Dialectics provide a framework for deeper understanding of complex constructs and processes and allow for consideration of dynamic range of movement. Context, however, is needed to more deeply understand and use a framework of dialectics. Environment, identity, and developmental processes are suggested as important contextual factors. The metaphor…

The present study investigated the effect of context on the strategies the EFL learners utilized to process idioms. To do so, ten Iranian intermediate EFL learners were randomly assigned to two groups who then attended a think-aloud session. The 5 subjects in the first group were exposed to an animated cartoon including 23 unfamiliar idioms while…

The present paper explores the problems of English Language and Literature junior and senior majors, who are enrolled in a drama course at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). The course emphasizes the significance of drama. Morgan (1987: 7) defines drama as an "art of communication," which is essential in teaching literature. A survey…

In this article, we examine the relationship between classroom talk, teacher-student roles and paradigms for literacy and learning in two ninth-grade English Language Arts classes. Our goal was to understand how these roles and practices socialized students into norms for academic language and literacy as they read and wrote poetry in preparation…

One important task of any semantic theory of plurals is to account for the collective/distributive ambiguity. The goal of this dissertation is to achieve greater understanding of plurality and the collectivity/distributivity distinction from a cross-linguistic perspective by examining the phenomenon of distributivity in Mandarin Chinese. I show…

Natural language poses several challenges to developing computational systems for modeling it. Natural language is not a precise problem but is rather ridden with a number of uncertainties in the form of either alternate words or interpretations. Furthermore, natural language is a generative system where the problem size is potentially infinite.…

The Internet is an American invention, and though it has spread around the world, the bulk of the communication conducted through it is still in English. Even so, depending on what one is searching for, he/she can come across web pages, blogs, and other content in many other languages. To deal with this multilingualism, various free…

The overarching purpose of this treatise was to develop a means by which to describe and evaluate existing perspectives on learning and to guide future explorations in this domain. Specifically, using the metaphor of a river system, we advance a framework into which theoretical perspectives and empirical investigations of learning can be…

What is a learning style? No one seems to know for sure. The language used by learning style theorists is filled with ambiguities. Price (2004) maintains that "learning style is often used as a metaphor for considering the range of individual differences in learning" (p. 681). Is learning style merely a fanciful metaphor or is it the wave of the…

Language plays a crucial role in the classroom. The use of specialized language in a domain can cause a subject to seem more difficult to students than it actually is. When words that are part of everyday English are used differently in a domain, these words are said to have lexical ambiguity. Studies in other fields, such as mathematics and…

The advantages of introducing detailed scrutiny of metaphor into the college composition, creative writing, and literature curriculum are multiple. A number of researchers think an understanding of metaphor is important for cognitive development. This article establishes reasons for teaching metaphorical thinking and then goes on to argue that…

In considering issues of "representation" and "realism," the visual is inevitably invoked, yet in the current Western episteme, the relationship between the visible and the readable constitutes an enduring problem in which the image is generally subordinate to the text. In this article, the author examines what would happen if the usual…

Informed by the critical humanisms of Hannah Arendt, Frantz Fanon, and Paul Gilroy, the authors argue for an orientation to teaching and learning that troubles the continuing effects of dehumanizing race logic. Reflecting on Paul Haggis's Oscar award winning film "Crash" from 2004, they suggest that the metaphor of racial "crashing" captures what…

Helping students and practitioners to understand and utilize the Psychological Contract is often a difficult task. Unlike fault-finding research, this paper presents the PC as a positive, vibrant and valuable tool. In an effort to make the concept less elusive, the paper draws upon the metaphor of jazz. The metaphor is an accepted tool of…

A study of near-native sentence processing was carried out using the self-paced reading method. Twenty-three near-native speakers of Spanish were identified on the basis of native-like proficiency, age of onset of acquisition after 15 years, and a minimum of three years ongoing residency in Spanish-speaking countries. The sentence comprehension…