درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The goal of this study was to compare the use of conceptual metaphors in English novels written by native and nonnative writers of English. Therefore, two novels were selected: To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, a native English writer, and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a nonnative English writer. To find the instances of conceptual metaphors in each book, approximately 10% of the pages of each novel was randomly selected and examined line by line based on the framework introduced by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). In the next step, to find the number and type of metaphors used in each book, the identified metaphors were categorized under their underlying concepts and counted. Then, the frequencies of different types of metaphors in each book were tallied and tabulated, and with the use of a chi-square test, the possible differences among the 2 writers’ use of different types of metaphors were found. Results indicated that, in both novels, there were significant differences among the 5 types of metaphors that were identified, namely structural metaphors, ontological metaphors, orientational metaphors, metonymy, and personification. Findings revealed that, in both books, ontological metaphors were the most frequently used type and personification was the least frequently used one. Also, no statistically significant difference was seen between the two writers’ use of the different types of metaphors. Findings are claimed to bear some implications for L2 pedagogy, benefiting teachers, syllabus designers, writers, and L2 learners.

Although filling the gap in reading comprehension gained momentum with the rise of the top-down approach, Vygotsky’ concept of scaffolding and the dual code theory provided a strong support for the use of paratext to enhance comprehension. Scaffolding is dependent on other-regulation, one type of which is object-regulation. From this vantage-point, various types of paratext can function as sources of object-regulation to scaffold the interaction between the reader and the text. Hence, the purpose of this study was to explore the effect of three types of paratext (the picture, preface, and title) on the reading comprehension and recall of less proficient and more proficient EFL learners. The control groups in the two proficiency levels read a text with no paratext, whereas participants in the experimental groups read the same text accompanied by the three types of scaffolding paratext. Both groups were also given a recall test which required the recall of propositions from the original texts. The results showed the beneficial effect of paratext on reading comprehension among the more proficient experimental group. As to reading recall, neither less proficient nor more proficient group succeeded in manifesting better recall than the control groups. These findings have two implications. First, there is proficiency “short-circuit” for the scaffolding effect of paratext on reading comprehension. Second, short-circuit has a task-bound nature. As the results of this study show, the proficiency ceiling needed to move beyond the short-circuit effect of comprehension is different from that of recall because recall is a comparatively more demanding task.

وام گیری لغات یکی از مهم ترین منابع غنی سازی مجموعه واژگان هر زبان است که ماحصل تماس با دیگر زبان ها است. در این مقاله وام واژه های مربوط به حوزه معنایی «خوراک» از لحاظ آوایی و معنایی در زبان های روسی و فارسی بررسی شده است. مؤلفان سعی کرده اند تا ورود مستقیم و یا غیرمستقیم وام واژه ها را از یک زبان به زبان دیگر معین کنند. بیش از دویست واحد واژگانی از منابع و فرهنگ های گوناگون جمع آوری و تحلیل شده است. در نتایج به دست آمده، گذشته از وام گیری های رایج و استاندارد، شاهد وام گیری های غیرمتعارف و ترکیبی نیز هستیم که در آن ها تک واژهایی از زبان های گوناگون با هم تلفیق شده اند. همچنین معلوم شد بیشترین شمار وام واژه ها از زبان فرانسوی و سپس انگلیسی گرفته شده اند و زبان های دیگر در رده های بعدی قرار دارند.