is induced on the formal level by the absence of focalization markers. Because there are no punctuation marks that would delineate direct speech, mark a quotation or change of speaker – unless the speaker is directly named, which is rare – the agent of the narrative I is often impossible to establish.18 Considering the reliance of this novel on Shelley’s Frankenstein, the multiplication of the narrative I’s, which blurs the distinctions between the traditional narrative agents, is hardly coincidental, as it evokes the serial first-person accounts in the framed narratives of Shelley’s masterpiece. From that perspective, the effect of fractality and ensuing postmodern realisticness is ensured precisely by Frankissstein’s metafictional dimension. The common ontological provenance of the narrative agents is also clearly exposed on the level of content. Not only do all the participants in the novel appear in various roles in relation to the narrative, they often occupy multiple positions of narrative agency at the same time. Mary Shelley, for instance, is simultaneously the narrator of her part of the story in Frankissstein, and the author of Frankenstein, whose genesis her story recounts and whose parts are quoted or referred to throughout Winterson’s novel. Moreover, these references appoint Mary as the author of Frankissstein as well, thus rendering her ontologically indistinguishable from Winterson. Their shared authorial status is corroborated by the absence of quotation 18 For instance, one of the sections in the novel opens with the definition of the words “artificial” and “intelligence”, followed directly by “Intelligence is chasing me but I’m beating it so far” (Winterson 2019, 143). Similarly, at the very end of the book, Mary is considering the possibility of reviving Shelley by means of the Analytical Engine, and gradually merging with Ry in the process: I feed the punch-card into the machine and what comes out is Shelley. Mary! He says. (Victor! Is that you?) I turn round. In the crowd. Over there. Is that him? (Winterson 2019, 344)marks or any other (reliable) indication of referentiality, and made explicit in the first Author’s note discussed above. Mary is also a character in Winterson’s novel, and when she meets Victor in Bedlam her ontological status is one of a character in her own novel and a character in Winterson’s book, which means that there is no qualitative difference between the metafictional and the non-metafictional dimension.19 Metafictional elements thus have the same ontological status as other (systems of) media-generated data, which enables them to productively participate in the formation of identity. Mary also appears in the role of the reader and interpreter of Frankenstein (Winterson 2019, 140–41), of Coleridge’s, Shelley’s and Shakespeare’s poetry, and a biography of and works by her mother. Ry, too, performs – often simultaneously – a number of functions in the narrative. As a modernized version of Mary, he occupies the same positions in the narrative as she does. The entanglement of their identities, implicit in the metafictional invocations of Mary’s narrative in Ry’s story, is actually made explicit on the last page of the novel, where the two are revealed as a single trans-temporal and trans-spatial entity (Winterson 2019, 344). This, in turn, means that Ry’s agency in his narrative also applies to Mary’s in hers. In his plot, Ry takes on the function of the narrator of his story, of the character in his story and in Winterson’s novel, and of the reader of Frankenstein. In the second Author’s note (also discussed above), he also assumes the position of the author of both Winterson’s novel and of his narrative. His narrative persona is therefore just as stable as Mary’s or Winterson’s, although he is technically a metafictional composite, like Shelley’s Monster an entity composed from disparate, yet compatible parts. Victor’s identity is also inherently metafictional. All of his identity variants in the text are composites of transtextual and metafictional references to Shelley’s novel and her biography. Nevertheless, like Mary and Ry, he occupies and combines several subject positions in the text. He is, most obviously, a character in Winterson’s Frankissstein, where he inhabits multiple spatial and temporal narrative planes. He is a character in Ry’s story, a character in the novel that Mary is writing and a character in Mary’s story. When he is brought to Bedlam, his character is a multiplicity of three identity variants at once: that of a character in Mary Shelley’s novel, a character in Mary’s story and a character in Winterson’s novel. His composite status is also acknowledged in the letter Dr Wakefield is writing to Mary after Victor’s disappearance from Bedlam: “Further to your visit, the man who calls himself Victor Frankenstein, a character in your excellent novel, has . . .” (Winterson 2019, 305).20 Victor also appears in the role of the author of the journal that Dr Wakefield is reading, and the narrator of the story conveyed in the journal. As the content of the journal corresponds to Victor’s journal entries in Frankenstein, his authorial status is ontologically equal to Mary’s, and hence to Ry’s and Winterson’s. Like Mary, he is the creator of the Monster, and as Mary’s creation, he is, admittedly, the Monster as well: “[Mary] said, Those words are spoken not by Victor Frankenstein, but by his creature. [Frankenstein answered,] We are the same, the same” (2019, 215). Through this explicit 19 Another instance of Mary simultaneously occupying the roles of author, narrator and character in her and Winterson’s novel is her vision of the Monster at the beginning of her narrative (2019, 5). 20 The text is italicized in the original, which suggests the possible historical existence of the letter (especially since both Wakefield and Mary Shelley are historical personages) and hence of the actual historical existence of Victor. The implied metafictionality thus enhances the veracity of Victor’s existence. identification with the Monster, the ontological status of the Monster is revealed as identical to that of all the other narrative agents in Winterson’s novel. Moreover, this qualitative sameness is established precisely because the structuring principle that conditions the ontology of the Monster is paradigmatic of Winterson’s use of transtextual and metafictional elements as signs that combine into the patchworks of her creation. As cultural and literary artefacts, the signs that make up the identity variants of the protagonists in Winterson’s novel belong to the totality of signs that constitute the (potential) identities of the postmodern fractal subject. Through the act of reading, these signs and the (literary) identity variants they form are evaluated with regard to the systems of readers’ identities. The stability and the ensuing veracity of the mediated (literary) constellations therefore depend on the readers’ familiarity with Frankenstein’s metacontexts, and on their respective systems of identity. This means that it is, in fact, the readers of the novel that establish the function(s) of and the relationships among the participants in the narrative act. The reader’s agency is hence indistinguishable from the author’s and the narrator’s, as well as the characters’, since in the fractal paradigm characters personify the variants of the authorial identity. The last conversation between Mary and Ada Lovelace, which prompts Victor’s resurrection as a totality of his historical and literary incarnations at the very end of the novel, seems to suggest just that: [I]f we could re-present ourselves in a language that the Analytical Engine could read, then it could read us. Read us back to life? I said. Why not? she said. (Winterson 2019, 344) 5 Conclusion The proposition of being “read” back to life by the “Analytical Engine” conveniently aligns with the vantage point of this study – namely, the appraisal or assessment of the seeming compliance of the distinctly patchworked structuring of Winterson’s 2019 novel Frankissstein with the fundamental metaphysical tenets of Postmodernity, i.e., the concepts of hyperreality and fractal subject. Implicit in Baudrillard’s conceptualization of these categories is, in fact, the representation of everything in a language that Ada Lovelace’s Analytical Engine – that is, a computer – can read. Namely, due to the processes of globalisation and digitalisation, the experiential horizon of postmodern individuals relies on digitally coded data, which combine into systems of perceived reality and identity. Equal coding of all data eradicates the concept of the medium (i.e., the notion of the digital as opposed to non-digital), and attributes the same ontological status to all the potential systems these data can create, be they the ongoing global pandemic or Winterson’s Frankissstein. In the postmodern paradigm all realities and identities are completely permeable, interchangeable and interconnectable, which renders the concepts of the outside and otherness obsolete. In order to comply with the metaphysical premises of Postmodernity, the identities and realities in Winterson’s novel should therefore be read to life (in the same way) as the people and events that shape our quotidian experience. As a forthright homage to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Winterson’s Frankissstein not only recreates the main protagonists and thematic concerns of Shelley’s masterpiece, but does so by employing Shelley’s central topos of the Monster as the governing structural principle. The quintessential patchworkness of the Monster, literally actualized in the hybrid identities of the main protagonists, is most prominently at work in the dense network of transtextual and metafictional references. This is why in my assessment of the ontological status of Frankissstein special attention was paid to the role of the novel’s transtextual and especially metafictional dimensions. Contrary to their traditional uses, in this novel transtextual and metafictional elements do not undermine the unity of the ontological order with their fundamental otherness; rather, they seem to productively participate in the creation of literary realities and literary subject. This is only possible if these elements are coded in the same way as the environment into which they are placed. Therefore, to function productively, transtextual and metafictional references should have the same ontological status as data (i.e., sign-objects) that participate in the formation of postmodern realities and identities. The analysis of the novel’s literary worlds presented here confirmed that the construction of reality in Frankissstein endorses the principles of hyperreality creation since in the process of reading literary worlds assemble as hyperreal constellations of mediated data. In this respect, transtextual and metafictional references exhibit the same properties and operate in the same way as other cultural artefacts, as well as existing topographic and historical loci. The ontological sameness of the data participating in the creation of the worlds in the novel is also evident in the distinct permeability, interchangeability and interconnectivity of these worlds, as well as in the homogeneity of literary and non-literary realities. The analysis of the novel’s literary protagonists similarly determined that the identities actualized in the process of reading correspond to the fractal organisation of postmodern subjectivity. Namely, all the literary agents in Frankissstein are revealed as identity variants of a single subject, which assemble from compatible mediated data (“sign-objects”) into thoroughly permeable, interchangeable and interconnectable systems. In this case as well, metafictional references seamlessly combine with evocations of historical personages and pop culture figures into narrative agents that defy classification according to both their role in the narrative and their ontological provenance. The findings of the analysis suggest that Winterson’s Frankissstein indeed complies with the metaphysical tenets of the present day socio-historical setting. The novel can therefore be considered an instance of a rather modest assembly of literary works that not only comment on the postmodern condition but are an intrinsic part of its ontology. The text’s postmodern provenance is arguably the most acutely signalled by the radical shift in the function and impact of transtextuality and especially metafiction. Metafictional references in Frankissstein behave as Baudrillard’s sign-objects, which means they are coded in the same way as other mediated data that participate in the creation of realities within the hyperreal paradigm. Metafiction is therefore no longer a device that would interfere with the concept of (literary) realism either in terms of its disqualification (cf. Jameson 2013, 6)21 or dialectical confirmation (Holland 2020, 37, 56, 67; Slocombe 2010, 240–41). On the contrary, as 21 Jameson’s dialectical explanation of realism maintains that realism relies on the disbanding of the old narrative modes which are inherent in it. Holland (2020, 51) observes that Jameson’s definition essentially implies that “the new mode renders the older mode metafictive by rendering it visible and scrutable.”sign-objects, metafictional elements productively participate in the formation of realities and identities, and hence precede the real. Winterson’s Frankissstein thus – as behoves its fractal status – simultaneously conceives and reflects the cosmos, in which realities and individuals not only can be, but are, in fact, read to life. And in this dynamic multiplicity of infinite interpretations that we call our world, the answer to any query about the substance can only be: “you in every blessed shape we know” (Shakespeare 1993, 884; Winterson 2019, 15). 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Mojca Krevel The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein Mojca Krevel The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein Mojca Krevel The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein Mojca Krevel The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein Mojca Krevel The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein Mojca Krevel The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein Mojca Krevel The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein Mojca Krevel The Monstrous Cosmos of Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein Abderrazzak Oumoussa Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Morocco 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 101-113(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.101-113 UDC: 821.111.09-929Lewis W.:316.7 Translating Difference: The Ambiguous Representation of the ‘Exotic’ in Wyndham Lewis’s Journey into Barbary: Travels across Morocco ABSTRACT Difference is dealt with paradoxically in discourse: sometimes, it is admired and eulogized by the perceiver to the extent of fetishism; other times, however, it represents a mixture of both love and repulsion. The concept of representation does not stand for a homogeneous idea, but engenders a plethora of other concepts that lead to an inevitable crossing of various disciplines. In this regard, Journey into Barbary offers a rich territory for the study of cross-cultural encounters and the representation of difference. The paper investigates the discursive ambiguity in Lewis’s representation of Morocco. The focus is on the fluctuation between a celebration of exoticism, and an assertion of ethnocentrism and superiority. The paper analyses Lewis’s travelogue considering recent theories in postcolonial criticism, attempting to unravel and demonstrate the author’s biased racial attitudes and ethnocentric tendencies in representing Moroccan people and culture, as well as his representation of other cultures – which I refer to as the translation of difference – as manifested in his description of Berbers. Keywords: exoticism, ethnocentrism, imperialism, difference, representation, cross-cultural encounters Prevajanje razlicnosti: dvoumno upodabljanje »eksoticnega« v Journey into Barbary: Travels across Morocco Wyndhama Lewisa IZVLECEK Razlicnost je v diskurzu deležna nasprotujocih si obravnav: nekateri jo že skorajda fetišizirajo, drugi pa jo obravnavajo z mešanico ljubezni in odpora. Upodabljanje ni homogena kategorija, saj zajema množico drugih konceptov, kar nujno vodi v križanje razlicnih disciplin. V tem smislu Journey into Barbary ponuja obilico snovi za analizo medkulturnih stikov in upodabljanj razlicnosti. Clanek se tako ukvarja z diskurzivno dvoumnostjo v Lewisovi upodobitvi Maroka. Osredotoca se zlasti na nihanje med slavljenjem eksoticnosti in zagotavljanjem etnocentrizma ter vecvrednosti. Clanek analizira Lewisovo delo s stališca sodobne postkolonialne kritike in izpostavlja avtorjeve rasne predsodke in etnocentristicne tendence do Marocank in Marocanov ter njihove kulture. Opozarja tudi na Lewisovo dvoumno upodabljanje drugih kultur (denimo berberske), kar v clanku poimenujem prevajanje razlicnosti. Kljucne besede: eksoticnost, etnocentrizem, imperializem, medkulturni stiki, razlicnost, upodabljanje 1 Introduction There is a history of faithful companionship between travel writing and Otherness. Travel writing, often referred to as travel discourse when the focus is laid upon the examination of discursive strategies of representing difference, is not only distinguished from other forms of literature by the actuality of its narration, but also as being a form of writing about the inhabitants of faraway lands, or writing about ‘Others’. As Thompson (2011, 9) rightly notes in his study of the genre, to begin any journey or, indeed, simply to set foot beyond one’s own front door, is quickly to encounter difference and otherness. All journeys are in this way a confrontation with, or more optimistically a negotiation of, what is sometimes termed alterity. Thus, it follows that such a significant characteristic makes Otherness an inevitable and inherent feature of travel writing. In the same line, an equally significant distinction that Spurr draws from his study of colonial discourse in journalism and travel writing is that the latter, unlike fiction, rests, among other things, on a constant ‘referentiality’ to historical facts. Such a distinction, argues Spurr, “seems to be made possible by the existence…of alternate frames of historical reference” (Spurr 1993, 9). What Spurr’s insightful remark tells us about travel writing is that it presents itself as “writing of reality” by drawing strength and credibility from other genres of writing taken to be real, or at least, devoid of fictional elements. Therefore, unlike fiction, travel writing’s partial dependency on historical facts makes travel accounts’ representation of the ‘Other’ appear misleadingly unquestionable. However, since the rise of postcolonial criticism as an established critical approach to the study of texts, or discourse for that matter, particularly since the publication of Said’s milestone Orientalism (1987), travel writing, having such distinctive features, has received particular attention in both literary and cultural studies. Said’s principal aim, as he makes clear in the introduction to Orientalism, is not to question the truthfulness of travel accounts, but rather to examine what he calls “the exteriority” of their representation. The approach Said takes in his indispensable study rests primarily on dealing with Orientalism as a discourse. Said (1978, 3) contends that without examining Orientalism as a discourse one cannot possibly understand the enormously systematic discipline by which European culture was able to manage – and even produce – the Orient politically, sociologically, militarily, ideologically, scientifically, and imaginatively during the post-Enlightenment period. Said’s examination of Orientalist discourse consists of a close analysis of the discursive strategies employed by a given writer; that is, in Said’s words, “the kind of narrative voice he adopts, the type of structure he builds, [and] the kind of images, themes, motifs that circulate in his text” (1978, 20). It is here where it seems that an analytical approach to the study of travel discourse, following the insightful instructions laid down by Said, is not only compelling and promising, but imperative. It is imperative indeed to scrutinize the discursive strategies through which a writer belonging to a specific culture manages to construct a representation that determines his or her people’s knowledge of a totally different people. Although it might seem clear from Said’s words what must be aimed at in approaching travel writing as a discourse, it also seems evident that a crucial question here is what is discourse? According to Spurr (1993, 11), discourse in this light can be defined as “a series of discontinuous segments that combine in various ways in the service of power”. This definition, though insightful and indeed useful in this context, appears to be broad mainly due to the fact that the definition and use of the term discourse appears to be context-bound. The term discourse originates in linguistics rather than literature or cultural studies. Though early linguists provided a narrow definition of discourse and confined its use to linguistics, with the rise of new theories of language, recent linguists and discourse analysts have drawn attention to the importance and necessity of understanding and using discourse in a broader sense. Stubbs, for instance, defines discourse as “language above the sentence or above the clause” (1983, 1), which is in line with the traditional definition of the term. A less inclusive definition of discourse can be found in Fairclough’s Discourse and Social Change (1992). For Fairclough (1992), discourse is more than just language use: it is language use, whether speech or writing, seen as a type of social practice. Fairclough’s definition opens another horizon in the understanding of discourse; it frees the term discourse from its linguistic confinement, thereby admitting the undeniable link between society and discourse. In addition, Fairclough’s perception of discourse as a “social practice” draws attention to the inevitable, constant interaction between discourse and society, implying that discourse influences and is constantly influenced by society. However, a more illuminating, elaborate and clearly explained definition of discourse was introduced by Gee in Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourse (1996). Gee makes a distinction between what he calls “little‘d’ discourse and big ‘D’ discourse”. Little‘d’ discourse, according to Gee, represents the language of a text: that is, the sum of words that make it, its grammar, the linguistic devices that binds its components together, etc. Big “D” discourse, on the other hand, stands for the use of language in valuing and representing, and hence its interaction with and influence by the speaker/writer’s beliefs and ideological positions. It is thus big “D” discourse, in Gee’s words, that Said, Spurr, Pratt, Ashcroft and other prominent postcolonial critics aim at examining in Western writings about non-Western peoples. Big ‘D’ discourse in this regard refers mainly to imperialist or colonialist discourse, which has attracted the interest of a good number of postcolonial critics. According to Ashcroft, Tiffin, and Griffiths (2013, 51), the term colonial discourse refers to “the complex of signs and practices that organize social existence and social reproduction within colonial relationships.” They add that central to colonial discourse are [r]ules of inclusion and exclusion [which] operate on the assumption of the superiority of the colonizer’s culture, history, language, art, political structures, social conventions and the assertion of the need for the colonized to be ‘raised up’ through colonial contact. Therefore, one of the most important concepts that postcolonial critics draw our attention to in this regard is that of “hegemony”. The concept of hegemony according to Said – a concept he borrowed from the Italian scholar Antonio Gramsci – is the predominance of Western ideas and discourse over non-Western ones. This predominance, for Said, allows not only for the silencing of non-Western voices, but also for representing it and speaking on its behalf. “It is hegemony, or rather the result of cultural hegemony at work”, argues Said, “that gives Orientalism the durability and the strength I have been speaking about” (Said 1978, 7). Accordingly, European cultural hegemony lies in “the idea of European identity as a superior one in comparison with all the non-European peoples and cultures” (Said 1978, 7). Therefore, the cultural hegemony characterizing Western discourse allows for the presence of power in its representation of non-Western peoples. The concept of power is fundamental not only to postcolonial criticism, but to any study that adopts a critical approach to the examination of discourse (see, e.g., van Dijk 2008). In his brief but insightful exploration of Otherness, a term that will be elaborated later in this article, Staszak notes (2009, 43) that “the asymmetry in power relationships is central to the construction of Otherness. Only the dominant group” asserts Staszak, “is in a position to impose the value of its particularity (its identity) and to devalue the particularity of Others (their otherness).” Staszak’s conception of the interaction between discourse and power goes in the same line as Said’s argument that Orientalist discourse is “produced and exists in an uneven exchange with various kinds of power, shaped to a degree by the exchange with power political, power intellectual, power cultural, power moral” and so on (Said 1978, 12). Said’s and Staszak’s arguments, which must be highlighted in every critical study of discourse, take us back to ponder over the question of whether one should approach travel writing as merely another genre of literature, or as a discourse that possesses its own mechanics, follows certain conventions, dictated by cultural implications, and – most importantly – adheres to political and ideological positions. Indeed, the answer to this question can be intuitively drawn from what has been highlighted in this introduction so far. In other words, travel writing, or travel discourse for the sake of convenience, should be, indeed must be, examined critically, at least in so far as its representation of non-Western peoples and cultures is concerned. Wyndham Lewis’s work A Journey into Barbary falls within this scope. Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957) is a prominent British novelist, painter, travel writer and composer. He is referred to as the co-founder of the Vorticist movement in Europe. As an artist deeply influenced by the Modernism of his time, Lewis set out to explore the cultural uniqueness of French and Spanish colonies, travelling through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. His journey gave birth to one of the richest demonstrations of cross-cultural contact in the twentieth century, vividly incarnating issues of representation and ‘Otherness’. 2 The Subtle Pleasure of the Exotic Recent academic interest in the study of travel accounts arises from the complex nature of the questions related to cross-cultural encounters and the representation of difference. On the one hand, part of that interest can be ascribed to the fact that representation reflects the ‘Self’s encounter with the ‘Other’, its perception and description of it; on the other hand, however, it is revelatory of the deepest secrets of the ‘Self’, or the ‘Subject’, as it also lays down the multifarious psychological implications arising from that encounter. Travel writing is where all these elements can be found, or as Thompson (2011, 9) puts it, all journeys are a confrontation with alterity. It is the record of the writer’s displacement, his or her encounter with an exotic geography, culture, and a different race or ethnicity, and more importantly, his/her thoughts, observations, and evaluations of the encounter. The term ‘exoticism’ refers to the practice of eulogizing or celebrating ‘difference’, or the quality enjoyed by ‘something’ exotic or unfamiliar, be it an object, person, territory, or cultural activity. In this regard, Ashcroft, Tiffin, and Griffiths (2013, 110) point out that the word was first used to mean ‘alien, introduced from abroad, not indigenous’. By 1651, its meaning had been extended to include ‘an exotic and foreign territory’, ‘an exotic habit and demeanor’ (OED). As a noun, the term meant ‘a foreigner’ or ‘a foreign plant not acclimatised’. […] During the nineteenth century, however, the exotic, the foreign, increasingly gained, throughout the Empire, the connotations of a stimulating or exciting difference, something with which the domestic could be (safely) spiced. Essentially, the term ‘exoticism’ suggests contact between the familiar and unfamiliar. An appropriate definition to illuminate the importance of the familiar in the creation of exoticism can be borrowed from Segalen’s Essay on Exoticism: An Aesthetics of Diversity (2002), which defines exoticism “as the pleasure of a sensation that, worn down by habit, is excited by novelty” (Staszak 2009, 46). However, Segalen’s definition illuminates the reason for the rise of such a sensation as well as the necessity of the existence of the familiar or the ‘habit’, but it does not provide any profound thoughts on the term exoticism as regards its nature, or the nature of the ‘subject’ and ‘object’ in this process. In other words, the subject obtaining the sensation is also unfamiliar to the ‘object’, lands, and peoples identified as ‘exotic’. Hence, the unfamiliarity of the ‘subject’ and his or her strangeness to the object of exoticism constitute the salient part of this process. It is, therefore, the unfamiliarity of the subject that creates the sensation, as the latter does not exist in the object labelled exotic, otherwise the inhabitants of a particular land, or the members of a particular culture would also naturally perceive it as such. The above argument implies that exoticism, as a fundamental component of Otherness, is more of a ‘discursive construct’ than a ‘fact of nature’. That is to say, an important part of the sensation Segalen and Schlick refer to above is constructed through discourse. The writer or speaker who describes the ‘faraway’ oftentimes locates it in an imaginary world, out of time and space. This image of the ‘faraway’ in the mind of the reader or listener becomes more imaginary than real, and even when confronted with the real thing, the imaginary seems to outshine it. Such an imaginary construction of the exotic is achieved through rhetorical devices and metaphors that associate the object of exoticism with an unreal world that is quite different to the ‘world of home’. Exploring the nature of exoticism, François Staszak (2009, 46) notes that: Exoticism constitutes the most directly geographical from of otherness, in that it opposes the abnormality of elsewhere with the normality of here. Exoticism is not, of course, an attribute of the exotic place, object or person. It is the result of a discursive process that consists of superimposing symbolic and material distance, mixing the foreign and the foreigner, and it only makes sense from one, exterior, point of view. As a construction of Otherness, exoticism is characterized by the asymmetry of its power relationships: it is Westerners who, during the phases of exploration then colonization, defined elsewhere and delimited exoticism… It is out of the question to describe Europe as exotic until minds and words are decolonized. (Italics mine) The element of geography, or rather geographical distance is the principal basis for the concept of exoticism. Geographical displacement puts the author in a confrontation with the unfamiliar that eventually culminates in the construction of exoticism. However, it is the author’s astonishment with the unfamiliar merged with the feeling of displacement that constitutes the cornerstone of the entire process. As the quotation above demonstrates, the confrontation between the familiar and unfamiliar in the writer’s mind gives birth to the discourse of exoticism in which the ‘unfamiliar’ becomes excitingly different, and hence exotic. Furthermore, an important idea that Staszak alludes to is the fact that exoticism “only makes sense from one, exterior, point of view”, which shows that there is a contradiction, an irony in the understanding of exoticism. Put otherwise, it is the subject of this process that should in fact be labelled exotic, not the object, as he/she is imposing his/her ‘difference’ on the represented person or culture. An equally important point that the above quotation draws attention to is the connection between exoticism and asymmetry in power relations. The relation between these two constituents of the process of exoticism is dictated by hegemony. In other words, the powerful voice takes the role of the subject and creates the exotic. The powerless, on the other hand, plays the role of the exotic and submits to the altering undertaken to its identity by the powerful. Therefore, Western travel writers, scientists, researchers, colonial administrators, etc., subjugate the powerless non-Western to their hegemonic imagination. As a result, it is inconceivable to think of “Europe as exotic until minds and words are decolonized” (Staszak 2009, 46). In Journey into Barbary, this tendency can be said to be often, if not always, connected with Berbers. On different occasions, Lewis aims for an ‘exoticizing’ of the Berber’s cultural traits, every-day habits, architecture, etc, and the following quotation provides a significant instance of this (Lewis 1983, 192–93): Everything hinging upon sentiment and upon impulse, in beautiful theory at least, going with a quick and infinite slyness of disillusioned wit – that is a “Celtic” trait if I am not mistaken. Then there is a great deal of the “Celtic Twilight” in their most everyday habits – as when you meet two tall, willowy and beardless braves, inanely wandering along together, holding each other by the little finger, brilliant blossoms dangling in the hands that are disengaged: indeed all that matchless air of infinite wandering indolence that reminds one of the cadences of M. Yeats’s Wanderings of Oisin more than anything else: all that great unworldly air – it is characteristic of these people as it is of the more familiar “Celts,” so it is not idle to note them in this connection. It has this practical effect, upon the political plane, that they remain aloof from the fussing invasions of the hordes of breathless Europeans. They are not at all impressed. The sudden hotels, banks, docks and cafés spring up out of the ground: but they are arrogant and indifferent, in the midst of all this passionate, undignified bustle; and they display no desire, which is significant, to get out of their jellabas, turbans, or chequias and put on a ‘complet’, such as they could buy in any of those huge French stores named cheap, that is “bon marché”. The celebration of the difference of the Berbers corroborates the undeniable presence of the spirit of exoticism in Lewis’s account. It is the first time that a reader of Lewis’s account would come across such adjectives such as ‘beautiful’, ‘brilliant’, ‘significant’ in relation to a description of the natives of the Maghreb. As one can easily notice, there is a constant contrast between the Western and non-Western, namely the Berber, in which the latter is accorded a superior identity. Furthermore, the Berber’s resistance to the influence of French civilization is not, as one might expect, frowned upon; rather, it is celebrated. On other occasions, however, Lewis (1983, 211–12) compares the Berber to the European while retaining the superior identity of the former, drawn from the beauty of his ‘primitiveness’: The Berber nature is like the European nature, as I have more than once hinted. And above all there is nothing abstract about it. Your Berber possesses that personal standpoint that endears… Even love, among the Touaregs, seems to have a strongly European character. “Love amongst this primitive people,” says Gautier,”… has a familiar air of gallantry, which in fact seems to be a caricature of our own….Le Flirt is the grand preoccupation. This presupposes naturally cultivated, independent women, who are not absorbed exclusively by household cares. Being at the mercy of Lewis’s representation, the nature of the Berbers fluctuates between ‘civilized’ and ‘primitive’. In this regard, one might recall certain instances when Lewis describes the Berbers as having the minds of animals or as being barbarians in nature. Thus, the only idea that provides an explanation for this contradiction, or that radical change of opinion, is that the author is setting for another strategy of representation, one which might add some acclaim to his account: the ‘primitive’ Berber in this way becomes a ‘cousin’ of the ‘civilized’ European. Other interesting instances in this regard can be noticed in Lewis’s description of the Berber Kasbahs. His appreciation of this ‘primitive’ architecture goes as far as to regard it as one of the finest on the planet (Lewis 1983, 215, 220): In the Kasbah-builder all this can, I think, be divined. Such lofty and imposing structures, outside of Europe, have rarely occurred in response to a profane demand. Even the Borgias did not have vast temples built to glorify their temporal tyrannies. It is really probable, therefore, that, without knowing it the Glaoui, the M’Touggi, and the Goundafi have achieved something a little unique. In conclusion, outside antiquity, or since the Renaissance, the rude productions of the contemporary Berber genius are, for the artist, the most interesting things to be met with this side of China, I should be inclined to say. Nowhere else in the world, as far as I know, is there any monumental building of this order, with a façade of dual towers, tapering in the manner of the Egyptian pylon, and producing exactly this effect, except the Kasbah of the Atlas. Lewis’s eulogizing of Berber architecture is another example of exoticism in Journey into Barbary. Yet, the tendency to ‘exoticize’, as illustrated by the above examples, is not an individual characteristic typical of Lewis or of any other writer in this regard – as noted earlier, it simply follows and works along the general mechanics of the imperialist production of the strange, exotic ‘Other’ during the colonial period. As Spurr (1993, 128) notes, it is no accident that “the idealization of the savage from the beginning has always accompanied the process of Western imperial expansion, for this idealization simply constitutes one more use that can be made of the savage in the realm of Western cultural production.” 3 Exoticism in the Face of Racial Superiority and the Ethnocentric Impulse The ambiguity of representing difference is only clear when other forms of ‘Otherness’ are highlighted. The construction of Otherness rests principally upon two important elements that mark the difference between the ‘Self’ and ‘Other’, namely ‘race’ and ‘culture’. Notions of ‘race’ and ‘culture’ play an important role in colonialist discourse, as they not only provide the European ‘Self’ with the elements for the construction of a superior identity, but are also made use of to provide justification for Western colonial enterprises. For colonialist authors, ‘race’ constitutes an indispensable source from which to draw multiple assumptions and stereotypes about the ‘natives’. In principle, the non-European/non-Western races are believed to be responsible for any ‘misconduct’ or behaviour believed inappropriate by the scrutinizing ‘stranger’. Additionally, non-Western cultures are described as being characterized by savagery and barbarism. Culture and race represent the basic elements for a racial and cultural Otherness motivated not only by the ethnocentric egoism of the European ‘Self’, but also by imperialist impulses. One of the few statements that have a special place within the huge amount of postcolonial literature is that of Said expressing the contention that “the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its constructing image, idea, personality, experience […]”. The quest for greater understanding of this statement triggered the production of a huge amount of literature exploring and demonstrating how Europe managed to attain definition through contact with the non-European. The identity attained from that definition is characterized by the superiority of European culture, race, beliefs, etc., at the expense of the inferiority of the non-European. The multiple representation techniques employed in Journey into Barbary thus respond to and exemplify the different ways through which the European ‘Self’ managed to construct its superior identity at the expense of ‘inferiorizing’ the Other’s. Much of the racial and cultural superiority that has been persistently expressed in colonialist discourse is based upon the notion of ‘race’. The recognition of racial difference is the first step that paves the way for the construction of Otherness. Race is defined as “a term for the classification of human beings into physically, biologically and genetically distinct groups” (Ashcroft, Tiffin, and Griffiths 2013, 218). Such a definition might appear simple and ‘useful’ in some contexts, yet, as the following text points out, numerous negative assumptions have been constructed on that basis: The notion of race assumes, firstly, that humanity is divided into unchanging natural types, recognizable by physical features that are transmitted ‘through the blood’ and permit distinctions to be made between ‘pure’ and ‘mixed’ races. Furthermore, the term implies that the mental and moral behaviour of human beings, as well as individual personality, ideas and capacities, can be related to racial origin, and that knowledge of that origin provides a satisfactory account of the behaviour. The cultural construction of race has been put to the service of different ideologies and modes of ethnocentric thinking. In fact, this tendency rests at the core of colonialist discourse. Through what David Spurr termed ‘surveillance’ and ‘strategic essentialism’, the colonialist observer deduces that any pattern of behaviour performed by the native of a particular region is actually characteristic of his or her race, and hence the particularity of that race explains the distinctiveness and ‘peculiarity’ of the behaviour. It is from that starting point that the process of racial ‘Othering’ starts to grow. Colonialist texts, as Journey into Barbary testifies, are replete with statements that inferiorize, and even demonize non-European races. Among the common characteristics that have been attributed to non-European races is savagery, which covers such pejorative adjectives as chaotic, violent, dirty, stupid, lazy, dishonest, and so on, the diversity of which demonstrates the importance of the notion of ‘race’ or racial difference in colonialist discourse. Conversely, standing opposite to the aforementioned attributes were the characteristics of European individuals, including such fine attributes as intelligence, discipline, assiduousness, honesty, self-control, etc. In their further elaboration on the assumptions of racial stratification, Ashcroft, Tiffin, and Griffiths (2013, 220) note that: These assumptions are: first, that variations in the constitution and behaviour of individuals were to be explained as the expression of different biological types; second, that differences between these types explained variations in human cultures; third, that the distinctive nature of the types explained the superiority of Europeans and Aryans in particular; and fourth, that the friction between nations and individuals of different type emerged from innate characteristics. These three main assumptions that have infiltrated European cultures during the colonial period respond exactly to the notion of racism – but, needless to say, to be racist during that period was not unusual. The last assumption drawn from the colonialist understanding of race makes no distinction between race and culture. In fact, it sets out the contention that race is the origin of culture, thus cultural variation is due solely to racial variation, and any cultural particularity is a direct outcome of racial difference. This contention is generally believed to be derived from Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin’s theory and other theories advancing the same ideas have been deliberately employed in such contexts and, indeed, have proven very useful for the European colonizer. According to this logic, the non-European races embody early stages of development of humankind, and thus need to be brought to the highest stages represented by the European colonizer. Later, however, the colonizer’s understanding of race transcended Darwin’s theory and regarded the non-European as a barbarian with no potential of development whatsoever, on the grounds that the problem of the non-European was one of race, a matter that is ‘unfortunately’ unalterable. It goes without saying that such an understanding of race was actually invented and nurtured by colonialist discourse as a cultural product of imperialism. Therefore, it is unsurprising to find that the notion of ‘race’ did not have such signification in pre-colonial periods (Ashcroft, Tiffin, and Griffiths 2013, 219): Physical differences did not always represent an inferiority of culture or even a radical difference in shared human characteristics. In the period of the crusades, the racial difference of black African Coptic saint-warrior St Maurice is clearly recorded without prejudice in a statue in Magdeburg Cathedral which shows him to be a black African, even including his facial lineage cuts (Davidson 1994: 330). But with the rise of European imperialism and the growth of Orientalism in the nineteenth century, the need to establish such a distinction between superior and inferior finds its most ‘scientific’ confirmation in the dubious analysis and taxonomy of racial characteristics. Therefore, the birth of the notion of race originates in the period of imperialism, and the cultural construction of non-European peoples as inferior races was an imperialist invention produced and strengthened by colonialist discourse. It is thus no wonder that Wyndham Lewis so faithfully abides by these beliefs and contributes to the huge literature of colonialist discourse, demonstrating what Edward Said calls ‘reproduction’ (Said 1978). Lewis’s idea of race, like that of the European colonizer, holds that the European race is endowed with superiority over others. As such, the duty of the European, according to Lewis, is to control other races and put them at the service of the ‘civilized’ white man. Lewis (1983, 143) provides a vivid demonstration of this belief in the following statement: The differences between a French officer (say from Alsace or Normandy) and an average Ida ouBaqil, or an Ikounka, tribesman, are too numerous and important for the alliance to be in any sense personal. For the other each is a representative of a race, not a person. The inferior of these two abstractions can be “depended upon” so long as the race of the superior abstraction has its hands firmly upon the controls, and so long as no personal difficulty occurs to ruffle the surface of the abstract relationship. This statement is particularly significant as it neither mentions nor implies the ‘civilizing mission’ that often acts to justify the imperial ‘control’, in whose necessity Lewis so strongly believes. The statement is instead a direct and loud articulation of racial superiority, with ‘control’ encouraged for the sake of subjugation, oppression, and exploitation. Thus, the racial ‘Othering’ of the non-European in this statement, as one might intuitively notice, has clear purposes: it aims at fostering the colonialist idea that non-white races should be at the service and even mercy of the European race for no other reason than that of their being different and powerless. Moreover, the above statement introduces the word ‘inferior’, which Lewis writes in italics in order to attract the reader’s attention to its importance. Indeed, word ‘inferior’ is abruptly introduced in the text as if Lewis assumes that the reader undoubtedly shares the same opinion. Lewis provides no justification for assigning the non-European the label ‘inferior’, nor the European ‘superior’, which indicates that this belief is among the principal conventions of colonialist discourse, to the degree that not a single justification is even thought of as necessary to account for the ‘inferiorizing’ of the Other’s race. Journey into Barbary carries statements that are even stronger in this respect, but it is imperative to reflect first on a valid question in this regard before we look more closely at them: what is the motive for such representations of the ‘Other’ beyond colonialism? It is at this point that we arrive at Said’s argument that “the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West)” (Said 1978, 1). The strategy followed to attain this definition is referred to by postcolonial critics as ‘Manicheanism’ or ‘binarism’. The term refers to the creation of binary oppositions – West vs. non-West, colonizer vs. colonized, civilized vs. uncivilized/savage, etc. – wherein one is defined against the other. This also takes us back to Saussure’s ([1916] 2011) argument that no single ‘thing’ can have a full sense of existence without the existence of its opposite; Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage and the relation between the child and the mother as an ‘Other’; and finally, and more importantly, Derrida’s (1998) argument that there is a power relation between any two opposites, and thus each opposite is in a constant attempt to weaken the ‘Other’ in order to attain power. Manicheanism’s correspondence to the necessity of the creation of an inferior ‘Other’ for the construction of the superior identity of the Self makes it understandable besides any reference to the colonialist impulse. The term Manicheanism is defined as “the process by which imperial discourse polarizes the society, culture and very being of the colonizer and colonized into the Manichean categories of good and evil” (Ashcroft, Tiffin, and Griffiths 2013, 149–50). Nonetheless, the idea of contrasting ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is not expressed explicitly in colonialist discourse, and can be skilfully substituted by indirect and less pejorative forms of debasement. The following quotation shows an instance in which Lewis (1983, 142) engages in a process of racial othering by reflecting on the nature of Berbers and whether or not they can be dependable: The Goum is an ‘irregular soldier’. The Goums are more highly trained than the Mokhaznis, though the French military are of opinion that a really good Mokhazni takes a great deal of beating: and in, fact, of course, all Berbers not only are so naturally warlike but are so often engaged in war from boyhood on that a few months of discipline turns them into perfect soldiers (whereas it takes four years of very hard work to make of the huge black lout from the Niger for instance a dependable fantassin). Dependable, however, is not the word it seems. For it is said that no Berber is ever dependable. “Il faut faire attention,”: say the French-after however long a time! For they are unassimilable really. They are the perfect soldier certainly: but not quite in the European sense – never the perfect armed servant, or the automaton. So “Il faut toujours faire attention!” As openly expressed in the above quotation, Lewis believes that the Berbers are naturally warlike. The most important aspect of this statement is the use of the adverb ‘naturally’, which explicitly suggests that the very nature of the Berber entitles him to be aggressive and belligerent. This is another way of saying that the Berber lacks discipline, and since Lewis is randomly ‘essentializing’ the Berbers in this contention, it is also suggested that the Berber community is a chaotic and barbaric cluster of individuals. In fact, such an assumption is skilfully implied in the statement that the Berbers are “so often engaged in war from boyhood” and that only “a few months of discipline turns them into perfect soldiers”. Moreover, this statement does not confine itself to suggesting the incivility of the Berber’s background, but rather takes the nature of the Berbers as its primary focus. That is, the Berber’s aggressiveness is inherent in his nature, and thus, according to Lewis, he shares more with animals than he does with humans. Although psychological theories at the time had already found out that violence or aggressiveness is an innate human characteristic, be one European or non-European, Lewis seems irrationally insistent on associating discipline and intelligence with the European, while assigning every form of ‘animalistic’ behaviour to the non-European. The author goes on in his reflection on the nature of this tribe to announce that the Berber is never ‘dependable’, a piece of information he was provided by the French colonizer who apparently represents for Lewis a reliable European fellow. The word ‘dependable’, however, is given another meaning in this context beyond that of a courageous soldier. Thankfully, the author implies a distinction between the ‘perfect soldier’, who is not dependable, in spite of his perfection, and the “perfect armed servant, or the automaton,” who, according to such a discourse, is the right soldier to depend on. Thus, the description of the Berber as not being dependable refers to his ‘failure’ to play an ‘armed servant’ or ‘automaton’. 4 Conclusion Ethnocentrism is a destructive force, and a delightful encounter with difference can easily turn tasteless and menacing due to the ethnocentric temptations of the subject. Unfortunately, notions of race and culture continue to constitute indispensable elements in the representation of difference, and ethnocentric writers still take advantage of racial and cultural differences to embark on an unrestricted process of racial ‘Othering’ that always culminates in downgrading the ‘different’ while placing the ‘Self’ at the top of this hierarchy. With the consolidation of such beliefs through such a hegemonic discourse, the European colonizer finds his way to the unbound and justified subjugation, exploitation, and control of the colonized. This tendency in colonialist discourse, as we pointed out throughout this article, is not only driven by such malicious desires, but also arises due to the necessity to make a clear definition. It is not only a reflection of the intrinsic necessity to construct an identity that assures one’s independence from the Other, but also a clear demonstration of the desire to have power over the ‘Other’ as it’s “contrasting image”. It is, therefore, within this anxious and intricate process of dealing with difference that the concept of Otherness emerges. The concept of Otherness shows no less complexity than the ambivalent reaction to difference: it is the outcome of the ambivalent attraction and repulsion by the different ‘other’. Wyndham Lewis’s Journey into Barbary testifies to the concept of ‘reproduction’ in postcolonial criticism, characterized by a constant denial of and resistance to difference and diversity. The author managed to launch and sustain a strategic Othering of a non-Western culture through the employment of such strategies as ‘essentialism’, ‘binarism’ and what Spurr calls a “denial of coevaleness”, relentlessly estranging the Berbers and the Arabs of North Africa from any link to civilized behavior. It is not surprising that Lewis insists on ‘demonizing’ Berbers and Arabs on different occasions in the account, considering the historical context of his suspicious ‘journey’ to French colonies. In other words, imperialist writings are doomed to conform to the existing literature supporting the need for a European ‘civilizing mission’ to elevate the condition of the non-Western ‘barbarian’. Nevertheless, readers of Lewis’s travelogue can easily sense the profound ambivalence of the author as he fights to reconcile his ethnocentricity with his amazement at the beauty of diversity. Therefore, it is quite evident that the Eurocentric gaze of Lewis does not escape the captivating charm and glamour of difference, which eventually lead him to land in exoticism, hence introducing an ambivalent discourse to the reader of Journey into Barbary. References Ashcroft, Bill, Helen Tiffin, and Gareth Griffiths. 2013. Post-Colonial Studies. The Key Concepts. 3rd ed. London: Routledge. Derrida, Jacques. 1998. Of Grammatology. Translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Dijk, Teun A. van. 2008. Discourse and Power. Baskingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Fairclough, Norman. 1992. Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press. Gee, James Paul. 1996. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. London: Taylor & Francis. Lewis, Wyndham. 1983. Journey into Barbary: Travels across Morocco. Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press. Said, Edward W. 1978. Orientalism. New York: Penguin Books. Saussure, Ferdinand de. (1916) 2011. Course in General Linguistics. Translated by Wade Baskin. Edited by Perry Meisel and Haun Saussy. New York: Columbia University Press. Segalen, Victor. 2002. Essay on Exoticism: An Aesthetics of Diversity. Translated by Yael Rachel Schlick. Durham: Duke University Press. Spurr, David. 1993. The Rhetoric of Empire: Colonial Discourse in Journalism, Travel Writing and Imperial Administration. London: Duke University Press. Staszak, François-Jean. 2009. “Other/Otherness.” In International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, edited by Rob Kitchin and Nigel Thrift, 43–47. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Thompson, Carl. 2011. Travel Writing. London: Routledge. Translating Difference: The Ambiguous Representation of the ‘Exotic’ ... Part III English Language and Literature Teaching Lara Burazer Janez Skela University of Ljubljana, Slovenia 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 117-137(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.117-137 UDC: [811.111:37.018.43:004]:616-036.22 The Effectiveness of In-Person versus Online Instruction in the Pre-service Teacher Preparation Programme ABSTRACT In reference to the reflective nature of the methodological design of the current pre-service English teacher education program at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, considerable challenges related to teacher-education were noted during the emergency online switch. For this reason, the theory/practice connections, typically strengthened via the practical, experiential and reflective components of university teacher-education programs, were put to the test. The research is aimed at identifying the challenges of the online switch and focuses on comparison of the effectiveness of in-person versus online instruction in the pre-service English teacher preparation program. The research questions seek to examine whether teacher-training sessions online are more demanding and challenging, and potentially less effective (as perceived by the respondents), compared to the in-person teacher-training practices. The study results offer a valuable insight into the teacher-trainees’ perceptions of the challenges and effectiveness of the online English teacher-training course implementation in comparison with the in-person mode. Keywords: pre-service English teacher education, reflective model, pandemic, in-person instruction, online teaching Primerjalna študija ucinkovitosti spletne in »v živo« izvedbe zacetnega izobraževanja uciteljev anglešcine IZVLECEK Glede na reflektivno naravo metodološke zasnove programov zacetnega izobraževanja uciteljev anglešcine na Filozofski fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani je prehod izobraževanja uciteljev iz fizicnih predavalnic v digitalno okolje – tako imenovani online »switch« – spremljala vrsta izzivov. Zaradi tega so se povezovanja teorije s prakso, ki se tipicno krepijo skozi prakticne, izkustvene in reflektivne sestavine izobraževanja uciteljev na univerzitetni ravni, tokrat znašla na preizkušnji. Pricujoca raziskava se osredinja na opredelitev glavnih izzivov prehoda izobraževalnega procesa bodocih uciteljev anglešcine v digitalno okolje in na primerjavo ucinkovitosti obeh modelov poucevanja – spletno in »v živo«. Preverja, kateri izmed dveh nacinov izvajanja izobraževanja uciteljev se po mnenju študentov pedagoških programov anglistike izkazuje za bolj zahtevnega in morda posledicno manj ucinkovitega. Rezultati raziskave ponujajo dragocen vpogled v njihovo percepcijo izzivov in ucinkovitosti izvajanja programa izobraževanja uciteljev anglešcine v digitalnem okolju v primerjavi z izvedbo »v živo«. Kljucne besede: zacetno izobraževanje uciteljev anglešcine, reflektivni model, pandemija, poucevanje »v živo«, spletno poucevanje ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE TEACHING 1 Introduction The shutdown of universities and schools in Slovenia, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, came in mid-March 2020. During the academic year 2020/21, the restrictions imposed regionally or nationally varied, depending on the COVID-19 situation, with primary and secondary schools being both on- and offline, then moving to a hybrid model, to finally reopening in May 2021 (Krek 2021; Ritchie et al. 2020). The universities remained online throughout the academic year. So, there has been variance in the disruption experienced by initial teacher training (henceforth referred to as ITT) trainees during the academic year 2020/21 regarding their final practicum or school placements, whereas the university-based teacher training program remained online throughout the year. This research focuses on the challenges this posed for both trainees and teacher educators. 1.1 The Initial Teacher Training Design The context framing this research is the official route into teaching established by the Bologna Reform in Higher Education in Slovenia. The Faculty of Arts adopted the so-called two-cycle degree structure, i.e., a 3-year Bachelor’s/Undergraduate Level, plus a 2-year Master’s/Graduate Level. In this two-cycle degree structure, the first three years of undergraduate studies are, in the case of future teachers of English, devoted entirely to subject-specific courses relating to linguistics and literature. The whole teacher preparation program is placed within the second cycle, i.e., at Master’s Level, and within what we refer to as the Pedagogical Module. Students at MA level can opt to follow either the non-pedagogical (i.e., omitting all teacher-training courses) or pedagogical route, the latter being the only route into teaching. The current teacher preparation program provided by the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, is a mixture of both consecutive and concurrent models, because trainees enrol into the MA program with a BA (i.e., subject-specialist) degree, but continue to study, during both MA Level years, both the academic subjects and educational and pedagogical studies in a 1:1 ratio. The scope of the Master’s degree curriculum is 120 ECTS credits – 60 credit points of academic subjects, and 60 credit points of the educational and pedagogical studies. Quantitatively, the pre-service teacher training program is in fact a one-year post-graduate program spreading over two years of MA Level. The pedagogical module consists of two parts: (a) general educational and pedagogical studies, and (b) subject-specific teacher training courses. The scope of the general educational and pedagogical studies is the same for all departments at the Faculty of Arts that provide a pedagogical route of studies. The scope of the subject-specific teacher training courses at the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, is presented in Table 1. 1.2 The COVID-19 Lockdown Effects on ITT Before we move on to describe the situation that happened in March 2020 when, as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all universities and schools in Slovenia shut down and transferred teaching online, we need to highlight the main methodological and ‘philosophical’ design of the pre-service teacher education program to see how it was affected by this sudden change of teaching. The methodology of the pre-service teacher education program stresses the importance of involving the student teachers in the instruction through hands-on activities, class discussions, pair work, brainstorming sessions, etc. In other words – the program is based on the so-called reflection-oriented approach to teacher training. Such methodology, besides giving trainees the opportunity to examine their attitudes, beliefs and assumptions, also echoes classroom practice much more closely. As we are discussing the methodological design of the program, we will be interested in whether the imposed online teaching mode spelled a return to a more traditional way of teaching. In other words, we will try to show whether giving teacher training sessions online is more demanding and challenging, and potentially less effective, or not. 2 Strengthening Theory/Practice Connections via the Methodological Design of the Pre-service Teacher Preparation Program Within pre-service teacher education programs, the so-called ‘theory/practice divide’ and the importance of the practicum (or placement) in schools have been much debated (Malderez and Bodoczky 1999; Gebhard 2009; Kidd and Murray 2020). The practicum is usually widely recognized, as it represents the central link between theory and practice – it is only here that the principle of “theorising practice or practising theory” can be applied (Kumaravadivelu 1999, 33). In other words, it is during the practicum that trainees acquire the skills to transfer knowledge of pedagogy to practice. Although the practicum is, without doubt, the strongest connection between practice and theory (i.e., academic knowledge at the university), it is not the only one. Other solutions to strengthening theory/practice connections include increasing the practical, skills-based, experiential and reflective components of university teacher education programs (Kidd and Murray 2020, 544). In the remainder of this paper, the theory/practice connections will be highlighted and researched on the basis of one subject-specific course – The Fundamentals of ELT Methodology (see Table 1) – comparing its in-person and online execution, respectively. Various models of teacher learning have been suggested. The three main ones, as described in Wallace (1991), are as follows: (1) the craft model, (2) the applied science model, and (3) the reflective model. The craft model typically involves pre-service teachers working alongside experienced masters, following their instructions and advice, and learning by imitating. In this model, the wisdom of the profession resides in an experienced professional practitioner: someone who is an expert in the practice of the ‘craft’. Or, as Roberts (1998) puts it, pre-service teachers in the craft model are viewed essentially as input-output systems. The applied science model is the traditional and probably still the most prevalent model underlying most teacher-training education programs (Wallace 1991). In this model, theoretical/scientific knowledge is conveyed to pre-service teachers by experts, and then it is up to the trainees to put this knowledge into practice. It is obvious, then, that a teacher’s expertise will be mostly developed on the job. This model clearly shows the tendency for the experts to be well removed from the day-to-day working scene, and reveals a fairly clear divide between the ‘thinkers’ and ‘doers’. Since the 1970s, there has been a marked shift in our understanding of what we mean by teacher preparation. Since then, several developments have significantly shaped the way second language teacher education is currently conceptualized (Burns and Richards 2009), of which the most important are changes in the knowledge base of language teaching and a re-orientation of our perspectives on pre-service teachers (Skela 2019). Pre-service teachers started to be viewed as constructivists who craft personal constructions of their professional contexts, and as social beings whose professional role is shaped by social rules, group identity, occupational culture, and teacher development in the context of school (Roberts 1998). Roberts suggests that “behavioural and humanistic perspectives throw useful but only partial light on teacher learning”, and that “a synthesis of constructivist and social perspectives, a broadly social constructivist view, provides the most helpful and appropriate general framework for teacher education design” (Roberts 1998, 13). Such a synthesis led to the development of the reflective model of teacher education. The reflective model is trainee-centred. It assigns great importance to teacher cognition (i.e., what teachers think, know, and believe; Borg 2006, 2009) and seeks to establish solid connections between theory (i.e., both personal small t theories, and the capital T Theory) and classroom practices. It includes two kinds of knowledge development: (a) received knowledge (i.e., external input coming from scholarly sources, the collective theoretical knowledge of the profession or the capital T Theory), and (b) experiential knowledge. The trainee will develop experiential knowledge by teaching or observing lessons, or recalling past experience; then reflecting, alone or in discussion with others, in order to work out theories about teaching; then trying these out again in practice. Such a ‘reflective cycle’ aims for continuous improvement and development of personal theories in action (Ur 1996, 5). These models are, of course, nothing but archetypes, providing only very general design principles for a teacher education program. Probably all three models have some truth in them. First, there is a lot to be learnt from ‘master teachers’ (as in the craft model); second, there is a lot to be learnt from experts and from reading scholarly sources (as in the applied science model); and finally, promoting the active engagement of student teachers in opportunities to learn through doing and reflection probably does help them integrate these external sources of input into their own reflection-based theories (as in the reflective model). Clearly, all three models of teacher learning have their advantages and disadvantages, as none on its own can really cover the complexity of language teacher education. They provide, in various combinations, the theoretical basis for teacher education design, but they can, however, become problematic if applied at their extremes. However, as the models are not mutually exclusive they can be intertwined and combined into an ‘eclectic’ approach to teacher development, following an inductive practice-reflection-theory cycle (Chaves and Guapacha 2016, 75, 81). The question all teacher educators have to face is how teachers learn most effectively, and how this learning can be integrated into a formal course of study. The design of any teacher education program is often based on both objective, or contextual, and personal, or intuitive, principles adhered to by teacher educators. In our case, the authors of this article, both being pre-service teacher educators, have chosen to base the pre-service teacher education programme to a large extent on the ‘reflective model’. Our decision is based on two sources of knowledge – first, our personal professional practice as teacher educators, and second, the bulk of the literature and research examining the nature of (language) teacher development, with a special emphasis on the reflective model (Freeman and Cornwell 1993; Dufeu 1994; Richards and Lockhart 1994; Medgyes and Malderez 1996; Nunan and Lamb 1996; Richards 1998; Roberts 1998; Gebhard and Oprandy 1999; Malderez and Bodoczky 1999; Trappes-Lomax and McGrath 1999; Moon 2004; Malderez and Wedell 2007; Wright and Bolitho 2007; Dymoke and Harrison 2008; Burns and Richards 2009; Borg 2006, 2009, etc.). We believe that recognizing the legitimacy of teacher-learners’ implicit personal theories and the role of prior (experiential) knowledge (Borg 2006, 2009) calls for the kind of teacher education pedagogy/methodology that emphasizes exploration and experimentation, risk taking and cooperation, balancing input and reflection, using what trainees bring and know, and increasing their autonomy (Freeman and Cornwell 1993, xiii–xiv). Such a reflective teaching methodology resists the assumption that people will learn to teach just by being told what to do or how to do it. Instead, it is based on the educational philosophy of constructivism which claims that knowledge is actively constructed and not passively received. If we consider that the professional development of language teachers should involve the various above-mentioned perspectives, it seems only logical to incorporate explicit reflective techniques into a teacher education program. A training framework as a bridge to reflective practice typically contains activities such as the teaching practicum, teaching practice portfolios, supervision and the supervisory dialogue, reflective demonstration (follow me!), micro-teaching, loop input (hall of mirrors), journal and diary keeping, peer observation, action research, study groups, self-development activities, and others (Wallace 1999, 184–86). What these instructional practices have in common is that they see teacher learning as the theorization of practice (i.e., knowledge construction); in other words, making visible the student-teacher’s beliefs about teaching and the nature of practitioner knowledge, and thus providing the means by which such knowledge can be elaborated, understood, reviewed, and reorganized (Burns and Richards 2009). Despite many pedagogical and institutional barriers to devising and implementing ‘reflective practice’ in pre-service training (Wallace 1999, 184; Cornford 2002; Russell 2005; Kuswandono 2012; Skela 2019, 27–29), it seems to us that a broadly reflective model of learning teaching still provides the most helpful and appropriate general framework for teacher education design. There is obviously still a lot of work to be done to establish a satisfactory framework for teacher education, but it seems that reflective teaching is here to stay as one of the most flexible and useful teacher training designs that we have available to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of ELT methodology (Skela 2019). After all, over the last two decades studies on reflective practice in the professional development of teachers have continued to attract researchers’ attention (e.g., Griffiths 2000; Kuit, Reay, and Freeman 2001; Cornford 2002; Ward and McCotter 2004; Russell 2005; Akbari 2007; Lupinski et al. 2012; Sellars 2012; Colomer et al. 2013; Mathew et al. 2017, etc.). No pre-service model, however good, can produce fully competent teachers. But what it can and probably should do is “to lay the seeds of further development” (Ur 1996, 8) by providing trainees with opportunities to develop reasoning and reflective skills, tools and processes for continuing their own learning of teaching (Malderez and Bodoczky 1999, 13). As such, a pre-service course “should be seen as the beginning of a process, not a complete process in itself: participants should be encouraged to develop habits of learning that will carry through into later practice and continue for their entire professional lives” (Ur 1996, 8). 2.1 The Methodological Design of The Fundamentals of ELT Methodology Course The Fundamentals of ELT Methodology, chosen for our research focus, is a ‘big’, whole-year course with an extensive syllabus ranging from very theoretical to very practical topics (for example, second language acquisition theories vs. techniques of presenting vocabulary). With its scope and content, it lays the foundation for all of the other subject-specific courses in the pre-service teacher education program. Clearly, with such a wide-ranging and varied syllabus, there will be topics that lend themselves more easily to ‘reflective’ teaching than others. The way we go about handling different types of course input is by trying to balance the two kinds of knowledge development, typically enshrined in the reflective model – received knowledge (i.e., external input coming from scholarly sources), and experiential knowledge. Both types of input are tackled by means of different teaching modes (listed in the first question in the questionnaire), or ‘process options/types’ (Woodward 1992). Teaching modes such as lecturing, discussion and brainstorming are simply different ways of tackling input, and they are separate from content. Lecturing, for example, is a ‘process option’ which can convey many different kinds of content, and a brainstorm can be about responses to ways of indicating language errors, or anything else (Woodward 1992, 3). According to Woodward (1992, 3), the term process, or process option, “denotes how encounters can be set up so that knowledge, skill or insight of trainees, trainers and others can be communicated between them.” The process options, or teaching modes, are thus “about ways of enabling, sharing, eliciting, encouraging, questioning, responding, enriching and developing, as well as about more didactic ‘transmission’ actions such as telling, helping and informing” (1992, 3). Regardless of content, a teacher training course could stick totally to one process type (or teaching mode), for example, the traditional lecture. But if we want a lecture to involve sharing, interacting, discussing or challenging, then we will need to change some steps in the normal lecture process. On The Fundamentals of ELT Methodology course a wide repertoire of process options is used, and thus input is tackled in different ways. In this way, we believe, trainees with different learning styles are better served. Hearing and reading may be enough for some trainees, but others will need to participate, talk, draw, visualize, experience, watch, reflect, and so on, in order to truly take in the new ideas offered to them. Over the years, the course has been shaped and re-shaped by our personal experience and by thought and input from outside, resulting in the course being based on some sort of a broadly reflective, eclectic and inductive methodological approach (see Chaves and Guapacha 2016). The course being ‘inductive’ means starting sessions with practical demonstrations followed by reflection and ending with theory, if necessary. By a cross-fertilisation between teaching modes and content, we are trying to integrate practical and theoretical foundations. The methodology of the course is to a large extent based on many versatile resource books containing a comprehensive range of tasks, such as Woodward (1991, 1992), Freeman and Cornwell (1993), Parrott (1993), Balloch (1996), Tanner and Green (1998), James (2001), Thaine (2010), etc. Such methodology, we believe, promotes participation, discussion, reflection, and class work, provides and connects theory and practice, includes varied activities, is student-centred, active and experiential (i.e., it checks for prior knowledge and misconceptions), considers different learning styles, and provides trainees with sufficient scaffolding to anchor the learning. 3 Research Questions By providing an insight into the reflective nature of the methodological design of the current pre-service teacher education program at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, we wanted to emphasize the considerable challenges related to online teacher education. Because of the legacy of knowledge-transmission, which is very pervasive and embedded in most institutions that prepare teachers, implementing a reflective model of learning teaching in pre-service teacher education is very difficult even in normal circumstances, and all the more so when it comes to online teacher education. As pointed out initially, theory/practice connections can be strengthened via the practical, experiential and reflective components of university teacher education programs, and primarily via the practicum. With this, we move on to the research part to show what were the challenges related to the effectiveness of in-person versus online instruction in the pre-service teacher preparation program, as perceived by the teacher-trainees acting as respondents in the study. Of the subject-specific teacher training courses shown in Table 1, our research focus has been narrowed down to a single course – The Fundamentals of ELT Methodology. The reason for this is at least twofold – one, it is, as the name suggests, a foundational and ‘big’ whole-year course with 150 contact hours and, two, it directly prepares students for the upcoming teaching practicum, including group observations/school visits. This study sought to examine whether giving teacher training sessions online is more demanding and challenging, and potentially less effective, or not. The research questions were as follows: 1. What are the challenges, related to online teacher-training and ‘e-practicum’? 2. Is the online reflective pre-service teacher-training perceived by the respondents as effective (compared to those who experienced teacher-training courses in-person)? 3. In the context of the imposed online teaching mode, did the survey results spell a return to a more traditional way of teaching the university-based teacher preparation courses? 4. Were, as a result of this, the desired levels of learner engagement and outcomes achieved or not? 5. According to the survey results, were online lesson observations perceived by the respondents as effective? There were some ethical considerations which shaped the way the research was conducted. Firstly, as the switch to working online happened practically overnight, it left little time for the instructors to adapt the course content for the digital environment, which might have affected the research results. On the other hand, it also strengthens the results as the materials were only adjusted with regard to the technical aspects to make the format more appropriate for an online environment (such as preparation of the documents and related instructions for distance learning, moving the discussions online into forums and chatrooms, increasing the number of home assignments in place of classroom activities, and similar). Secondly, the comparison of the views of two different groups with regard to their impressions of two different modes of course implementation might represent a methodological constraint, but as the study focuses on the general satisfaction with the course implementation and as the students can only take the same course once, a comparison of the two modes in a single group of respondents was not an option at this point. The survey results are thus interpreted within the highlighted differences perceived by the two groups of respondents (such as in research questions 2 and 5, for instance). 4 Method The research was designed in two parts, involving two anonymous online surveys, intended for two different sets of respondents. The open-access online survey tool 1ka was used, available at https://www.1ka.si/, to collect the responses to two sets of questions. The surveys were conducted in June 2021, with a sample of 49 respondents, spanning across two generations of MA students enrolled in the pre-service teacher preparation program at the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. The first part of the research was focused on gathering data on in-person instruction in the pre-service teacher preparation programme (hereafter referred to as the ODA course, which stands for Osnove didaktike anglešcine – The Fundamentals of ELT Methodology), which had prior to the pandemic lockdown – in the fall semester of the academic year 20219/20 – been conducted entirely in a physical classroom. In the spring semester of the same academic year the instruction was transferred online, but it was predominantly implemented within the e-classroom digital environment, in the absence of virtual contact sessions. This group of respondents, therefore, experienced both in-person and online modes in the academic year 2019/20, although their online experience was not comparable to the Zoom instruction of the following academic year, with virtual contact sessions. The sample for this part of the research was 14 out of the expected 21 respondents, with the latter being the figure for the 2019/20 generation’s enrolment. The second part of the research was centred on collecting the data on the online ODA course, which took place during the entire academic year 2020/21. The course was conducted exclusively in the Zoom digital environment. The sample for this part of the research was 35 out of the expected 45 respondents, with the latter being the figure for the 2020/21 generation’s enrolment. The first 12 questions of the two surveys were identical. They focused on the teaching modes, the nature of instruction, balance between theory and practice, students’ motivation levels, expectations for the course and the effectiveness of the instruction. The questions were formulated in various modes, where the respondents had to range their answers according to importance and level of appropriateness, or mark their value on a scale from completely agree to completely disagree (cf. Figures 1 and 2 below for more detailed information on the questionnaire). In addition to the first 12 questions, the second survey consisted of another set of 17 questions, primarily targeting the respondents’ issues with the online implementation of the course, such as technology-related issues, time management, interference from home environment, overall effectiveness of online instruction, as well as their general impressions of the online course instruction experience (cf. Figures 3 and 4 below for more detailed information on the second part of the questionnaire). A 1–6 Likert scale was used for ranking the categories, offering options ranging from extremely satisfied to extremely dissatisfied. The 1–6 scale was specifically chosen because it pushes the respondents into making a choice, thus rendering the data collected more reliable. However, there is an ongoing Likert scale debate which, according to several sources (cf. Krosnick et al. (2002), Kulas et al. (2008 and 2009), and others), questions the ‘reliability of data’ argument for the 1–6 scale. The current research review suggests arguments in favour as well as against either option, and leaves the final decision governed by the researchers’ focus and aims. 5 Results and Discussion Figures 1–3 offer a comparison of the survey results for the first 12 questions. As the individual figures are featured side by side, the presentation also allows for a visual impression and assessment of the values. Figures 4–7 feature results for the second set of questions, intended for the online group only. In reference to the first question, targeted at accruing data on the teaching modes used on the course, we can immediately see that there seems to be a relatively even distribution of the variety of teaching modes (22 altogether) ticked by the respondents, resulting in a somewhat linear receding funnel shape in both figures – for in-person and online course implementation. The selection process for the questions which would target the relevant points of the research resulted in another methodological consideration. Specifically in reference to the first question, the list of possible modes of instruction (featuring a mixture of broad approaches, specific strategies and modes of interaction), with some of them being subject to overlap in reference to their implementation, represented a challenge. However, for the purposes of the present research scope, the list was selected on the basis of the instruction modes most frequently used in the in-person execution of the lessons (as recorded by the instructors who are also the co-authors of the present article). These were applied to the online mode and subsequently warranted the comparative study. All the proposed teaching modes have been ticked at least once, with the category of workshops tailing the line in both groups of respondents (with as few as 2 votes for in-person and 3 for online instruction, corresponding to 14% and 9%, respectively), while the top categories for the two groups differed as the in-person group opted for pairwork and the online group for groupwork, with 100% participation in both instances, relating to 14 and 35 ticks, respectively. The second and the third top answers were the same in both groups, referring to formal lecture and question and answer modes of teaching. The results for the rest of the categories were featured in a somewhat comparable capacity, with only slight differences in the percentage of votes received. There were but a few exceptions. At a closer look we can notice that the in-person teaching was characterized more by in-class reading and student presentations (with 71% of votes each), while the online mode leaned more towards the use of films/videos/audios (89% of votes) and visualization (77% of votes). A comparative look shows that in the online group, in-class reading and student presentations received 54% and 17%, respectively, while the values for films/videos/audios and visualization in the in-person group were at 57% and 36%, respectively (cf. Tables 1 and 2 in Appendices 1 and 2 for more details on the figures relating to individual categories), thus pushing these categories lower on the axis in comparison with the other group. The results for the rest of the first set of questions again show very similar values for both groups. The questions that stand out are those in the second and third quadrants (cf. Figure 2 below), specifically the one relating to students’ motivation and interest during the course (in the second quadrant) and the one on the training course meeting the respondents’ expectations (in the third quadrant). In the former we notice that motivation levels were somewhat higher in the online group, which might be a bit surprising in the context of the online switch being so unexpected and resulting in a number of issues, personal (ensuring access to the technological equipment, handling resources, setting boundaries between domestic life and school work, and similar) as well as academic (balancing home and school life, time management, mustering motivation to study, and the like; cf. also Figure 3 below). On the other hand, the slightly higher figure in favour of the emergency online mode might make sense as the “COVID-19 generations” of students were highly appreciative of the fact that they were able to complete their university courses at all, regardless of the mode of instruction. In the latter case, a higher percentage of respondents felt their course expectations were met in the online mode, which, again, might tie back into the unusual aspects of the COVID-19 lockdown mode and the level of maturity on the part of the students, which also translated into the slight difference in satisfaction with the online course (cf. Figure 4 below). At this point, we can conclude that the overall student satisfaction with the course was at appropriate levels in both modes of instruction, in-person and online. It is evident from the research results that the instructors’ investment of time and energy into redesigning the course for online instruction was effective and well appreciated. In addition, with the research results being very similar for both online and in-person instruction, the students’ attitudes towards the two modes show a high level of adaptability and flexibility, albeit with the students’ minds set on the fact that this was a temporary solution, rather than a permanent one. As pointed out in chapter 5 on the methods used in this study, the second survey, targeting the online ODA instruction, consisted of additional 17 questions. The results for this second part of the survey are presented in Figures 3–5 below. The first six questions (cf. Figure 3) focused on the issues that the students faced in the online mode. They sought to address the social (ability of participants to engage affectively with a community and develop interpersonal relationships), cognitive (construct meaning through sustained reflection and communication) and teaching presence (design, facilitation and direction of social and cognitive processes), identified as the crucial elements for ‘a successful higher education experience’ in a computer-based environment (Garrison, Anderson, and Archer 2000, 87, as cited in Carrillo and Flores 2020), the synthesis of which leads to teaching and learning impact. With a solid majority of 71% and 69%, respectively, motivation to do schoolwork and observing boundaries between home and school topped the list of issues they faced. At the bottom of the list, we find problems finding a quiet space to study, at a mere 20%. There was no option for them to select ‘I didn’t experience any problems’, which presumes the respondents all experienced some sort of issues. The decision not to include the latter was made by the authors (who are also course instructors) on the basis of in-class discussions, where all participants expressed at least some concerns related to the online switch. However, in the subsequent studies this option should be added to ensure a higher level of respondent autonomy and objectivity with regard to the results. Online ODA Instruction, (n = 35) Which of the following issues did you experience? Tick all options that apply. Figure 3. Results for the issues experienced in the online mode. The next set of questions was related to the level of satisfaction with the online delivery mode, focusing on the trainees’ cognitive presence (cf. Figure 4 below). The results for these show that a slight majority (54%) agreed that both modes – online and in-person – were equally effective, in addition to 20% of respondents assessing they had actually learnt more in the online mode compared to the in-person teaching. In combination, a positive attitude towards the online mode can be registered in 74% of responses. A little over a quarter of respondents (26%), however, felt the online mode was less effective than the in-person instruction. Similar results with regard to the complex environment at home have been recorded in previous studies on the topic of the online learning, teaching and teacher training (cf., for instance, Zhang et al. 2020, as cited in Carrillo and Flores 2020). Online ODA Instruction, (n = 35) How satisfied are you with online lesson delivery?  Figure 4. Results for the level of satisfaction with online lesson delivery. The results presented in Figure 4 above could be combined with those in Figure 5 below, with a focus on the teaching presence. They both refer to the respondents’ impression of the online teaching mode as an alternative to in-person teaching. Overall their sentiments predominantly lean towards positive attitudes, although the online mode should not be used exclusively or permanently, but rather in combination with the in-person mode, which was reflected in the 43% share of the responses. The main arguments in support of their position can be found in Figure 6 below, focusing on the social presence, where the highest values are assigned to the students’ inability to interact with their classmates (value at 77%) and missing the energy of the classroom (at 69%) in the online mode. Online ODA Instruction, (n = 35) Choose the most appropriate option. Figure 5. Results for the general impression of the online teaching mode. Online ODA Instruction, (n = 35) What did you miss most during the online teaching mode? Tick all options that apply.   Figure 6. Results for things missed in the online mode. The results presented in Figure 7 refer to the respondents’ overall impression of their confidence levels should they have to teach in the online mode in the future, and how useful they found the online video observations of recorded lessons in this context. The latter were conducted in the Zoom environment, with pre-recorded in-person teaching sessions playing while the students were performing their specific, pre-assigned observation tasks. Immediately following the viewing of the recording was a group discussion of the students’ results of their individual tasks. The online observations were modelled in a manner that mimicked the in-person observations, usually conducted in a physical school environment. However, due to the parameters described above, certain differences in the observation experience were expected, specifically those relating to effectiveness in relation to how well-prepared the students felt for teaching in online mode afterwards. Slightly less than half the respondents (43%) felt well-prepared to tackle the online teaching mode, 17% felt very well-prepared, while as many as 37% were unsure about it. The rest, amounting to a mere 3%, felt not very well-prepared or not prepared at all. Slightly less than half the respondents (49%) found the online observation sessions useful to some extent, while only 29% found them very useful, leaving 17% doubting their effectiveness. The rest, amounting to merely 5%, were not sure or didn’t find them useful at all. Online ODA Instruction, (n = 35) Choose the most appropriate option. Figure 7. Results for preparedness for online teaching and usefulness of online observations. Interestingly enough, the recorded success rate is therefore above 50% for both topics, when we combine the figures for well-prepared and very well-prepared for online teaching (amounting to 60%), with the possibility of the 37% for unsure being interpreted as a consequence of the respondents’ inexperience and low self-esteem. In the latter case, the combined figures for being at least somewhat confident to teach online would rise to 97%, which is quite an achievement. As far as the last question on online observations is concerned, a combination of values for very useful and useful to some extent amounts to 78% of respondents believing in the effectiveness of online lesson observations, at least to a certain extent. The rest (22%), however, found them not very useful (17%) or not useful at all (5%). The share of respondents here is not negligible, though, warranting a revision of this section of the online teacher-training. At the same time, with value at 22%, it points towards the students’ dissatisfaction with the observation part of teacher-training being conducted online, and offers a partially affirmative reply to the research question number 3, thus suggesting a return to more traditional ways on this particular segment of the teacher-training program development. Some of the dissatisfaction might also have been due to the technical difficulties involved in the implementation of the observations, as Zoom users often experience screen freezes, audio or video lags and other issues. Prior studies have recorded similar sentiments of dissatisfaction with reference to poor online teaching infrastructure and the information gap  (cf. for instance Zhang et al. 2020, as cited in Carrillo and Flores 2020). As pointed out in chapter 2, teacher-trainees are believed and expected to develop experiential knowledge by teaching or observing lessons and relating them to their experience, thus enabling a ‘reflective cycle’ which contributes to continuous improvement and development (Ur 1996, 5). According to Ling (2017, 562), [as] teacher education is an iterative and complex process that needs to look ‘backwards, forwards, inside-out and outside-in’ to respond to the evolving needs of a world that is ‘moving, blurring and shifting’ […], acknowledging and addressing the current and changing exceptional circumstances that teachers and students are experiencing in these unprecedented times are necessary and would provide valuable information to continue informing future online practices. (as cited in Carrillo and Flores 2020) 6 Conclusions In reference to research question number 1 on the challenges related to online teacher-training and ‘e-practicum’, we can thus conclude that the respondents feel generally satisfied with the online implementation of this part of teacher-training, with some reservations about this sort of emergency solution, although with the understanding that this was a temporary rather than permanent measure. The challenges cited in the research results point mostly towards the problems with managing the sudden blend of domestic and academic environments, in addition to handling the issues related to resources (technological, financial, and other), while simultaneously maintaining the expected levels of motivation and balancing numerous academic, social, physical and other activities. In response to the second research question on how to handle teacher-training when the reflective model is no longer applicable, only a quarter of respondents felt the currently implemented online model was somewhat ineffective in preparing them for their future teaching profession. The rest were, at least to a certain extent, confident that the online mode is efficient and ensures a successful transfer of knowledge. On the question of the general impression of the online teaching mode, almost half (43%) of the respondents felt that the combination of online and in-person modes was the most effective, and 40% found the online mode good/interesting, which could be interpreted as a combined value of 83% finding the online mode at least acceptable, if not even preferable. Only 17% found it boring, for instance, thus offering a valuable insight into the possible response to research question number 3. However, these results do not necessarily translate into the respondents being pleased with the online mode to the extent where they would choose it over the in-person one. On the basis of a more comprehensive review of all the answers obtained in the research, we can draw a general conclusion that the imposed online teaching mode did to a certain degree herald a return to a more traditional way of teaching the university-based teacher preparation courses, as it triggered a number of personal, technical and academic issues. However, at the same time, the results also point towards a favourable attitude to the online mode, as the respondents felt they had learnt as much as during in-person instruction, thus answering research question number 5 affirmatively. This finding is further strengthened with the online mode receiving a higher value than the in-person mode on motivation levels as well as on meeting course expectations. In accordance with the latter, and in answer to research question number 4, we could therefore determine that, within the context of the current emergency switch to online instruction, the desired levels of learner engagement and outcomes have been achieved. As the online mode of instruction might persist in the future, at various levels and ranges, a need for further investigation arises, one with a broader scope in terms of the number of respondents, variety of questions, and other possible aspects, subject to a comparative study on the effectiveness of the two modes of instruction – in-person and online – in the teacher-training programs. As pointed out by Hodges et al. 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Valid % – Valid Corre­sponding % – Corre­sponding Freq. % Q1a formal lecture  13 14 93% 14 93% 13 7% Q1b informal lecture  9 14 64% 14 64% 9 5% Q1c question and answer 13 14 93% 14 93% 13 7% Q1d pairwork 14 14 100% 14 100% 14 7% Q1e groupwork 13 14 93% 14 93% 13 7% Q1f in-class reading 10 14 71% 14 71% 10 5% Q1g out-of-class reading 8 14 57% 14 57% 8 4% Q1h student presentations 10 14 71% 14 71% 10 5% Q1i class discussions  12 14 86% 14 86% 12 6% Q1j hands-on activities 8 14 57% 14 57% 8 4% Q1k brainstorming  10 14 71% 14 71% 10 5% Q1l elicitation  5 14 36% 14 36% 5 3% Q1m feedback sessions 3 14 21% 14 21% 3 2% Q1n games 12 14 86% 14 86% 12 6% Q1o workshops 2 14 14% 14 14% 2 1% Q1p task-based learning 10 14 71% 14 71% 10 5% Q1q problem solving 8 14 57% 14 57% 8 4% Q1r micro teaching 3 14 21% 14 21% 3 2% Q1s simulations 6 14 43% 14 43% 6 3% Q1t role-plays 5 14 36% 14 36% 5 3% Q1u films/videos/audios 8 14 57% 14 57% 8 4% Q1v visualizations 5 14 36% 14 36% 5 3% SUM 14 14 187 100% Appendix 2 Table 2. Summary of survey results for online teaching. Q1 Which teaching modes were used on the course? Tick all options that apply.  Sub-questions Units Indications Freq. Valid % – Valid Corre­sponding % – Corre­sponding Freq. % Q1a formal lecture  32 35 91% 45 71% 32 7% Q1b informal lecture  21 35 60% 45 47% 21 5% Q1c question and answer 31 35 89% 45 69% 31 7% Q1d pairwork 30 35 86% 45 67% 30 7% Q1e groupwork 35 35 100% 45 78% 35 8% Q1f in-class reading 19 35 54% 45 42% 19 4% Q1g out-of-class reading 21 35 60% 45 47% 21 5% Q1h student presentations 6 35 17% 45 13% 6 1% Q1i class discussions  28 35 80% 45 62% 28 6% Q1j hands-on activities 12 35 34% 45 27% 12 3% Q1k brainstorming  24 35 69% 45 53% 24 6% Q1l elicitacion  10 35 29% 45 22% 10 2% Q1m feedback sessions 10 35 29% 45 22% 10 2% Q1n games 25 35 71% 45 56% 25 6% Q1o workshops 3 35 9% 45 7% 3 1% Q1p task-based learning 23 35 66% 45 51% 23 5% Q1q problem solving 15 35 43% 45 33% 15 3% Q1r micro teaching 5 35 14% 45 11% 5 1% Q1s simulations 15 35 43% 45 33% 15 3% Q1t role-plays 13 35 37% 45 29% 13 3% Q1u films/videos/audios 31 35 89% 45 69% 31 7% Q1v visualizations 27 35 77% 45 60% 27 6% SUM 35 45 436 100% Lara Burazer, Janez Skela The Effectiveness of In-Person Versus Online Instruction ... Table 1. Subject-specific teacher training curriculum. Contact Hours ECTS Year 1 The Fundamentals of ELT Methodology 150 8 Methods and Techniques of Teaching English 60 7 Teaching Practice for English Teachers (practicum) 30 2 Year 2 Programs and Coursebooks in ELT 45 4 Testing in ELT 30 3 Scientific Research Work in Foreign Language Pedagogy 30 3 Elective courses (trainee chooses 2 out of 3): Teaching English for Specific Purposes Teaching English Across Age Groups Trends in ELT 30 + 30 3 + 3 Teaching Practice for English Teachers (practicum) 30 4 Total 435 37 In-Person ODA Instruction Online ODA Instruction (n = 14) (n = 35) Which teaching modes were used on the course? Tick all options that apply. Figure 1. Comparative presentation of the results for question 1 on the use of teaching modes. In-Person ODA Instruction Online ODA Instruction (n = 14) (n = 35) Values range from 1 (completely agree) to 5 (completely disagree) Figure 2. Comparative presentation of the results for questions 2–12. Marina Jajic Novogradec University of Zagreb, Croatia 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 139-165(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.139-165 UDC: [811.111’243:37.091.3]:81’373 Positive and Negative Lexical Transfer in English Vocabulary Acquisition ABSTRACT The aim of the paper is to explore the appearance of positive and negative lexical transfer of plurilingual learners in English vocabulary acquisition. Cross-linguistic influences in the study are examined by word translation tasks from Croatian into English, including true, partial, and deceptive cognates or false friends in English, German, and Italian. The results have revealed different language dominances and positive or negative transfer manifestation. Lexical transfer from L4 German is manifested positively, but the Italian language seems to play a dominant role in the acquisition of English vocabulary. The effect of Croatian is manifested both positively and negatively. The study has confirmed previous psycholinguistic studies on the complexity of lexical connections in plurilingual learners and the dynamic interaction of various learning-based factors, such as language recency, proficiency, exposure to languages, the order in which languages are learned, and the formal context in language learning. Keywords: English vocabulary acquisition, language dominance, plurilingual learners, positive and negative lexical transfer Pozitivni in negativni leksikalni transfer pri usvajanju angleškega besedišca IZVLECEK Namen prispevka je raziskati pojav pozitivnega in negativnega leksikalnega transferja vecjezicnih ucencev pri usvajanju angleškega besedišca. V študiji preucujemo medjezikovne vplive z nalogami prevajanja besed iz hrvašcine v anglešcino, ki vkljucujejo tudi resnicne, delne in zavajajoce sorodnike ali lažne prijatelje v anglešcini, nemšcini in italijanšcini. Rezultati so razkrili razlicne jezikovne prevlade ter pozitivne ali negativne pojave transferja. Leksikalni transfer iz nemšcine kot cetrtega jezika se kaže kot pozitiven, vendar se zdi, da ima italijanski jezik prevladujoco vlogo pri usvajanju angleškega besedišca. Ucinek hrvašcine je tako pozitiven kot negativen. Študija je potrdila prejšnje psiholingvisticne študije o kompleksnosti leksikalnih povezav pri vecjezicnih ucencih, kakor tudi dinamicno interakcijo razlicnih dejavnikov, ki temeljijo na ucenju: jezikovna nedavnost, znanje, izpostavljenost jezikom, vrstni red, v katerem se jeziki naucijo, in formalni kontekst ucenja jezika. Kljucne besede: usvajanje angleškega besedišca, jezikovna prevlada, vecjezicni ucenci, pozitivni in negativni leksikalni transfer 1 Introduction Language transfer is a phenomenon in second language acquisition research which refers to the transfer of language units from one language system into another. As a phenomenon it started to gain attention with the occurrence of contrastive analysis, a methodological approach in language theory in the 1960s, whose main aim was to compare compound structures in the first and second languages in order to reveal similarities or differences between the two language systems. It was assumed that on the basis of analysed similarities or differences between the two languages and through the production of well-created pedagogical materials, learners might overcome transfer in the second language production, which was usually reflected from their first language. Thus, the importance of language transfer is seen in explaining the nature of foreign language learners’ errors, as well as in finding the main source of transfer. Likewise, language transfer is one of the indicators of successful foreign language learning. There are two well-known classifications of language transfer – positive and negative transfer. Negative language transfer is defined as the influence of differences from the first language (or even any other language, regardless of the order of learning it) on the target language, which then cause learner errors in the target language production. Bardovi-Harlig and Sprouse (2017, 1) explain that positive language transfer occurs “when the influence of the native language leads to immediate or rapid acquisition or use of the target language”. Both positive and negative transfer present crucial issues in the foreign language teaching. Until recently, the most common issue in language transfer that has been discussed in the literature is that of transfer between two language systems. Moreover, investigations of language transfer within the domain of multilingualism have been growing rapidly in the last two decades (Bouvy 2000; Ilomaki 2005; Tymczynska 2012; Peukert 2015; Pfenninger and Singleton 2016). The main goal of this paper is thus to examine the appearance of positive and negative lexical transfer in Croatian learners of English, German and Italian and show the manifestations of transfer in English vocabulary acquisition. The structure of the paper is as follows: section 2 provides the theoretical background of the study, focusing on lexical transfer in multiple language acquisition and lexical transfer studies from various perspectives. Section 3 presents the aim and hypotheses of the study, while section 4 deals with its methodology, including the participants, assessments and measures, procedure and data analysis. Section 5 shows the results of the study and discusses the appearance of positive and negative lexical transfer from German, Italian and Croatian into English. The paper is concluded in section 6, in which glottodidactic implications for the English language classroom are presented. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Lexical Transfer in Multiple Language Acquisition Lexical transfer in multiple language acquisition has been the focus of an increasing number of studies (Lindqvist 2009; Burton 2012; Woll 2016; Ortega and Luz Celaya 2019; Efeoglu, Yüksel, and Baran 2020), but it still represents an underexplored phenomenon in foreign language teaching. De Angelis (2007, 41) explains that “non-native linguistic influence is particularly visible in the area of lexis, where traces of non-target information are mostly overt and therefore easily recognizable”. Lexical transfer is defined as “the influence of word knowledge in one language on a person’s knowledge or use of words in another language” (Jarvis and Pavlenko 2008, 72). According to De Angelis (2007, 44), “from a multilingual perspective, the transfer can occur from the L1 as well as the non-native languages, which means that the native language does not always have a privileged status and must be looked at together with other possible sources of transfer.” Additionally, the distinction of lexical transfer between two language systems (L1 and L2) and lexical transfer between more than two language systems (L1, L2, L3, L4, etc.) has to be made. The lexical transfer between L1 and L2 is usually bidirectional, which means that an L1 word can influence L2 word and vice versa, while lexical transfer between multiple language systems is multidirectional, and it can take place between L1 and L3, L2 and L3, L3, L4, and so on, in all possible directions. Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008, 74–75) divide lexical transfer into three broad categories: transfer related to morphophonological (e.g., “the use of false cognates” – Eng. fabric – Ger. Fabrik; “unintentional lexical borrowing involving the use of a word from the wrong language”; “the coinage of a new word by blending two or more words from different languages”) and semantic errors (e.g., “the use of an authentic target-language word with a meaning that reflects influence from the semantic range of a corresponding word in another language” – like in transfer from Finnish to English: He bit himself in the language, instead of tongue; “the use of a calque in the target language that reflects the way a multi-word unit is mapped to meaning in another language”); cross-linguistic influence effects related to lexical representation, accessibility, and activation (e.g., “when a word is acquired in new language it might become mentally associated with a word in an already-known language in multiple ways” – phonologically, grammatically, conceptually); and word choice transfer – a phenomenon that involves several dimensions of word knowledge simultaneously (e.g., L2 users may choose in English “an adjective happy instead of an intransitive verb to rejoice to refer to someone’s emotions”). The lexical transfer that is analysed in our study is the transfer related to morphophonological and semantic errors including different types of cognates, which will be further explained in the paper (section 2.3). Recent studies of lexical transfer place their methodology in spoken and written discourse, formal and informal environments, having in mind both psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic aspects of bilingualism and multilingualism. The following section gives a brief overview of lexical transfer studies in multiple language acquisition from various perspectives, which are of relevance for our study. 2.2 Studies of Lexical Transfer Boratynska-Sumara (2014) claims that “transfer of form and transfer of meaning, as well as transfer of content (lexical open-class words) and function words (lexical closed-class words) have been major issue in transfer studies”. Examining transfer from the perspective of intentionality and unintentionality, Boratynska-Sumara (2014, 138) points out that “identifying intentional transfer with cross-linguistic influence as a conscious communicative strategy and unintentional transfer with making interlingual mental associations and identifications, is a simplification of a very complex phenomenon”. Along with this, the author mentions that “the main area of research in a European context is linguistic, forward and lateral lexical interlingual transfer which is not seen from the perspective of intentionality and whether it is positive or negative” (Boratynska-Sumara 2014, 147). In line with Boratynska-Sumara’s claim (2014) on intentionality and unintentionality of transfer, Fuster and Neuser (2020) have also explored the extent to which lexical transfer in written production is intentional or unintentional. According to the authors, transfer is intentional if learners are conscious of their transferred items and can comment on the items. In contrast, transfer is unintentional if the learners are not aware of their transferred items. The participants in Fuster and Neuser (2020) were multilingual learners, three native speakers of Swedish and one native speaker of Norwegian with typologically related and unrelated second languages (English, Spanish, Danish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Hungarian, Arabic, Swahili). In order to determine whether the instances of transfer occurred intentionally or unintentionally, the written picture description task was used along with the think-aloud protocol and stimulated recall. The intentionality of transfer was predominantly expressed in semantic types of transfer and typologically distant learners’ languages, while as an unintentional mechanism transfer could be found in transfer of form, typologically close languages and function words. The issue of the intentionality and unintentionality of lexical transfer studies may be considered from the perspective of positive and negative transfer that is examined in our study, as the methodology used in the current work is aimed at examining types of transfer from all learners’ languages (L1, L2/L3, L4) to L2/L3 English regardless of the order of learning them. Noteworthy is the study of Peric and Novak Mijic (2017), who examined the cross-linguistic influences of learners with L1 Croatian and L2 English in L3 Spanish and the relationship between language proficiency and types of lexical errors. Peric and Novak Mijic (2017) assumed that L2 English would be the main source of both transfer types – transfer of form and transfer of meaning because of formal similarity between English and Spanish, and that with the higher level of proficiency the production of errors would be reduced and the type of lexical errors would be changed. The analysis of compositions written by second- and third-year students during their final exam at the faculty, showed that “with the increase of L3 proficiency, lexical transfer changed, and the influence of L1/L2 decreased” (Peric and Novak Mijic 2017, 102). Therefore, the mentioned study has confirmed the results of other studies (Burton 2012; Lindqvist and Bardel 2013; Pinto 2013; Bardel 2015) that indicated that proficiency in both the target and source language was one of the key factors in observing and determining lexical transfer. Apart from language proficiency, other important learning-based factors in examining transfer are recency of use and order of language acquisition. A well-known case study that evoked recency as one of the determining factors in participant’s L3 production is that of Williams and Hammarberg (1998). The authors claimed that L2 German was more activated due to its recent use, and thus they considered L2 German as the main language supplier in L3 Swedish production (Williams and Hammarberg 1998). Dewaele (1998) conducted a study on lexical inventions produced by speakers of L1 Dutch in L2 and L3 French production. The author stated that “the active language with the highest level of activation was the preferred source of lexical information and L1 was not necessarily always the dominant active language, therefore access to its lemmas could be limited” (Dewaele 1998, 488). Accordingly, the order of acquisition and language activation may determine the type and amount of language transfer in the target language. Although previous studies have focused on psycholinguistic aspects of multiple language acquisition, it is also essential to mention one study on the sociolinguistic aspect of bilingualism by Makarova Tominec (2015), who examined language contacts in Russian-Slovenian bilinguals at the orthographic, phonological, morphophonological and lexical levels. The participants were second-generation Russian-speaking residents of Slovenia. The results showed several types of influence of the Slovenian language as a functionally dominant language in the Russian language production, as seen in interference at different language levels, simplification and underproduction. The dominance of Slovenian could be explained by the fact that it was the language of the environment, and as the participants were young (ages 15–30 years; N=24) and middle-aged adults (ages 40–55 years; N=3) they had easily integrated into Slovenia, not only with regard to the language, but the culture, too. Therefore, the study demonstrated the great complexity in examining language transfer entailing both psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic aspects of bilingualism and multilingualism. One of the psycholinguistic aspects, which is also reflected in the present study, is the exploration of lexical transfer with respect to the dominance of background languages in English vocabulary acquisition. 2.3 Lexical Transfer Studies from a Methodological Perspective Studies of multiple language acquisition have shown a diverse methodology in the examination of lexical transfer. According to Jarvis (2009, 118), the more controlled methods include picture naming (e.g., seeing a picture of a bear and saying bear), picture classification (e.g., deciding whether various pictures represent things that are human-made versus natural), word naming (e.g., seeing the word bear and pronouncing it aloud), word translation (e.g., seeing bear and translating it into another language), lexical decision (e.g., deciding whether uncle refers to a male or female, deciding whether problem and question are similar), and various types of lexical preference tasks (e.g., multiple-choice tasks, fill-in-the-blank tasks), as well as grammaticality judgement tasks (e.g., where an individual word or a multiword unit may be of the wrong form or carry the wrong meaning). The less controlled methods refer to free and spontaneous production tasks, such as “oral interviews, written essays, oral and written narrative descriptions of pictures and silent films” (Jarvis 2009, 119). For the purpose of our study two different word translation tasks were used as more controlled methods due to the assumption that these translation tasks would trigger more cognate activation in learners’ background languages in English language production. Nevertheless, the words that have been mostly used by researchers are cognates. Cognates are defined as words of the same or similar form and meaning in two or more languages. In the studies of psycholinguistic aspects of multilingualism, several types of cognates are distinguished, such as true, partial and deceptive cognates. True cognates denote words in two or more languages, which are usually etymologically related; they are of similar orthography and pronunciation, and of the same meaning. Partial cognates refer to words whose semantic properties partially overlap, and often share similar orthography and pronunciation in the languages. Deceptive cognates are mostly referred to as false friends, denoting the words with similar or the same orthography and pronunciation, but with different meaning, and these are often used in elicitation tasks. For the analysis of cognates in our study we decided to use the word translation method, which can be a good indicator of “the real nature of students’ multicompetence and interlanguage, as well as the mechanics of cross-linguistic interaction” (Latkowska 2006). To date, there have been plenty of lexical transfer studies with different first and second languages of the students that have used various translation methods, like written text translations (Bouvy 2000; Gabrys 2000; Herwig 2001; Gibson and Hufeisen 2003; Ilomaki 2005; Gabrys-Barker 2006), written translations of decontextualized words (Ecke 2001; De Angelis 2005), oral translations of sentences (Letica and Mardešic 2007), oral translations of individual words (Pál 2000; Kujalowicz and Zajdler 2009; Tkachenko 2011), often combined with other methods, such as tip-of-the-tongue state (Ecke 2001), think aloud verbal protocols (Herwig 2001; Gabrys-Barker 2006), retrospection (Gibson and Hufeisen 2003), and a picture description task (Letica and Mardešic 2007). With reference to Ravem (1986), Larsen-Freeman and Long (1991, 80) state that “the use of translation as an elicited procedure, requires both the decoding of the stimulus sentence and the encoding of the translation, so that subjects’ performance approximates natural speech production”. Similarly, the method in the present study was developed based on the translation methods of Ecke (2001) and De Angelis (2005), who used written word translations. Ecke (2001) used both a word translation task and tip-of-the-tongue states in order to investigate lexical retrieval in L3. The participants were beginning learners of German as L3 with L1 Spanish and an intermediate-high proficiency level of L2 English. The translation task contained a stimulus of the Spanish translation equivalent and a brief sentence context in L3 German with the target word left blank (see Ecke 2001, 108). The study revealed that the degree of L1, L2 and L3 influence varied according to processing tasks and conditions. In other words, errors in the word-translation task mainly reflected unintended, automatic retrieval failures, which were, as explained by Ecke (2001), mostly due to the influence of connected L2 structures that could not be suppressed, since the words used in the study were cognate equivalents in L1, L2 and L3. On the other side, the tip-of-the-tongue states primarily involved extensive, conscious word search within the L3 (partially due to the suppression of L2 and L1 influence) (Ecke 2001, 106). Notably, the word translation method in Ecke’s study (2001) clearly indicated activation of all the languages during extensive word search. The word translation method, slightly different from the method in the previous study by Ecke (2001), was used in one of the studies presented by De Angelis (2005). De Angelis (2005) investigated cognitive processes in the non-native languages of L1 English learners of L2 Spanish and L3 Italian. The learners had to translate the written decontextualized words from English into Italian and then from English into Spanish. The words were non-cognates across the three languages. The results showed that the learners often used the same Spanish or Italian word for both translation tasks, which suggested “the use of borrowing strategies in order to fill knowledge gaps in the target language” (De Angelis 2005, 7). In contrast to De Angelis (2005), the aim of the present study was different in the examined languages, as well as in the use of words (see section 4.2) Furthermore, in the context of multiple language acquisition, the main focus has been on the interactions between two or more non-native languages, rather than the learner’s native language. Sercu (2007) investigated the activation of multiple foreign languages acquired by secondary school learners while translating a text from their mother tongue into different foreign languages (Dutch, French, English, German). The research questions were whether learners managed to keep their languages apart during translation, to which language they resorted in case of cross-linguistic influence, whether loanwords occurred more frequently than loanblends or literal translations, and to what extent variables such as psychotypology and psychoproficiency affected target language production. The data showed that both first language and other foreign languages were activated in learners’ multilingual lexicon. At the same time, “the better-mastered foreign languages were used as sources of help when confronted with a lexical gap, whereas less well-mastered languages caused cross-linguistic errors in better-mastered languages” (Sercu 2007, 70). What is confirmed by this study is a reactive control mechanism, which refers to the following process: “where individuals are consistently translating from one direction to another, the controlling schema is in place and the extent of cross-linguistic influence will probably be limited” (Sercu 2007, 57). As discussed by Sercu (2007, 56), it was because both “the contextually appropriate and the contextually inappropriate memory nodes were available in translation, requiring active suppression of the latter, which leads to a rather complex mental process”. We decided to conclude this section with Sercu’s statement because our study attempts to explain various activations of the languages in examining English vocabulary production, regardless of learners’ proficiency in all the languages. 3 Aim and Hypotheses The aim of the study was to explore the appearance of positive and negative lexical transfer in plurilingual learners and present the dominance of the languages in English vocabulary acquisition. The hypotheses were as follows: H1: There would be more negative than positive transfer from German, that is, the German language would be closely connected with the appearance of negative transfer in English vocabulary production because learners’ were at the beginner’s level of learning German, thus it was assumed that proficiency in German was lower compared to that in other languages and would cause more negative influence. H2: There would be less negative transfer from Italian, that is, the Italian language would not be closely connected with the appearance of negative transfer but it would be more related to the appearance of positive transfer as years of learning Italian, the exposure to the language, and thus supposedly better language proficiency in the language, would cause less negative influence from Italian. H3: Croatian as L1 would not show a significant relationship with the appearance of either positive and negative transfer in English, as it was typologically unrelated to L2/L3 English. On the other hand, if there were any transfer, it would result in negative influence from Croatian due to false cognates between Croatian and other languages. 4 Methodology 4.1 Participants The sample consisted of plurilingual learners who were at different ages with regard to the onset of learning foreign languages (N=106). They were secondary school learners of the first and second grades of grammar and vocational schools, whose mother tongue was Croatian (L1), L2/L3 English and Italian L2/L3, and L4 German. The years of language learning, especially between L2/L3 and L4 varied (9–10 years of learning English or Italian; 1–4 years of learning German). 4.2 Assessments and Measures There were two elicitation tasks used for measuring positive and negative transfer in English vocabulary acquisition – translation of individual (decontextualized) words from Croatian into English read by the researcher in Croatian (Appendix 1); and translation of individual, contextualized words from Croatian into English, which were incorporated into the sentences in English (Appendix 3). The first task was partly based on the task used by De Angelis (2005), and the second on that used by Ecke (2001). Both tasks were adapted to our research. Each translation task was followed by the retrospective method in which learners were asked to express which of the suggested languages (Croatian, German or Italian) helped them translate the word into English, and thus because of which language they managed to translate a certain word (Appendices 2 and 4). All the instructions for each task were written in Croatian. Participants also completed a language learning background questionnaire that included information about the order of learning foreign languages, where and when learners started learning them, self-evaluation of proficiency in a particular language (including mother tongue), questions about exposure to the languages, psychotypology, affective motives, language aptitude and metalinguistic awareness. Variables like exposure to languages, psychotypology and learners’ self-proficiency served as a helpful tool in determining the type of transfer. Psychotypology was measured by the question on the perception of similarity between English and the learners’ other languages (Croatian, Italian, German). Learners’ self-proficiency in each language was based on providing a rating (from 1–5) for the four language skills (listening, reading, speaking, writing) and general perception of their own knowledge in the languages, including their school grade, while exposure to languages consisted of questions on how often learners use each language outside the classroom for listening, reading, speaking, and writing, as well as for learning for school. Since “there is no consensus on the best measure of language proficiency, and self-ratings have received the most scrutiny” (Zhang, Dai, and Wang 2020, 5), we decided to assess learners’ language proficiency using self-ratings. The words that were explored in two translation tasks were cognates and false friends. In the first task there were nine true cognates in English and German (e.g., Eng. swim – Ger. schwimmen; Eng. bake – Ger. backen; Eng. milk – Ger. Milch), six true cognates in English, German and Italian (e.g., Eng. chemistry – Ger. Chemie – Ital. chimica), one partial cognate in English and German (e.g., Eng. sea – Ger. See), three false friends in English and German (e.g., Eng. rock – Ger. Rock) and one false friend in English and Italian (e.g., Eng. library – Ital. libreria). In the second task there were five true cognates in English and German (e.g., Eng. apricot – Ger. Aprikose; Eng. uncle – Ger. Onkel), three true cognates in English, German and Italian (e.g., Eng. fever – Ger. Fieber – Ital. febbre), one true cognate in English and Italian (e.g., Eng. dictionary – Ger. dizionario), three partial cognates in English and German (e.g., Eng. fence – Ger. Fenster), nine false friends in English and German (e.g., Eng. bench – Ger. Bank; Eng. save – Ger. sparen) and three false friends in English, German and Italian (e.g., Eng. factory – Ger. Fabrik – Ital. fabbrica; Eng. family – Ger. familiär – Ital. familiare). It is important to point out that learners had been exposed to all the words that were used in the tasks, since they were taught in class as part of the regular curriculum throughout all learners’ stages of language learning. Nevertheless, the words varied in their frequency of use in the classroom. To ascertain whether a particular word was high-, average- or low-frequency, we used the estimations of two English, two Italian and two German teachers, who had to mark on a list of words for a particular language which of the items they considered high-, average- or low-frequency in the learners’ vocabulary in the classroom. 4.3 Procedure The data collection was conducted during learners’ regular English classes. First, learners were informed about the research and that their data would be strictly confidential. Since all the learners were older than 14, they gave their own written consent for participation in the research (according to the Code of Ethics for Research Involving Children that was published by the Croatian Council for Children in 2003). The number of learners varied, from 16 to 26 in each class. Before doing the two tasks aimed at investigating lexical transfer and filling out a language learning background questionnaire, the learners were introduced to the tasks and questionnaire by the researcher. The researcher also pointed out that their participation in the study was anonymous and that the data collected would be used exclusively for scientific purposes. Every participant received a booklet which included the tasks and questionnaire with written instructions in the Croatian language. First, the participants needed to read carefully the instructions for Task 1 in which they had to translate decontextualized words read aloud by the researcher in Croatian with an interval of 8–10 seconds between each word. After they did Task 1, the learners were asked to retrospect their translations from Task 1 by answering on a separate sheet of paper why they managed to translate a particular word, in such a way that they circled the given language that might have helped them in the translation (Croatian, German or Italian). Second, after retrospection the participants did Task 2, which consisted of the English sentences with underlined contextualized words that were written in Croatian and needed to be translated from Croatian into English. Then, after the completion of Task 2, the learners again engaged in retrospection, as in Task 1. The two tasks, each accompanied by the retrospective method, were undertaken by the participants within a 45-minute period. Additionally, the questionnaire was given to learners after the tasks, and the learners spent 20 minutes completing it. All instances of transfer in the tasks were classified as lexical positive or negative transfer according to the cognates being investigated. The formal similarity in languages was analysed in terms of a similarity relation between the lemma in the background language (Croatian, German or Italian) that was the source of a particular instance of lexical transfer and a word in the target language (English). In addition, manifestations of transfer were divided into two categories – subjective estimation of learners according to the retrospective method, and objective estimation – the one estimated by two independent evaluators, learners’ answers about psychotypology and exposure to languages, both of which are described in the following section. 4.4 Data Analysis The instances of transfer from German, Italian and Croatian were identified by learners’ erroneous (negative transfer) or correct (positive transfer) word translation in English, and the frequency of each translation was entered into the statistical program IBM SPSS version 21.0. Based on descriptive statistics, the results were presented by using univariate analysis showing the distribution of positive and negative lexical transfer. The distribution was used as a typical and simple way of listing the number and percentages of participants in terms of positive and negative transfer from the background language into English. We defined positive and negative transfer of a particular language on the basis of learners’ self-estimation in the retrospective method, thus characterizing it as a subjective estimation in the analysis. Subjective estimation is defined here as learners’ personal opinion of the positive or negative influence of one language item onto another. In contrast to subjective estimation, objective estimation was used only for determining negative transfer, because it was not affected by learners’ explicit opinion of the transfer, but by the use of other multiple sources that reveal the nature of transfer (e.g., psychotypology, language self-proficiency, exposure to languages). As it was hard to determine negative transfer in some word translations (e.g., the use of the word public instead of audience in English), and what language was the source of such type of transfer (Croatian, German or Italian, e.g., Engl. public, Cro. publika; Ger. Publik; Ital. pubblico), in relation to objective estimation, we decided to use the estimation of the researcher, two independent evaluators, one for the German language, and one for Italian. The two evaluators did the estimation separately, and were used because they were highly proficient bilingual speakers of Croatian and German, and Croatian and Italian, and thus could easily note whether the transfer was from one of the languages. The results of positive and negative lexical transfer manifestations presented in this paper are a part of author’s unpublished PhD dissertation, and as such they are shown and discussed in the following section. 5 Results and Discussion This section brings the results based on data analysis of lexical transfer from three learners’ languages – German, Italian and Croatian – indicating positive and negative transfer in English vocabulary production. The analysis is based on subjective and objective estimation for each language, presented in the tables with the numbers and percentages of participants in terms of negative and positive transfer from German, Italian and Croatian into English. Since “cognates used for psycholinguistic experiments are traditionally rated by the experimenters themselves or are obtained in similarity rating studies using bilingual participants” (Letica Krevelj 2014, 106), using cognates in our study required a thorough exploration of lexical transfer from the source languages to the target language. Therefore, both subjective and objective estimation were needed to complement the results of positive and negative transfer. As learners’ positive transfer in the study was measured by their self-reporting using the retrospective method on the facilitative effect of the source language on the target language and learners’ correct answers in word translations, and negative transfer was measured by learners’ self-reporting in the retrospective method on the hindering effect of the source language on the target language and the learners’ erroneous answers, we referred to this type of judgment as subjective estimation, which in psycholinguistic studies has been assumed to reflect more accurate data. In the cases where learners did not explicitly state the hindering effect of some words from the source language, and according to the learners’ erroneous answer it was evident that it was a negative effect of one of the source languages, objective estimation was used (as described in section 4.4). 5.1 Lexical Transfer from German as L4 According to the results of subjective estimation, the German language had neither a negative nor positive influence for most of the learners, and less than 4% expressed negative transfer (Table 1). The exception was positive transfer of German in Task 1, where 8.4% participants estimated that German had a positive influence on English word translation in the same task (Table 2). In relation to the objective estimation, there was a significant level of negative influence of German. This is seen in Table 2, where 25.5% of learners were influenced negatively by German in Task 1, and 45.3% of them in Task 2. Tables 1 and 2 show the numbers and percentages of participants in terms of positive and negative transfer from German into English with respect to subjective and objective estimations. Overall, the first hypothesis (H1) was not confirmed. The German language did not demonstrate much negative influence on word translations, but instead positively influenced English word production. This may be attributed to the fact that the learners’ proficiency of German was estimated as high, and they were more engaged in learning German for school, rather than using it outside the classroom. The recency of some topics learned in both German and English classes might be the result of such a distribution of transfer. Although the influence of German was more positive than negative, we identified more negatively than positively distributed words from German, which is shown in Table 3. Table 3. Distribution of instances of negative lexical transfer from German based on word translations from Croatian into English in both tasks. Croatian word Target English word Answers more sea See zanimljiv interesting interesant talijanski Italian Italien, Italienish slobodno vrijeme free time Frei zeit kemija chemistry Chemie, Chemik blagajna cash register Case tvornica factory Fabric štedjeti save spare vrucica fever Fieber, Fiber mirovina retirement Rent ujak uncle Uncel, Unckle, Oncle, Unkle klupa bench Bank, Banke Words that showed a positive effect from German into English were medicine, swim, free time, chemistry, year and milk. 5.2 Lexical Transfer from Italian as L2/L3 The results for the Italian language are different to those for German. The numbers and percentages of participants in terms of positive and negative transfer from Italian into English in subjective and objective estimations, respectively, are presented in Tables 4 and 5. Table 4. Numbers and percentages of participants in terms of positive and negative transfer from Italian into English with respect to subjective estimation (N = 106). Subjective Estimation Positive Transfer Negative Transfer Task 1 Task 2 Task 1 Task 2 N % N % N % N % 44 41.5 % 10 9.4 % 14 13.1 % 14 13.1 % Table 5. Numbers and percentages of participants in terms of negative transfer from Italian into English with respect to objective estimation (N = 106) Objective Estimation Negative Transfer Task 1 Task 2 N % N % 15 14.2 % 23 21.7 % Most of the learners (86.8%) were not affected by the negative influence of Italian on the English word production in either task entailing both subjective and objective estimation. However, the percentage of subjective estimation in terms of positive and negative transfer was considerably higher for Italian than for German. The case is similar with the objective estimation of negative influence, but there was a lower percentage of Italian negative transfer than German. The positive transfer of Italian was more evident than that of German, especially for Task 1. Likewise, the results of the Italian language influence confirmed the second hypothesis (H2), as Italian had both positive and negative influences. It seems that better knowledge of Italian and its frequent use have positive and negative influences at the same time. Therefore, the knowledge of Italian can sometimes facilitate, and sometimes hinder, English vocabulary acquisition, which might also be due to the years of learning the language as well as the exposure to it. The positive influence of Italian was found for the following words: medicine, interesting, Italian, chemistry, audience, delicious, blankets, competition, serve, and family. The negative influence of Italian was expressed in learners’ erroneous answers for the words shown in the following table. 5.3 Lexical Transfer from Croatian as L1 As far as negative influence of Croatian is concerned, the results did not show any significant level of negative influence of Croatian in subjective estimation in Task 1, as well as in objective estimation in Task 1. On the contrary, objective estimation of Croatian in Task 2 was slightly higher with regard to negative influence. Nonetheless, positive transfer was more obvious in subjective estimation in Task 1 than in Task 2. Tables 7 and 8 show the numbers and percentages of participants in terms of positive and negative transfer from Croatian into English in subjective and objective estimations, respectively. Table 7. Numbers and percentages of participants in terms of positive and negative transfer from Croatian into English with respect to subjective estimation (N = 106). Subjective Estimation Positive Transfer Negative Transfer Task 1 Task 2 Task 1 Task 2 N % N % N % N % 23 21.7 % 6 5.6 % 11 10.4 % 10 9.4 % Table 8. Numbers and percentages of participants in terms of negative transfer from Croatian into English with respect to objective estimation (N = 106). Objective Estimation Negative Transfer Task 1 Task 2 N % N % 9 8.4 % 35 32.9 % The results revealed that the third hypothesis (H3) was partly confirmed. The influence of Croatian in some cases indicated both positive and negative transfer. However, its manifestation was different across the two tasks, that is, Task 1 yielded more positive influences, while Task 2 more negative influences from Croatian. Less dominance of the Croatian language in our study might be to some extent due to learners’ perception of Croatian and English as being typologically unrelated languages. Kopecková et al. (2016, 428) claim that due to the greater cognitive similarity between the L3/Ln and the L2, rather than between the L3/Ln and the L1, L3/Ln, learners are expected to classify their native vs. foreign languages differently, and thus co-activate their non-native languages in subsequent language acquisition. The Croatian language showed a positive effect for the words medicine, interesting, chemistry, unfriendly, milk, audience, serve, and family. The negative effect of Croatian is noted in incorrectly written and translated words, as shown in Table 9. Table 9. Distribution of instances of negative lexical transfer from Croatian based on word translations from Croatian into English in both tasks. Croatian Word Target English Word Answers stipendija grant stipendia, stipend klupa bench clupe blagajna cash register casse, case gledateljstvo audience public štedjeti save spare obiteljski family familary In addition, the negative influence of Croatian was largely noted in words that are characterized as Croatian dialectal words, such as familijarni and fabrika, as well as Croatian loan words from German, such as kasa, šparati, and stipendija. Generally, both positive and negative influences reflect the activation of all languages being used by the learners regardless of the level of proficiency in each language. As such, the results of this study are in line with the argument of Pfenninger and Singleton (2016, 169), who claim that “only a relatively low level of proficiency is required to have words from a language being activated and playing a role in the selection process”. These earlier authors’ study indicated that “after 2.5 years of French instruction, the participants’ level of proficiency was high enough to have content words and in.ections from French transferred” (Pfenninger and Singleton 2016, 169). The results also confirmed previous studies that showed a high activation of languages with low level of proficiency (Angelovska and Hahn 2012; Lindqvist and Bardel 2013). The manifestations of transfer from the German language in the present study were most obvious in the production of true cognates, while both positive and negative transfer from the Italian language could be noted in the production of true cognates and false friends. The interaction of the two languages in L3 production is also not excluded, especially when there is a formal similarity among all the three languages. Evidently, a dynamic process of positive and negative transfer in English production depended on the language proficiency in both the source and target languages. In other words, the results showed that negative transfer was more obvious in learners with an average level of English proficiency and a high proficiency in the source language. Moreover, high proficiency in all the languages was the result of positive transfer, while low proficiency was the result of negative transfer. However, this study confirmed the results of Sercu (2007), indicating that positive transfer is more evident from better-mastered foreign languages, whereas negative transfer from less well-mastered languages. Nevertheless, according to Ecke (2015, 154), “multilinguals’ access to vocabularies will fluctuate over time and inevitably include periods of stagnation, re-learning, and attrition of L2/L3 as well as L1 lexis”. Furthermore, many learners avoided translating the words. In addition to this, an avoidance strategy in studying the transfer is another crucial issue to be considered, and it is often referred to as a “covert transfer” (De Angelis 2005). The avoidance strategy was used by learners when they replaced the word translation with a word of a similar category: instead of landscape learners wrote fieldscape, area, background, country(side), environment, field, hometown, horis(z)on, nature, outdoors, panorama, place, scenery, sightview, valley, view; for apricot they used peach, pear, pineapple, raspberry, orange, cranberry, mandarin; instead of cake the words pastry, pie, sweets were used; instead of skirt learners wrote dress, shirt, shoes. We consider these words to be the result of avoidance because learners are sometimes afraid of making errors in the foreign language classroom, and in order to fill the gaps in language production they often use words of a similar category. With regard to cognates, the results showed a facilitative effect of true cognates, but hindering effect of partial cognates and false friends. At the same time, we noticed that positive lexical transfer from German and Italian was more evident in high-frequency words, while negative lexical transfer was more characteristic for average- and low-frequency words in English. Moreover, the interaction of all the languages in the plurilingual learners’ language production has fully confirmed Dynamic Model of Multilingualism, as from the model’s view “the behaviour of each individual language system in a multilingual system largely depends on the behaviour of previous and subsequent systems and it would therefore not make sense to look at the systems in terms of isolated development” (Herdina and Jessner 2002, 92). 6 Conclusion To sum up, the study aimed at analysing positive and negative transfer in English vocabulary acquisition, based on the interactions of previously acquired (Croatian and Italian) and later acquired (German) languages. Some hypotheses were partly confirmed (H2 and H3), and one hypothesis (H1) was not confirmed. As the results demonstrate, the Italian language showed significant levels of both positive and negative transfer. However, there was not a significant level of positive or negative transfer from the Croatian language, but in some cases the Croatian language showed an influence that was both positive and negative. Moreover, the German language showed more positive than negative transfer. It should be noted that the data gathered in present study cannot be generalized due to certain limitations. First, the sample was convenient, and heterogeneous regarding participants’ language proficiency and exposure to languages. Moreover, the translation tasks that were used did not show a complete manifestation of positive and negative transfer, which might be due to decontextualized words and in some way due to Croatian loanwords from German, which could not be completely avoided in either task. In order to obtain more objective measures, future studies should apply different combinations of methods in observing the types and direction of lexical transfer, such as for example, using short text translation tasks from different language directions in combination with introspective or retrospective methods, as well as guided compositions in several learners’ languages on the same topic accompanied by think-aloud protocols. What should be further investigated are the cognitive aspects of experienced foreign language learners, as well as lexical processes in word retrieval in all the languages with reference to various stages of language learning. Likewise, a careful selection of cognates should be considered, especially in cases of possible first language dialects and borrowings from other languages, as in our example. We tried to avoid the influence of Croatian in the way that we did not use cognates in Croatian as a first language and other learners’ languages, but the influence was manifested in the target language production because of the close connection of the first language selected vocabulary in the form of dialects, internationalisms and borrowings. We may thus conclude that positive and negative transfer in the present study is more or less affected by learning-based factors, such as language proficiency, L2 status, recency of exposure and use of the languages; learner-based factors, such as psychotypology and metalinguistic awareness, motivation, and age; and language-based factors, like typological distance, degree of contact (borrowing), and type of writing systems. Finally, there is still a need for further examinations of the nature of lexical transfer, especially in the context of lexicon-internal and lexicon-external factors. This means that except for lexicon-external factors, that are usually learner-, learning-, language- and event-based, investigations on lexical transfer should additionally take into account lexicon-internal factors, that are word-based, and which are of great significance for the English classroom. In the future, the following glottodidactic implications for the English language classroom should be considered: • transfer is a kind of strategy, and it can have more positive than negative effects on language learning (Ringbom 2007), so in the classroom it is essential to point to other languages known by the learners, especially those that belong to the same sub-group as the English language; • teachers should also scaffold the use of other languages known by the learners, even if they do not belong to the same sub-group as the English language, in order to enhance learners’ metalinguistic and cross-linguistic awareness; • the errors that English learners are making in the production tasks are often due to either their wrong perception of the word they are using in the language or the lack of the overall proficiency in the language, so the teachers should use both receptive and productive tasks in developing communicative competence of the learners. 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Tkachenko, Nadezda. 2011. “The Relative Influence of English (L2) vs. Russian (L1) on the Translation from Swedish (L3) into Russian Depending on Proficiency in L3.” Master’s Thesis, Lund University. http://lup..lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=2545119&fileOId=2545139. Tymczynska, Maria. 2012. “Trilingual Lexical Processing in Online Translation Recognition. The Influence of Conference Interpreting Experience.” In Cross-Linguistic Influences in Multilingual Language Acquisition, edited by Danuta Gabrys-Barker, 151–67. Berlin: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29557-7. Williams, Sarah, and Bjorn Hammarberg. 1998. “Language Switches in L3 Production: Implications for a Polyglot Speaking Model.” Applied Linguistics 19 (3): 295–33. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/19.3.295. Woll, Nina. 2016. “The Role of Metalinguistic Awareness and of L2 Proficiency in Positive Lexical Transfer from English (L2) to German (L3) by French Speaking Quebeckers.” PhD diss., Univeresité Laval. https://.corpus.ulaval.ca/jspui/handle/20.500.11794/26923. Zhang, Huiyu, Ying Dai, and Yingchong Wang. 2020. “Motivation and Second Foreign Language Proficiency: The Mediating Role of Foreign Language Enjoyment.” Sustainability 12 (1302): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3390./su12041302. Appendix 1: Task 1 (English Version) INSTRUCTIONS FOR TASK 1 In this task you will carefully listen to the words in Croatian read by the researcher, and you will automatically translate them into English, by writing each word (or word phrase) next to the number in order. The researcher will read the words within an interval of 8–10 seconds or even less, depending on the completion of the task by most of the learners in the classroom. During your writing, you must not return to the previously written or unwritten word (or word phrase), but focus on the next word being read by the researcher. Use your knowledge and do not ask for help your friends, and do not think aloud! Provide a word translation even if you are not sure in its correctness! While doing the task, DO NOT DIRECT ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS to the researcher, your friend or teacher in the classroom. By doing this task you will help the researcher in the implementation of the study. Thank you for understanding. 1. 2. 3. …. Appendix 2: Retrospective Method After Task 1 (English Version) Read the following words which you were translating in the previous task from Croatian into English, and for each word mark the statement that refers to you. I MANAGED TO TRANSLATE THE WORD … 1. kolac a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 2. lijek a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 3. krajolik a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 4. more a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 5. zanimljiv a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 6. knjižnica a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 7. mišljenje a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 8. cijena a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 9. suknja a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 10. plivati a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 11. talijanski a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 12. ljetni praznici a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 13. glasan a) …because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 14. slobodno vrijeme a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 15. kemija a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 16. vremenski tocan a) …… because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 17. peci (kolac) a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 18. neprijateljski a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 19. godina a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 20. mlijeko a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ Appendix 3: Task 2 (English Version) INSTRUCTIONS FOR TASK 2 Read each sentence in English and then translate the underlined word above the sentence from Croatian into English by filling it out in the sentence. Try to translate the words even if you are not completely sure how the word is written. Write the first translation that comes to your mind and DO NOT RETURN TO THE ALREADY WRITTEN OR NON-WRITTEN WORD! 1. blagajna When I came to the shop, there was a queue of people waiting at the ________________. 2. pekara My friend has bought some cakes in the ______________ at the corner of the street. 3. tvornica My father works in a _______________ that employs hundreds of people. 4. štedjeti You should ______________ a lot for a new car. 5. marelica Do you like _________ juice? 6. vrucica She caught a ________________ on her travels in Africa, and hardly survived. 7. neuspjeh The whole thing was a complete _________________. 8. mirovina Susan is going to take early___________________. 9. gledateljstvo The _______________ was clapping for 10 minutes. 10. ukusan This new restaurant is well known for its ______________ cuisine. 11. ograda In agriculture, ______________ is used to keep animals in or out of an area. 12. ujak Last year I visited my _______________ in Germany. 13. mjesec Every ________________ she visits her grandparents. 14. pokrivaci The shop sells beautiful bed _______________ . 15. natjecanje There is now intense __________________ between schools to attract students. 16. novcana potpora She won a _________________ to study at Stanford. 17. posluživati Pour the sauce over the pasta and ____________________ immediately. 18. klupa When it is nice weather my grandmother often walks in the park and sits on a _____________. 19. obiteljski The Smiths have opened a _____________ business. 20. mahati Why did you _______________ to him? 21. primiti He is going to ________________ an award for bravery. 22. mladež The fight was started by a gang of the _________________. 23. srednja škola My brother and I went to the same ______________________ . 24. rjecnik A ___________________ explains the meaning of words in alphabetical order. 25. džeparac My parents often give me some ___________________ when I go out. Appendix 4: Retrospective Method After Task 2 (English Version) Read the following words which you were translating in the previous task from Croatian into English, and for each word mark the statement that refers to you. I MANAGED TO TRANSLATE THE WORD … 1. blagajna a)… because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 2. pekara a)… because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 3. tvornica a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 4. štedjeti a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 5. marelica a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 6. vrucica a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 7. neuspjeh a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 8. mirovina a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 9. gledateljstvo a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 10. ukusan a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 11. ograda a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 12. ujak a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 13. mjesec a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 14. pokrivaci a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 15. natjecanje a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 16. novcana potpora a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 17. posluživati a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 18. klupa a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 19. obiteljski a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 20. mahati a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 21. primiti a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 22. mladež a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 23. srednja škola a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 24. rjecnik a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ 25. džeparac a) … because I knew the word from learning English b)…because of German c)… because of Italian d)… because of Croatian e) something else (state) _____________________ Table 1. Numbers and percentages of participants in terms of positive and negative transfer from German into English with respect to subjective estimation (N = 106). Subjective Estimation Positive Transfer Negative Transfer Task 1 Task 2 Task 1 Task 2 N % N % N % N % 9 8.4 % 2 1.9 % 3 2.8 % 4 3.8 % Table 2. Numbers and percentages of participants in terms of negative transfer from German into English with respect to objective estimation (N = 106). Objective Estimation Negative Transfer Task 1 Task 2 N % N % 27 25.5 % 48 45.3 % Table 6. Distribution of instances of negative lexical transfer from Italian based on word translations from Croatian into English in both tasks. Croatian word Target English word Answers knjižnica library bibliotace kemija chemistry kimic, chimic blagajna cash register casa, case tvornica factory fabric vrucica fever flue, fibre mirovina retirement pension gledateljstvo audience public klupa bench banco, bank Bojana Komaromi Jelena Jerkovic University of Novi Sad, Serbia 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 167-184(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.167-184 UDC: 811.111’243’373.611:62=163.41 Variation in the Translation Patterns of English ‘Noun + Noun’ Compounds in ESP: The Case of Engineering Students ABSTRACT ‘Noun + Noun’ compounds are among the most common and productive structures in modern English. Due to their complexity and potential ambiguity, they represent a challenge for English language learners, especially if such compounds are generally untypical and unproductive in the learners’ mother tongue, as the case is with the Serbian. The aim of this research is to examine how engineering students understand and translate ‘N+N’ structures in the context of English for Specific Purposes, focusing on binominal compounds and compounds with more than two constituents. The research method is the analysis of a translation test from English to Serbian. The results show that students need to receive more input about the semantic and syntactic properties of these structures and develop learning strategies that would help them to fully comprehend this type of compounds and provide their correct translations, focusing on their meaning instead of form. Keywords: English for Specific Purposes, engineering discourse, English language teaching, nominal compounds, translation procedures Razlike v prevodnih vzorcih angleških dvosamostalniških zloženk pri anglešcini za posebne namene: primer študentov tehniških ved IZVLECEK Zloženke, sestavljene iz dveh samostalnikov, so med zelo obicajnimi in najpogosteje tvorjenimi strukturami v sodobni anglešcini. Zaradi svoje kompleksnosti in potencialne dvoumnosti predstavljajo izziv za ucence angleškega jezika, še posebej, ce so takšne zloženke neznacilne za materni jezik ucencev, kot je to v primeru srbšcine. Namen te raziskave je preuciti, kako študenti tehniških ved pri pouku anglešcine za posebne namene razumejo in prevajajo zloženke, sestavljene iz dveh ali vec samostalnikov. Raziskovalna metoda je temeljila na analizi prevodnega testa iz anglešcine v srbšcino. Raziskava kaže, da morajo študenti prejeti vec informacij o semanticnih in skladenjskih lastnostih teh struktur ter razviti ucne strategije, ki bi jim pomagale v celoti razumeti to vrsto zloženk in zagotoviti njihove pravilne prevode, pri cemer se morajo osredotociti na njihov pomen namesto na njihovo obliko. Kljucne besede: anglešcina za posebne namene, tehniški diskurz, poucevanje angleškega jezika, samostalniške zloženke, postopki prevajanja 1 Introduction A recent diachronic study by Biber and Gray (2011) shows that the scientific and academic discourse style has undergone significant changes over the past two centuries. One of the changes refers to the use of nominal compounds of the ‘Noun + Noun’ type, which have become much more frequent and productive, while their meaning, relationships, and functions have extended as well. More precisely, there has been a shift to a phrasal grammatical style characterized by complex noun phrase structures which make the modern professional and academic style “compressed”, more succinct and less explicit (e.g., inoculation experiments instead of experiments that test the effectiveness of inoculation; pressure hose instead of a hose able to withstand pressure; see Biber and Gray (2011, 180) for more). Within the transformational grammar framework, it is argued that nominal phrases are formed by contraction of their complex underlying structures and omitting of the functional words (e.g., fish kettle . a kettle for (cooking) fish, oak door . a door (made) from oak) (Krimer Gaborovic 2017). Consequently, it is not always easy to understand the semantic relations between the compound constituents, and this poses a challenge for English language learners. This paper aims to identify some of the problems students deal with while translating this specific group of English compounds into Serbian. 2 Theoretical Framework 2.1 ‘Noun + Noun’ Compounds in English: Syntactic and Semantic Properties Compounding or composition is “the formation of a new lexeme by adjoining two or more lexemes” (Bauer 2003, 40).1 Compounding is known to be the main mechanism of forming new lexemes in many languages, including English, in which it is the most productive word-formation process (Plag 2003, 169). Compounds are commonly analysed in terms of the hierarchical relations between the constituents, i.e., their modifier-head structure. In English, the general rule is that the right-hand element of a compound is the head while the left-hand element is its modifier. The head is the central unit of the structure and the whole compound inherits most of its syntactic properties from the head. According to word class of the head, compounds can be classified as nominal (tomato sauce, computer program), verbal (deep fry, brain-wash), adjectival (knee-deep, deep-blue) and so on (Plag 2003, 182). Compounds also inherit other grammatical features from the head, such as their number and gender (e.g., movie actresses is a feminine plural nominal compound). A special type of compounds are neo-classical compounds composed of constituents derived from Latin or ancient Greek roots which act as both bases (they have full lexical meaning and can combine with each other) and affixes (they act as bound elements), such as bio-|-logy, geo-|-logy, bio-|-graphy (Prcic 2016). 1 Considering orthography, English is highly inconsistent in case of ‘N+N’ compounds. Bauer (1998, 69) observes that orthography varies even for a single ‘N+N’ collocation in different dictionaries (e.g., girl friend, girl-friend and girlfriend). In Serbian, on the other hand, the general rule is that compounds are written as a single word (e.g., mesojed, ‘carlivore’; rukopis, ‘mauscript’), while semi-compounds tend to be hyphenated (e.g., uzor-majka, ‘mother who is a role model’). However, it is strongly emphasized that orthography is not to be used for categorization in the word-formation process (Bauer 1998; Klajn 2002). The compounds analysed in this paper are nominal compounds having other nouns as premodifiers (‘N+N’ compounds). The analysed compounds belong to the group of endocentric compounds, characterized by denoting a subclass of the entity denoted by the head (Bauer 2003, 42): tomato soup is a kind of soup, paper bag is a kind of bag. The head in these instances is thus central not only syntactically but also semantically. The meaning of endocentric ‘N+N’ compounds is based on the combination of the meanings of its constituents. This principle is called semantic compositionality (Prcic 2016, 91). It implies that the sense of the lexeme is rule-governed, and that the decoder is able to interpret it by combining the senses of its individual elements. Yet, since ‘N+N’ compounds contain only content words and no functional words that would indicate the logical relations between the constituents (Biber et al. 1999), these compounds are mostly ambiguous in isolation, as there are often a number of meaningful semantic relations that can be established between the constituents. This phenomenon can be illustrated with the example marble museum, which can be taken to name either a museum (that is, a building) made of marble (as building material), or a museum (an institution) that exhibits marbles (objects) (Plag 2003, 192). Biber et al. (1999, 588) provide the example elephant boy, which could be interpreted as ‘boy who resembles an elephant’ or ‘boy who rides on an elephant’ or ‘boy who takes care of elephants’. Plag (2003, 189–94) explains that possible and plausible interpretations of compounds are determined by the conceptual and semantic properties of their constituents (nouns). This is why, for example, the compound computer surgery is unlikely to be interpreted as ‘surgery performed on computers’, assuming the knowledge that computers are not treated the way human organs are, but rather to mean ‘surgery performed with the help of computers’. In situations when there may be more than one possible compositional meaning of a compound, it is the context and our extralinguistic knowledge that provide the intended interpretation. A transformational analysis of ‘N+N’ compounds presented by Levi (1978) indicated that the semantic relations between the constituents are systematic, suggesting that ‘N+N’ compounds can be read as compressions of their complex underlying structures. According to Levi, ‘N+N’ compounds are derived by the syntactic processes of deletion or nominalization of the predicate in their underlying structures. The deleted predicates include: cause, have, make, use, be, in, for, from and about (e.g., tear gas . gas causes tears; picture book . book has pictures; honey bee . bee makes honey; horse doctor . doctor for horses; olive oil . oil (made) from olives). Examples of nominalization are dream analysis (act nominalization), student inventions (patient nominalization), and so on. Over the past several decades, a number of authors have provided taxonomic lists of the semantic relations between ‘N+N’ compound constituents (Downing 1977; Vanderwende 1994; Barker and Szpakowicz 1998; Biber et al. 1999; Adams 2001; Balyan and Chatterjee 2015). Biber et al. (1999, 590) provided a taxonomy accompanied by developed underlying structures of the ‘N+N’ compound types.2 This study uses their taxonomy because of its comprehensiveness and clarity: 2 In this paper the head noun is marked as N1, while the modifying noun is N2, while in cases of multiple nominal premodification, the nouns positioned to the left are marked with the following numbers (N3 and N4). 1. composition: N1 is made from N2, N1 consists of N2: glass window – windows made from glass; 2. purpose: N1 is for the purpose of N2; N1 is used for N2: pencil case – case used for pencils; 3. identity: N1 has the same referent as N2, but classifies it in terms of different modifiers: women algebraists – algebraists who are women; 4. content: N1 is about N2; N1 deals with N2: algebra text – a text about algebra; currency crisis – crisis relating to currency; 5. source: N1 is from N2: irrigation water – water that comes from irrigation; 6. objective: N2 is the object of the process described in N1: egg production – X produces eggs; or N1 is the object of the process described in N2: discharge water – water that has been discharged; 7. subjective: N2 is the subject of the process described in N1, N1 is nominalized from an intransitive verb: child development – children develop; or N1 is the subject of the process described in N2: labour force – a force that labours/is engaged in labour; 8. time: N1 is found at the time given by N2: summer conditions; 9. location: N2 is found at the location given by N1: notice board – a board where notices are found; or N1 is found at the location given by N2: corner cupboard; 10. institution: N1 identifies an institution for N2: insurance companies – companies for (selling) insurance; 11. specialization: N2 identifies an area of specialization for the person or occupation given in N1: N1 is animate: finance director – director who specializes in finance; 12. partitive: N1 identifies parts of N2: cat legs. 2.2 Nouns with Multiple Nominal Premodification Although noun phrases with multiple premodifying nouns were uncommon in English until the second half of the 20th century, today we more frequently find ‘N+N+N’ sequences, and even ‘N+N+N+N’ sequences, for example peace treaties enforcement action (meaning ‘activities carried out to enforce treaties intended to result in peace’), emergency cabinet committee meetings (‘meetings of a committee associated with a cabinet, called in an emergency’) (Biber and Gray 2011). The purpose of multiple nominal compounding is that it “offers an efficient way of condensing long meanings into just a few words, so it comes as no surprise that language users take advantage of that when in need of being succinct” (Wasak 2016, 129). Since this study deals also with nominal compounds with more than two constituents, it is important to point out that regardless of the number of the constituents, compounds can be analysed as binary structures (modifier-head), since larger compounds follow the same structural and semantic patterns as compounds consisting of only two members. An example university teaching award committee member was provided and illustrated by Plag (2003, 171) in Figure 1: Figure 1. Hierarchical relations in a five-member nominal phrase university teaching award committee member presented through binary structures (Plag 2003, 171). Theoretically, the number of nouns that may appear as premodifiers is unlimited, but it is uncommon to find more than four (Pastor Gómez 2010). Plag (2003) explains that extremely long compounds are used less, not for structural but for processing reasons. Namely, a higher number of constituents leaves more space for ambiguity, and Halliday ([1989] 2004, 169–70) provides an example of a four-noun phrase lung cancer death rates, which could mean ‘how many people die from lung cancer’ or ‘how quickly people die when they get lung cancer’ or even ‘how quickly people’s lungs die from cancer’ (for more examples see Kim and Baldwin 2013; Wasak 2016). The higher the number of constituents, the more relations implied, so the harder it is for readers to interpret the phrase and comprehend the text. 2.3 ‘Noun + Noun’ Compositions in Scientific and Academic Discourse The scientific and academic discourse today is characterized by high lexical density (i.e., the density of information in a text, measured by the number of lexical words per clause). For example, in informal spoken language the lexical density tends to be about two lexical words per clause. The lexical density of written language tends to be higher, often around four to six lexical words per clause, while in scientific writing the lexical density may be considerably higher than that, frequently over 10 lexical words (Halliday [1989] 2004). A recent study by Biber and Gray (2011) pointed to a dramatic diachronic change in the written scientific and academic discourse style, reflected in an increasing tendency towards nominalization and complex noun phrase structures (Figure 2). They show that scientific and academic texts today rely heavily on nouns (accompanied by “the relative absence of verbs”) and on phrasal modification (accompanied by “the relative absence of clausal modification”) (Biber and Gray 2011). Indeed, a corpus-based study carried out by Biber et al. (1999) revealed that nouns as premodifiers account for around 30% of all premodifiers in academic prose. Such high lexical density, arising largely from nominalization, often results in ambiguity and difficulties in comprehension of written texts. For example, in the statement, increased responsiveness may be reflected in feeding behaviour, it is not clear whether the feeding behavior is a sign or an effect; also, from the statement, higher productivity means more supporting services, we cannot tell if higher productivity is brought about by more supporting services, or if it causes more supporting services to be provided (Halliday [1989] 2004). According to Halliday, the high lexical density and the ambiguity are both by-products of a process called grammatical metaphor. This concept refers to the substitution of one grammatical class or structure by another (e.g., his departure instead of he departed). However, Halliday argues that grammatical metaphors “are not just another way of saying the same thing”, but that in a certain way “they present a different view of the world” ([1989] 2004, 176). This kind of metaphor is particularly common in the scientific discourse, and it is suggested that this may be the context where grammatical metaphor evolved first. Namely, in order to describe “a new kind of knowledge” based on their experiments, scientists spontaneously created a new variety of English which would be suitable to describe the steps in their research, moving from what has already been established to what follows from it. Halliday explains that the most effective way to do this in English is to “construct the whole step as a single clause, with the two parts turned into nouns, one at the beginning and one at the end, and a verb in between saying how the second follows from the first” ([1989] 2004, 174). In this process, through nominalization, verbs with dynamic meanings are transformed into nouns with static meanings, either by derivational suffixes (e.g., -tion as in publication house, -ance as in insurance companies), or by conversion (e.g., flow line, research fund) (Biber and Gray 2011). Pragmatically speaking, with this substitution nominal premodification signals the permanence of the notion denoted by the noun phrase. In this way, nominal premodification does not merely describe the head noun, but also defines and restricts it, and by giving it the permanent and defining status, makes it suitable for conveying the authority of a scientific fact (Junker 1992; Pastor Gómez 2010). However, a study aiming to find out to what extent nominal premodification is included in ESL-EFL grammar books (Biber and Reppen 2002) concluded that these texts focus on attributive adjectives as the primary means of noun modification, and to a lesser extent on participial adjectives, and leave nouns as premodifiers largely neglected. Nominal compositions are underrepresented in English books and curricula, although their complexity and potential ambiguity represent a challenge for learners of English as a foreign language. This challenge is even more serious for learners of English for Specific Purposes who also face the specific complexities of scientific discourse. Moreover, there is scarce literature in the field of English language teaching that deals with the strategies students need to acquire in order to more easily understand and efficiently translate these types of compounds (e.g., Fries 2017; Alemán Torres 1997). 2.4 Translating English ‘Noun + Noun’ Compounds into Serbian Although nominal compounds of ‘N+N’ type are the most common type of compounds in English (Plag 2003, 185), they are not typical in Serbian as the majority of such structures found in Serbian are borrowings from different languages, including Turkish (sahat-kula, ‘clock tower’, corsokak, ‘dead end’) and German (fusnota, ‘footnote’, hozentregeri, ‘suspenders’) (Klajn 2002, 44–48). Since the mid-20th century, there have been an increasing number of borrowings from English (e.g., rok-muzika, ‘rock music’, carter-let, ‘charter flight’), including raw Anglicisms such as air bag, computer consultant, and web site, lacking any orthographic adaptation in Serbian (Prcic 2019). Compounds in Serbian generally have a different structure, so, for example, many compounds in Serbian have interfixes such as -o- and -e- (e.g., nosorog, ‘rhinoceros’, kišobran, ‘umbrella’; lovocuvar, ‘game warden’) not commonly found in English. In order to analyse the translation patterns of English nominal compounds into Serbian, it is necessary to consider available translation procedures. According to Prcic (2019, 178–80), these are: 1. Direct translation: a procedure of direct translation of literal or metaphorical meaning from L1 to L2: e.g., fish and chips > riba i pomfrit (literal), mouse (‘computer device’) > miš (metaphorical meaning). If there are implied semantic features in L1, they are also transferred to L2: e.g., mobile > mobilni (implied semantic information – ‘phone’). 2. Structural translation (calque): literal translation of the elements in polymorphemic words (derived, complex or phrasal) from L1 by corresponding elements in L2: e.g., print.er > štamp.ac (suffixation). English compounds are very frequently translated into Serbian as phrasal lexemes: e.g., ice diving > ronjenje pod ledom [diving under ice], feasibility study > studija o izvodljivosti [study about feasibility]. In these examples using ‘noun1 + preposition + noun2’ in the Serbian translation, the structure in L2 spells out the underlying structure of the expressions in L1 (e.g., the underlying structure of the compound ice diving is ‘diving under ice’). Prcic (2019, 179) also distinguishes a subclass in this translation procedure called partial structural translation (or partial calquing), where one element is translated using a corresponding element from L2, while the other element is borrowed from L1: work.aholic > rado.holik, rado.holicar. 3. Functional approximation is generally the most common translation procedure which refers to translating the content from L1 by lexical means available in L2, in order to convey as accurately as possible the function of the referent from L1. One way of functional approximation is to maintain the original perspective or conceptualization: e.g., skydiving > akrobacije u vazduhu [acrobatics in the air], while the other method changes the original perspective or conceptualization: e.g., jetlag > zonski sindrom [the time zone syndrome], showroom > prodajni salon [sales salon]. Due to structural differences between the two languages, direct translation is not expected to be among the procedures used for translating ‘N+N’ compounds in this study3 (except in the case of borrowings, as mentioned above). It is expected that the compounds will be translated using either the procedures of structural translation or functional approximation. According to the findings of contrastive studies (Krimer-Gaborovic 2017; 2004; Šobot 2006), the most common Serbian translation equivalents of English ‘N+N’ compounds include: • phrasal lexemes of the following patterns: ––Adj + N, e.g., bird nest > pticije gnezdo, lace curtain > cipkana zavesa ––N1 + Prep + N2: e.g., pepper mill > mlin za biber, ink blot > mrlja od mastila ––N1 + N2 in the genitive case: e.g., copper mine > rudnik bakra, city centre > centar grada Other, less common, translation equivalents include (Krimer-Gaborovic 2017): • derivations (woman servant > sluškinja) • monomorphemic lexemes (alarm clock > budilnik) • semi-compounds of the ‘N1 + - + N2’ type (member-country > zemlja-clanica) • compounds of the ‘N1 + -o- + N2’ type (water tower > vodotoranj) • compounds of the ‘adjective + -o- + verb’ type (power cable > dalekovod) • compounds of the ‘N + -o- + verb’ type (kitchen sink > sudoper) • neoclassical compounds (soil science > geologija) • calques (water cannon > vodeni top). 3 Research Methodology The research was carried out during the winter term of the academic year 2019–20, and it included 50 undergraduate engineering students from the Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad. The students were in their final years of study (in their third or fourth years), with the language competence level of B2.4 3 For studies investigating the effect of the mother tongue on interpretation of English binominal compounds for various languages including Dutch, Spanish, German, and Chinese, see Zhang et al. 2012; Banga et al. 2013; De Cat, Klepousniotou, and Baayen 2015. 4 Language competence levels are determined against the standards of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages – CEFR: https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale. The instrument used in the research is a translation test consisting of ten English sentences, which were taken and/or adapted from international scientific engineering journals (the list of the journals is provided in the Research Materials section). Each sentence included at least one nominal composition with one, two or three premodifying nouns (‘N+N’, ‘N+N+N’ and ‘N+N+N+N’ compositions). The number of nominal premodifiers in the test depended on their frequency in the corpus, such that the binominal compounds were the most frequent, followed by the three-noun compounds and then the four-noun compounds. The aims of the research were as follows: • to determine the prevalence of correct translations for the nominal compositions with one, two or three premodifying nouns, i.e., to determine the students’ ability to understand and translate these compositions; • to identify the difficulties students encounter in the process of translation; • to determine whether the number of compound constituents affects students’ ability to understand the compositions and provide correct and complete translations; • to provide strategies that would help students to understand and more efficiently translate this type of compounds in scientific and academic texts. The provided translations were first grouped into correct and complete translations and incorrect and/or incomplete translations. The quality of the translations was assessed in accordance with the first two criteria of the Chartered Institute of Linguists provided by Munday (2012, 49): (1) accuracy, i.e., “the correct transfer of information and evidence of complete comprehension”, and (2) “the appropriate choice of vocabulary, idiom, terminology and register”. The other two criteria, including (3) cohesion, coherence and organization, and (4) accuracy in technical aspects of punctuation, etc., were not taken into account because we analysed only the phrases and not the whole sentences. The correct translations were then analysed according to their translation patterns. The incorrect and/or incomplete translations were analysed to identify common mistakes and the skills and knowledge students would need to acquire to overcome the obstacles related to their comprehension and translation of the compositions. Finally, the results for the binominal were compared to the results for three-noun and four-noun compounds to determine whether the number of compound constituents affects success in comprehension and translation. 4 Research Findings 4.1 Translating Binominal Compounds The translation of binominal compounds was the subject of the pilot study conducted by the authors (Komaromi and Jerkovic 2020). The study included five sentences containing the following six binominal compounds: (1) meat products, (2) water pressure, (3) sample analysis, (4) research purposes, (5) food policy, and (6) cancer therapy. The analysis showed that students translating binominal compounds from English into Serbian in the majority of cases face no difficulties, opting for one of the three most common translation patterns (according to Krimer-Gaborovic 2017): Adj+N, N1+Prep+N2 or N1+N2(gen). For example, the compound (1) meat products was translated either as mesni proizvodi (Adj+N) or proizvodi od mesa (N1+Prep+N2), (2) water pressure either as pritisak vode (N1+N2(gen)) or vodeni pritisak (Adj+N), (3) sample analysis as analiza uzorka (N1+N2(gen)), etc. However, in some instances, the translation procedure requires including certain elements not present in the surface but in the underlying structure of the original text, and this is the challenging part for students who largely attempt to follow one of the three translation patterns avoiding additions of any lexical words. For example, in the compound (6) cancer therapy the semantic relation between the constituents is purpose (according to Biber et al. 1999), and the underlying structure is therapy is used for treating cancer/cancer patients. The results showed that the compound was translated by as many as 43% of the students as terapija raka (N1+N2(gen)). As genitive without preposition is generally not used in Serbian for expressing purpose, this did not seem like an acceptable translation. The given underlying structure indicates that in the process of contraction, the verb treat was deleted, and potentially also the object patients. As previously explained, Serbian translations commonly reflect the underlying structure of the English compounds (e.g., sun protection means ‘protection from sun’, translated as zaštita od sunca), and in order to provide the most appropriate and semantically comprehensive translation, in certain cases the elided element(s) should be brought back into the text of the translation. However, the translations terapija za lecenje raka (inserted verb) and terapija obolelih od kancera (inserted object) was provided by only 7% and 3% of the students, respectively. It can be concluded that students in most cases tend to follow the principles of surface translation (Prcic 2019, 53–57), focusing on the form instead of the meaning. The numbers of correct and incorrect translations (with percentages) are presented in Table 1. Table 1. Numbers of correct and incorrect translations with percentages for binominal compounds (Komaromi and Jerkovic 2020). 1. meat products 2. water pressure 3. sample analysis 4. research purposes 5. food policy 6. cancer therapy Correct Translations 30 (100%) 29 (97%) 27 (90%) 28 (93%) 22 (73%) 17 (57%) Incorrect Translations - 1 (3%) 3 (10%) 2 (7%) 8 (27%) 13 (43%) 4.2 Translating Three-Noun Compounds The following part of the test included sentences containing three-noun compounds which were translated into Serbian. The compounds included: (7) olive oil consumption, (8) greenhouse gas emissions and (9) food supplement powder. Table 2 presents the translation patterns with examples and the number of provided translations (percentages). Table 2 shows that the first two compounds (7) and (8) were translated using exclusively combinations of the typical translation patterns above listed. However, the percentage of correct translations for compound (8) greenhouse gas emissions is quite low, which seems to stem not from the students’ lack of translation skills but from their unfamiliarity with the notion of greenhouse gas,5 as a significant portion of the students translated this phrase incorrectly (as gasovi zelenih kuca, zeleni gasovi etc.) or simply omitted one or more parts of the compound. 5 The compound greenhouse gas has a high degree of compactness, as it is highly stable (having its own definition in dictionaries, e.g., Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries 2021: greenhouse gas). On the other hand, compound (9) food supplement powder is rather specific, as its translations into Serbian included not only the typical translation patterns, but also the dative case (as in dodatak hrani u vidu praha, praškasti dodatak ishrani). If we analyse the compound following its binary structure {{food supplement} powder}, the semantic relation in the first part of the compound food supplement is objective (X supplements food). Likewise, the dative case in Serbian can be used to express objective functions, which justifies the use of dative. Another interesting observation for compound (9) is related to the treatment of its head noun. The semantic relation between N1 powder with the rest of the compound is composition, and in most cases it was translated either with a prepositional phrase u prahu / u vidu praha / u formi praha, showing the underlying structure of the English compound and implying the sense of composition. Another option was expressing it with the adjective praškast or with the phrase u praškastom obliku. It is interesting that, although the word powder is N1 in English, the word supplement was translated as the head noun in all correct translations. On the other hand, among the incorrect translations, we can see students’ attempts to make the word powder the head noun, generating translations such as prašak suplement hrani, puder suplement ishrani, prah kao dodatak hrani, prašak prehrambenog suplementa. In the first two examples, the students provided translations containing nominal predetermination in nominative with the pattern N1(nom)+N2(nom)+N3(dat), which is considered to be an unjustified Anglicism6 (Prcic 2019) and thus an incorrect translation. The translation prah kao dodatak hrani, on the other hand, does not clearly imply the semantic relation of composition. To conclude, the change of the head noun in this case is considered justified and the use of a prepositional phrase or an adjective (e.g., u prahu, praškast) can be accounted for by Serbian morpho-syntactic and semantic means of expressing composition. As was the case with binominal compounds, the need to change the form of the phrase in the target language results in the lower number of correct translations (52%). 4.3 Translating Four-Noun Compounds In the last part of the translation test, the sentences contained four-noun compounds: (10) water quality analysis procedures and (11) food product development stages. Table 3 shows the translation patterns with examples and the number of translations (percentages) provided by the students. The correct translations provided for the four-noun compounds consisted of the typical translation patterns in different combinations, including the structure with three genitive forms of nouns in a row (which is not uncommon in Serbian), or even a combination of all three translation patterns. However, the analysis showed that as many as 74% and 44% of students provided incorrect and incomplete translations for compounds (10) and (11), respectively. Unlike compound 6 Prcic (2019, 131) explains that Anglicisms are unjustified if the content can be translated using productive morpho-syntactic and semantic means of the target language.(8) greenhouse gas emissions, where students encountered problems related to the meaning of the constitutive words or phrases, or (9) food supplement powder where the compound could not be translated without considerably changing its form in the target language, it seems that with the four-noun compounds (10) and (11) students struggled with the determination of the semantic relations between the words. This can be illustrated by incorrect translations such as kvalitet vode analizira proceduru for compound (10) or hranjivi produkti u fazi razvitka for compound (11), showing that the students understood individual words and applied the common translation patterns, but could not determine the head and establish proper semantic relations between the head and other nouns. The research results for all compounds are summarized in Figure 3, which presents the distribution of incorrect answers for the analysed compounds depending on the number of constituents, and Figure 4, which shows the mean values of these answers. 5 Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications As English classes at the tertiary level are predominantly classes in English for Specific Purposes, it is of great importance that the focus of such classes be not only on expanding the students’ professional and technical vocabulary, but also on raising their awareness of the particular features of the academic or scientific discourse, which differs significantly not only from the conventions of oral communication, but also from the conventions of other written discourses. Recent studies have revealed that one of the distinctive features of modern academic and scientific writing is extensive nominal predetermination, which generates complex nominal phrases of the ‘N+N’ type. Considering that these nominal phrases lack the functional words which would explain the semantic relations between the nouns, these structures present a challenge for English language learners. This especially refers to those learners who are unfamiliar with such syntactic mechanisms in their mother tongue, as is the case with the users of Serbian. The results presented in this paper show that students had the greatest success in translating binominal compounds, less preparation for translating three-noun compounds, and the least skill when it came to four-noun compounds (15%, 40% and 59% of incorrect answers, respectively). In most instances, their translations used one or a combination of the common translation patterns (Adj+N, N1+Prep+N2 and N1+N2(gen)) outlined by Krimer-Gaborovic (2004; 2017). It should be noted, however, that although the students included in the research had a high level of language competence (B2 level), the percentage of incorrect translations for the compounds reached as high as 43%, 52%, and 74% for certain binominal, three-noun, and four-noun compounds, respectively. The analysis of the incorrect and incomplete translations provided an insight into the problems that engineering students encounter when translating nominal compounds into their mother tongue in a professional context. The results showed that major difficulties in translation arise in three situations: (1) when it is not possible to translate a compound using only the abovementioned common translation patterns, and it is necessary to insert lexical words which are part of the underlying structure of the compound; (2) when the number of the compound constituents is higher, as a higher number of constituents means more of the implied semantic relations and consequently more difficult interpretation of the meaning; and (3) when difficulties arise from the interference of the English language. In light of the obtained results, it can be concluded that nominal compounds should be integrated more thoroughly in the ESP curricula at the tertiary level. This integration would allow students to deepen their knowledge and develop better strategies for understanding these types of compounds and providing more accurate translations. The results of the current study and the findings of Alemán Torres (1997) suggest that learning materials that would bring about better translations of ‘N+N’ compounds should familiarize students with the semantic and syntactic properties of the ‘N+N’ compounds and the translation procedures available for translations into the target language. These strategies should include the ways of identifying the compounds in a sentence; distinguishing the compound head; determining the direction of translating starting from the last constituent of the identified compound (which is not the absolute rule); determining the semantic relationships between the constituents, etc. (for a more detailed description of pedagogical strategies, see Alemán Torres 1997, 21–22). In addition, Fries (2017), who also investigated this issue in the context of ESP for engineering students, suggests that the explicit learning through a morphosyntactic approach (i.e., explicit training in grammar) should be combined with implicit learning which refers to using one’s extralinguistic knowledge (i.e., the expertise in students’ specialized fields) in order to resolve ambiguities; providing repeated exposure to key lexicalized compounds in a given specialized domain; understanding the compounds by representing them graphically, and so on (for more detailed description, see Fries 2017, 97–99). Finally, attention should also be devoted to the use of unjustified Anglicisms, in this case using nouns in the nominative as premodifiers, which is not common in Serbian (e.g., prašak suplement hrani, puder suplement ishrani), as otherwise their occurrence could be expected to increase in future under the strong influence of English (e.g., internet veza or even raw Anglicisms such as Internet provider, business plan; Prcic 2019, 177). Further research in this field should include more students of different levels of language competence, as well as a larger number of translation tasks. It would also be useful to investigate students’ capacity to use ‘N+N’ compounds in language production tasks such as writing abstracts and oral presentations in the context of ESP. 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Research Materials Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, vol. 99, issues 1–15 (2019) International Journal of Food Science and Technology, vol. 54, issues 1–4 (2019) Agricultural Systems, vol. 159–167 (2018) Annual Review of Food Science and Technology, vol. 9 (2018) Journal of Food Process Engineering, vol. 41, issues 1–8 (2018) Annual Review of Food Science and Technology, vol. 7 (2016) Agricultural Systems, vol. 104 (2011) Bojana Komaro­mi, Jelena Jerkovic Variation in the Translation Patterns of English ‘Noun + Noun’ Compounds in ESP ... Figure 2. Historical use of nouns as nominal premodifiers (Biber and Gray 2011, 231). Table 2. Translation patterns with examples and the number of translations with percentages for three-noun compounds. Examples of Translations of English Phrases Translation Patterns 7. olive oil consump­tion No of trans. (%) 8. greenhouse gas emissions No of trans. (%) 9. food supple­ment powder No of trans. (%) N1+(Adj3+N2)(gen) potrošnja / upotreba / konzumacija maslinovog ulja 40 (80%) N1+N2(gen)+ N3(gen) emisije gasova staklene bašte 24 (48%) N2+N3(gen)+ Prep+N1 suplementi hrane u prahu 6 (12%) Adj(N1)+ Adj(N3)+N2 praškasti dijetetski suplement 4 (8%) Adj(N3)+N2+ Prep+N1 prehrambeni suple­ment u prahu/u praškastom obliku 3 (6%) Adj(N1)+N2+ N3(dat) praškasti dodatak ishrani 5 (10%) N2+N3(dat)+ phrase+N1 dodatak hrani u prahu / u vidu pra­ha / u formi praha 8 (16%) Incorrect Translation masli­novo ulje u potrošnji; upotrebljeno maslinovo ulje 3 (6%) efekat zelene bašte i emisije gasova; emisija zelenih gasova; staklene bašte za emisiju gaso­va; gasova zele­nih kuca, koji vrše emisiju 7 (14%) prašak prehram­benog suplementa; prah kao dodatak hrani; prašak suple­ment hrani; hranlji­vi dodatak pudera; puder suplement ishrani 12 (24%) Omitted One or All Parts of the Phrase 7 (14%) 19 (38%) 12 (24%) Table 3. Translation patterns with examples and the number of translations with percentages for four-noun compounds. Examples of Translations of English Phrases Translation Patterns 10. water quality analysis procedures No of trans. (%) 11. food product development stages No of trans. (%) N1+prep+N2+N3(gen)+ N4(gen) procedure za analizu / u analizi kvaliteta vode 8 (16%) faze u razvoju proizvoda / proizvodnje hrane 6 (12%) N1+ N2(gen)+ N3(gen)+ N4(gen) procedure analize kvaliteta vode 5 (10%) faze razvoja proizvoda /proizvodnje hrane 7 (14%) N1+prep+N2+ (Adj(N4)+N3)(gen) faze / stupnjevi u razvoju prehrambenog proizvoda 10 (20%) Adj(N2)+N1+prep+ N3(gen)+N4(gen) razvojne faze /etape u proizvodnji / proizvodnje hrane 5 (10%) Incorrect Translation kvalitet vode anlizira proceduru / analiza procedura kvaliteta vode 3 (6%) hranjivi produkti u fazi razvitka /razvojni hranjivi produkti / produkti hrane u razvijanju, ciji se stadijumi(…) 8 (16%) Omitted One or All Parts of the Phrase analiza kvaliteta vode / utvrdivanje zdravstvene ispravnosti vode 34 (68%) stanje prehrambenih proizvoda / razvojni produkti hrane / proizvod hrane u razvoju 14 (28%) Figure 3. Percentage distribution of incorrect answers in compounds with different numbers of constituents. Figure 4. Comparison of the mean values of incorrect answers in compounds with different numbers of constituents. Leonarda Lovrovic Cathy-Theresa Kolega University of Zadar, Croatia 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 185-203(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.185-203 UDC: [811.111’243:37.091.3]:316.7 Teaching Culture through Reading Literature in English Language Teaching ABSTRACT English as a lingua franca (ELF) has become a standardized mode of communication between diverse sociocultural groups. Besides linguistic competence, English language learners should possess adequate intercultural competence to establish successful social relations worldwide. Therefore, one of the main objectives of English language teaching (ELT) has become the development of intercultural speakers (Byram 1997; Kramsch 1998). One way of achieving this is by using literature in the classroom because learners interpret literary texts from their personal experience and are thus engaged both at a cognitive and an emotional level. Their individual interpretations can nevertheless also lead to generalizations and enforcement of stereotypes about foreign cultures. Hanauer (2001) has developed a method called focus-on-cultural understanding to expose learners to different interpretations. The study explores whether his method can be successfully applied in the context of Croatian university education. The method has proven to be effective for raising learners’ cultural awareness, which could lead to further development of their intercultural competence. Keywords: literature, cultural awareness, intercultural competence, English language teaching (ELT), English as a lingua franca (ELF) Poucevanje kulture z branjem književnosti pri pouku angleškega jezika IZVLECEK Anglešcina kot lingua franca (ELF) je postala standardiziran nacin komunikacije med razlicnimi sociokulturnimi skupinami. Poleg jezikovne kompetence bi morali imeti ucenci anglešcine ustrezne medkulturne kompetence za vzpostavitev uspešnih družbenih odnosov po vsem svetu. Zato je eden glavnih ciljev poucevanja angleškega jezika razvoj medkulturnih govorcev (Byram 1997; Kramsch 1998). Eden od nacinov za dosego tega je uporaba literature v razredu, saj ucenci interpretirajo literarna besedila iz svojih osebnih izkušenj, kar vkljucuje tako kognitivno kot custveno raven. Njihove individualne interpretacije lahko vodijo tudi v posploševanje in uveljavljanje stereotipov o tujih kulturah. Hanauer (2001) je razvil metodo, imenovano »osredotocenost na kulturno razumevanje«, ki ucence izpostavila razlicnim interpretacijam. V študiji raziskujemo, ali je mogoce njegovo metodo uspešno uporabiti v kontekstu hrvaškega univerzitetnega izobraževanja. Metoda se je izkazala za ucinkovito pri dvigovanju kulturne ozavešcenosti ucencev, kar bi lahko vodilo k nadaljnjemu razvoju njihove medkulturne kompetence. Kljucne besede: književnost, kulturna ozavešcenost, medkulturna kompetenca, poucevanje angleškega jezika, anglešcina kot lingua franca 1 Introduction Since the process of globalization has contributed to the increased mobility of population, the objectives of English language teaching (ELT) at all its levels should be focused on the specific needs of twenty-first century learners who are likely to communicate in various sociocultural settings. The development of linguistic competence alone is no longer sufficient to suit the needs of global citizens, and the development of intercultural speakers (Byram 1997; Kramsch 1998) has become a priority in ELT. A lack of intercultural competence may lead to cultural misunderstandings, often hindering successful communication, so that it is crucial that intercultural competence is embedded within the English language curriculum (Brown 2000). In ELT, teachers should use culturally relevant materials to raise learners’ cultural awareness and foster their intercultural understanding. To this end, literary texts are suitable for ELT because they frequently deal with complex cultural issues. However, they are subject to individual interpretations. To prevent the formation of generalizations and stereotypes, Hanauer (2001) developed the focus-on-cultural understanding method for the teaching of culture through the reading of literature. He argues that learners should be exposed to “multiple individual viewpoints” (2001, 396) in order to become sensitive towards the cultural norms and expectations which are valued in different communities. The aim of the present study is to explore the effectiveness of Hanauer’s method in the context of Croatian university education with third-year undergraduate students double-majoring in English at the University of Zadar. Despite several limitations to the study, such as the students’ age, gender and similar sociocultural background, we expect Hanauer’s method to be effective for raising the learners’ cultural awareness, fostering the development of empathy and understanding of otherness. The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 gives a brief overview of the importance of cultural education within ELT. Section 3 outlines the benefits of using literary texts for the development of learners’ intercultural competence. Section 4 details the analysis and discussion, which lead to the conclusion in section 5. 2 Language and Culture In today’s society, English as a lingua franca (ELF) is used beyond national boundaries as a means of communication between groups speaking different languages. As a result, English has more international users than native speakers (Faber 2010), and its use prevails not only in numerous fields but also in everyday communication. Deficiencies in communicative and task-based approaches have come to the foreground, so that the creation of near native speakers is no longer the most important outcome of ELT. Since cultural misunderstandings often hinder successful communication and prevent the creation of successful social relationships, there has been a need for an intercultural approach in ELT because it is the “central objective of language learning to promote the favourable development of the learner’s whole personality and sense of identity in response to the enriching experience of otherness in language and culture” (Council of Europe 2001, 1). In other words, if learners’ intercultural skills are developed together with their communicative skills, they will be equipped for successful communication in various multilingual and multicultural contexts. Teachers should thus endeavour to raise their students’ cultural awareness within the English language curriculum. As culture gives meaning and context to language, it is impossible to teach one without the other (Brown 2000). When learning a foreign language, learners encounter a new culture and compare it to their native culture becoming aware of the similarities and differences between the cultures and express their positive or negative attitudes towards them (Byram 1989; Kramsch 2000; Liddicoat 2004). They become actively involved in the creation of their knowledge about the culture, and this can lead to the development of their cultural awareness (Liddicoat 2004; Liddicoat et al. 2003). Discussing cultural diversity broadens learners’ horizons and prepares them to understand and accept other cultures, so that they can become more sensitive to others. This is particularly important when it comes to ELT, because ELF is used in international communication between members of different linguistic and cultural communities. Not only is it spoken in the cultural context of the target language, but also in other cultural contexts, whereby at least three cultures are involved in communication (Kramsch 1991; Willems 1996). In fact, ELF does not belong to individual nations or cultures but to all those cultures worldwide where it plays a significant role. In formal education, ELT seems to be responsible for intercultural learning because different cultures should be taught within its framework (Bland 2018). To illustrate, the source culture, i.e., the learners’ native culture, should find its place in the English language classroom because it is beneficial for the development of a positive cultural identity. Only if students learn how to appreciate their own cultural values, will they be able to understand and accept those of others. The inclusion of the target culture in the English language curriculum acts as a motivational force for learning the language, while simultaneously developing positive attitudes towards the foreign culture. Due to the specific nature of the English language, it is of utmost importance to incorporate international culture within the curriculum in order to address its use among various cultures and its place in global society (Cortazzi and Jin 1999; Matsuda 2012). On the whole, integrating different cultures in ELT will foster the development of learners’ intercultural competence, an important tool for successful communication in diverse intercultural contexts. 3 Using Literature in ELT English language teachers often face challenges in this respect as textbooks may lack relevant cultural information, but there are various authentic materials which can be used in the classroom as well. Authentic materials are written by native speakers in order to communicate ideas, and they can be interpreted within the cultural context in which they are created (Morrow 1977). Since literary texts frequently deal with various cultural issues, they can serve as a widely available primary source for the English language classroom. When learners are asked to interpret literary works, they not only interpret them within the particular cultural context, but also interact with them in relation to their own experiences, thus becoming engaged both emotionally and creatively. This contributes to their cultural understanding and the development of their intercultural competence (Kramsch 2000). Bland (2018) argues that literature provides readers with access to foreign cultures and languages, offering a new perspective in the globalized world. If English language teachers use both literary texts dealing with learners’ native culture and those dealing with foreign cultures in their classroom, they will encourage their students to discuss cultural issues from different perspectives, which will foster intercultural understanding and empathy for others. Therefore, teachers should endeavour to choose literary texts which include various experiences from around the world with equal access to diverse perspectives, because “books are sometimes the only place where readers may meet people who are not like themselves, who offer alternative worldviews” (Tschida, Ryan, and Ticknor 2014, 29). This calls for the need to include multicultural literature in the English language classroom alongside British or American literature (Pulverness 2004). Teachers should select literary texts that are not only written by native speakers, but also by authors using ELF, ensuring a holistic approach to English literature. Not only do literary texts develop learners’ linguistic skills, but they also require interpretation skills and develop learners’ cultural awareness. McRae (1991, 2008) claims that the language of literary texts is representational rather than referential, because it operates on more than one level, and is open to interpretation and requires negotiation to be understood. There is thus a need to include a fifth skill1 in ELT which involves language awareness, text awareness, and cultural awareness. This skill requires time and energy dedicated to learners forming opinions and subsequent discussions of individual ideas. Students should be motivated to interpret literary texts through different analytical tasks to understand the cultural issues represented in a particular literary work, and it is important that they give their individual contribution in the discussion, in which there are no incorrect answers and students are encouraged to express their opinions freely. By using creative tasks, for example, a role play or retelling the story from somebody else’s perspective, students can experience different cultural issues through the characters. In this way they become aware of what is acceptable in a particular culture, which can raise their cultural awareness and develop their cultural understanding. When interacting with a literary text, learners are involved both at a cognitive and an emotional level. Not only are they required to infer meanings, but they are also confronted with the subjective worlds of characters which they observe from different perspectives (Bredella 1996, 2000; Brumfit and Carter 2000; Burwitz-Meltzer 2001; Delanoy 1993; Kramsch 2000, 2003; Rogers and Soter 1997; Soter 1997). Learners are required to interpret foreign cultures from a point of view of their own and, in that way, they develop critical self-awareness, tolerance, and empathy for otherness (Phipps and González, 2004; Zacharias 2005). Hall (2005, 80) states that “a classroom informed by ideas of discourse and dialogue encourages and explores and values alternative perspectives and experiences”. Through the discussion about various cultural issues, learners become aware of cultural norms. They come to understand values different from their own and learn to accept “the others’ beliefs and values, even if […] [they] cannot approve of them” (Bredella 2003, 594). Learners do not interpret literary texts in the same way as native speakers because they interpret them with a different sociocultural background and from their own personal experience. According to Kramsch (2000), these are the differences between “cultural reality” and “cultural imagination”, and the teachers’ task is “to ensure that the synthesis that is born 1 Besides the four linguistic skills, i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing.from this encounter will occur in a third space” (Gonçalves Matos 2005, 60). The term “third space” refers to the space between the two cultures. It is the space where learners integrate their own understanding and expectations with a literary text, and become involved in the meaning making process. In this process, they might misinterpret some of the conversations due to the conventions which are inaccessible to them and, as a result, the literary text might be misunderstood. The role of the teacher is to clarify the points that cause misunderstanding (Brumfit and Carter 2000) because “literature per se does not necessarily provide a master key for understanding a foreign culture” (Delanoy 1993, 278). Since literary texts are subject to individual interpretations and not representative of a whole society, they can reinforce prejudices and stereotypes, and it is one of the central issues in cultural education to avoid these generalizations (Edmondson 1997; Hall 2005). Hanauer (2001, 395) claims that “[…] literary texts are not self-explanatory […] [but] tend to be ambiguous and polysemous […] [and] are open to a multiplicity of meaning construction options”. The interpretation of literary texts depends on “the designs of meaning making” which are part of the culture (2001, 396), and language teachers can show their learners the ways in which different individuals and communities might understand these texts. As cultures are composed of individuals who have different cultural relationships and are members of different ethnic, religious and ideological groups, there are multiple sets of cultural meanings within any country, so that the teaching of culture should include the presentation of “multiple individual viewpoints” (2001, 396). Even though a literary work presents the author’s personal presentation of life and values, it can be interpreted in different culturally specific ways by the members of the same community, and this can help learners understand the complexities of the target culture. Therefore, Hanauer (2001, 401) developed a theoretically based method for the teaching of culture through the reading of literature named focus-on-cultural understanding. It is based on the theory of multiliteracy according to which “every culture develops its own set of designs of meaning making […] [which] are socially embedded and historically constituted” (Cope and Kalantzis 2000, 9). The cultural context serves as a framework for meaning construction, whereby the culture of a particular community is defined by the various designs of meaning making produced by the members of that community. In other words, while learning a foreign culture, students learn the community’s ways of constructing and producing meaning which can be different from the values and meanings of their own cultures. The central aspect of Hanauer’s method is “the presentation and discussion of multiple interpretations of the literary work by members of the target culture and comparison of these to the understandings of language learner” (Hanauer 2001, 403). Even though literary interpretations are believed to limit students’ personal interpretations in first language learning pedagogy (Britton 1968), experts’ interpretations can help students understand how individual meanings are produced within the target culture. These experts are native speakers from the target culture whose interpretations can contribute to learners’ different understandings of a literary text. Besides native speakers’ interpretations, the students’ culturally specific view of the target culture should be included and compared with other culturally specific ways of constructing meaning. This includes a confrontation of the interpretations of the same literary text by learners and members of the target language community, whereby language learners can compare the different ways in which meaning is constructed both by them and by native speakers. As this task focuses on the meaning making process, it is called the task of focus-on-cultural understanding. In the classroom, learners’ understandings of the literary text are brought in juxtaposition to native speakers’ understandings of the text. Through comparison, learners can understand the culturally specific meaning making processes, i.e., the ways in which members of the target culture construct meaning. The learning environment should support multiple interpretations in relation to the difference between understandings of distant and close cultural groups. This means that the teacher should respect students’ interpretations of the literary text because native speakers’ interpretations should only help learners develop discussions over the differences in meaning making. It is also important that the teacher chooses “culturally embedded texts” (2001, 401) in order to provoke discussion of culturally specific meanings. Literary texts which are considered controversial within the target culture will show all its complexities instead of presenting it in an idealized manner, and “the language teacher needs to focus on those aspects of the task which involve culturally specific meaning construction” (Hanauer 2001, 402), so that learners can understand the target culture with all its complexities. 4 Analysis and Discussion 4.1 Methodology The present study was designed to test the effectiveness of Hanauer’s method2 for the development of students’ cultural awareness in relation to the issue of racial discrimination in the context of Croatian university education, and it addressed the following research questions: RQ1. a) What is the participants’ perception of different foreign cultures, i.e., Australian and Indian, as well as their native culture, i.e., Croatian? b) Does the participants’ perception of different foreign cultures, i.e., Australian and Indian as well as their native culture, i.e., Croatian, change after the activities? RQ2. a) What are the participants’ attitudes towards the two foreign cultures as well as towards their native culture? b) Do the activities influence the participants’ attitudes towards the two foreign cultures as well as towards their native culture?3 2 A similar study was conducted in Poland in 2012 by Wasikiewicz-Firlej. In her paper “Developing Cultural Awareness through Reading Literary Texts”, she investigated the effectiveness of Hanauer’s method in the context of the Polish higher education setting. In her study she focused on the perception of the gender identity and gender roles in the USA, Japan and Poland. The research questions in the present study are based upon the research questions that Wasikiewicz-Firlej used in her study; however, this study focuses on the issue of racial discrimination. 3 In research questions 1a, 1b, 2a, and 2b we wanted to make a distinction between the terms perception and attitude because, according to Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, perception is “an idea, a belief or an image you have as a result of how you see or understand something” (2021b), whereas attitude is “the way you think and feel about somebody/something or the way you behave towards somebody or something that shows how you think and feel” (2021a). In RQ3. a) Are the participants motivated for cultural education? b) Do the activities influence the participants’ motivation for cultural education? RQ4. What is the participants’ attitude towards the effectiveness of this method? RQ5. Do the participants think that intercultural education should be part of ELT? The research was conducted in May 2019 at the University of Zadar in Croatia within the compulsory course Contemporary English Language VI on a sample of 57 (48 female and nine male) third-year undergraduate Croatian students (level C1/C2) aged between 21 and 23, double-majoring in English. At the time of the study, they had been learning English between 12 and 16 years, and 53 students had been abroad before the time of the research. Eight students consider themselves bilingual, whereas 49 students claim to be multilingual, speaking German (30 students), Spanish (18 students), Italian (17 students), Russian (14 students), and French (13 students) besides Croatian and English. Before doing the activities, the students were given a questionnaire containing personal questions as well as reasons for studying English. According to their answers, their reasons for studying English are mainly communication (53 students), work (53 students), travel (35 students), and getting to know other cultures (23 students). A few students listed other reasons for studying English such as understanding popular cultures (one student), working in tourism (one student), media and entertainment (one student), and “an easy choice after high school” (one student). The literary text chosen for the research was the short story A Really Splendid Evening written by the Australian author Lesley Rowlands, which was originally published in a magazine in 1963 and reprinted in Best Australian Short Stories (1975, eds. Stewart and Davis). This story was chosen for its recognized importance within the target culture. Since it deals with racial discrimination, we expected it to provoke discussion on this sensitive topic. The short story shows the representatives of the target culture, i.e., Australians, confronting another culture, i.e., Indian. It illustrates a culture clash and the protagonist’s experience of culture shock when he comes to visit the Australian couple whom he hardly knows. The story features Rao, a young Indian technician, who visits the home of the wealthy Australian couple, Mary and Harry Greenberg, upon Mr Greenberg’s invitation, which is portrayed as insincere. This could be considered a debatable element of culture related to different attitudes towards accepting people’s invitations in both cultures. The story describes what happens on that “really splendid evening”. In order to collect the data, we used the pre-questionnaire, the students’ interpretations of the short story, the native speakers’ interpretations of the short story, the students’ discussion, and the post-questionnaire. We assumed that the reading of the short story and the accompanying activities with the focus on the discussion about the complexities of each one of these cultures would have an impact on the participants’ perception of the three cultures as well as their attitudes towards the members from these cultures. We believed that the aforementioned activities would have an impact on their motivation for cultural education within ELT.other words, perception is the first stage of human reaction to any external impulse and leads to building our attitude, i.e., to forming our behaviour and actions. 4.2 The Pre-questionnaire In the first stage of the research, before reading the short story, the students were provided with the pre-questionnaire, which was conducted using a Likert scale from 1-5 in which 1 stands for “strongly disagree” and 5 for “strongly agree” (1 – strongly disagree; 2 – disagree; 3 – neither agree nor disagree; 4 – agree; 5 – strongly agree). It contained 12 statements (Appendix 1) in order to check the participants’ perceptions of Australian, Indian, and Croatian culture, their attitudes towards them, as well as their motivation for cultural education. Our aim was to collect the data related to the students’ general perceptions of the different cultures represented in the short story, i.e., Australian and Indian, and their own culture, i.e., Croatian, as well as their attitudes towards the members of these cultures. Using Statements 1–8, we wanted to examine whether the students were likely to express discrimination towards any of these three cultures without addressing the complexities of each of them. Statements 9–11 served as an introduction to the method used in the research which provides an instrument for the development of cultural awareness in the ELT classroom. We wanted our participants to reflect upon reading literature as a potential means of fostering cultural understanding which, according to Hanauer (2001), could be achieved through the meaning making process. Statement 12 was aimed at provoking the students’ self-reflection in relation to their motivation for learning about other cultures. Table 1. The results of the pre-questionnaire. No. Statement Mean 1 People in Australia are tolerant towards other nations. 3.65 2 People in India are tolerant towards other nations. 2.98 3 People in Croatia are tolerant towards other nations. 3.00 4 Discrimination exists in all cultures. 4.63 5 Discrimination is more evident in some cultures than in others. 4.51 6 My attitude towards Australian culture is positive. 4.46 7 My attitude towards Indian culture is positive. 3.56 8 My attitude towards Croatian culture is positive. 3.96 9 It is difficult to understand foreign cultural values (people’s attitudes, behaviour, feelings, beliefs). 3.05 10 Reading literature leads to the development of empathy and sensitivity towards foreign cultures. 4.14 11 Learning about foreign cultures broadens your horizons and breaks down stereotypes. 4.65 12 I want to find out more about other cultures. 4.65 Table 1 shows the participants’ evaluations of the statements. When it comes to the participants’ perceptions of different foreign cultures, i.e., Australian and Indian, as well as their native culture, i.e., Croatian (Statements 1–5), it is evident that the most of them perceive Australians as more tolerant (mean=3.65) than Croatians (mean=3.00), while Indians are perceived as the least tolerant (mean=2.98). The reason for this might be that Croatian learners are not very familiar with Indian culture; on the other hand, they learn about Anglophone cultures within the English language curriculum in formal education in Croatia. The majority of students think that discrimination exists in all countries (mean=4.63), but is more evident in some than in others (mean=4.51). The participants generally have positive attitudes towards these cultures (Statements 6–9), particularly towards Australian culture (mean=4.46). They believe that it is difficult to understand foreign cultural values (mean=3.05). When asked about their motivation for cultural education (Statements 10–12), it is obvious that they are very motivated to learn about other cultures (mean=4.67) and think that it broadens their horizons and breaks down stereotypes (mean=4.65). They find reading literature useful for raising cultural awareness (mean=4.14). This indicates that the students are aware of the complexity of being able to understand cultural differences and, at the same time, of the necessity and motivation for learning about them and developing their intercultural skills by reading literature. 4.3 Students’ Interpretations of the Short Story After the pre-questionnaire, the students were asked to read the short story and answer the following questions: 1. What is the attitude of the Australian couple towards the Indian? Find examples in the story that support your opinion. 2. What are the reasons for their behaviour? 3. Do you think similar things happen in today’s society in Australia? 4. Do similar things happen in Croatia? Give examples. Even though in the pre-questionnaire the students expressed their positive attitudes towards Australian culture, after reading the short story they described the Australian couple as disrespectful, ignorant, disapproving, and judgemental. The participants believe that the Australians in the short story are full of stereotypes and prejudices and feel superior due to their different sociocultural background. The Greenbergs’ condescending attitude towards Rao, the Indian, is in some cases interpreted as racism (28 students), or as the consequence of the Greenbergs’ higher social status (17 students), whereas only one student claims that there is no specific reason for this. Twenty students believe that the couple’s feeling of superiority stems from their lack of knowledge and understanding of Indian culture, as well as their ignorance and unwillingness to learn about other cultures. Excerpt 1. They are full of various prejudices towards Indians and their behaviour; they think that the Indians are rude, bad-mannered, uneducated and that it is hard for them to blend in a white society (racism). (Student 26) Excerpt 2. There is a general clash between their racist sentiments and their socially-conditioned urge to maintain their image of class and politeness. (Student 41) Excerpt 3. They pretend they understand his culture, and they are snobs. (Student 36) Excerpt 4. They show disrespect towards the Indian and are not interested in getting to know his culture, and not understanding other cultures leads to building stereotypes and prejudice. (Student 56) The majority of participants (55 students) think that racial discrimination is still present in Australia regardless of the fact that it is a multicultural country. It is especially directed towards Aborigines, as well as immigrants from different parts of the world, and is more common in rural areas and among older generations. The participants find that racial discrimination exists in Australia because the mixture of diverse multicultural groups with their own traditions and social norms could hinder intercultural understanding rather than foster it. Twenty-two students claim that racial discrimination happens not only in Australia but also all around the world. Nevertheless, 18 students think that the change is likely to come with younger generations who are more open-minded and likely to accept other cultures with all their complexities. Excerpt 5. It would be unrealistic to think that it does not happen there since Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world – not everyone can be familiar with so many different cultures and understand other peoples’ traditions, behaviours and social norms. It happens where different cultures collide. (Student 36) Excerpt 6. Even though Australia is a multicultural country and more liberal than others, discrimination will always be present. (Student 10) Excerpt 7. Today things have greatly improved because people in Australia and in general are more open to other cultures. (Student 30) When it comes to their native culture, only two out of 57 students rejected the idea of any form of discrimination in Croatia. It seems that there are many stereotypes and prejudices in Croatia which are based on race, origin, religion, or sexual orientation. Nineteen students believe that such behaviour is caused by nationalism or false patriotism, mostly due to the fact that Croatia was at war in the 1990s, and its consequences are still felt throughout the country. That might be the reason why some Croatians feel superior towards people from neighbouring countries. According to 15 participants, Croatians show discrimination towards immigrants from the Middle East because Croatia has been a transit country during the recent immigration crisis. Six participants claim that there is evidence of racist behaviour towards people with different skin colour in Croatia, such as Chinese, Africans, or Japanese. Excerpt 8. Racism is not prominent, it is more directed towards neighbouring cultures, there are toxic relationships between ex-Yu nationalities due to the still relatively recent war. (Student 41) Excerpt 9. Unfortunately, [the] recent immigrant crisis has influenced the creation of Facebook groups warning people which places to avoid because they were seen there. (Student 44) Excerpt 10. Croatia is a small country with little diversities, Catholic and white, so there are a lot of stereotypes, even though it is a tourist destination. They call all Asians Chinese, pointing out at somebody who is not white. (Student 55) Excerpt 11. A lady from Nigeria opened a restaurant in Zagreb and there were some negative reactions. (Student 57) Discrimination also happens inside the country due to the differences between dialects, customs, and beliefs. Throughout the past, parts of Croatia were under the rule of foreign powers, such as Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which influenced the dialects, traditions, customs, and behaviours of the people living in those areas. Excerpt 12. In Croatia there is discrimination not only towards other cultures but inside the country itself – people from Zagorje or Slavonia are not always accepted – I wasn't accepted well because of my accent/language, sometimes I was even laughed at. (Student 50) Sixteen participants think that discrimination is present in Croatia among older generations who are not willing to learn about foreign cultures. On the other hand, young people are more open-minded because nowadays they travel for different reasons and should be able to form successful social relationships in different sociocultural contexts. Excerpt 13. Most people are narrow-minded and superficial because they have never travelled abroad and learned about new cultures. (Student 16) Excerpt 14. It is connected with older generations, who have no will to open their minds to new cultures and different people. (Student 3) Excerpt 15. Young people are more open-minded, because they are more interested in learning about other cultures, and with every new generation people are learning more and becoming more welcoming. (Student 28) There are 22 students who find racial discrimination a global issue which should be addressed beyond national boundaries. Excerpt 16. In theory they are trying to reduce it, but in practice it will take a long time to change any kind of discrimination (nationalism, racism); it is happening all around the world. (Student 1) The students believe that cultural knowledge is easily accessible nowadays, so that people should learn about other cultures in order be more tolerant and ready to accept others and otherness because the fear of the unknown is caused by a lack of knowledge and narrow-mindedness. 4.4 Native Speakers’ Interpretations Six Australian native speakers of English (four female and two male, aged between 25 and 60) wrote their interpretations of the short story and delivered them by email. They answered the same questions as the students, excluding question 4. The students were asked to read the native speakers’ interpretations of the short story and to compare them with their own interpretations working in groups of five or six students and focusing on the similarities and differences between their viewpoints. In the discussion, they were required to make a list of the key points which they would present to the whole class following the group work activity. During the open-class discussion, the teacher pointed out that, even though the native speakers’ interpretations provided authentic experiences of the people from the target culture, they should be regarded only as personal, individual viewpoints. The aim of the discussion was to provoke the students’ interest in different views and to make a clear distinction between their perceptions and attitudes based on their previous experiences prior to and after being exposed to the instruments used in the research. The students were highly motivated to participate in the discussion in which they supported their opinions with their personal experience. The native speakers described the Australians in the short story as disinterested, embarrassed about the presence of the Indian, condescending, indifferent, impatient, insincere, and disrespectful. According to the native speakers, the Australian couple show racial prejudice towards the Indian because they are snobs and feel superior. They do not show any interest in trying to understand his culture, which is different to their own. The Australian native speakers of English included in the study also think that discrimination still exists in their country. Excerpt 17. Racial and cultural prejudice still occurs in Australian society today as people from different cultures still do not accept or care to learn/discover new cultures. Australian society can be quite sheltered and people can go their whole lives living in this bubble. (Native speaker 1) Excerpt 18. Possibly so; but not only confined to Australia. Australia is a multicultural society but there are still people who would unfortunately still have some of these values. (Native speaker 2) Excerpt 19. Naturally yes in a country with so many different cultures, there will be many that might not understand foreigners’ customs. Australians have gained many amazing things from being so multicultural including cuisines and customs, and these cultures make up the Australian population and are what make it a special country. It’s important for Australians to remember this and being open to others. (Native speaker 3) However, one opinion differs significantly from the others. Native speaker 5 describes the couple’s misbehaviour from a different social aspect claiming that, in this short story, racism is irrelevant in comparison to the class discrimination in its influence on the Greenbergs’ attitude towards their Indian guest. They belong to a higher social class than Rao and feel embarrassed when they are seen in his company. The situation would have been different if the Indian had been their equal. This opinion was brought up in the open-class discussion as relevant, because it expressed an interesting point regarding the cultural issues discussed in relation to this short story. Since the short story was written in the 1960s, the native speaker as well as some students believe that both class and racial discrimination influenced the Greenbergs’ attitude towards Rao. Excerpt 20. While this story probably represents a typical attitude for the time in which it is set, or written, it’s not so common today, as this is more a reflection of European (British) class discrimination, segregation, imported into Australian society until the 1950s. While racial discrimination in Australia at this time was also highly prevalent, it’s not demonstrated by the Greenbergs’ behaviour in this particular story, e.g., Ms Greenberg would have enjoyed the company of an Indian, if he had been a “prince.. (Native speaker 5) Excerpt 21. Being rich turned them into snobs (probably would be the same if he wasn’t an Indian but just a member of the lower class society). (Student 29) Excerpt 22. They belong to an upper class of society – probably they would behave the same if he was an Australian from a lower class. (Student 17) It is evident that the native speakers find their culture discriminatory, but they believe that it has changed to some extent among younger generations. The majority identified racism as the key reason for the Australian couple’s behaviour towards the Indian. Both the students and the native speakers showed similar perceptions of the target culture. Since the students were presented with multiple individual viewpoints, they were involved in the meaning making process being exposed to the complexities of different cultures. In that way, they are included in the process of intercultural education which is beneficial for the development of their intercultural competence. 4.5 The Post-questionnaire (Part 1) After the activities connected to the short story, the students were asked to complete the post-questionnaire (Appendix 2) using the Likert scale. The first part of the post-questionnaire (Statements 1–12) contained the same statements as the pre-questionnaire so that we could check whether the activities influenced the participants’ perceptions of different cultures, their attitudes towards them, as well as their motivation for cultural education. Table 2. The comparison of the results of the pre-questionnaire and the post-questionnaire (Part 1). No. Statement Preq. Postq. Difference 1 People in Australia are tolerant towards other nations. 3.65 3.47 -0.18 2 People in India are tolerant towards other nations. 2.98 3. 42 +0.44 3 People in Croatia are tolerant towards other nations. 3.00 2.96 -0.04 4 Discrimination exists in all cultures. 4.63 4.77 +0.14 5 Discrimination is more evident in some cultures than in others. 4.51 4.54 -0.03 6 My attitude towards Australian culture is positive. 4.46 4.04 -0.42 7 My attitude towards Indian culture is positive. 3.56 3.65 +0.09 8 My attitude towards Croatian culture is positive. 3.96 3.91 -0.05 9 It is difficult to understand foreign cultural values (people’s attitudes, behaviour, feelings, beliefs). 3.05 3.19 +0.14 10 Reading literature leads to the development of empathy and sensitivity towards foreign cultures. 4.14 4.33 +0.19 11 Learning about foreign cultures broadens your horizons and breaks down stereotypes. 4.65 4.68 +0.03 12 I want to find out more about other cultures. 4.65 4.58 -0.09 Table 2 shows the comparison of the results of the pre-questionnaire and the post-questionnaire (Part 1, Statements 1–12). After the activities, the students rated Australians (-0.18) and Croatians (-0.04) as less tolerant, but Indians as more tolerant (+0.44) (Statements 1–3). It can be assumed that the previous activities raised the participants’ cultural awareness regarding Indian culture with which they had not been particularly familiar. The results might also have been affected by the students’ empathy developing while reading the short story. After the reading activities, more students (+0.14) stated that discrimination exists in all countries, and fewer students (-0.03) that it is more evident in some countries than in others (Statements 4–5). The participants’ attitudes towards all cultures changed after the activities (Statements 6–8). Fewer students have a positive attitude towards Australian culture (-0.42) and Croatian culture (-0.05), whereas more students (+0.09) expressed a positive attitude towards Indian culture. While reading and discussing the short story, they were able to identify with the character representing Indian culture and had an opportunity to show their sensitivity to the injustice that was done to him. There are more students (+0.14) who believe that it is difficult to understand foreign cultural values. As regards their motivation for cultural education (Statements 9–12), more students (+0.19) find reading literature useful for raising cultural awareness. More students (+0.03) think that reading literature broadens their horizons and breaks down stereotypes. However, it is surprising that fewer students (-0.09) now feel motivated to learn about other cultures. This can be attributed to the fact that it is challenging to understand foreign cultural values, which can be discouraging for the students. According to 22 participants, cultural issues are not related to a specific culture but go beyond national boundaries, so that they should be discussed at the global level. 4.6 The Post-questionnaire (Part 2) The second part of the post-questionnaire (Appendix 2, Part 2, Statements 13–20) contained eight further statements so as to check the influence of the activities on the development of the students’ cultural awareness and motivation for cultural education. Table 3 shows the results of the post-questionnaire (Part 2). According to the participants’ answers, it can be argued that the majority find these activities helpful for raising their cultural awareness and are motivated to learn about different cultures, including non-Anglophone ones. Due to the specific needs of English language learners, language proficiency is no longer the sole prerequisite for their successful communication in various sociocultural settings. Only if they become competent intercultural speakers will they be equipped for living in the globalized world. While reading the short story, the students were confronted with the Australian couple representing Australian culture as discriminatory and racist. Having read the native speakers’ interpretations of the short story, they were exposed to multiple individual viewpoints which helped them understand the complexities of the target culture, since the couples’ behaviour could be attributed to some other factors typical of that cultural setting. It can be argued that this has proven the effectiveness of Hanauer’s method in terms of understanding foreign cultures. The participants seem to have become aware of the fact that Australia is a multicultural country full of diversity, which can lead to various cultural issues that should not be simplified but looked upon from different perspectives. However, a smaller number of students (2.56) concluded that reading the short story helped them understand their own cultures. 5 Conclusion The aim of this paper was to investigate the effectiveness of Hanauer’s method with third-year undergraduate students of English at the University of Zadar in Croatia. The data were collected using different instruments in order to explore the participants’ perceptions of Australian, Indian and Croatian cultures, their attitudes towards them and their motivation for cultural education before and after reading and interpreting the short story A Really Splendid Evening. The study also addressed the participants’ attitudes towards the effectiveness of this method and towards cultural education in ELT in general. However, there were several limitations to the study. Since the participants are mostly female native speakers of Croatian coming from a similar sociocultural background, it can be assumed that these factors influenced their attitudes towards the cultural issues upon which the present study focused. As advanced university students of English, our participants are highly motivated to learn about other cultures because they are aware of the importance of the English language in intercultural communication. In order to collect more objective data, further research should also be conducted at the lower levels of ELT using suitable teaching materials, such as picture books and adapted literary texts. In our research, the students read only one short story, which may have limited their perception of different cultures, which calls for a need to include different culturally embedded literary texts in further research. Even though the results of the pre-questionnaire are only slightly different from those of the post-questionnaire, the discussion that was part of our research shows that Hanauer’s method seems to have been efficient in making our participants aware of the importance of understanding cultural differences and of the necessity of learning about them. While reading a literary text, the learners identify with the characters and experience other cultural perspectives. Through comparison of the characters’ life experiences with their own, they make connections between the cultures and recognise and appreciate important values shared by different cultures. They become aware of other perspectives than their own and develop empathy and tolerance towards others and otherness (Hibbs 2016; Lütge 2013). When they are exposed to different interpretations of the literary text, they perceive different cultural issues through multiple viewpoints, which is likely to raise their cultural awareness and develop their cultural understanding. A supportive learning environment in which individual viewpoints are discussed and respected can help learners understand the complexities of different cultures that should not be idealized. It is important that literature finds its place in the English language classroom, because literary texts frequently deal with various cultural issues which can be discussed within the English language curriculum. What is more, learners should read and interpret not only literary texts written by Anglophone authors, but also those written by authors who come from diverse sociocultural backgrounds and use ELF in intercultural communication. In that way, they will be exposed to a range of foreign cultures, which is of utmost importance because English has significantly more international users than native speakers. Only if English language learners develop their intercultural competence together with their language competence will they be equipped for successful communication in the globalized world. Therefore, English language teachers should develop their own intercultural competence and become intercultural mediators in order to raise their learners’ sensitivity and interest in foreign cultures. Since a lack of knowledge about foreign cultures can lead to cultural misunderstanding, the process of intercultural education should start at the lowest levels of English language learning and be developed gradually throughout all its stages as an important component in the creation of global citizens. 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Tschida, Christina M., Caitlin Ryan, and Anne Ticknor. 2014. “Building on Windows and Mirrors: Encouraging the Disruption of Single Stories through Children’s Literature.” Journal of Children’s Literature 40: 28–39. Wasikiewicz-Firlej, Emilia. 2012. “Developing Cultural Awareness through Reading Literary Texts.” Taikomoji kalbotyra 1. https://doi.org/10.15388/TK.2012.17254. Willems, Gerard M. 1996. “Foreign Language Study for Intercultural Communication.” Multicultural Teaching 14 (3): 36–40. Zacharias, Nugrahenny. 2005. “Developing Intercultural Competence through Literature.” Celt 5 (1): 27–41. https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v5i1.143. Appendix 1 1. People in Australia are tolerant towards other nations. 2. People in India are tolerant towards other nations. 3. People in Croatia are tolerant towards other nations. 4. Discrimination exists in all cultures. 5. Discrimination is more evident in some cultures than in others. 6. My attitude towards Australian culture is positive. 7. My attitude towards Indian culture is positive. 8. My attitude towards Croatian culture is positive. 9. It is difficult to understand foreign cultural values (people’s attitudes, behaviour, feelings, beliefs). 10. Reading literature leads to the development of empathy and sensitivity towards foreign cultures. 11. Learning about foreign cultures broadens your horizons and breaks down stereotypes. 12. I want to find out more about other cultures. Appendix 2 1. People in Australia are tolerant towards other nations. 2. People in India are tolerant towards other nations. 3. People in Croatia are tolerant towards other nations. 4. Discrimination exists in all cultures. 5. Discrimination is more evident in some cultures than in others. 6. My attitude towards Australian culture is positive. 7. My attitude towards Indian culture is positive. 8. My attitude towards Croatian culture is positive. 9. It is difficult to understand foreign cultural values (people’s attitudes, behaviour, feelings, beliefs). 10. Reading literature leads to the development of empathy and sensitivity towards foreign cultures. 11. Learning about foreign cultures broadens your horizons and breaks down stereotypes. 12. I want to find out more about other cultures. 13. Reading the short story has helped me understand the elements of different cultures. 14. Reading native speakers’ interpretations of the short story has helped me understand the Australian culture. 15. Reading the short story has helped me gain a deeper insight into various elements of foreign cultures. 16. Reading the short story has helped me understand my own culture. 17. The activity has made me aware that the perception of racism is a matter of culture. 18. Reading native speakers’ interpretations has helped me reflect on my own attitude towards race issues. 19. Reading the short story has raised my interest in learning about different cultures. 20. Learning about other non-Anglophone cultures should be included in this course. Leonarda Lovrovic, Cathy-Theresa Kolega Table 3. The results of the post-questionnaire (Part 2). No. Statement Mean 13 Reading the short story has helped me understand elements of different cultures. 3.56 14 Reading native speakers’ interpretations of the short story has helped me understand Australian culture. 3.93 15 Reading the short story has helped me gain a deeper insight into various elements of foreign cultures. 3.65 16 Reading the short story has helped me understand my own culture. 2.56 17 The activity has made me aware that the perception of racism is a matter of culture. 3.66 18 Reading native speakers’ interpretations has helped me reflect on my own attitude towards race issues. 3.53 19 Reading the short story has raised my interest in learning about different cultures. 3.66 20 Learning about other non-Anglophone cultures should be included in this course. 3.86 Simona Podobnik Uršic Karmen Pižorn University of Ljubljana, Slovenia 2021, Vol. 18 (2), 205-224(230) revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.18.2.205-224 UDC: [811.111’243’366.58:37.091.3]: 616.89-088.434.5 Identifying the Executive Function Strategies in Learning Tenses and in the Verb Gap-Fill Task Performance of an EFL Student with Dyslexia ABSTRACT Teaching of executive function strategies in learning and task performance to EFL students with specific learning difficulties plays an important role in inclusive education. The present case study presents an investigation of the strategies supporting executive functioning in the frames of learning self-regulation, which are applied in learning tenses and the verb gap-fill task performance of a grammar school student with dyslexia. A triangulation research approach included a semi-structured interview with the participant, a qualitative assessment of her written work, a questionnaire with the parents and EFL teacher, and a study of the evaluation report. The results highlight the participant’s difficulties in tense acquisition and frequent task performance errors, weak tense knowledge and low application of strategies supporting executive functioning. The results might help teachers create an inclusive environment in EFL classes. Keywords: dyslexia, learning self-regulation, English tenses, English as a foreign language, executive function strategies, verb gap-fill tasks Strategije izvršilnega funkcioniranja pri ucenju angleških casov in izkazovanju znanja v nalogah tipa vstavljanje ustreznega glagolskega casa pri dijakinji z disleksijo IZVLECEK Poucevanje strategij izvršilnega funkcioniranja in izkazovanja znanja ucencev s specificnimi ucnimi težavami so nepogrešljivi del pouka anglešcine kot tujega jezika v inkluzivnem razredu. Študija primera predstavlja raziskavo strategij v podporo šibkejšemu izvršilnemu funkcioniranju v okviru procesa ucne samoregulacije, ki jih pri ucenju angleških casov in izkazovanju znanja pri izbiri ustreznega glagolskega casa uporablja 16-letna gimnazijka z disleksijo. Uporabili smo metodološko triangulacijo s poglobljenim polstrukturiranim intervjujem s preiskovanko, kvalitativnim ovrednotenjem njenih pisnih izdelkov, anketo z njenimi starši in z uciteljico anglešcine, ter preucitvijo strokovnega mnenja. Rezultati, poleg težav pri usvajanju in napak pri uporabi casov, izpostavljajo ucenkino šibko poznavanje in šibko uporabo strategij v podporo izvršilnemu funkcioniranju pri ucenju in izkazovanju znanja angleških casov. Pridobljeni rezultati so lahko v pomoc uciteljem pri ustvarjanju inkluzivnega okolja v TJA razredu. Kljucne besede: disleksija, ucna samoregulacija, angleški casi, anglešcina kot tuji jezik, strategije izvršilnega funkcioniranja, naloge z izbiro ustreznega glagolskega casa 1 Introduction 1.1 English Tenses, Dyslexia and Executive Functioning in the Frames of Learning Self-Regulation A good command of English tenses is one of the basic skills in communicative language competence in English as a foreign language (EFL) (CEFR 2001; Council of Europe 2007), and presents a significant part of language teaching and testing materials in many schooling systems (Bardovi-Harling 2000), and international as well as national examination papers (IELTS, ETS, Cambridge English tests, Slovene Matura exam; Ilc et al. 2016). Tenses are still frequently practised and assessed by using explicit exercises/test tasks that require students to modify a stem verb (verb gap-fill). Usually, such exercises consist of lists of isolated sentences, each testing a different tense form. In spite of their disadvantages – such as providing a very limited practice in certain grammatical forms, no context beyond the single sentence, the possibility of students’ doing the tasks mechanically without understanding why certain forms are used, forcing students to focus more on form rather than meaning, and so on – verb gap-fill tasks may also have some advantages. For example, students may compare their answers with the original version of a sentence which can help them notice where they are having difficulties and what the appropriate forms are. When students fill in the gaps, they should be encouraged to pay attention to patterns in the language presented or differences between their own meaning making practices and those they find in the original sentence (Jones and Lock 2011). English tenses are among the most complex grammatical concepts for learning and teaching EFL due to cross-cultural and crosslinguistic differences in the conceptions of time between the learners’ L1 and English. However, this aspect of teaching remains relatively under-researched (Matsumoto and Mueller Dobs 2017). In addition, acquiring English tenses presents EFL learners with considerable challenges in many ways: firstly, this might be due to verb form similarities in the sound or the spelling (e.g., the past simple and past participle: she taught history / she was taught dancing; or present simple and bare infinitive: I play tennis / I can play tennis; or participles inflected by -ed or -ing that may look like verbs: running is healthy / exaggerated claims). Secondly, it may be due to an unusual relationship between tense and time in which the present simple tense can be used for documented past time. Thirdly, mother tongue (L1) transfer might as well pose troubles, especially where the grammar structures of L1 and foreign language (L2) are too distinct (Svalberg 2016). Moreover, the natural tendency of students to focus on meaning rather than on the form (VanPatten 1990), and inconsistency in following the regularities of language (Svalberg 2016), may also influence the proper L2 use of tense. Teaching is yet another factor, since teachers may use the term tense as an umbrella term for both tense and aspect. This is why it is of key importance that in the learning process L2 students are able to acquire knowledge of the basic tense architecture and canonical use of tenses, become aware of aspect and modality interfaces, as well as time adverbials, and are acquainted with the metaphorical use of English tenses (Svalberg 2016). In addition to these general challenges, EFL students with dyslexia, one of the most frequent specific learning difficulties (IDA), usually face another two difficulties of considerable importance. Firstly, a specific language-based literacy difficulty due to weak phonological awareness, poor rapid automatic naming and a lack of fluent reading, which contribute to a distinctive neureological brain pattern (Shaywitz 2005; Habib 2000; BDA; EDA) typical for individuals with dyslexia. As a result, students with dyslexia frequently experience similar obstacles in acquiring L2 (Ganschow, Sparks, and Javorsky 1999) as they do in their mother tongue (Schwarz 2003), or even more severe (Pižorn 2009), due to deep orthography of the English language (Sarkadi 2008; Roach 2001). In general, their difficulties manifest in misspelling and mispronouncing the words, omitting letters, blending the onsets or letters of the words with the previous/following ones, confusing similar words, having trouble understanding abstract words and quite often illegible handwriting. They might also struggle with reading comprehension, following instructions and organizing their writing (BDA; EDA). Secondly, students with dyslexia often show deficiencies in self-regulated learning (SRL) skills (Meltzer 2010; Graham and Berman 2012; Bagnato and Meltzer 2010; Morken and Helland 2013; Schneider and Ganschow 2000), a crucial factor in academic achievements helping students to develop better learning habits and reinforce knowledge (Zimmerman 2002; Meltzer 2010). Effective self-regulated learners actively set goals, decide on the learning strategies to use, organize their time, materials and information, choose learning strategies, self-monitor and regulate their learning, adapt the learning strategies if necessary, evaluate the acquired goals and make adjustments for future learning (Meltzer 2010; Zimmerman 2002; Winne 1995). Such students control their cognition, motivation, behaviour and emotions to achieve their goals with the use of personal strategies (Zimmerman 2002). Research shows that students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs) face difficulties with organizing, planning and self-monitoring (Meltzer 2010) their learning procedures, as well as evaluating these procedures, with the final outcomes of their task performance being dependant on impaired executive functioning (Schneider and Ganschow 2000; Morken and Helland 2013). Further, tasks such as independent learning, homework tasks and long-term projects, as well as test-taking, which all demand students’ ability to plan and execute specific responses on demand, are challenges for many students with SpLDs (Meltzer and Montague 2001; Scruggs and Mastropieri 2000), since they are highly dependent on executive functioning processes and require students to plan ahead, predict outcomes and set long-term goals. In the last two decades, attention has been increasingly drawn to executive function abilities (Meltzer 2010; Dawson and Guare 2012; Effeney, Carroll, and Bahr 2013; Helland and Asbjřrnsen 2000; Juffs and Harrington 2011; Diamond 2013, Lezak et al. 2012), as these significantly support students with regard to SRL and as such have important effects on their academic performance in terms of goal setting, planning, prioritizing, choosing strategies, memorizing, assessing working memory, shifting flexibly, self-monitoring and evaluating (Meltzer and Krishnan 2007; Meltzer 2010, Dawson and Guare 2012; Diamond 2013, Lezak et al. 2012), and are crucially connected with three main executive functions: working memory (enables holding information in mind and manipulating it), inhibitory control (suppresses goal irrelevant stimuli and behavioural responses) and cognitive flexibility (a switch in thinking, simultaneous considering of multiple aspects, cognitive and task shifting) (Diamond 2013). Substantial evidence confirms that students with SpLDs often show difficulties in executive functioning impeding their academic success (Schneider and Ganschow 2000; Helland and Asbjřrnsen 2000; Juffs and Harrington 2011; Goldfus 2012; Morken and Helland 2013; Varvara et al. 2014; Furnes and Norman 2015; Kormos 2017; Barbosa et al. 2019). In their research, Helland and Asbjřrnsen (2000) observed that all students with dyslexia participating in the research had difficulties with inhibitory control and attention shifting. In assessing executive functioning in a group of children with dyslexia and in a group of children with typical reading abilities, Varvara et al. (2014) also found deficits in working memory and in inhibitory control. Regarding the foreign language acquisition of students with SpLD, Kormos (2017) argues that executive functioning difficulties are not only related to basic processing difficulties and difficulties with implicit learning, but also to significant difficulties in working memory and attention control. 1.2 The Importance of Executive Function Strategies Executive function strategies in learning and task performance may thus represent a powerful tool enabling students with dyslexia to better manage their learning processes (Harris and Graham 2003; Meltzer 2010; Dawson and Guare 2012). Knowledge and application of strategies play a significant role in the SRL process, in student’s ability to better organize the learning environment (time, place, material), to better plan their learning activities, set goals, decide on appropriate strategies to achieve these, self-monitor the learning process, and self-evaluate the learning outcome and make appropriate adjustments (Meltzer 2010; Dawson and Guare 2012). Strategies may also support executive functioning to better manage the cognitive load, concentrate on one topic at a time and remain goal-oriented (Meltzer and Basho 2010; Akbasli, Sahin, and Gürel 2017). One of the crucial aspects in the use of strategies is reducing demands on working memory, since students with dyslexia often struggle with their working memory being overloaded, and thus having insufficient processing space for new information (Martinussen and Major 2011). Students who use strategies to support executive functioning processes effectively recognize their weaknesses and strengths (Meltzer 2010; Dawson and Guare 2012), and can directly influence their own academic performance (Vassallo 2013; Meltzer 2010). Applying strategies is a conscious decision, demanding time and mental effort. Evidence suggests that the most effective students possess and use a large repertoire of strategies (Pressley and Woloshyn 1995) and that students with SpLDs use fewer strategies, and less often than students without SpLDs, while also using ineffective strategies or that of learning by heart (Swanson 1999; Stone and Conca 1993; Kunaver 2008; Meltzer 2010; Bagnato and Meltzer 2010; Morken and Helland 2013). Students with SpLDs may also tend not to discover strategies on their own (Meltzer, 2010), or may also not realize that they face certain problems during studying or performing a task. Moreover, even if they do, they tend not to use effective methods to overcome these issues (Harris, Graham, and Pressley 1992; Swanson 1993). In the field of EFL, there is a lot of research into classroom techniques in learning as well as the task performance strategies taught to and used by students with dyslexia to better cope with their learning deficiencies (Scruggs and Mastropieri 2000; Shaywitz 2005; Raduly-Zorgo, Smythe, and Gyarmathy 2008; Meltzer 2010; Oxford 2011; Dawson and Guare 2012; Pavey 2007; Kormos 2017; Nijakowska et al. 2015). In general, researchers emphasize that it is also of great importance for students with dyslexia to be offered explicit explanations not only with regard to (1) conceptual understanding of the subject topic as a whole and with its relevant details (Meltzer 2010), but also with regard to (2) the executive functioning strategies so that they are better able to control their learning environment in the frames of SRL (Dawson and Guare 2012; Meltzer 2010; Zimmerman 2002) in terms of acquiring and showing their knowledge (Altemeier et al. 2006; Swanson and Deshler 2003). Teaching English language is based on communicative approach of communication, pragmatic language skills and practical assignments, paying attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language (Richards and Rodgers 1986). Assignments of doing verb gap-fill tasks present a complex process demanding knowledge about grammar rules, considering the information drawn from the gap-fill sentence and applying of the rules according to the information, all together demanding SRL and executive function skills, which may present a difficulty to students with SpLDs due to their specific learning difficulties and weak executive functioning (Meltzer 2010, Nijakowska et al. 2015, Kormos 2017). Executive function strategies present an important support in complex assignments (Meltzer 2010, Dawson and Guare 2017), and as such play an important part in inclusive classes. According to Meltzer (2010, p.XII.), teaching the potential of executive function strategies in learning and task performance is important to “help close the gap that currently separates students’ skills and strategies from the demands of school” (Meltzer (2010) p. XII.). Meltzer and Basho (2010) also argue that strategies can be learned by students with SpLDs, and should be systematically and consistently integrated into regular learning processes in the classroom. However, little research has been done into what specific strategies students with dyslexia use or need to use to learn and acquire English tenses, and particularly how they do verb gap-fill tasks. Moreover, despite well-constructed instructions for EFL teachers that have proven to be effective in practice, research findings show language teachers still need to improve their understanding of dyslexia and apply effective tools to support dyslexic students’ learning and task performance strategies (Košak-Babuder, Metljak, and Pižorn 2016; Lemperou, Chostelidou, and Griva 2011; Švajger Savic 2015). With that objective in mind, teaching and learning the executive function strategies of both how to acquire English tenses and how to do mixed tenses gap-fill tasks may be invaluable to students with dyslexia, as well as to those without dyslexia who might already be using some of the executive function strategies but may not be completely aware of them or have to expand their range and/or deepen their understanding. 2 The Study The objective of this case study was an in-depth, up-close and detailed examination of the executive function strategies a grammar school EFL student with dyslexia applied in learning tenses and doing verb gap-fill tasks. Acquiring English language tenses in a foreign language inclusive classroom is a complex process involving SRL mechanisms. Therefore, it is essential for language teachers to understand executive function strategic learning as well as the task performance weaknesses and strengths of students with dyslexia to offer effective support to all students. The study specifically focused on the present, past and future tenses with their corresponding aspects (simple, progressive and perfect). The goals of the study were: 1. to identify the difficulties an EFL student with dyslexia faces in learning tenses; 2. to identify the difficulties an EFL student with dyslexia faces in performing verb gap-fill tasks; 3. to identify the strategies to support executive function processes an EFL student with dyslexia uses in learning tenses; 4. to identify the strategies to support executive function processes an EFL student with dyslexia uses in performing verb gap-fill tasks. 2.1 Research Methods The research was conducted in the school year 2019/20 as a qualitative case study. Qualitative research focuses on and tries to understand the process of a research phenomenon (Vogrinc 2008) and allows an in-depth insight into the participant’s perspectives (Richards 2003). In the present work, case study research enabled the applying of a broad range of methodological instruments to pursue the answers to questions of how and why within the real-life context (Grauer 2012). It can help researchers to understand similar cases and add yet another perspective to generalization (Cohen 2011), rather than generalize the analytical outcome (Robson 2002). The research participant was a 16-year old female student, enrolled in Grade 1 of a Slovene grammar school, and in this study is referred to as Maya. She was chosen based on the selection criteria of officially recognized dyslexia and poor academic achievements in EFL. The study was conducted as a triangulation of different research techniques and sources to be able to map out and explain the research phenomenon and gain a thorough perspective on the related issues (Cohen 2011). For the purposes of gaining the data needed for the research and the publishing thereof, all necessary informed consents were sought and obtained prior to commencing the study. 2.2 Instruments Used and Documents Studied 2.2.1 First the following documents were studied to acquire the data on the student’s dyslexia background and her performance in verb gap-fill tasks in English tenses: a) The evaluation report on the student’s dyslexia and executive functioning issued by a psychologist, paediatrician and special education teacher on the basis of a battery of tests and procedures to determine specific learning difficulties. Additionally, Maya’s annual Individualized Education Plan designed for the current year by her teachers, mother, Maya herself and the school’s special education teacher was studied. b) The student’s EFL written work samples (Year 1 current schoolwork, textbook tasks, homework, hand-outs, a notebook, regular school tests) to obtain an insight into the student’s learning material, performance in verb gap-fill tasks, weak and strong areas in the use of English tenses and her conceptual knowledge of English tenses. 2.2.2 On the basis of the student’s dyslexia background and information from her written work, the following instruments were designed by the researcher to gain comprehensive information about her learning and verb gap-fill performance strategies: a) A semi-structured interview with an analytical approach and open-ended questions enabling the participant to give a thorough explanation about the difficulties she faces and strategies she uses in studying English tenses and doing verb gap-fill tasks. The set of open-ended questions took into consideration the difficulties students with dyslexia usually face (BDA; EDA), and the principles about the strategies supporting executive functioning proposed by Meltzer (2010) in goal setting, planning, organizing/prioritizing, assessing working memory, self-monitoring, self-checking and initiating behaviour, but adopted to more specific inquiries related to L2 language learning. b) A verb gap-fill task with 46 isolated examples to be filled in by the participant to gain a direct insight into her difficulties in task performance, and therefore immediately followed by a semi-structured interview to discuss the related strategies. c) A questionnaire for the participant’s parents, designed by the researcher on the basis of the documents studied and data obtained during the interview with the student, in order to obtain information on the participant’s dyslexia background and its manifestation. d) A questionnaire for the participant’s EFL teacher designed by the researcher to obtain an objective perspective on her learning behaviour and manifestation of dyslexia during the English language lessons. 2.3 The Research Procedure First the participant’s EFL written work in the current year of study (2019/20) was analysed with a focus on completed verb gap-fill tasks, observing the student’s strengths and weaknesses in her knowledge of English tenses, i.e., her tense choice, aspect, use of auxiliary verbs, manipulation of irregular verbs, stative verbs and spelling. Attention was also paid to personal any other comments or notifications (underlining, highlighting, etc.) made by the student. Consequently, a list of Maya’s difficulties in verb gap-fill tasks was created by the researcher. The researcher also observed the ideas about English tenses copied by Maya into her notebook, paying attention to the detailed elaboration of each individual tense, i.e., its grammatical form (verbal moods included), use, exceptions and linked time adverbials. The list of collected information enabled an insight into Maya’s written work and both strengths and weaknesses in the field of verb gap-fill performance, and pointed to her learning and task performance strategies with regard to English tenses. The data about Maya’s dyslexia background obtained from the evaluation report and Individualized Education Plan were analysed focusing on her difficulties, strengths and weakness with regard to specific learning difficulties. After this, the questionnaires completed by the participant’s parents and EFL teacher were analysed with the same aim. In the next step, the researcher designed a verb gap-fill task with 46 isolated examples (in present tenses, past tenses, and tenses expressing future) to be filled in by the participant. The verb gap-fill examples enabled an in-depth examination of a particular tense knowledge and thus facilitated the semi-structured interview conducted immediately after the test interrogating about the executive function and task performing strategies. The completed gap-fill tasks were later assessed by the researcher according to tense choice, tense architecture, aspect or spelling. 3 Results 3.1 About the Research Participant and Her Dyslexia Background At the time of the study Maya was a 16-year old student at a Slovenian grammar school, in Year 1, and had been learning English as a foreign language for seven years. At the age of eight she was diagnosed with developmental dyslexia and weak executive functioning, which was impeding her learning and academic performance throughout her schooling. She confused letters, showed difficulties with focusing on details, reading and copying from the board, and understanding written instructions. In addition, she showed weak attention in relation to letters and numbers, and poorly developed skills in processing and manipulating sequencing and procedures. On the basis of evaluation report and annual Individualized Education Plans, Maya was assigned learning environment and assessment accommodations, and additional help in individual school subjects throughout primary school, however, she was assigned no additional help in English language. She struggled with English by herself and sometimes asked her parents or schoolmates for help, with learning strategies in particular, but she found their strategies unsuitable for her. Her attitude to English language learning was positive as she wanted to speak the language fluently and improve her knowledge of tenses, where she herself saw her greatest weakness. Maya was recognized as an intelligent (High Average on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale), diligent and reliable student, with many interests, such as playing the flute and practising aikido. In EFL classes Maya described herself as a quiet student, trying to focus on the subject matter, following the teacher’s explanations and instructions, doing her schoolwork and homework tasks regularly if she did not forget the instructions. The teacher, on the other hand, saw her as a student who “doesn’t participate actively in classes, has no questions, but tries hard to follow.” She described Maya’s weaknesses as her limited range of vocabulary, knowledge gaps in irregular verbs and time adverbials. Concerning Maya’s learning qualities, the teacher explained she could not say much because “...it is the first year I have been teaching Maya and I haven’t had a chance to learn about her difficulties in detail.” She made some assumptions though, and stated that Maya could have been learning grammar theory only by doing the tasks in the hand-outs, in the workbook and the student’s book, and assumed that “she might face difficulties with independent studying at home, and with seeking information for completing her homework tasks and revising.” She also found Maya’s notes in her notebook quite disorganized. The teacher expressed her wish to be better equipped with expertise about dyslexia and special teaching skills which would help her to assist dyslexic students more effectively. According to the Slovenian grading system, Maya’s average grade in English half-way through the academic year was a pass, and thus between 50% and 64%. 3.2 Difficulties in Learning Tenses and the Use of Executive Function Strategies Concerning setting goals, Maya explained she did not set any learning goals when learning the tense rules. Her main learning strategy was re-reading the explanation in her notebook a few times and without any particular focus. Moreover, as she put it, she “never knew how much she had memorized.” In her notebook the tenses were presented by an indicative mood of a particular tense and an explanation in English how the tense is formed, e.g.: Present tense perfect is formed by ‘has/have + past participle’. When asked by the researcher how the past participle of irregular verbs was formed, Maya was not sure if it was “the ‘second’ or the ‘third’ column on the list of irregular verbs.” In order to understand and internalize the grammatical rules of tenses, Maya chose the strategy of re-doing the verb gap-fill exercises she had already done as schoolwork, and doing the homework tasks assigned by the teacher. However, the final result of her knowledge remained the same: “I still do not know which time adverbial goes with which tense form” (Table 2). Maya could also not memorize which time adverbial was frequently related to a particular tense form and/or aspect. She saw the problem in the incomprehensible (for her) number of time adverbials, their similarities and their relation to tenses/aspects that she needed to memorize: “...to remember all those facts about English tenses .. because there are too many and too much to think of .. and to remember all those time adverbials is too confusing” , “I have difficulties to tell between ‘always’ and ‘already’ ....and between ‘after’ and ‘before’” (see Table 1). She said she had no strategy to memorize the rules better. In general, Maya did not pay much attention to the spelling rules of the verbs in different tenses, or the aspect and conjugation form (see Table 1). Instead she used the strategy of learning from verb gap-fill tasks, and tried to memorize the appearances and not the letters of verbs. When reproducing a verb she used a strategy of ‘trial and error’ until the verb looked familiar to her. With regard to the memorizing strategies used when learning irregular verbs, Maya explained she found it difficult to memorize the past and past participle forms of the irregular verbs, spelling included, because: “...there are just too many, too many to remember.” She did not learn the irregulars systematically, but instead chose a more random approach: “...I just try to remember those irregular verb forms I come across accidentally in the exercises” (see Table 1). Unfortunately, a study of Maya’s written work showed that she had also difficulties with those irregular verbs that she came across in various texts many times, such as the past form of the verb ‘sit’ was in her work sometimes ‘sitted’ and others ‘sited’ (see Table 2). Table 1. Participant’s learning strategies in learning English tenses. Learning Strategies 1. “I learn the tense concepts from my notebook only.” 2. “I re-read the tense concepts a few times.” 3. “When learning new verbs, I learn the meaning only.” 4. “I try to memorize the appearance of the verb. I don’t learn the spelling of the verb.” 5. “In spelling the verb, I use ‘trial and error’ as long as it doesn’t look familiar to me.” 6. “If I see I make a lot of mistakes, I do more exercises.” 7. “I re-do the exercises we have already done in school.” 8. “I do my homework (if I don’t forget what’s for homework.)” 9. “I try to memorize the irregular verbs I come across within the exercises, I don’t learn them systematically from the list of irregulars.” “I also learn the irregulars by the way they sound. I do not learn the spelling.” 10. “I really study a lot.” 11. “I do not learn from my mistakes.” 12. “I do not monitor how successful I have been in learning tense concepts, spelling, irregular verbs or stative verbs.” “It’s always the same that when I get my test back … I am surprised ‘What did I do here?!” 13. “I do not evaluate the learning results. I simply hope I know the topic well enough.” 14. “I have no strategies to overcome the difficulties (e.g., I don’t know the differences between ‘before’ and ‘after’, or ‘already’ and ‘always’, or I cannot learn the spelling). I have asked my parents for help, but they couldn’t help me…and schoolmates each have their own system of learning and I got even more confused. I have never asked my English teacher for help.” Concerning the strategy of seeking help from her schoolmates and/or her EFL teacher in order to get to learn about other possible learning strategies, Maya said she had asked her parents for help, but “they could not help me because they did not know how” , and her schoolmates “each had their own system of learning”, which made her even more confused. She had never asked for help from her teacher at the time of our research (see Table 1). Maya said she did not monitor how successful she was in learning tenses, which tense still gave her difficulties or what in particular was difficult, and with which verb forms her spelling was inaccurate. She left such assessments to her teacher: “It is only when I get the test back, when I see what I should have written...until then, I have just hoped to show my understanding of the subject matter well......It’s always the same that when I get my test back that I am surprised ‘What did I do here?!’” She also said she did not learn from her mistakes either (see Table 1). Concerning the strategies applied, Maya monitored them in so far that she was aware she had no effective strategy to cope with verb spelling, tense concepts and grammatical application rules (see Table 1), and saw the solution to her difficulties by doing even more exercises: “... I really study a lot. I studied a lot in my primary school, but now I really, really study.” Moreover, Maya judged her achievements in relation to her schoolmates and was satisfied with a pass, since this was “...still more than some of my schoolmates.” Maya was a hard-working student and never avoided homework. The difficulty was, as she put it, whether “I remember what we have for homework”, and she sought no strategy to solve the problem. Her teacher also mentioned that “Maya sometimes forgets her homework.” 3.3 Difficulties in Verb Gap-Fill Task Performance The examination of the verb gap-fill tasks set by the school and the test designed by the researcher revealed that Maya experienced difficulties in verb spelling, grammar concepts and tense choice, as shown in Table 2. In the research verb gap-fill tasks she achieved 57.5% correct answers. Difficulties with verb spelling appeared in the conjugated forms in the present tense (he watchs, she catchs), and continuous (she is lieing), or past tense (stop-stoped, rob-robed), and also in irregular verbs, in both their past or past participle forms (teach-thaught, break-braken). The examination of Maya’s knowledge of grammar concepts showed that she had difficulties with subject-verb agreement (Sharon have seen), and with omitting an auxiliary verb be or have in compound tenses (She smoking now, they gone). In forming questions, she did not change a conjugated verb or a verb with tense inflection into its infinitive form (Does she goes?, Did they worked?). Maya had also difficulties with the auxiliary verb have, particularly in its present perfect and past perfect forms (she had instead of she has had; they had instead of they had had). Maya also showed lack of knowledge in both stative verbs (I am hearing you) and irregular verbs (set-seted, catch-catched). In a verb gap-fill task with an explicit instruction to insert the past perfect, Maya showed difficulties with this tense concept (She saw a bird before she has gone to the village), as shown in Table 2. In deciding on the right tense/aspect Maya experienced challenges in when to use the present perfect tense (I miss my glasses. Did you see them?), and what tense/aspect to use with the time adverbials since (I know him since), before and after (After she shot the man, she had run away.), now (Psst. She was talking now.), by this time tomorrow, and at this time tomorrow (At this time tomorrow she will watch TV. By the time I am back they will finish dinner.). She faced similar difficulties with confusing the key adverbs while and when, and consequently chose the wrong aspect of the verb (When she was driving...). Concerning the choice of tenses expressing future time, Maya confused the use of the modal verb will and going to (Weather forecast: It is going to rain next week.). In a verb gap-fill task with an explicit instruction to use the past perfect tense, Maya’s difficulties with the concept were obvious (She saw a bird before she has gone to the village.) (see Table 2). 3.4 Verb Gap-Fill Task Performance Strategies As to whether Maya used any strategies when solving verb gap-fill tasks, she said her strategy was to “to picture the situation in [her] head and then [she tries] to fill in the right verb form...” (see Table 3). Regarding the self-monitoring of this strategy, Maya said that she did this: “Yes, I go back and check if I have pictured the situation correctly” (see Table 3). Another strategy Maya used to check her choice of the verb tense/aspect and conjugation form was checking if it sounded right in relation to the whole sentence: “...I also choose the tense on the basis of the sound, if the form of the verb sounds ok...” “If not, I go and I correct it as long as it sounds logical.” When the researcher asked Maya why she did not use an auxiliary verb, especially ‘had’ in the past perfect tense, or ‘is, are, am’ in the present continuous, Maya explained that she was not well acquainted with the tense rules and also often forgot to use auxiliary verbs, and after completing the gap-fill task she never checked if she used an auxiliary or not. With regard to her spelling difficulties, Maya had no other strategy than to write down the verb in the tense form she believed was correct and then see if it “looks acceptable or would it be better if [I], for example, double a letter or insert an –e....” Maya knew spelling was one of her weak areas and relied on her visual memory strategy: “I don’t know how the verb is correctly spelled in various tense forms. I don’t know the spelling rules.” Her only strategy concerning the spelling was as follows” “if the verb looks weird the way I have written it, I go and change the spelling with a trial-and-error strategy until it looks approximately acceptable to me” (see Table 3). Once Maya had written the verb form of her choice in the gap, she did not self-monitor the spelling. When reviewing schoolwork or homework verb gap-fill exercises in EFL classes, Maya corrected the inappropriate spelling or tense choice, but did not consult the spelling and tense rules references and did not actually know why her choice of the verb form or its spelling was wrong, or why the correct one was correct. Table 3. Participant’s report on the verb gap-fill task performance strategies she applied in the verb gap-fill tasks. Verb Gap-Fill Task Performance Strategies 1. The student tries to picture the situation in her head based on the meaning of the sentence. 2. The student completes individual gap-fill sentences according to the sound, and thus if the sentence with her tense choice sounds right. 3. The student spells the verb according to its appearance and uses ‘a trial and error approach until the verb form looks acceptable to her. 4. The student checks if she has pictured the situation ‘accurately’ according to the meaning of the sentence. 5. The student re-reads the sentence and checks if the sentence sounds right to her and if not corrects it until it does. 4 Discussion The study results correspond to the findings about the manifestation of dyslexia in both (1) relation to literacy difficulties (BDA; EDA) such as inaccurate spelling, confusion with similar words, omitting words (in our case auxiliaries in compound tenses), and (2) relation to difficulties in the use of tenses that non-dyslexic EFL students face in general (Svalberg 2016), as this study investigated the executive function and task performance processes that might lead to such difficulties. Moreover, both the case study principle and triangulation of the research methods enabled in-depth insights into the persistent difficulties the focal grammar school student with dyslexia faced in learning grammar rules for English tenses and in doing related verb gap-fill tasks, and at the same time pointed to her weak use of strategies to support executive function processes. 4.1 Difficulties in Learning Tenses and the Use of Executive Function Strategies Regarding the use of executive function strategies to grasp the tense grammar rules, the participant relied on her notebook notes, and used the strategy of re-reading the notes a few times during which she did not focus on anything in particular. The participant proved to have difficulties in terms of executive functioning processes with regard to setting goals and following them through the learning procedure, which relates to Bagnato and Meltzer’s (2010) argument that students with dyslexia might show difficulties with setting learning goals, which is important for successful SRL (Zimmerman 2002). Moreover, closer inspection of the notes in the participant’s notebook also revealed insufficiently constructed tense concepts, which did not offer a thorough enough insight into the tense and aspect architecture (with all key mood forms, lists of most frequent time adverbials, exceptions, etc) obviously contrary to Meltzer’s (2010), Juffs and Harrington’s (2011) and Kormos (2017) suggestions that students with dyslexia learn better if offered a detailed and explicit explanation of theoretical concepts and learning goals, because they cannot draw clues by implicit learning. Consequently, the research participant faced two obstacles: she could not understand the general concept of a particular tense, and did not know what to learn with tenses and thus had no effective strategy in learning them, since she did not know what to focus on in the first place. Correspondingly, she did not monitor if and what she memorized from what she had just read about the tense concepts, as noted by Bagnato and Meltzer (2010) and Harris, Graham, and Pressley (1992) with regard to the self-evaluating difficulties of students with weak executive functioning skills. The participant’s difficulties with English tenses might thus be rooted in her incomplete notes of the grammar rules in her notebook, the only resource the participant learned the rules from, which suggests that her difficulties were in part based on poor preparation of the learning materials (Dawson and Guare 2012, Meltzer 2010). As the participant did not spend much time studying theory, she depended on re-doing verb gap-fill exercises that she had already worked through in her English classes or as part of her homework. Moreover, as she was doing this she did not consult the theoretical rules in her notes or textbooks to check the accuracy of her understanding. Poor knowledge of tense concepts and their canonical use (Svalberg 2016) might explain Maya’s difficulties with subject-verb agreement (Sharon have seen), lack of knowledge with regard to using stative verbs (I am hearing you), and in using the past perfect tense (She saw a bird before she has gone to the village). In relation to the spelling of the verbs, the participant used the strategy of relying on her visual skills to memorize the appearance of an inclined verb and used trial and error until it looked right to her. According to the interview, Maya’s difficulties with spelling, such as with watchs (watches), stoped (stopped), and lieing (lying) might suggest an inconsistent insight into the spelling rules of verb inclinations, a common challenge in learning tenses identified by Svalberg (2016), due to deficient executive functioning ability to support the setting of appropriate learning goals (Dawson and Guare, 2012), since she prioritized the meaning of the verb over the spelling the inclinations (Svalberg, 2016). Further, Maya did not self-monitor her spelling choices, which might again be explained by Meltzer’s (2010) argument that there is a need for (1) an explicit insight into theoretical concepts, along with (2) an explicit explanation of various strategies and (3) evaluation criteria (Dawson and Guare, 2012), which, based on the participant’s notes and the interview, was not the case in the Maya’s EFL classes. Another issue with the tense concepts surfaced in the process of memorizing the irregular verb forms, and the concepts of typical time adverbials linked to a particular tense and aspect. The participant explained this was all too much to keep in mind at the same time, as well as too confusing because the irregular forms were too similar. When there is too much information that needs to be managed at the same time then this might cause cognitive overload (Martinussen and Major 2011). Since the participant knew of no strategies to better manage her working memory, she decided not to learn from the theoretical concepts, but rather from doing the exercises. Thus she got familiar only with the verbs and tense examples she came across in the exercises. This choice of a strategy with rigid limits indicates the unsuitable adaptation of strategies, as noted by Kunaver (2008), Meltzer (2010), Bagnato and Meltzer (2010) and Morken and Helland (2013). Maya also found it impossible to memorize the meaning of key time adverbials, such as ‘always’ and ‘already’, ‘while’ and ‘when’, or ‘by this time tomorrow’ and ‘at this time tomorrow’ because they were too similar in their spelling, a common difficulty linked to basic literacy problems (Shaywitz 2005, Habib 2000), and was also unable to differentiate between forms with similar surface aspects such as the present perfect and past perfect, which is in line with the difficulties EFL students face in general when learning tenses and aspects (Svalberg 2016). 4.2 Difficulties in Verb Gap-Fill Task Performance and the Use of Executive Function Strategies The study findings in the semi-structured interview revealed that the participant mainly used the strategy of picturing in her mind the situation described in the sentence. Then she inserted the verb in the tense form that sounded best to her. While she could decide on the verb aspect, she had no other strategy to figure out the time and tense of the situation described in the sentence except for guessing by the sound of the sentence if she said it in her head. Afterwards the participant self-monitored the strategy of aspect choice by checking again if she had pictured the duration of the situation, as she put it, ‘correctly’. Similarly, in denoting the aspect of an action, Maya was aware she should have used an auxiliary verb, but often forgot to do so. She also had no strategy to check and question herself if she had considered the compound form, i.e.: “Have I used ‘had’ because it is the past perfect aspect?”, which again suggests weak executive functioning in self-monitoring (Bagnato and Melzer 2010). Both having no strategies in deciding on the time and tense of the action, but easily figuring out the aspect, point to weak differentiation skills between aspect and tense, as noted by Svalberg (2016). Throughout the research, the participant’s self-monitoring in the verb gap-filling tasks showed that while she did actually do this, she was unfortunately self-monitoring the ineffective strategies that she had used, and then continued to rely on them because she did not know any better way, which usually led to unsatisfactory results. Maya’s performance might again be explained by the fact that students with poor executive functioning skills have difficulties with the choice of strategies to achieve their goals, and with choosing new strategies to replace ineffective ones (Meltzer 2010; Bagnato and Meltzer 2010; Morken and Helland 2013; and Kunaver 2008). The results of the semi-structured interview clearly point to the difficulties Maya experiences in solving verb gap-fill tasks due to reduced executive functioning, and problems dealing with cognitive load (Martinussen and Major 2011). In the processes required for success in this context, a student should show conceptual knowledge of English tenses (tense form, use, exemptions, time adverbials, etc.), have the skills required to retrieve the parts of these concepts needed from long-term memory, hold the information in the working memory and simultaneously understand and follow the input information expressed by the sentence (subject of an action, time adverbials, meaning of the sentence). The student then needs to manipulate all this to decide on the proper tense choice, aspect and mood, and then additionally also pay attention to the spelling. Mistakes such as omitting an auxiliary verb in compound tenses (she smoking now), or neglecting subject-verb agreement (Sharon have seen) might thus be explained by Maya not having any effective strategy to manage the cognitive load of the working memory, since she complained it was too much to think about at the same time. Interestingly, despite her uncertainty in the accuracy of her performance results, the participant sought no strategies to help evaluate the results by herself, and in this way work to aid her weak executive functioning in terms of self-evaluation (Bagnato and Meltzer 2010; Morken and Helland 2013; Schneider and Ganschow 2000), but instead put the evaluation wholly into the hands of her teacher. Nevertheless, Maya was aware of her difficulties and wanted to improve her knowledge of English tenses, but knew no effective strategy to cope with the problems she faced. In the past the participant had sought advice from her parents, who unfortunately were not able to help, and from her schoolmates whose ways of understanding and learning the tenses were incomprehensible to her, and thus she decided not to seek further help or strategies. These problems are in line with the findings of Meltzer (2010), Bagnato and Meltzer (2010), Morken and Helland (2013), and Kunaver (2008), who reported that students with learning difficulties often have no learning or task performance strategies, but instead choose ineffective strategies even though they prove to be unproductive, and do not then change these for more effective ones, nor evaluate their own performance. 5 Conclusion The findings of this study shed some light on just some of the many individual difficulties students with dyslexia might face in learning English tenses. They point to lack of knowledge in the choice and inefficient use of learning and task performance strategies to help tackle weak executive function skills. Further studies should focus on more extensive but still in-depth research into the executive function strategies students with dyslexia use in learning English tenses and in completing verb gap-fill tasks, and further on at a development of an intervention model to equip such students with more effective strategies to support executive function processes in learning and task performance. 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List of verb gap-fill task difficulties in the participant’s written samples (homework, schoolwork, hand-outs, notebook, regular school tests and verb gap-filling tasks designed by the researcher), as documented by the researcher. Difficulties / Category Difficulties / Description Examples spelling 1. conjugations of verbs in -y she lies, she is lieing 2. 3rd person conjugation with –s or -es he watchs 3. when to double the letter/consonant stop-stoped, travel-traveled 4. spelling of irregular verbs she thaught grammar rules 1. subject-verb agreement Sharon have seen. 2. omitting auxiliary verbs ‘be’ and ‘have’ She smoking now. 3. forming questions / transformation of a conjugated verb into an infinitive Does she goes? Did they worked? 4. question forms of ‘have got’ Do they have got? 5. differentiating the present perfect from past perfect of the full verb ‘have’ she had instead of she has had they had instead of they had had 6. knowledge gap in stative verbs not used in the progressive form I am hearing you 7. knowledge gap in forming irregular verbs set-seted, catch-catched, sit-sitted or sited 8. knowledge gap in the use of the past perfect She saw a bird before she has gone to the village. tense usage 1. ‘before / after’ confusion After she shot the man, she had run away. 2. ‘when / while’ confusion While she drove... 3. confusion with ‘now’ Psst. She was talking now. 4. what tense to use with ‘since’ I know him since... 5. Confusion with ‘will / going to’ Weather forecast: It is going to rain next week. 6. knowledge gap in when to use the present perfect I miss my glasses. Did you see them? 7. differentiating ‘by this time tomorrow’ from ‘at this time tomorrow’ At this time tomorrow she will watch TV. By the time I am back they will finish dinner. List of Contributors LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Mohammed Nour Abu Guba University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates mabu-gub@sharjah.ac.ae Omer AlHajEid UNRWA Education Institute, Jordan Ghiasuddin Alizadeh Malayer University, Iran Ghiasuddin.alizadeh@gmail.com Omid Amani Malayer University, Iran omidamani93@gmail.com Olga Boginskaya Irkutsk National Research Technical University, Russian Federation olgaa_boginskaya@mail.ru Lara Burazer University of Ljubljana, Slovenia lara.burazer@ff.uni-lj.si Anas Huneety Hashemite University, Jordan AnasI@hu.edu.jo Marina Jajic Novogradec University of Zagreb, Croatia mjajicnovogradec@gmail.com Jelena Jerkovic University of Novi Sad, Serbia jemit@uns.ac.rs Cathy-Theresa Kolega University of Zadar, Croatia ckolega@unizd.hr Bojana Komaromi University of Novi Sad, Serbia bojana.komaromi@polj.uns.ac.rs Mojca Krevel University of Ljubljana, Slovenia mojca.krevel@ff.uni-lj.si Leonarda Lovrovic University of Zadar, Croatia llovrovi@unizd.hr Bassil Mashaqba Hashemite University, Jordan b_mashaqba@hu.edu.jo Abderrazzak Oumoussa Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Morocco oumoussaabderrazzak@gmail.com Hossein Pirnajmuddin University of Isfahan, Iran pirnajmuddin@fgn.ui.ac.ir Karmen Pižorn University of Ljubljana, Slovenia karmen.pizorn@pef.uni-lj.si Simona Podobnik Uršic University of Ljubljana, Slovenia sp5325@student.uni-lj.si Janez Skela University of Ljubljana, Slovenia janez.skela@ff.uni-lj.si Dragana Vukovic Vojnovic University of Novi Sad, Serbia vukovic.vojnovic@gmail.com GUIDELINES FOR CONTRIBUTORS ELOPE English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries ELOPE publishes original research articles, studies and essays that address matters pertaining to the English language, literature, teaching and translation. 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