EDITORIAL WELCOME FOR VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2 (OCTOBER 2010)
With the appearance of this issue, we have completed our fourth year in publication. I would like to thank our reviewers for their gracious and constructive feedback on the articles. Similarly, I would like to thank all authors who have submitted their research articles to Novitas-ROYAL. Currently, our acceptance rate is below twenty percent and as a family of scholars, we are sure that our journal will continue to flourish.
In this issue, we have 11 articles written by researchers from all around the world. Timucin’s paper focuses on the stylistics approach to literary texts in connection with the analysis of poems that can be used in foreign language teaching classrooms. His article is especially important when the language-based approach to literary texts is considered. Walsh and O’Keeffe answer the question of how combining corpus linguistics and conversation analysis methodology can bring new insights into the relationship between interaction patterns, language use, and learning. They specify that such an understanding would help facilitate interactions which are more conducive to learning and in which students feel more engaged and involved.
Demirtas and Sert’s case study aims to relate the effect of education offered at a Private University’s English Language Preparatory School in terms of students’ perceived development as autonomous learners among other variables including their GPAs. From another corner, Sato reports on non-verbal communication resources affecting learners’ interaction in Japanese. It is mentioned in the article that the Japanese culture-specific discursive formations facilitate as well as hinder learning Japanese.
Cakir’s study argues that it is important for Turkish English learners to understand target culture for establishing effective intercultural interactions. His study aims to find out to what degree English language coursebooks used in Turkish primary schools’ 6th, 7th, and 8th grades include culture specific expressions.
In addition to these above mentioned articles on literature, linguistics, and instructional materials, Mamatey’s study explores the perceptions of South Korean English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers on the use of corporal punishment in classroom by searching for cultural factors and those factors stemming from the Korean educational system by and large.
Taking conflict and violence from the perspective of the youth, Okuyade examines Nigerian poetry written by soldiers who were directly involved in the war and the civilians who experienced the war closely or remotely. Okuyade’s paper is especially important when Samuel Asein’s (1978:166) words are considered (Okuyade, this issue):
literary documentation of the war “can help to illuminate the dark recesses of the mind, and record not the tanks and the artilleries but the emotion, the suffering, the test of man which the crisis entailed”.
Genc, Bada and Mavasoglu, with a focus on teaching of French as a foreign language, examine repetitions in the discourse of 83 Turkish learners of French after theoretically articulating the elements of repetitions from a linguistic perspective.
This issue includes a paper on technology use in foreign language teaching. Kasapoglu-Akyol’s qualitative case study aims to find out what educational technology tools international students at Eastern Michigan University use to improve their foreign language and communication skills, the result of which suggests that students use technological tools in their daily lives for a variety of purposes some of which are invaluable for their language learning.
Dagdeviren’s article investigates Turkish speakers’ article choice in English. Completed as a master’s thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Güray König, the study also examines whether the article choice of the participants varies according to their proficiency levels in L2-English. Having written these, we would like to wish Prof. Dr. Güray König a bountiful life in her recent retirement.
The last paper of this issue is by Karababa, Serbes, and Sahin who evaluate an English language coursebook published by the Turkish Ministry of National Education in terms of the A2 level criteria determined in the European Language Portfolio. Together with Cakir’s study, this article will hopefully be considered in future course book projects pertaining into the Turkish national education system.
Winter has come again and many celebrations are approaching fast. We wish you a wonderful season and a productive school year as Children Research Center-Turkey and Novitas-ROYAL, its brain child.
Arda Arikan, PhD
Editor-in-chief